The “one square inch” test

Time to zoom in on a detail (and..why??)

Every now and then, I catch myself standing in front of a piece that feels completely off. It’s too much, or not enough, or just… something I can’t name. I’ll step back. I’ll squint. I’ll take photos and look at it in grayscale. But sometimes, no matter what I do, it still feels like noise.

That’s when I use what I call the “one square inch” test.

It’s simple. I choose one tiny area (typically about the size of a postage stamp) and just look at that. Not the whole composition, not the overall theme, not even what I think it’s supposed to say. Just that one small section. I let everything else fade out. And almost every time, something starts to make sense again.

When you look that closely, you notice things you can’t see in the big view. The way a line breaks and reconnects. The shift between two colors that almost hum when they touch. The marks that look accidental but actually carry all the energy you’ve been chasing. That little square becomes its own world. Sometimes it’s the strongest part of the work. Other times it’s the weakest. But it always tells me something true.

If that square inch feels alive, I know where to go next. I can follow that feeling across the rest of the piece…and then to carry its energy outward. And if it feels flat, I can ask why. Maybe the surface is too careful. Maybe the color is trying too hard to be “right.” Maybe I stopped playing too soon. It’s a good reminder that a piece doesn’t have to make sense all at once. You can fix one square inch, and that might be enough to shift the whole thing.

It works in digital spaces too. Sometimes I’ll zoom way in on a design or a digital painting until all I see are pixels and edges. When you stop thinking about the whole project and focus on the tiniest part, the work becomes human again. You can see the choices, the layers, the effort that got buried in the rush to finish.

There’s something grounding about that.

We spend so much time trying to see the big picture (to make the full piece come together) that we forget how much of the truth lives in the small things. The tiny corner of color you didn’t plan but now love. The texture that only shows up under certain light. The evidence of your hand.

The “one square inch” test isn’t really about editing or correcting. It’s about paying attention. It’s a way of remembering that every piece, no matter how large, is made up of a thousand small moments that matter. So the next time you feel overwhelmed by what you’re making, try this. Pick one little square. Sit with it. Let it tell you something about the rest of the work.

Because often, what we think needs fixing isn’t the whole thing at all. It’s just one small part asking to be seen.