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We are going to put the biographies aside for just one week. There will be more next week, I promise.
I have been struggling with when to know the right time to put a piece of art that you have diligently been working on for months into "File 13", or better known as "the trash". Do any of you have that right brain/left brain tug of war going on? The struggle between throwing it away now, or trying one more thing to make something out of a project gone terribly wrong?
Oh the grandeur of the project when I first envisioned it. When I tried to take what was in my heart and head,and make my hands manipulate the gourd into this masterpiece. Well, I made the first attempt. Then after looking at it for about a month, I decided that it didn't quite measure up to what I had in mind and perhaps something else would be better. Perhaps if I cut the top off, removed the weaving and repainted it? After several more weeks of feeling confident that NOW I was on the right track, I forged ahead to make it better than my first piece ever could dream of becoming.
After staring at the "new and improved" version for about another three weeks, it too fell short. Should I? Should I not? Maybe just throw it away and stop agonizing about it? No, maybe if I cut it this way or that way, it will be perfect. Back to (almost) square one. After this third adjustment it now makes me laugh and maybe that was what it was supposed to do all along. I can not find the courage to stop thinking about it and just throw it away. What do you think?
Share your stories of your struggles, and maybe we can all smile together about those challenges that we as artists face every day. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Stay tuned.
Oh my heart goes out to you Lynda...
ReplyDeleteOne of a painter's hardest decisions is knowing when a piece is done, when to stop. And all too often, not having made the "right time" decision to quit, a piece ends up over-worked and then that is the time to trash it. Oh, there are a few things we can do to disguise or rescue small glitches here or there, but when the overall vision has become so blurred, that there isn't a life line in sight, it is time to commit the work to the deep 6. We just know. One of my largest and most complex pieces, a commission, was started SIX times before I knew I had it right.
Ah yes, when is it done? The point where if you touch it one more time, it is ruined? Quick, sign it, cause you know once you sign it, it is DONE.
ReplyDeleteI like that Lynda - Quick, sign it. It is truly a challenge to know when it is done - not like brownies. Right? You know the brownies are done when you can smell them. But, not so with art. And you can't do the Coco Chanel thing, she says, "always take off the last accessory you put on". Pretty hard to do if the paint is dry or the cut is made.
DeleteI've got a bunch of projects in "holding". They are waiting to be "finished" or made better. Maybe I'd be better off doing the "deep 6" as Richard put it. Or 86 them, or round file, them. At least then I wouldn't be having to store them. My husband isn't happy when he has to move them either. Oh, to have the discipline to use the trash! But wait.....
ReplyDeleteI can appreciate that--- "but wait"....If I only put it away for a week or so
ReplyDeletethen when I get it out I will know exactly what to do--
Well, maybe those things I started last year might be good candidates
for file 13????? One always needs a stash bin.