#86 Strawflower Maze - Occasionally it takes years for me to finish a maze. I come up with the concept and start drawing,
but something goes wrong and I lose my enthusiasm. Sometimes I shelve it. Other times I try to push through and finish it.
The latter course is rarely successful.
This maze started in the fall of 2019 after I grew strawflower for the first time. I made a bouquet of these self drying flowers and photographed them from many angles. After studying their form, I started sketching and immediately ran into a mental block. It didn't take me long to drop it and move on with other priorities.
Then in early winter of 2022 while working on another flower maze, I got my epiphany concerning the strawflower maze. I shelved the current project and started the strawflower maze from the beginning. I was so glad that I had the foresight to take all those photos so I could remember the details of the bouquet. My enthusiasm grew into an obsession and I completed this maze in three frenetic weeks.
I love the details in this maze as it reminds me of the visual effects that I experienced in early adulthood when experimenting certain illicit psychoactive concoctions and fungi. The spiraling sweeping patterns all piling on top of each other bring me great joy.
When initially drawing, I work in relatively low resolution. My older iPad just doesn't have the power to work with really large images. Once the maze is completely connected, I vectorize it and scale the image up to 12K.
This high resolution allows me the opportunity to print in enormous sizes. I hope to someday present my work on gigantic wall displays.
