In January, I began working on a new project. I had a vague idea of creating a space-themed piece, but I wasn't sure what direction I wanted to take it. I started by experimenting, going all in on the idea of bright colors and glowing stars. I referenced images from the James Webb Space Telescope (and some of the palettes have some names based on those photos).

It was missing something, though. Variation was low and I wasn't sure what extra "layer" I should add. I decided to try adding overlapping circles. I had used this technique in my previous projects, September and Stepping Stones. This really clicked for me, and I felt like I had a path forward.

I shared some images, thinking I was close to releasing, but I heard some feedback that it was too similar to September. I know I shouldn't let others decide things for me, but they were right. While I thought the overlapping circles were fine, the project didn't have anything that made it stand out. I decided to put it aside and work on other projects for a while.

This has been a hard project for me to finish. September was my most successful project by far, and following it up with a new piece has been the cause of a lot of anxiety. Stepping Stones and Agave & Patchwork were fun, not-serious projects, so I wasn't stressed about releasing them. So really, this is something I've been putting off for ~6 months. I've come to accept that not everything has to be bigger and better, more expensive, grander; and that it's okay. It's okay to release something that's just different. I'm creating for the fun of creating, not to work towards one "perfect" piece of art.

In April, I came back to it to finish this project. I've learned to pause projects if I'm getting tired of them, but they aren't done. Coming back to something after some time away gives a fresh perspective. Otherwise, it's a never ending cycle of disliking your own work and only seeing the flaws, which I am definitely guilty of. I wouldn't say I'm a perfectionist, but it's hard to remember everyone else is seeing the final product for the first time; they haven't refreshed thousands and thousands of test outputs. I didn't love September at the time of minting because I was so in the weeds finishing it, but I guess that turned out okay.

Because there's a decent amount of variation, and I want people to have some control in their output, I've decided to use fx(params) for this release. Each wallet is given a set of randomized seeds to look through. These are the only outputs that wallet can mint. The parameters of the project consisted of just a single control (the seed parameter). Think of this as a personalized set of outputs that only you can mint. I encouraged people to take their time and pick their favorite output(s).

Below is a series of outputs, showing the progress from the very beginning to the final project. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy <3

One last feature I've added is a B-side to each output. This reversed output uses shapes that I didn't end up including in the final product by default, but it pairs with your output to create a diptych.