#40: When Play Becomes Purpose

Not everything starts with a plan.

Some of the most exciting work I’ve made lately didn’t begin with a clear goal or deadline — just a hunch, a thread to tug on. I didn’t know what it would turn into, or even if it would turn into anything at all. I just wanted to see what happened.

And now, somehow, I’ve found myself in the middle of a project that feels like it matters.

…and yes, I know I’ve spoken about this process before. It’s creativity, it’s flow, it’s art!

Starting Without Stakes

The moiré portrait work I’m doing now began as a quiet sort of test. I had this idea to layer printed images with patterns on acetate, to explore how moiré effects could interact with faces — to interrupt the image, distort it, make it move.

At first, it was purely curiosity. I was printing inkjet images, cutting Perspex, overlaying acetate — no pressure, no expectations. It was a technical puzzle more than anything.

And that’s what made it exciting. There was no “final piece” in mind. Just a question: What if I try this?

Letting the Work Speak First

There’s something powerful about working without knowing the outcome. It makes space for surprise. And gradually, the tests began to speak back. A few of them started to feel like more than tests. They had weight. Mood. Potential.

That was the shift.

I stopped seeing them as scraps on the studio table and started seeing them as maps — blueprints for paintings.

Not finished work, but beginnings with direction.

The Joy of Not Knowing (Yet)

What’s strange — and lovely — about this process is that I didn’t know I was building something that mattered until I was already in it. That’s the nature of play: it opens doors you didn’t know were there.

I think sometimes we assume that to make meaningful art, we need to start with meaning. But I’m learning that sometimes, meaning grows out of movement. Out of doing. Out of following a strange idea and letting it change shape in your hands.

Turning Point, Not End Point

I’m not finished. I haven’t yet painted the final versions. I’m still learning how to translate these visual experiments into oil on canvas — a whole new challenge, full of exciting unknowns.

But I know now that I’m not just playing.

I’m building something.

The project has purpose.

And it found me through process, not planning.

.M.

Be real.

Make art.

If you’d like to learn more about my creative process or see my latest work, feel free to reach out or check out the rest of my website.