The Ugly Stage

Sometimes, when I’m working on a new piece, I hit a point where I don’t love what’s in front of me. I call this the ugly stage. Not every design goes through it, but the ones that do often turn into something especially fun and unexpected. At least, that’s what I remind myself when I start to feel frustrated that it isn’t coming together yet.

The photo here shows my current work in progress, and it’s very much in that ugly stage. I love the colors, but I started with two very different ideas, and now I’m figuring out how to get them to “talk” to each other. I also haven’t committed to the full design yet.

If you look closely, you may see a variety of ideas I’m working through and trying to decide between. There’s a good chance I keep none of them and something completely different comes out.

I’ve been working on this piece on and off for about four days. Most of my mandalas take one to two days to complete, so this one is already 'demanding' more time to develop. What’s interesting is that even the foundation began as a completely different plan before slowly morphing into this version.

This is one of my favorite parts of the process, even when it’s frustrating; letting a piece take its time and surprise me.

If there’s anything specific you’d like me to share more about in future posts, feel free to let me know.