Figuring out why you want to create a piece

When we started the Natalya Khorover class last fall called "Sense of Space" we had to figure out what we were going to work on. Isn't that one of the exciting parts of the creative process? I find it really exciting narrowing down what of the many ideas floating around in my head I will actually do. Before the class I was searching Pittsburgh buildings online and I saw a photo of some Pittsburgh buildings in the snow and that is what clicked in my mind as my inspiration. I grew up in Pittsburgh and it is a city that I love. So why not do Pittsburgh in the snow? I do love a challenge!! Once I created a piece with a forest in the fog. See this post. 

Natalya made us gather photos of buildings that were interesting to us to use in our collages. During our first class she went over our photos and made us talk about them. Then we had to write what she calls a mind map of why we are creating these pieces.

Here is my mind map for the Pittsburgh in the snow pieces. I don't think I've ever posted it. It certainly is a way to solidify why you want to work on certain pieces. Maybe it is a good thing to really think about that before starting new work. Have you ever done a mind map or anything like that?

My Pittsburgh mind map

In addition to the photos Natalya also made us look at paintings of the city we were working on to get inspiration for the colors we were going to use. I did find lots of photos paintings of Pittsburgh in the snow and chose the blue grays and whites that I finally picked to work with.

I grew up riding street cars. We called them that, but most people call them trolleys. So I have fond memories of riding them just about everywhere as you can see from the mind map and why I incorporated one. The line we were on was the Library line and you can see that stitched on the front of the street car. Actually it was the Shannon Library line, but the label at the top of the street car was not big enough for all of that! I'm sure when I was freezing waiting for one in the snow that was late I was not very fond of them. The street cars used to ride on rails and were attached to overhead electrical lines in the city. They don't do that now. They built a subway system to take them underground once they reach the city. They also don't look like that any more. They are much more streamlined and modern looking now. I decided to create one that was from my childhood rather than current ones. After all my inspiration was from growing up there.

The sketch of the street car piece

My street car

How do you decide what you are going to create? Do you just pick something or do you really analyze why that piece is inspiring you? We do spend a lot of time working on a piece so maybe thinking about why we are doing it is a good idea. What do you think?

I did do more French knots this week, but don't have any photos to show. I had SI joint injections on Monday and the right side hurts more than before the injection there. Go figure!

Thanks for all the comments on my last blog and thanks for reading. I think next week I will talk about the ups and downs of where my brain and attitude are while creating a piece. It's certainly an emotional journey from beginning to end....at least for me.

Linking to Nina-Marie. She has an interesting blog about Michael James today. Go check it out or look him up.

Chris