Culminating Process Intentions

At this point in the process I have a few ideas, but have not really made final decisions on my intentions for this piece.  Originally when the project had been presented to me I thought about representing my growth as a artist through the growth of a tree.  I would start out with a leaf then move to a small branch, then a larger branch, then part of the trunk, then the entire tree.  I was thinking it would be fun to represent this by creating a book and each page would represent a change.  I have been playing around with which materials I want to use to create this project.  Originally I was drawn to the ink on paper because of how well it worked in the last project and also just how much I enjoyed the lines I could make on the page.  I do feel like I might want to explore a different medium I am just not sure yet what that would be.  Last year I never used pen once, and I always struggled when I tried to draw simple sketches with pen, so for me it is really interesting this year to work with pen because for so long I have struggled so much with it.  I enjoy working with pen because it forces me to go with my errors and not focus on each tiny little detail trying to make it perfect, but instead the overall image.  Other mediums I have used are always very forgiving, you can always erase or paint over a mistake but pen doesn't allow you to do this so it has forced me to dive into mistakes and make them success.  I have to say while sketching I did get excited again about the idea of secret messages within my work.  As I was working away Tuesday a drew a leaf and added some shadow and all of a sudden I looked down and realized it looked exactly like letters that could create a word, which is what inspired me to possibly carry the theme of my last piece into this piece.  I am not sure exactly what my style is going to be in the future but creating secret messages that the outside person can't see, but by looking deeply can understand is a concept I really enjoy.  I feel like it overall reflects me as a person really well.  On the outside I look like a normal nondescript human being, but once people get to know me they understand and enjoy my company more.  Personally I feel like it is hard to uncover some of those deepest secrets I keep inside of me and it takes a lot of trust and friendship for me to share my feelings, and so the art I am working on and being inspired by I feel shows a lot about my personality.  I am not sure exactly how this process is going to go, but I am just going to follow my instincts and see how it turns out.  I am not sure exactly what other artists I should be looking at, but one that caught my eye for the last project and had some similar intentions was the artist I posted on my previous blog post.  The work this artist created with the masks definitely has a secret message that the reader has to understand and try and explain on their own which I think is kind of what I am looking to do.