The Retina – Part III

After returning from the winter break, I was eager to start working with the next color – orange.  This turned out to be a very slow and painstaking
process.  These orange beads are a bit larger than the seed beads that I typically use and they needed to be tightly packed.

I often struggle with turning off the scientific side of my brain, which wants
to do everything in a systematic fashion.  Here, I tried to make the pattern a bit more stochastic, which is more likely to be physiologically relevant.  I did my best to not only sew on the beads in an irregular pattern, but also include a factor of chance in the orientation of each bead.

Nevertheless, in some aspects, my logical side still took over.  For example, I felt a greater harmony when filling in one stripe at a time.  Since all spaces would eventually be filled in, it would make no difference in the final piece, but it made the process more enjoyable for me.  It was very disappointing to me when I ran into the problem of the wooden frame of the canvas not allowing the needle to get through around the edges.  I was strongly considering not proceeding until I resolve this issue and stick to the pattern, but then decided that progress is more important.  I ended up purchasing C-shaped needles to sew surgeon-style around the edges.

So far, I like how each layer has its own character.

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