In 2021 I was exploring making vector patterns from photographs of small elements of plants. The leaves of a crassula 'Jade' plant that had died were fascinating for this purpose. Hard as metal, shining, textured and the reverse of the plump succulent leaves they had once been. More lovely and more interesting, perhaps? The first, exuberant, 'Flight Dance' was the result of my experiments. Four years on I returned to a few of my early compositions to look at them with new eyes. 'Flight Dance, 2' was the result of one of these dialogues between then and now. This version is more measured, with a smaller central bundle of vectorised leaf patterns and a simpler layout. Together they also helped me understand the themes and techniques that I most enjoy exploring and find deeply satisfying. The first is taking an element from the natural world and giving it a new digital life. The second is a focus on repeated constituent parts building up to a new whole. Here the groups of leaves are layered and moved on their axes to create a similarly circular shape to the original. The third is the power, and the playfulness, of semi-abstract compositions to carry multiple meanings simultaneously. The title of the piece suggests one interpretation - a work containing the essence of movement, the idea of fear ('flight') combined with enjoyment ('dance'). This is acts as a tentative bridge to a viewer to convey what the piece says/said to me. In later pieces I used either more descriptive titles that were flatly factual or, as in something like the 'Rescue Petunias' spoke to a story behind them. Titles are always an interesting struggle between the seen and the hidden, I find.