Word of the Week - RESOURCEFUL


It's good to be resourceful. Remember this saying?

"Make it last
Make it do
Use it up
Wear it out."

Sometimes as artists we can be seduced by the newest wonder product out there. Because Formula X, or Pattern X, or that special paper or that special cloth will help me really make something GREAT. Well.....maybe. But there are times when our very limitations are what cause us to be creative. What can I make with THIS fabric, with THAT paper, etc. Have the job of creating is working with the materials. Now I'm not against products - remember, I am the proud owner of a quart of metallic gold gesso. But it's not the PRODUCT that creates the art, it's US. And if we are really artists, we can create with what we have on hand. That's being RESOURCEFUL.

Warmly,
Dixie

4 comments:

Shabby Cottage Studio said...

Oooo, yes I can relate to the wanting every new toy that comes along thinking it might make me a better artist. And of course you're right, it's not the toy, it's our hearts, our hands, our eyes and our imaginations, and some of my best works have been when I've looked around me and reached for what I already have. Good post Dix!

Deborah said...

Boy, isn't that the truth? The enticement of the latest and the greatest art items! I've nearly killed myself on several occasion tracking down just the right stuff that I needed...and much of it is still sitting unopened.

Okay, now this thing about getting cut by a Gummy Bear? Should we blog about Gummy Bears next week? Or Bob the Tomato?

Gerushia's New World said...

Dixie: How interesting this post is to me. The whole idea of making do and stepping back from excessiveness keeps popping up in my life. My pastor has been on a roll about this lately. Yesterday in church, he challenged us to "Sell it or Skip it". Between now and Mother's Day in May, we are going to learn to deal with what we covet. We can either sell some of the things that define us, the luxuries that we think we can't live without or skip some of our needless luxuries. Maybe it's breakfast out once a week or a pedicure. We'll take the money that it would have cost us to get a pedicure or breakfast out and put it in a jar. On Mother's Day, we'll bring all the money that we have "saved" and it will all go to several different charities that the congregation chooses.

My kids are already talking about all the things they have that they don't really need. It made for great conversation at dinner last night.

Great post, Dixie.

Kim
Garden Painter Art
gnarly-dolls

Denise Aumick said...

I have no idea how to DIVEST myself of anything that I think might have any value - whether it be aesthetic, potential or emotional value. For sure I have way more than stuff than a person needs - to live or to create art. Sometimes I wonder if all this STUFF gets in the way of clear thinking.


"Do not let what you cannot do
keep you from doing what you can do."

John Wooden