Stained Glass

[Originally posted 8/1/07]
I have intended to start a stained glass project now for about five years. The first three, I was already preoccupied with another large project. When that finished, however, I hit a snag. I knew the general technique I wanted to try, but then I hit the question of what I wanted to create.

On about ten separate occasions in the past two years I sat down, pondered that question, and got nowhere. In fact, the past two years have been remarkably (for me) free of art projects. Granted, I completed the website in that span, but I had done all the planning work for that about six years prior. (You think I’m joking, but I’m not. The sitemap is a large paper scroll I keep hidden away somewhere. Again, not joking.) Still, that’s not quite the same thing for me. In terms of the artistic project, all the work was done years ago. All that remained was about four hundred pages of coding. (Now you’re sure I’m joking. But I ask you, have you ever counted the number of pages in my website? And we’re talking just about the pages in there that I think it’s likely you could have managed to find. There are more.)

Anyway, today, I came upon my latest, “Figure out what you want to do to start that stained glass project” note to myself. In the process of reading it (two words), I knew exactly what I wanted to do, realized I had made the template already without being aware of what I was doing, and was ready to start. Elapsed time, one second.

That may sound unusual, but it’s how all of my interesting projects go. My thirty square foot painting concept hit me during and took about five seconds of the middle of a Chemical Engineering class. That statement will confuse anyone who knows the painting I’m talking about, but I’m not going to explain myself here because that’s a fun story to tell in person. (Feel free to ask.)

I’m delighted to be back! I haven’t felt an art rush in years. Bring it!