Little Machines, Little Mistakes

Little Machines by LIGHTS came out September 23rd. I was able to download the digital copy that day, but I just received the box set I pre-ordered (what a long wait!). If you want deep lyrics, fantastic phrasing, and just feel good music you should definitely check this chick out. LIGHTS has been a source of musical and just plain creative inspiration to me for years. 

So I'm unpacking the sweet prints and die cuts of her logo from the box (things that my little graphic designer heart LOVES), I find this ordinary piece of cardboard. It's a perfect square! I have to keep it. Cause here's a thing I hate to admit...I'm a packrat. I keep boxes and bottles just cause, hey, I might need them for some thing...some day. I'm really trying to break this nasty habit, but it's not my first thought to just throw things away. I mean, it's already cut in a perfect square, I could make something square-y out of it (which I found out later wasn't true, but it was close!) 

I decide to throw it away. I put the record on and as I'm listening, I start thinking. Such a scary thing when I start to think. My thoughts go from, "this cardboard is a treasure that I could make something beautiful out of" to, "I can't be a packrat, my husband is going to strangle me one day for it," to "Why don't I just do something with it now?," to "I'll just try to make something pretty and it'll turn out bad," to "I'm literally going to throw it away because I'm afraid of making something that might turn out badly?!?!" 

Here I am, inspired by this new realization,  I can't just be afraid to create. It'll do one of two things. Turn me into MORE of a procrastinator/packrat driven by fear than I already am or it'll completely stifle my creativity like I've let it do for years. I view myself as being so full of potential but stuck. Now I've finally realized why. I'm afraid of failing! 

So with my paint brush in hand, with this amazingly inspiring album in the background, I keep whispering to myself, "It's okay if it's not perfect. At least you're doing something with it!"

Then I start thinking, "This is the worst type of thing to paint on. Cardboard gets so bendy and soggy." I really am my own worst enemy. Anyone else relate to that?! Yeah, I thought so. :)

I had in my head what I wanted to do, inspired by the colors of the album art work and the electronic feels that it has in the sound. I decided that I wouldn't just freehand, I would use some technology to my advantage since I have it and am paying out the you-know-where for the degree that it took to learn it. 

I love pixelated pictures. Like, the ones that are that way intentional, not the ones where you took a thumbnail and blew it up the size of your grandmas behind or something of similar size. 

I chose a yellow-orange rose because of the beautiful contrasting colors. 

Set up a Photoshop document with the size of piece of cardboard I had (this is where I found out that it wasn't a perfect square, but continued because if it wasn't perfect, at least it was done and it wouldn't be a silly little "What if" in my life.)

In Photoshop, in filters, I chose Pixelated (go figure), and Mosaic.

From there I just played around until I thought the squares of color were big enough to make it abstract, but small enough to show some of the detail of the flower. 

I measured the size square it turned out to be, and then took my hand-dandy ruler and blocked out the entire piece of cardboard. 

Again, this didn't turn out perfect, but as I made every line, I was beginning to not care as much about whether every little square was symmetrical. I just wanted to see the beauty of that finished project. 

I numbered and lettered the top and side squares, but that didn't last long. I just kind of started to go by instinct. Feeling what color should be next and matching it to the picture I had generated on the screen. 

Don't you just love my workspace?! **Caution: Sarcasm speaking** Hey, you get the natural light where you can and when you can. At this time is was on the floor by the only big window my little apartment has.  So I went with it. That and I love scattering things on the floor when I make stuff. My husband says I'm just a scattered person but it's okay cause I'm creative. I think that's what he tells himself so that he doesn't kill me when I leave dirty dishes everywhere. 

And there it is. the finished project. It's beautiful in it's own, not perfect way. It would be beautiful even if it wasn't, cause it would be created and finished. There's something gorgeous about this thought in general. Just because those individual squares aren't perfectly symmetrical, doesn't mean that that whole picture is flawed. It simply means that it has character, and things that make it unique. 

I heard a quote in the same day while I was listening to a podcast on elisejoy.com called,  letting the creative process be ugly featuring Kim Werker.  Elise said, "Admitting your flaws doesn't make you more flawed." I thought that was such a gorgeous way to think about it. Us as people. The art we create. Just life in general. There was so much truth in that statement. I felt inspired simply as a person, not just as a creator or an artist. 

I hope that today's post inspires you to just make something! Don't be afraid to fail. It doesn't matter how it turns out, just make it for the simple joy of making it and finishing it. At least it's not a piece of cardboard junking up your spare room!