Sometimes you just need to step away

This piece – done on a leaf-shaped wood plate that was handmade in Haiti – is another one where I was working on my crazy paving and blending colours. The end result is nothing like I had originally envisioned. My initial idea was to use three colours (the green and blue that you see here, plus a nice yellow that was neither too loud nor too muted) and make them radiate out from the centre of the leaf – the middle / vein would be blue, moving to green, and finally to yellow at the edges. In my head it looked oh so lovely.

But by the time I had started to transition from the blue to the green, it became obvious that there wasn’t going to be any room left to fade to yellow. Hmmmpf. Back to the drawing board. New idea: bring in the yellow at the top and fade it out as you move down the leaf. Yes, that would work. But in this configuration, the yellow now looked too harsh. Sigh. I rummaged through my glass stash half-heartedly, but I was feeling pretty stuck. Luckily, it was time to go home to Kitchener for Christmas and I was forced to step away for a few days.

Over Christmas break, I kept mulling over different options in my head.  I kept coming back to this pink glass I had seen while rooting through my bins. Once back in Ottawa, I hauled out the pink glass, held it up against the blue and green sections of the plate and my gut said yes, this is the one. The green and white swirls in the pink glass were just what I needed to help transition between it and the green glass I was already using.

This is the first time that I’ve really had to step away from a mosaic in order to come back at it with fresh eyes, and it’s funny how something so simple can be all that’s standing between you and the way forward. It’s definitely a lesson I will remember in the future, as I’m sure this won’t be the last time I need to do it.

PS This piece is available over in my Etsy shop if you’re so inclined…