I created the original sketch in 2015 in our family van, while my husband drove us for the first time to Traverse City, Michigan for vacation. Our neighbors, who were Michigan natives, had recommended this spot for us. It was a long drive, but well worth it. We have been in love with Michigan ever since!
I always bring a box of things to entertain our boys, and myself for long trips. At the time, my oldest son, was really into Kumihimo, the art of weaving string into beautiful ropes that were once used to create armor for Japanese warriors.
I just know that when I first organized this box of string...a plethora of colors...I had a moment of weekness in the embroidery string section at the craft store....I just know it was all organized and no strings were tangled. When I opened it this time, about 5 hours into our road trip, the box was a maddening tangled mess...something that really makes me lose my shit! For some reason, I have a problem with tangled strings...even the mention or idea of it makes my blood pressure go up.
But this time, it was different. Rather than have an OCD moment and try to detangle the globby spaghetti-like pile of colors, I got out my tiny sketch book, my new set of oil pastels, and focused on one little section of the strings.
It was beautiful. I started capturing my focused view and putting what I saw down on paper.
If you look hard enough, you can always find beauty amongst the chaos.