Today is Day Four of the Art Apple A Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.

Day Four – October 4, 2010

Looking back 10 years ago today…

It only took me half the day this time to come up with my apple idea – this was progress! Or… so I thought.

Unfortunately, I bit off more of the apple than I could chew ~ baahhh!

My inspiration came as I thought of those cool images that were all the rage about 10 years ago where little tiny photos created a mosaic and created a larger image… so with sticking with my 5″ x 5″ rule for my apples I decided I needed 20 rows high by 20 rows wide or a mere 400 tiny, itsy bitsy pieces cut out from magazines. Piece of cake!

I’m laughing thinking about it now but this apple almost broke me. For real.

On day four.

I was probably 3/4 done at 10pm when my husband Doug returned from his business trip. He walked into my studio space. saw me in the midst of one heck of a mess, hair in a bun, a glass of wine (I’m guessing) by my side because I was frantic at that point.

I HAD to post before midnight or I had failed without even making it a week.

And this lovely man who had married the vivacious me, watched me fall into the pit of poor health, be ridiculed and cast aside by doctors, gone to appointments with me to be my advocate, helped support me while we found answers, and saw the devastation the pain wrought… this man, rolled up his sleeves and started searching for the colors I needed in the magazines and then started cutting them out and helping me get it done.

This apple represents everything this project is and was (chaotic, glorious, painstaking, detailed, and full of love) and because of that and all the pieces that we were so persnickety to find and place – it is my favorite of all the 365 apples.

And… I got it posted just in the nick of time (and it wouldn’t be my last just before midnight finish)!

To see my original forth post from 10 years ago click here or on the image above.

And the story will continue tomorrow!

Side note ~ As I post these retrospective thoughts I hope I’m making it clear to new and old followers what is going on. Doug (my husband) read my post from yesterday and was thinking I was talking present day. I’ve added some clarification language in the post title [Looking Back – Day ___] and adding “Looking back 10 years ago today…” before I start the reflection post. I hope that helps.

Also, I’m writing the backstory now – for myself – because I need to clarify a lot of this in my mind and I want/need to revisit it all. This is my story – it is for me. If you wish to read – I love that but I have no anxiety or hopes tied into this year as I did 10 years ago. There will be a lot of honesty and a mea culpa here and there but as many know the last few months of the project were met with a lot of controversy that I never addressed. I need to address the story to move forward and between now and then I hope there is also new and interesting information about A.S. and my journey these past 10 years sprinkled throughout. xO