Who Moved My Pear?

Here is the rundown of my process in creating this piece. Apart from the many mad hours of dreaming, rough sketches and random thoughts, I have done my best to pull my ideas together to help you understand where my mind goes when I create my work.

In the past I have normally kept this process to myself but I am now having a lot of fun sharing it. So thank you in advance for reading. 

The search for ideas…

For this piece, I previously had ideas and a very loose plan based on my own story floating around in my head, waiting until the right opportunity appeared. 

I had been asked to do a commission along a similar vein for a client, and it was high time to take it a step further and give the ideas and the loose plan a more solid form. 

In the end, the commission piece I created for the client was a different idea, but I knew I had to get this one out, as it’s been plaguing my mind for too long. Once I created it, it found the perfect home in very short order. 

A labyrinth of thought…

The Labyrinth in Greek Mythology was originally designed by the architect Daedalus to hold the Minotaur, a ferocious mythical creature with the head and tail of a bull and a man’s body.

What I love about this myth is that Daedalus had built the Labyrinth so well that he could barely find his own way out after he built it. I liken this to our own human minds. We create our own barriers for ourselves and trap ourselves inside them. There is an easy way out, but that is something we also have to create for ourselves, and it’s not that difficult once we understand the logic behind it.  

This is the feeling I wanted to capture in this piece. So often the answer is staring us right in the face and we don’t even see it. 

In this piece you will see my ongoing character, The Peregrine Man, sitting on the edge of the maze observing what is going on. There is a clear pathway right through the middle of the maze and he is wondering why everyone else isn't taking this path.  

To hammer this point home a little further, the Roman Numeral 5 is sitting right in front of him which is in the shape of V for victory. The answer to his question could not be any clearer and yet he is still confused by everyone else’s actions and remains hesitant. 

In most cases of our wonderful human race, we all just fall into line and follow one another into the maze, but if we are to open our eyes, the pathway through the maze is clear. It is just a small shift in thinking, and on the other side of this breakthrough there is beauty and wonder beyond imagination. 

Personally, I never wanted to conform to this world, and art became my way and freedom from it. Even in my days of having cancer as a kid, art became my escape. 

Essentially art is my way out, which is why this piece is very close to my heart. I love telling this story of my search for freedom. If you would like to hear me talk more about this, please check out this podcast with Dr Joti Samra. https://tardigradetalks.com/episodes/william-higginson/

There are many layers to my thoughts behind this piece, but most of all I painted it to learn about myself. 

Like most people, I am not immune to creating mountains out of mole hills, but I am certainly better at avoiding it these days. Even being aware of my reactions to certain circumstances still lands me in the Labyrinth of the mind on so many occasions. Like any problem in life though, I like to believe there is a solution, should you choose to see it.

My wife Olga and I now have a saying that we apply to every scenario each day no matter how big or small. If presented with a mammoth task, the first words accompanied with a smile are “Too Easy!” The moment we reshape any task to these words, the weight of it is removed from our minds and we have taken one step forward to the Larbyrinth’s exit. Even if we know it is simply the placebo effect taking place.  

So to sum it up, it has taken me many years to switch my thinking any time I am faced with a challenge, and it is an ongoing battle. All I know is that each day that I take one step forward to improve my mind, my exit from my own personal maze gets closer. 

Here are some progress images from 2019. Thank you for reading.