A Happy Accident
Hi there. How are you?
If you follow me on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, you'll know that I'm all about the birds lately. I'm hoping to have a whole new "flock" of them for my 2014 art fair season. To see my whole collection of birds, head here.
This is my black-capped chickadee. Pretty cute if I do say so myself! I had finished up the illustration and was ready to mount it onto the cradled hardboard support. That's when the "happy accident" occurred. Well, actually, there were two accidents. First off, I cut the paper too short, leaving a bit of the hardboard showing.
I was immediately annoyed at my stupid mistake and wasn't sure what to do to make it right. I first considered trying to patch in a tiny piece of graph paper to cover the gap, but I knew it would look quite obvious. Then I noticed the second accident....A tiny piece of paper had gotten sandwiched in between the sticker paper and the graph paper and it had created a visible dent. I was officially annoyed. Instead of having a total freak out and ripping the birdie from the hardboard, I took a step back from the piece and let it be for a moment. Then, I came up with a plan.
In terms of color, this piece was pretty quiet, so I decided on adding a band of color at the bottom. These were just left-over bits of paper I had from another project. I liked the contemporary pop that these pieces added. But there was still that pesky little bit of paper showing on the right side. In a very uncharacteristic manner, I decided to step away from this piece again. (This is so unlike me...I'm pretty rash and impulsive when it comes to artmaking. I don't often take the time to plan.)
After a bit of thinking, I decided to add a few of my signature abstract flower shapes to cover up the dent and liven up the negative space. I'm not quite sure if it's done yet. I still may add some ink embellishments into or around the collaged shapes or add a typed "nametag" to this, like I have my other birds. I'm just going to sit and stew before I do anything. I can officially say that I love this little guy, and I'm excited to add more collage elements to my next few bird pieces. This was indeed a happy accident! Hooray!
Have you had a "happy accident" in your art or life? Do share. I'd love to hear about it!
Have an excellent week. Ta-Ta for now!
