A Trip Down Memory Lane

Diva Challenge 192. Well, they are meant to be challenging. And this one was. Seton is not an easy tangle to use. I looked through everyone else's and unlike last week, where I got more and more inspired, this week I got more and more depressed and uncertain. Quite a few people said they struggled with it (at least I'm not alone), but some just soared. Which was fantastic. But gosh, it set the bar high.

I did not know what to do with this. The pattern itself is not too hard, but it has so much going on that it can be overwhelming. This is the first time that I have done a tangle and thought "No". I mean, really no. I'm not always happy with every tangle I do, but even if I am unhappy I can usually find something where I think "that bit is fine", "that combination worked", "I like the shading there". My first attempt at the challenge... Well, it's sitting upstairs, turned face down, until I can do an objective reappraisal and decide if any of it is salvageable. (I use that strategy with my art. If I am not keen on something, or am at a loss of what to do next, I turn it around so I can't see it. That way, when I come back to it I am looking at it fresh. Can work wonders. Doubt it will this time.)

So there I was, sitting at my desk, completely stumped.

On the wall above my desk and all over the cupboard next to it (side and both doors) are images of artwork I like, or find interesting. They are all cut from the member magazines of the Art Gallery of NSW, which means good quality printing on good quality paper. Lovely to look at. When I get stumped I often look at the images, calming myself, letting my mind wander, seeing if there's any inspiration among the images. Today my eye settled on two I have of Anish Kapoor's amazing installation piece "Memory". You can view a slide show and short article about it here.

Memory Anish Kapoor, 2008, Cor-Ten steel. Image c Anish Kapoor

I love the photos I have of this monumental sculpture. I know it was at the MCA in Sydney, but I have a feeling I missed it.

Anyway, I was looking at the photos and thinking how much I would love to see the real thing and draw it. And then straying to the tangle issue and thinking the obvious - Nzeppel. So why not do that while I work out what to do with Seton? Well, it sort of turned into this:

Seton, Flux, and a spiral

Not great, but not bad. And I have a few more ideas and possibilites now. Not sure I like the spiral. It may well get drawn over in the next few days. I'll turn it face down and then see what I think.