Sunday 13 November 2011

How abstract is *too* abstract?

How abstract is *too* abstract? Or, depending upon your point of view, can there ever be such a thing as *too* abstract anyway?

Just to reassure you, I'm not asking this for theoretical reasons, like some medieval cleric wondering about the number of angels he could fit onto the head of a pin. No, there's a practical purpose.

The thing is, I'm enjoying creating inspirational poscards at the moment, and people seem to like them. So far so good. But  like the rest of us, I've been used to pin-sharp natural photographic scenes as a backdrop to such things, (I'm thinking about majestic mountains with the word "Courage" emblazoned at the bottom, etc.)

So part of me feels constrained by this. The other feels it's high time that inspirational images came in all shapes, and specifically, softer, more feminine, and maybe more abstract choices. Hence my dilemma.

I have no answer to the question posed in the title of this post...






Wednesday 2 November 2011

Life-Affirming Graffiti. But What Should I *Do* With These?

When Jim and I went to Edinburgh for the Fringe this last summer, a piece of graffiti kept popping up. But not just any old piece of graffiti. It was one of the most positive and life-affirming pieces of graffiti I've ever seen.


It inspired me so much that I've come up with two pieces based upon it. (They are rendered in two very different colour schemes by the way...a sort of his'n hers, perhaps?).
And...







The thing is that, for one reason and another, both of them seem to have a relatively small natural size. (And I'm not talking resolution here...the resolution is fine at A4 size, but overpowers the message, somehow).


What to do with them?