Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Inspired

The other day I was walking down the street and was suddenly inspired. A while ago I had decided to expand my visual vocabulary and had chosen a few specific items to work on, including "bird." This week I came across the most beautiful picture of a falcon, a bird which has captured my imagination ever since I was a girl.

I wanted to engage with the shape, and I wanted to do so in a way that was really unintimidating to me. So it occurred to me to cut and collage, which I love to do and find completely Jamie-friendly. I still remember my Mom teaching me little tricks about cutting when I was just wee, like to cut around the shape generally and then to work on the finer details.

So I spent a part of my evening listening to music and cutting and pasting and enjoying the shape and beauty of the falcon. I was mesmerized. The only thing that would sometimes break me out of my reverie was when I would notice that I liked something I'd done and get paranoid that I was going to wreck it. But the beautiful thing is once I've got the form, I can make a bazillion of these if I like, trying new things, new colours, new ideas and not worrying about getting it right. What a treat.

4 comments:

Shannon said...

Fascinating excercise and beautiful image! WTG Jamie!!

Anonymous said...

That sounds like a wonderful grove to be in. Not worrying about the outcome, enjoying the process.

Jessie said...

oh jamie...i love your approach!

and i like your idea here:
"I can make a bazillion of these if I like, trying new things, new colours, new ideas and not worrying about getting it right. What a treat."

dang, this post felt good to read!

Anonymous said...

Collages are fun, aren't they?

Nicely done.