The other day I made a HORRENDOUS mistake on a calligraphy piece I had been working on every day for about two weeks that was 3/4ths done. It was a two inch wide careless blunder that savagely usurped the entire theme of the 12 x 24.5 work with its misplaced and awkward existence. In a panic and flurry I called up a super cool artist that I have the luxury and pleasure of calling a friend. She suggested a multitude of fixes, none of which I had the skills to undertake - and quite honestly I am not that audacious.
While being on the phone with her (my mind began to wander, given my poor phone etiquette and ADDish tendencies) I realized that I could take advantage of the situation and create something daring and abstract! Forget what was mapped out and let loose Aisha! This was certainly uncharted territory for me. One thing that has always bothered me about my artwork (EVEN AT A YOUNG AGE I RECOGNIZED THIS DEFICIENCY) is that I am always too precise, too much of a perfectionist to try something new or let go and experiment. Every line must be exactly where it should be, every intricate detail must add to the cohesion of the piece, and every object has to mirror the mental image I envisioned. But perfection is a very subjective term in this day and age, at least when applied to something man-made.
So I decided to go for something completely different, restructure the entire piece and just let it go where IT wants to go. Ya Allah! I was so happy with the direction it was headed. It was so unpredicted, so bold yet cohesive in such an ethereal sense! I started to think that there is no such thing as a mistake, that this ‘blunder’ was TRULY a blessing in disguise and should be recognized as such. SubhanAllah!!!
I don’t know why I am sharing this frankly, I am sure there is some point I am coming too (that we both will realize) once my regressive actions are explained in their entirety. Now after working on the piece more, I started plotting and planning again; mapping out and bending its delicate arm into strict intricacy and organized amalgamation. It was ruined :( I look at it now and it is ruined. Of course there is balance, depth, good proportions, blah blah blah. Perhaps some might even consider it art nouveau-esque. There is even a pronounced creative value in the traditional sense. But what was happening before is lost in the literalism of every stroke and calculation!
And the moral of the story is, kids… maybe it is best to not get attached to the plans we have made for ourselves and how we intended something to work out. Of course, start out by mapping things out and having a general sense of direction with goals, but be opened to change, and recognize that change for all the unexpected beauty it brings. Perhaps denying that beauty and unnaturally molding it back into what you think it should have been like originally will rear an ugly head (comparatively LOL).
This post makes me think of a cool quote :)
“Perhaps God is keeping in store for you something better than you yourself chose”
(from Naguib Mahfouz’s The Journey of Ibn Fattouma)
Yeah, and I thought it would be wak to let July fly by without putting up some kind of a post.
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