Stretching out an extra post

This is in response to the question about the other version of "My Heart" I put up on the 11th asking "Why is it torn apart?"

Good question. I wish I had a definitive answer.

I rarely draw with intent, more with just an image in mind and go from there. But let me first give the best answer I can give, which is from the technical standpoint:

I drew another version showing the heart in a somewhat "repaired" state, but this isn't a sequel or prequel to the previous one. It's just two different images I had of the same concept. This is why I didn't number the two different drawings on purpose. While they did end up looking like finished pieces, for the most part, they're more like studies in my eyes.

The truth of the matter is, in the first version I (and from others who looked at it) thought it was hard to make out that the object being held was a broken heart. I tried hard to make it clear, but couldn't do it without losing the finger detail that I liked. I also wanted to make it more clear that the heart was sewn together in some fashion. So I went with doing another version including the changes I wanted.

Now for those who want some sort of meaning, here's what I came up with in the past 7 minutes after going over what I drew one more time:

Guess it makes sense that even sewn together the heart isn't fully sewn together. On a visual level, I don't think I could've accomplished the stitches details to make it clear, therefore making this alternate version a moot point, but I guess if you had to put some weird psychological spin on it, a broken heart is never fully recovered. Now the act of sewing is significant because if you go back to the tradition of Greek mythology, we come to the figure of the Fates, or the Moirae, who used thread. One to spin it, one to measure and the third to cut. One could also cross reference to the Norns of Norse tradition who represent the past, present and future in the form of Urd, Verdandi and Skuld respectively. If we go to Asian, specifically Japanese, traditions, there's the idea that soulmates are connected by a red string of Fate.

So taking these influences to heart, one can conclude the significance of the sewn heart as having to do with a broken heart and memories, yet there is something unavoidable about it because as being part of fate, it is a natural human condition to feel this way. It also draws attention as to why even in its broken state, the heart is not fully together yet fully apart either. The memories, which are of the past, keeps the two pieces broken apart in its present state, while the thread of fate keeps them together for what comes in the future. And at the same time, this can be interchangeable, for the heart may be broken over what is to come and it is the past memories of disappointment that keeps things together. In this way, the mythological and folkloric symbolism works very well...

Ok, ok, that's enough of that. Honestly, you don't need any of the above. As I've said before there rarely is any logical way of thinking as to how I came about what I draw. Partly because my brain tends to work like a rickety old locomotive on an unreliable rail. It frequently jumps its tracks and goes off onto tangents with messy results. I'm very shallow about what I come up with and it's all very visual and I just like cramming things in that I think looks cool so any way to try and explain meanings behind it kind of fall flat because I was not thinking any of that while I was drawing. Now, if others want to apply some sort of meaning, that's fine with me. In fact, I encourage it. It's interesting to see what some things mean to some people, and if it's good enough to make you feel something or see something in it, well I'd be ridiculously flattered.