"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

Quoted from Albert Einstein  The quote is especially true for persons who tend to fly by the seat of their pants.  With art, every venture is new, and when it stops being new… it stops being art.  So a lot of mistakes are made that never make it onto the gallery floor.  For me, about twenty percent of the time I produce art that is a reject, a hot mess, or an emotional let-down (something that doesn’t quite physically match what’s in my head.) These are tucked away or tossed away as not meant for public experiential consumption.

The following would fall into the ‘hot mess’ category.

The vision: three Styrofoam decoy ducks painted a shiny fluorescent pink gracefully floating atop a living bed of foxtail barley.  In my head, the movement of the feathery grass would give the appearance of waves.  What my vision failed to incorporate was that 1) Styrofoam does not hold paint well and 2) decoys are weighted in the bottom in order to stay upright as they float on WATER.

The process that ensued can be described as one sloppy struggle after another until any grace leftover from the original concept was schmeared into oblivion.  There are times when slate-wiping is in order.

It was a good idea poorly executed and as with all mistakes, a learning experience.  Round one goes to the garbage man, but the concept deserves to be reanimated.  I am now mentally tinkering with the physics and facets of duck decoys and am approaching the project with much less ‘fly by the seat of my pants.’  I believe a trip to Gander Mountain is in order.

In the future, if you stroll past my house and see fluorescent pink ducks floating in my backyard, being privy to the process will (it's my hope) encourage a smile.