Start Small

Inspired by the previous two posts (These Days and Moleskine Hunt) Meg and I decided to use our open Sunday afternoon to make things. We didn’t exactly know what we were going to make. We just felt the urge to create. 

David Day spoke of how his former boss, William Schickel would give him tiny thumbnail sketches to work from for more massive pieces. For instance, Schickel would draw a stained glass window in a small format that Day would turn into a much more extensive final project. I like that idea because there’s freedom in the constraint of a small size. You don’t have to worry so much about the details. That inspired Meg and me to work from smaller canvases like the inside of Moleskine (above) or the small sheets (below). 

We clicked “I’m Feeling Adventurous” on Google and pictures nebulas came up. The studies above are an abstract representation of one of the nebulas. When in doubt, let chance be your guide. 

It’s easy to show the results only, but the process (not captured on camera) was difficult for Meg and me. We’re both hyper-focused on productivity and, to be honest, don’t like feeling lousy (i.e., not so perfect) at what we're doing. Making just to make, with no expectations or pressure, is healthy for us. It loosens us up, helps us expose our more buried emotions, and takes us to strange places like crafting a nebula from construction paper and Crayola markers.