The Heart Project

I've had this project in my head for awhile, ever since I first saw the mural painted on the spot where a window used to be at the Centre of Hope, a place of refuge for our homeless population in downtown Fort McMurray. The mural is a collage of hand-painted images that forms a heart. Simple. Beautiful.

The thought of constructing something similar from bits of different coloured paper popped into my head right away, and despite the passing of several weeks, perhaps a month, the idea remained.

I am like my son Ben, or maybe he's like me, but when we get a creative idea in our minds, we can't shake it. So, this weekend, I cut down a piece of laminate, sketched out a heart, then started cutting little pieces of coloured paper from the fashion pages of an old edition of Vanity Fair. It's slow meticulous work, but it's beginning to take shape.

Anyone who knows me really well from the distant past (the 1990's) will tell you that I have a propensity for doing creative pieces that require a tremendous amount of detail, and infinite patience. It's been a long time since I tackled something like this, but I'm enjoying the zen-like state it puts me in. My life is a whirlwind of activity, and somehow, having this devil-in-the-details project, is providing relief, a pleasant distraction.

My best art has always been destined for others. As a piece develops, the answer strikes me who it should go to when I'm done. The Heart Project, started just a few days ago, may end up going to someone at the Harvest of Hope coming up on September 18th, a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society. We'll see how it turns out. I love the idea that many random pieces of paper and colour are coming together to create something beautiful.

August 31, 2010 - 198.4 pounds, 29.4% body fat