Trust the scrap heap composition
I spent the last couple of days exploring a new concept for a piece about urban sprawl. Where to begin? What does it look like? I was stumped. So, instead, I decided to just play a game with myself that would hopefully crystalize some of the vague notions I had about the construction of the piece. I played the TRUST THE SCRAP HEAP game. I emptied a bin of scraps onto my worktable and chose any solid scrap that was under 10" square and no smaller than 2". I then cut each scrap into a 1.5" strip and randomly sewed them together. Good thing I only emptied one of my scrap bins because I would have been at the cutting table all week.
Strips all put together, I then cut them into 1.5" units and arranged them into a grid.
Now the revelation. You know those beauty sessions where they tell you what season you are? I am definitely autumn. This scrap heap showed me that I am drawn to neutrals and dirty midtone colors with an occasional spark of lime green or white. The composition worked because, even though I sewed the colors together randomly, I was able to rearrange the grid to play off the neutrals. Would I have chosen this set of colors for a piece without this random exercise? No. But, it has some validity since I chose the colors in past projects and they are all a piece of my aesthetic.
And now I know where I want to go with that urban sprawl piece.