The creation of a new work. The Cracked Pot.

The story

As with most of my work, be it drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, the story comes first. For this new work I am thinking Indian folk tales. Time for research and then some hard thinking. At every stage of a work I tend to take photographs and then evaluate what has been done.

I do not believe in artistic block. Just need to think harder. To get inspiration I might look back through old sketch books and note books. I might listen to music or something will just appear. From where I do not know.

So last night I heard a new album by Jasdeep Singh Degun called Anomaly. Now listening to a track called ‘In Search of Redemption’. I am transported back to sitting on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, in Hampi, South India.

Redemption: the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil.

Indian folk story: The Old Woman and the Broken Pot. The water bearer felt sorry for the apologetic cracked pot who could not do his job properly. Each of us have our own unique flaws.

Here we go. I have the start of my story. Sleep on it.

I thought you might like to hear my version of the Indian story.

The Old Lady and the Broken Pot

Now listen up best beloved and I will tell you happy little tale of redemption.

High on a hill above the mighty Tungabhadra River near the little town of Hampi there lived a very important man. But this story is not really about him. It is about an old lady who worked for the important man. Each day one of her jobs was to walk down to the river, collect water and then carry it back up to the house of the important man.

To do this she had two pots that she carried on a yoke. One pot was perfect but sadly the other was cracked. Every day when she arrived back at the house the perfect pot delivered a full load of water but the cracked pot was always half empty. At the end of two years the cracked pot was very upset and had to apologise to the old lady for it’s fault of being cracked and leaking half of the water that she had collected from the river.

Fear not said the old lady to the broken pot, for I know you are cracked and leaked half of your water, but have you noticed the path from the river to the house? On your side of the path there are growing many beautiful flowers. This is because I had sown seeds by the path and your leaked water nourished the flowers. I have been able to pick bunches of flowers to grace the house of the very important man. He is very pleased.

So what is the moral of my tale and what does the word redemption mean?

Sketching ideas. For this work I will use my iPad and the Procreate app.

 

 

Laying out the work on paper.

The paper is called Khadi paper. It is hand made in India from cotton rag. Acid free and ready sized. It has lovely texture, thick with deckle edges. The size of this sheet is about 55x75cm. Rather expensive but worth it.

Pencil on paper

The layout on paper has changed considerably and it feels right.

Creating the work.