Painting of Lists

watercolor on paper. william hessian 2012.

This is surely a mess of a painting. I once saw an art exhibit of work by Laura Wennstrom. She had this one piece which was comprised of all these little note cards filled with lists of things she needed to do each day for an entire year. Then she sewed them all together to make a tapestry. This was important to me, because I also make lists and instantly I found the beauty in my lists, because i saw beauty and honesty in her lists. My ugly watercolor is a result of sloppy strokes. I could not toss the paper away, and began writing notes and making little sketches on it. Even a few private parts and hidden meanings. See if you can see them.

Some of the lists are real and functional. Some of the lists are metaphorical. And one of the lists is just plain made up. I could have made all the text on this blog post one big list. With numbers. It would have looked like this:

1. This is surely a mess of a painting
2. I once saw an art exhibit of work by Laura Wennstrom
3. She had this one piece which was comprised of all these little note cards filled with lists of things she needed to do each day for an entire year.
4. Then she sewed them all together to make a tapestry.
5. This was important to me, because I also make lists and instantly I found the beauty in my lists, because i saw beauty and honesty in her lists. My ugly watercolor is a result of sloppy strokes.
6. I could not toss the paper away, and began writing notes and making little sketches on it.
7. Even a few private parts and hidden meanings.
8. See if you can see them. 
9. Some of the lists are real and functional.
10. Some of the lists are metaphorical.
11. And one of the lists is just plain made up.
12. I could have made all the text on this blog post one big list.
13. With numbers.


I once made a webcomic about lists: