Embroidered Collage

I struggled with getting the most out of this chapter of Finding Your Visual Voice partially because a chunk of the subjects that interest me don't fit the categories that Mitchell presented.  How would you classify Kambaba Jasper for example?  I expect you would consider it non-objective, but it was intended to be an actual depiction, only partially abstracted of the pattern in the stone.  It certainly doesn't fit as a still life, landscape, or portrait. 

Unsurprisingly, I like landscape and non-objective subjects best.  Interestingly enough, the previous chapter helped me look at portraits and still lives in a new light, because they can simply be settings for development of pattern.  I know that when I've been sketching faces it has been with the idea of using the collection of shapes as a structure for the artwork, not really to show the individual.  There are ideas I want to convey there, as well, that I'm not ready to tackle yet.

Another question was what degree of abstraction are you comfortable with?  Even if I had the skill to draw realistically, I can't imagine wanting to carefully render details and reality on a regular basis.  I want to change it.  I like pushing towards abstraction, almost all the way, actually, as is pretty clear in the work I've done.

An interesting thing about looking at the questions is that I can see what I've done in the past, but I am also prompted to think about it.  Was I doing what came naturally or was I doing what I thought I should?  Generally the answer is the former, instead of the latter.  But it's a thought process worth going through, because I feel more confident in my decisions as a result.