
I thought that the letter “K” deserved a visual illustration rather than a story. Whenever I’m in the midst of feeling like things aren’t coming together perfectly, I step back and try to do something colorful. It’s a form of venting for me.
At first, when considering the Alphabet Game, I wanted to use the word Kumbaya. The problem I had was that there were so many different articles, meanings of, and thoughts about Kumbaya that my idea suddenly lost its luster. Then I had an idea for the barbershop series – a character named Kitty – but things were dragging on the story end.
It’s possible that I’ll come back to both of these ideas someday, or at least use the images that I made for both of them, but for the time being it seemed like a really good time to do an illustration for the word I settled on – Kaleidoscope.
My illustration is colorful and dreamlike, like a kaleidoscope. It’s funny that I always refer to my dreams as colorful though, because color is probably one thing that I never remember about my dreams.
Anyway, this began as a girl in a rather large, floppy hat. She is now doubly exposed, which makes sense because – according to Merriam-Webster – kaleidoscopes have two mirrors in them. Another dictionary defines kaleidoscope as a continually changing pattern of shapes and colors, which actually describes life – when you think about it.
I like to think of the illustration as something that represents how I see myself – because it’s difficult to define and label. I’ve spent time trying to do just that… define and label myself... and it was eye opening to realize that attempting to do so was not only counterproductive, but that the process itself can stifle, suffocate, and paralyze.
Like the kaleidoscope, we undergo constant change, and fluidity is the key – not definitions or labels. That’s what I finally realized, and I like that. I like it a lot.
So… I think that’s about all for now.
Thanks for coming by, I hope you enjoyed my illustration and my thoughts on the “K” word.
I’ll be back again soon… for the letter “L.”
Until then,
Peace & Love!