Let Your Mind Be Free - 50 Shades

50 different renderings can seem like a lot when your are overthinking the process. When I first heard of the assignment, I immediately stifled my imagination and couldn't think of how it would be possible to make 50 interpretations of the same object. It was more so that I became hung up on the number 50. Although the number seemed large, it really wasn't. To start my process, I decided to take a few day to really think about what object I wanted to recreate. I thought about many objects around my home from a computer, cellphone, camera, keyboard, lightbulb, headphones etc. Then I figured the object really doesn't have to be anything complicated, intricate or even electronic. It could be something so simple. So, I decided that I would choose a pencil. I made this decision because of my connection to the pencil. Since I was a child, I loved to write and create stories. It was one of the main way that I would express myself as I was not always comfortable speaking out loud. This love for writing followed me all the way to college where I decided to study Creative Writing and continues to be a powerful form of expression for me.

Great! I picked out my object so now where to do I go from here. I was very cautious not to just think of a final product but to think about all the ways a pencil could be design and interpreted while still holding its identity as a pencil. First, I played around with abstract ideas and the best way to bring those abstract idea to life was with charcoal. Charcoal allowed me to be as carefree as possible and forget about having defined or clean lines. Before putting the charcoal to the paper, it was important to ask myself questions. Is it necessary for the pencil to be straight? Can it have curves, angles? Can it be two-headed? Does the point have to be a point or can it be square or rounded?

Do any of these changes cause the pencil to lose its identifiable traits? Then I just started drawing every idea that came to mind as seen in my photos to the right. After I completed a few drawings with charcoal, I began using different tools, mediums, and colors to bring my renderings to fully express my interpretations. The materials I used ,including the charcoal, were color pencils, black ink pens, yellow ribbon, toothpicks, incenses, gold string, cotton, and pistachio shells. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this assignment and quickly understood how important it was to let your mind be free. Overthinking almost robbed me the experience of flowing freely with my imagination in the moment. The experience was quite calming and fun once I realized the possibilities. My favorite versions are the ones created with string, ribbon and pistachio shells. As my imagination started moving, everything looked as if it could be transformed. Abstract forms lived in all of the literal objects I saw.