I experienced a happy accident today while working on an originally modest, meandering doodle (eventually titled Involvement) that I chose to keep developing until it filled the allotted space and seemed like enough but not too much. I was in the process of saving it and exporting a .jpeg when I decided to stop and experiment with flipping the image's orientation. I made a copy, flipped it, decided I didn't like the look of the mirrored version, and went to turn off the offending layer but first turned on the original layer, leaving a new hybrid on the screen... and I was immediately entranced. A whole new vision emerged, darkly seductive to the point that I lost interest in the bare original.
The original drawing, Involvement, has a large central figure surrounded by line forms. I wasn't in love with it but felt it was worth seeing through to completion.
Involvement (2019) digital art by Kevin McLaughlin
The accidental image, while technically symmetrical, is nonetheless varied and full of things to discover (in a kind of Rorschach-test way). It has one level of interest seen close up, and when viewed from a few feet away there is a subtle op-art effect in certain places. I find it more interesting than the intended work (above)... What do you think?
Involvement Mirror Shrine (2019) digital art by Kevin McLaughlin
