Thinking about my recent fascination with the heart shape.
It’s possible it started with finding the shape in nature and photographing it.
I wouldn’t be looking for them, I’d just come upon them. Perfect little hearts
in snow or leaves or mud, a stone.
I started collecting the images. Posting them on Facebook.
I began to wonder where the little heart symbol came from. According
to Wikipedia, it’s pretty old. Been around for quite a while. There are
references to it in the Middle Ages.
It’s a tacky little thing, granted. Way over used. But it
has its appeal. To me. Right now. Anyway. I like its simplicity and symmetry.
And of course I like finding them around.
If I try to look too hard for one, it doesn’t work. It’s the
same as with four-leaf clovers. One has to have soft eyes, be relaxed, not anxious
or desperate. And one will pop up. Or not. It can’t matter.
Sometimes when I do find (or am given) a heart shape I want
another one right away! I begin to look for one with eagerness. Never get one
that way. Or I’ll see one that’s sort of a heart but not really. I do have a
rule of never changing the shape myself or manipulating what I find in any way.
Missing my daily projects, and wanting something to post on
this blog and on Facebook, because I’m addicted to the feedback, I’ve started another
series. This one uses the heart shape. Like the project I did last January,
starting with the cover photo of the Washington Post, finding a section of it
and making an abstract composition from it, I’ve been cutting small heart
shapes from the photos and creating colored pencil drawings from what is
visible. They are quite small, so they aren’t the investment of time the other
ones were. And I don’t write the synopsis of the story that goes with the
photo, as I did in January, but I do make a note about the subject.
I’ve been using some old 5”X 8” index cards. I like that
they aren’t bright white. I do the drawing on the unlined side and note on the
lined side the date, the subject description and any notes about the technique.
I also glue the heart-shaped cut out of the newspaper photo next to the
drawing.
The collage above shows the first four I’ve done. 1) Fri.
Mar. 21st ~ Gen. Sinclair gets a slap on the wrist 2) Sun. Mar. 23rd
~ Aerial view of the an old limestone mine where the Office of Personnel
Management processes retirement papers for the U.S. government 3) Mon. Mar. 24th
~ Women Terps win the first round of the NCAA women’s tournament 4) Tues. Mar.
25th ~ Grieving relatives of those aboard the Malaysia Airlines
Flight 370.
I used randomly selected pencils to color in the sections of
the drawings. Some are scratched into with an X-acto blade.
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