Don't quit your day job

Gosh, this is frustrating. I thought by now, I'd have crashed through this stuff, but I find myself avoiding the studio – making a sandwich or writing an email or cleaning the bathroom – anything to not have to work at this frustrating thing they call collage. I can sort of hear all those little pieces of torn paper whining back there when I pass by the open door ... ha.
Observations:
The switch to black paper has a sort of elegant quality, but feels like cheating.
Why does collage almost automatically go figurative? (I'll post a few more examples tomorrow.)
Black on black is intriguing. Will push this next.