Serendipity and the Art of Letting Go

This week’s word is serendipity – those happy accidents that seem to find you when you’re not looking. The word itself comes from an old Persian tale about three princes who kept stumbling upon discoveries by chance, guided by curiosity and awareness rather than control.

In my art, serendipity feels like the moment a drip lands perfectly, or a colour I didn’t plan suddenly makes the whole piece sing. In mindful photography, it’s being there just as a green leaf falls into a puddle in front of me.

Serendipity reminds me to stay open — to see “mistakes” as possible gifts and surprises as collaborators. The more I relax, the more it happens.

Serendipity reminded me of Ithell Colquhoun, a Cornish surrealist whose work explored spirituality and the subconscious. She embraced chance through dripping and blotting, creating random shapes, then letting intuition reveal forms within them. I tried the same: dropping paint, pressing paper, letting colours merge. Each image felt like a small conversation between control and surrender.

The 12″x12″ panel below was created in a similar method as her moving tarot cards.

We went to an exhibition of Ithell’s work at Tate Britain this summer and it was inspirational.   Here is a quick YouTube tour – unfortunately the exhibition closed in October 25.