My work chum Andy was a bit bemused by the logo next to the title of the website "What's that supposed to be?" he asked, "Isn't that obvious" I replied, "It's a collaged seagull with a hat and scarf on". "Flying about on the east coast can be mighty cold you know so you've got to wrap up warm" I added. "Oh" he replied.
I asked my brother Jamie what he thought the image was later that evening, seeing as it had bemused Andy. "When I first looked at it I thought it was a dragon fly and then when I looked closer I could see it was one of the bird images that you put on the back of your cards". "Did it bother you that the image wasn't readily apparent?" I followed up with. "Not at all - when you look close you can see what it is".
I guess this is something that is true of much of my work. When I took part in Art on the Street back in May, one visitor to my stand spent ages looking at my Regatta Rowers picture and when I pointed out some of the component parts he was suprised that he had missed them at first glance. "That's really clever he said - you've got to look close as it's not what you think it's made of is it?". Exactly. Life is very much in the details and sometimes we need to pause and really look to 'see'.
In case the seagull logo has caused you to question your eyes or think "what on earth is that supposed to be?" here's a bigger version: