The artist understood what had to be done even if she didn't know where she was going with the elephants made of jade, agate, jasper, and onyx.
She set the elephant mobile flat on her worktable, her hands tentative along the pieces of her failed design that didn't inspire an elevation in the room. It wasn't going to be easy to start over, and the knots in the artist's shoulders tensed over the thoughts of failing again. Long minutes passed without any movement in progress, the creative flow a slow process. Remembering that little by little, she will get there. Her hands returned to her creation. She took the cutter and brought the sharp, steel blades to the wire supporting the baby elephant alone on one side. She snapped the copper chain, her breath still as the fire-polished glass beads rolled off and the elephant loosened on the mat. She made another snip, giving herself a second chance that came with starting over. Her fingers feeling a mild relief when clearing away the materials that no longer worked. The last wire remnant was removed. Only the core elements remained and placed in a new space on a white, porcelain tray. A better design was waiting for the artist to uncover it—that promise repeated as needed to quiet the doubts. Working with more carefree hands, the artist rearranged the four elephants in various positions. When she moved the fourth elephant to the side, she paused for a moment. She was beginning to see where she had gone wrong in her original design. The distance between each elephant had been too far apart, and it was the reason causing the disharmony in the mobile. The realization sparked a new arrangement, and the artist's fingers were now following a different path back to the root—the strength of the elephants was in their union, supporting and protecting each other through the journey of life. A new design was emerging. The artist brought together the other supporting elements—the Botswana agates, chalcedonies, beads, brass, and copper connectors—to the tray. She decided to go with three elephants and not four in the redesign, remembering the feng shui concept in the mystical power of three and the good fortune it brings. She envisioned a mobile with the elephants united in a vertical, harmonious flow. No longer were they positioned far apart from each other across the copper plane. Her hands embraced the change, trusting the creative process and the lessons learned from past efforts. She gathered the spheres of mixed metal elements to the other side in the open space, then placed the red creek jasper above the copper horizon. The materials were weighed and adjusted until a balanced combination was reached. The artist's fingers went to work with the cutter and pliers, measuring, cutting, looping, bending, and twisting the copper wires into form. Her hands carefully connecting each piece, feeling a momentous movement past the earlier trials and errors. She hooked the last copper ring and completed the redesign. The artist set her pliers down and rose from behind her worktable. She lifted the mobile with the three elephants united, their stance etched with lines of courage. Each guided by a light within and above. This time together lifting each other up, no matter which way they turned. In the air, the mobile carried with it a harmonious flow of calm and clarity that became its own strength. Raising the mobile higher, the artist felt the fortitude of the elephants uplifting the space. On that special day, she gave the design a new name and embraced the elephant journey. A note about the photograph at the top: It is an art print entitled Elephant Dream by freelance illustrator and fine artist, Yelena Bryksenkova, for Anthropologie. Comments are closed.
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