Thursday, April 3, 2008

How Do You See Change?

Sharon has posted the Take It Further challenge for the month of April. You can read her full post here. What it boils down to is "How do you see change?" (There's a color challenge for those who want to do that but I have chosen to focus solely on the concept each month.) I marvel at how she comes up with these concepts and how challenging they can be!

There is a back story to this month's theme but it only served to highlight for me how easy it is to see both sides of most situations. Change can be a good thing and at the same time have undesirable components to it. Depending on the circumstances, sometimes I welcome change and sometimes I dread it or avoid it (and complain about it when I can't avoid it!). How in the world do I represent that visually?

My first thought was of a wall. Changes that are hard to accept or face would be the equivalent of an impenetrable wall of stone, very high, so that there's no obvious way over or around it. An exciting change, on the other hand, could be nothing more than a line on the ground that one merely steps over. And then there's the whole range of variables inbetween!

After another 24 hours or so I was able to morph those walls into doors. A hard or unpleasant change could be a heavy wooden door chained and padlocked. An welcome change could be a door standing open in an inviting way. But I'm doing 4" x 6" postcard quilts for this series of challenges. I didn't want to have to squeeze two doors into such a small format.

Finally I decided that a single door would suffice. If the door represents change, whether that change is perceived as desirable or not, you have to go through the door. If it's a change you're not looking forward to you may put off opening that door as long as possible. If it's a happy change you may yank that door open without any hesitation whatsoever! So now I just have to come up with my door :- )





4 comments:

  1. Great concept. Looking forward to seeing the result.

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  2. I'll be watching with interest! Hope I can develop some positive feelings about the recent changes in my life - as I am dragged kicking and screaming through some of these doors- not ready yet!

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  3. After having spent most of the last year moving (out of and in to), this is an interesting concept. Even if it's a change you want to make, there's still parts that are difficult to deal with. I like the idea of the door. Can't wait to see what you do with it!

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  4. Great idea! And to think I'd just drawn a door for an art card I didn't end up using. I still haven't come up with my thought yet.

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