revision

last week, i had the girls full time, and one of the things that i came up with for us to do was an art project similar to the kind of mixed media projects i have done in the past. i chose to make one with them, and i was sort of surprised by the process as well as the final product that came out.

here it is in its current state:

i started without a vision for this piece, which is something i have never done before. usually i have something in mind when i begin, and i work until it is complete. this time around, i simply started and waited to see what came out. i was even expecting this to be a sort of silly collage with no real meaning, something fun to occupy our morning. but as i began to work, meaning started to flow from the way the elements were coming together.

i also read a book called For the Beauty of the Church this week, and it left me with many thoughts and questions. but one chapter talked about how one characteristic of an artist is the ability to revise. i thought this was interesting, because revision usually isn't part of my artistic process. it almost always involves a very specific vision and when i am done, i'm done.

this piece that i did last week needs revision. there are elements that are meaningful and important and there are elements that are extraneous. i am going to take the opportunity to change the things that need to be changed in order to create a piece that is rich and cohesive, rather than settle for something that is less than what it could be.