Artistic Inquiry

I am ecstatic to finally announce that I am finally out of my artistic slump.
Do I get a parade equipped with confetti for this?

It all started with this:

I call it "Continuous Referendum."

This is just a work-in-progress which I'm definitely going to transform into something bigger and better. Luke and I were throwing around ideas today, and he mentioned that I should maybe come up with a proposal to paint a mural on one of the school walls. No one in STAC has ever done it before, and it's an attractive idea. I have one concern if I go big on this though- I'm afraid that it'll lose the attractive quality it has for me through the process that I'll have to withstand, that is, if this does make it to mural status. Yeah, doing this on a small scale (my sketchbook) was simple because it was within my physical boundaries, but once I take it out of those boundaries and expand, that's where I'll run into problems. Proportions and rulers will be necessary. Precision and extreme amounts of time will be necessary. And failure will always be lurking around the corner.

One of my fears that I'm still learning to overcome (along with many other people) is the idea of failure. Failure is extremely scary in any and every sense of the word, and that's okay. It's okay to be afraid to fail because as humans, it's not in our nature to see failure as something that is "acceptable." But the more important part is realizing that failure is essential in the equation for success. You don't improve without making a mistake, taking that mistake, and learning from it. Never allow yourself to give up on anything because then it will become a parasite that will continue to feed and grow on you. In good time, if you let this happen, all you will know is how to give up.

Since I'm still learning to cope with failure, I've decided that I'll be taking baby steps. There's going to be several steps (or maybe not) till it gets to mural stage.
- Double the size and paint it.
- Double the size, do it digitally, and print it.
- Create an etching/silkscreen/letterpress on multiple sizes.
- Experiment with it on the STAC wall to get a feel for how it might look on a larger scale.

And if I like the results and believe that I can do it,
- Write a proposal, get permission and do a mural.