Gettin’ It Right!
I love problem solving in my art-making. I love tweaking, and trimming, and refining my process. I love watching the work improve with each new little innovation I learn and apply to the work.
This process of improvement is not a quest for perfection, but of excellence. I’m going to try to stay away from any discussion of the perils and pitfalls of so-called perfection. I’ll just say that the pursuit of perfection is nothing more than a futile dead end.
PURSUING EXCELLENCE
A very long time ago, I chose to pursue excellence with all of its twists, turns, and variations. And what that means in my handmade work that there are variations (not “imperfections”) in the work. These variations stand as a testimony to the maker’s hand in the making. I love the fact that, try as I might, the joins and seams of my collage quilt-block pieces are somewhat uneven. I enjoy that elements don’t match-up precisely, try as I might to make them do so. When I’ve finished, I see the variety of “marks” in the work because I made it all by hand. I love that. Marks of the maker is the inspiration behind the name of my ESTY store – Fingerprints. It’s also a faith thing with me; that God’s hand is everywhere in His creation.
MY PROCESS
Lately I’ve been building my 4-Panel Collage Quilt-blocks – I call them Quads for short. I got to thinking about what it takes to make just one of them and realized that there’s a boatload of hand-work involved.
I begin by painting the papers; 18 x 30-inch sheets, onto which I paint visual textures using donated (upcycled) latex house paints. I must have some 80 or 90 cans in various sizes, and with various colors. I love latex because it covers like acrylic, but it mixes and washes like watercolors. It’s incredibly versatile, and I’m keeping it all out of a landfill somewhere.
Once the paper-stocks are dry, trimmed and pressed for a week, I cut each collage piece according to the quilt-block pattern I’m following. Allowing for some edge overlap, I develop an assembly process for each design so that I achieve a well made block.
These blocks are glued-up onto either Masonite panels for single block artworks, or onto upcycled file folder card. The “singles” as I call them, are given a finish, framed, and sold. The rest of the work goes into the larger quad-pieces through a series of combining, cutting, and working with all of those “patches”, just the same as a quilt-maker does when doing a quilt top.
There’s a lot of thinking time when I’m working on these pieces. There’s a lot of mental energy spent thinking and re-thinking through the step I’ve just completed, the step I’m into, and the step I’m working toward.
MENTAL MOMENTS
In those mental moments I’m always having to tell my judgmental left-brain to just shut-up and go sulk in the corner. This is right-brain time and I don’t need the criticism and fear. It’s amazing to me that it takes this kind of mental discipline to quiet the judge/critic, even as my hand is approaching the work with another glue-backed piece.
“You’ve got to get it ‘right’!”, I hear, and I just block him/it. I think, “I am getting it right – not ‘perfect’ but excellent, and right.” I remind that little left-brain punk that it’s not an artist. Right-brain is the artist. It’s kind of like having a bold bullying kid going up against a gentler, quieter kid and having to defend the gentler one. I don’t isolate my right-brain, because the conflict teaches me to make choices about which one to “listen to”.
It’s what Betty Edwards teaches in her masterwork. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Her entire thesis rests on teaching readers/students how to silence the left-brain, activate the right-brain, and know when that has happened.
YOUR THOUGHTS?
What’s your inner judgmental conflict like? How do you deal with what’s so often been called the “inner-critic”? What resources do you use to raise your self-confidence, and maintain it amid the risk-taking of creativity?
Tweakings
Collage Minis / Handpainted paper collage / 5.25" x 7.25" approx. / (c) 2012 Lewis M. Curtiss jr~
In the last couple of weeks I’ve concentrated on getting my websites linked to one another (Art Making & Social Media). Things didn’t work correctly at first, even though I followed the instructions. It’s just something about me, I guess. Anyway some very helpful folks at ESTY Support walked me through it and on the third try, voila, I was connected!
I’ve been reading a few art marketing blogs, and my gleanings have lead me to evaluate what it is I’m offering as finished art works. This is more than just mere marketing and promotion, it’s about my need to take a second, third, and fourth look at my God-given mission; That my art practice will result in changed lives to God’s glory.
My reading has helped me to articulate what I physically create and why, as well as figuring out where and how I’m going to “show & sell” what I make. I make 5-lines of artworks and will eventually be selling them in 2 different venue contexts. I forget where I heard it, but when it comes to selling artworks, context is everything.
Decorative Beauty
I make Coptic Bound journals, Collage Minis, and Collage Quilt Blocks. These three lines of art-works fall into a decorative realm because that’s what they are – decorative. They’re fundamentally made to offer some beauty to the lives of those who buy them.
The journals are idea/memory catchers (Books & Bindings). The Collage Minis are an affordable, approachable collection of unique, one-of-a-kind pieces of personal art. They look great on a desk or table, or in groupings on the wall. And third, the Collage Quilt Blocks, are single-block collage works based on traditional quilting designs rendered in contemporary collage.
These three “lines” of artworks are my “creative solitaire”. I make them in batches, and really enjoy the spontaneous process of making them. And while they’re complicated to make, the creative decisions are something I do quickly, without a lot of thinking. I follow my instincts which allows me to a re-grounding of creative spontaneity, an important instinctive skill (Process and the Journey).
Meaning, Purpose and Story
The two bodies of work I make in the meaningful/purposeful category are my Quad Quilt Block Collage pieces (24” x 24” approx.). These are large embellished collage quilt-based pieces. A series of works are in development. And lastly I’m developing a body of concepts for Collage / Mixed-media paintings. These will be narrative, story-telling works coming as soon as late this year.
I can only spin so many new plates at a time (Balance & Productivity). Lately God’s Spirit has urged me not to spin so many new plates at one time. I’m to develop my art practice in healthy steps, making adjustments along the way. That’s the only way it’s is going to grow and remain sustainable. Heavens, I’m still struggling with how to best use this blog in the service of my creative mission; That my art practice will result in changed lives to God’s glory.
Which reminds me of something I’d tell cast-members in the theatre productions I’d direct; Everything, every line of dialogue, every movement, every gesture has purpose and meaning. It’s no different for me in this context of making visual art. All of it, in one way or another, points to the fulfillment of my mission. Hence the tweaking.
Mid-Course Corrections
I love this process of setting of to purposefully accomplish a goal, and at regular intervals pause to reevaluate. These mid-journey course corrections keep me on track, help me to adapt. They keep me focused on the main thing as the main thing.
It’s all up in the air, and for me that’s a huge change I’ve made over the last five-years. I used to be rigidly unchangeable, unadaptive, and laser-focused. I have missed a whole bunch of healthy opportunities and serendipity along the way. I was so blasted insecure that I’d muscle my way toward the goal only to find that I’d usually missed out on better choices. I’ve loosened up a great deal.s
So I tweak, I plod, I spin one new plate at a time and to remind myself, to focus myself, I continually ask myself “Why?”
Your Thoughts?
What do you do in your creative life/art practice to discover and re-discover the main thing? How do you focus and remain focused, and yet remain open to really great serendipity along the way? Do you think as much as I’ve described here about what you’re making and why you make it?
I’d love to hear from you.
