Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Why Bother?

Barb left a thoughtful and interesting comment yesterday about Blooming Prosperity. (Scroll down if you haven't read about that mess.)

She says, "Deborah, I'm so glad you posted this. It raises a question that I've long had trouble with: Why/how do you finish something that you aren't happy with? I can't seem to do it. I have lots of infinished business lying around, but can't seem to "feel" a good reason to keep going with them. For instance, once everything but the binding is done and you don't like it, why bother to bind it? Is it a sense of completion, or something more?"

Hmmm. I don't know. Usually, I don't bother. I set work aside and move on to something else. I may come back to it with new ideas or it may get buried somewhere in the studio closet. With Blooming Prosperity, I was enjoying the actual "doing." I knew it wasn't great. But I liked making the stitches, digging through the beads and floss, cutting each piece just so. I think the process cleared my mind a bit to think clearly about what I would do next.

That's not to say that it's always worth the trouble.

In fact, what will I do with Blooming Prosperity now? I can't really "gift" it to anyone now that I've said I think it sucks. You know what Sonji would do? Snip, snip, snippity, snip. That might be a good option.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My dad used to tell me about an art teacher he had who once had his students take their finished drawing and turn it on it's head, ERASE it, and make another drawing on top. The moral of the story: let nothing be too precious to continue to explore (AKA Snip, snip, snippity, snip).

Anonymous said...

I have snipped, fused over, cut into a grid and rearranged. In face, I find it very satisfying to redo a piece that just didn't work.

Joanne S said...

Your piece had value--you enjoyed the process. Let that be enough. and let it sit awhile on the great pile we all have in our work areas.

Then, magically, years from now, you will see something in it and crop it, chop it, paint it, stamp it--who knows and it will become something new and different.

But thank you for allowing us to see what you think of as "not good enough". Critique is always a learning experience!!!