Saturday, January 16, 2021

Joy Flower


I started this piece with three doodles in mind, doodles I had been looping and dotting across most of the papers lying around my house and office for months. I didn't know how the doodles were going to work together and I didn't really practice combining all three of them. I also knew I wanted to play with using different amounts of thread, and not in any kind of pattern. So when I thought I finished the piece, having used all three doodles, I was surprised there was still more work to do. I was briefly disappointed. But it was as if each blemish was highlighted and it told me quietly what color it wanted to fix it. So I sat down, ready to fix the mistakes, and when it still wasn't done after that, I sat down again. I did this for several days - sitting down and fixing one flaw and then taking a step back. And then one day, when I wasn't expecting it, the piece was suddenly done. 
I was surprised pretty much the entire time I worked on this piece. It definitely took on a life of its own. Though I was initially disappointed that it wasn't done when I thought it would be, I grew to love the process of searching for what needed attention, fixing the spot, stepping away, and coming back to it again and again with fresh perspective. It's definitely a zen piece in that regard, but it's the first time I've found zen in the repetitious chore of fixing flaws in a piece.

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