Happy accidents

Sometimes what happens is what I call "a happy accident." You are going about your creative task, intent on accomplishing one result, when, just when you least expect it, a better outcome presents itself. You experience this combination of a voilà! and ah-ha moment that provides a momentary high.

I love it when that happens.

Truth be told it happens more often than not when I don't know what I'm doing. My joy soon turns to doubt that I will ever be able to know quite how I got the result I did. Take the picture shown above, for example. I took that last week with a new camera Andrew just bought. It is a digital SLR with more buttons and functions than I'm sure I'll ever master. He asked me to take a photo of the boards from a low vantage point. I guess the camera zoomed in on the nails, that I honestly didn't even notice, and voilà! when I reviewed the captured image on the camera screen, I realized I had taken a really cool picture.

Sometimes creating art, or even great art, isn't about knowing exactly how to make it, its just about recognizing it when you see it, even if it is simply the result of your latest "happy accident."

The art of collages: chaos and cohesion

There is something about turning random chaos into structured cohesion that has always gotten my creative juices flowing. I think part of what I like about collage making is the purposeful intent with which each piece of the collage is chosen, without yet knowing exactly how the finished product will look. The process is thoroughly organic, and if you allow yourself to let go of your inner critic screaming for perfection, the process is also thoroughly liberating.

Pictured above is a collage I made it during one of my monthly "Ladies Art Social" get-togethers. For a couple of hours a group of about seven creative women sat and thumbed through magazines to find words and pictures that inspired each of us. As you can see, what was on my mind was writing, and more specifically, success at writing. I am making writing a priority this year (this blog is one example of that) and I wanted something inspirational to hang on my office wall to be a visual reminder of what my life's passion is right now.

The process of making collages isn't that foreign to me. I used to love to make collages when I was young. Back then my intention was less about getting in touch with my feelings or making art. Back then during those peer-pressured homogenizing teen years, it was about covering three-ring binders and school lockers, using words and pictures to say "this is me." It allowed me to make a statement at an age when doing so was risky.

Today those risks are gone, and the fear of not being good enough only happens when I foolishly compare myself to others. Having an art outlet like collaging reminds me that I haven't lost my creative compass. I can still start out with a blank canvas and end up with something uniquely beautiful, not only as I envisioned, but also intended.

Feared and Fearless: Vogue magazine's Anna Wintour

Credit: Vogue Magazine

“If you look at any great fashion photograph out of context, it will tell you just as much about what's going on in the world as a headline in The New York Times.” ― Anna Wintour

Ouch. As a writer, former journalist, and admirer of high fashion (as art) this quote hits close to home. As said by Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue magazine, in her matter of fact way about her, she points out that fashion as art is highly subjective. Nothing should be taken too literal.

I’m not exactly sure, but I would argue, in part, this is the attitude that she would take when responding to her critics about the use of fur in fashion or portraying an elitist aspect of feminism. She has spent a lifetime defining what great fashion is from behind the lenses of her iconic dark sunglasses, and for the past 24 years she has editorially communicated that through the pages of Vogue. Very unapologetically I might add.

Popular culture came to learn more about Wintour through the movie "The Devil Wears Prada." The movie was originally a book written by Wintour's real-life assistant. Many have speculated (although it has never been confirmed) that Meryl Streep’s character is based on Wintour herself. And the characterization isn’t pretty. Streep plays an aloof, demanding perfectionist who is respected more through fear than admiration. And while that role isn’t said to be biographical, a quick scan of Wintour’s Wikipedia bio confirms that indeed, it is probably not that far from the truth.

Still, I can’t help but admire her. No, I’m not pro-fur, nor am I a fashionista myself. But I do think that we need people in this world like her. Creative women in positions of power who say, “This is what I want, and this is how I can get it done.” Maybe it is her illusive mystique that makes her all the more interesting to me. But I give her credit for that as well. To craft and maintain your legacy of style and image, not only through what you wear, but simply in who you are, simply by existing. Well, wow, now I think that is just pretty damn cool.

Note: What spurred this blog post was a recent watching of "Seamless" on Netflix. It is a documentary released in 2005 that features three fashion designers (out of 10) in a CFDA fashion competition. I think this may have been the basis for what became the hit reality show "Project Runway."