trying anyway

Meabh Warburton’s post, Disappointing Day, sends my thinking in several directions:

To delightful collections of useless objects similar to her son’s bowl of broken pencil leads. I have a small jar filled with the little zig zag ends I cut off zippers at a time when I was sewing dozens of zipper bags.

In the same drawer I keep a box of cat whiskers, picked up off the floor with a “thank you!” to the cat who gifted it.

My thinking also goes to how difficult yet necessary it is to fail in the studio. It’s good to hear Andy Goldsworthy saying he makes a lot of crap when I admire his work so much. I’ve also heard that the Modernist painter Rawlston Crawford said “I reserve the right to make bad art”; a good reminder not to get too precious about results.

But when time in the studio is limited, and desperately needed, I need the encouragement that comes from success. Or at least from being satisfied with the general direction. To finally be working, and then look at the piece and see it’s limitations; that’s hard. So it’s good to know that I’m not alone, and to hear about the bad days.

6 Responses to “trying anyway”

  1. Ellen Says:

    Did I tell you my father collects lint???
    The little twists of it found on old socks, sweaters, under the bed, etc. Comes in many colors, though not so bright as these.
    When I remember to ask, I like to see how the collection has grown since I last visited.

  2. shula Says:

    I heart Meabh Warburton. What an eye for colour she has.

    Those zipper bits scream ‘mosaic’ at me.

    But then, most multicoloured things do.

  3. thenextstopwillbe Says:

    it looks like a spilled box of little crowns, if made by crayola.

  4. eliza Says:

    In grad school I learned that sometimes you HAVE to mess up in order to get what you want–this works especially well when you know your idea really won’t work but you can’t get it out of your head. Sometimes the failures lead to wonderful new ideas, or at least a clear head.

    Before I read your post I thought those zipper ends were the paper from crayons as well!

  5. buddha_is Says:

    Just today I finally threw out a bag of the excess pant legs I have had cut off from jeans over the years. Initially I thought I’d make a quilt, but I never made the time. “Something” in the attic made a nest in the bag in years gone by, there was no salvaging it.

  6. boodely Says:

    Wow, I love the idea of a lint collection. As well as the notion of “excess pant legs.” I really should make something with all those crayola crowns…

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