Free Climbing

The vows are complete. Like the George Washington project, this project had many challenges due to the variety of materials involved. Projects like this always keep me on my toes. No matter how much you know about your medium of choice and how you would like something to look, different mediums allow different levels of control and have certain limitations. I have to say, I love paint. Paint is comforting. You can make mistakes, paint over, try again.

The most frightening aspect of George Washington and the Vows was the limited room for mistakes.

George: Ink calligraphy on goatskin parchment that was hard to find and very expensive. (Besides the fact that a goat gave his life so I could commemorate George in a historically accurate way). The whole time I was writing on the goatskin I thought, "What if my pen leaks? What if I accidently misspell a word? If I make a mistake, there's no going back!"

Vows: Everything fixable and replaceable except the middle. The center was signed by everyone at their wedding. They will never have another wedding day. When will they ever have that assortment of family and friends together again? I feared the moment when I had to cut the circle or glue it to the final paper. What if I slip up? Glue it crooked? Change my mind about the final paper?

I can't help but have that anxiety when I work on projects like these. But then I think of people that do things I would never consider...like Dan Osman climbing with no ropes. Does he have that anxiety before he sets out for a climb? I'm sure he does. Maybe it's the anxiety that teaches him think through the problem thoroughly and make the right choices each time.