Day 31: Change My Perspective


I've learned three things in this 31 Days of Focus:

1.  I need to accept my creative style.
2.  I like sculpting more than sewing or painting.
3.  I need to look at my sculpts upside down.

Number 1 is key for me going forward.  I need to change my perspective and accept my creative style.

When I'm coming up on a big project, I collect stuff. Fabric, magazines, books, pictures on my hard drive, etc.   As I get closer to the project focus, I purge the stuff I've collected, usually in a fit of self-critical self-talk.  

But here's what I've learned.  While I am gathering stuff, I am thinking about the project in my head.   And then I plunge in, with clay and cloth and move forward.  I think this gathering phase is part of any work that I do. 

2 comments:

Jan Conwell said...

Your gathering phase is critical! I do sort of understand the purge as well, though. There have been times when I planned a doll down the tiniest minutia, and then when it came time to execute my plan, I took a left turn and went somewhere else. There were elements of my plan in there, and the time spent "fermenting" was crucial, but then that layer of spontaneous creativity has to assert itself. Maybe you could keep what you collect, and later begin to rearrange the elements into different ideas with other "collections" from other projects. Anyway, I'm just tickled you're back to sculpting!

Dixie Redmond said...

It's amazing how much negative self-talk I do about this, Jan. And yes, I need to let the creation take a left turn if it wants. :-)


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

John Wooden