Sometimes It Takes Time to See...

Pre-pandemic I made a banner.

You know the type you hang out in front of the house for holidays or seasons of the year.

For this one, I got a piece of canvas, drew a picture (a couple of triquetrae, an arch, and a river otter) painted it with acrylics (both sides), sealed it against the weather, and used it.

Overall, I was pleased with the results.

Although... something about it bothered me, I could not identify exactly why I was not satisfied.

This banner was made to hang when I go to historical events. As a member of a living history organization, The Society for Creative Anachronism ("What is the SCA? | Society Seneschal"), I painted it with my heraldry to help identify where I camp.

So of course, with the pandemic, I did not go to events. I rolled up the banner and put it away with my other SCA items. Only to pull it out when the organization opened once more for activities.

This past weekend, I was so jazzed to attend my first SCA event in eighteen months!

Out came my banner! Yay!

Then I looked at it. My first thought was I had painted a mutant otter... what on earth was I thinking?

I had become so focused on the nose, and trying to get the front end right, that I basically ignored the tail!

The proportions are all skewed!

Grin, time to make a new banner... this time I'll pay a little more attention to proportions, put the drawing away for a couple of weeks, then look at it again before I paint the banner itself.

Hopefully, that will give me time to get the blinders off, and really look at what I have drawn.

Sometimes, some time away, allows us to really see what we have done