Artsy Fartsy: confusion

This assignment I had trouble with. For some reason, I have a hard time understanding what exactly my professor means when an assignment is given. For my first attempt at collages with composition, my pieces had little to do with composition. I liked them well enough, but they were very simple, and didn't really dabble with the idea of composition. When I better understood the assignment, I attempted one more. I started by combining two of my first pieces and adding more depth to them. As soon as I got the thumbs up, I had this cat in the bag. After I found a subject or idea to focus on, the second two were not terribly hard. I am such a perfectionist though, that finding the exact materials I wanted to work with were difficult at times, and getting it just so was even harder, I think all of my final pieces came out well.

***UPDATED COLLAGES

The task: Gather all the materials you think you may need for an art project, plus an assigned list.

The latter part was really quite simple. I had everything on the list at my house already, and I was fortunate enough to open the email with the list while still there. I think it took about thirty minutes to root through all my craft closets and my father's workbench to find everything I needed. Even the hometown map was just hanging up in my garage. Maybe it's a good thing that my dad tends to be a bit of pack rat!

With the items for the list in hand, I proceeded to rummage around my room for things that I thought I could use. I must admit that this task was much harder than I imagined. I think that this art class will be much different than ever imagined, and I cannot possibly predict everything I will want to have. The other thing I learned is how much stuff I really have. After living out of a suitcase for an entire semester, I know that I don't need everything I have. I am pretty sure that I have at least enough clothes to go a month without doing laundry - and that's just my wardrobe! When examining other peoples' ideas like this: http://www.storyofstuff.org/, it kind of makes me feel like a bad person! This class will tear me down the middle - do I keep all of the things, or should I continue working to become the minimalist, with an easier life? I like things, so this will be hard.

Here is a list of the materials I officially gathered for the class: