Creative Manifesto

Over at 14 Secrets the theme for the week is "What Is Your Creative Manifesto". The challenge is to visually express your creative manifesto rather than write down your objectives. (Is this reinventing the old "artist statement"?) To me that means just keep plugging along. I can't quit my day job. I'm not kidding myself into thinking I could make a living with my art. I am a fishmonger and a wannabe florist. That's it. However, I wouldn't mind having my work in a few magazines. That's more of an attainable goal. For me that's the dot in the middle of the labyrinth. The twists and turns on the way to publication are: finding a sense of style and using brighter colors. My work is too bland and monochromatic.

Enter The Labyrinth 

(click image for a larger view)

A good part of the journey is learning something new whenever you work on a piece. The history of labyrinths is interesting and I learned how to draw this one from here. I would love to put one on a floor canvas and have it to walk on as a form of meditation. After I drew the labyrinth on parchment paper, I penciled in guidelines for the calligraphy. The Tolkien quote is in Italic and was completed using calligraphy markers in different sizes and colors. The drawing and calligraphy left large areas of white space. The page was torn and creased, stained and spotted with coffee, and edged with a Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink pad. Once I had decided what I was doing the whole piece took about an hour.