This is what the design wall looks like this week.
In fact, the whole studio is looking a little sparse right now; every now and then I begin to realize that all the pretty eye candy scattered around my creative space- completed art pieces, experimental work, sketched studies- is no longer inspiring me but is, in fact, beginning to hold me back. It's the "Oh, you're all so pretty, I don't need to work when I can just look at you!" habit that an artist can easily develop if they fall too in love with their own creations. So when I start to ignore the rational, dispassionate, essential art critic inside of me who helps me define and refine my technique, and start to believe that every silly scrap of work is precious and whole unto itself (even when the art critic knows better), it's time to put everything away and make room for new ideas and new inspiration.
Now that all the work of the past six months is safely tucked away in closets and storage spaces throughout the house, it is both sobering and refreshing to walk into a studio that is not only clean, but mostly bare of past accomplishments.
Ready to get moving!
5 comments:
Kinda ditto. My studio/house is sparkling clean and I only have work I love on the walls -- but I'm getting rid of as much early work as possible. No place to store it, so selling, donating, giving and possibly even tossing a piece or two!
Such good advice, I do know that feeling! Although the walls of my studio are way too full to even have a design wall, I often spend too much time enjoying a finished project rather than moving on. I can also spend a lot of my studio time admiring someone else's work I have in the house. So that brings me to the discussion in my head of why make more ...which takes me to because I have to ...which takes me to then slow and down enjoy it! Now that I have a debate going on in my head I'll head off to the studio!
I try to clear the decks...but I get lost in the materials and design elements while I am sorting and packing. Peace, Mary Helen
Nice to share your well-written thoughts, my dear. Love all the clean space, by the way. I will try to reach you by email to tell you that you won the prize offered on my site, Mixed Media Manic, but am mentioning it here too, just in case!
I totally get what you mean. My studio walls are clean and white except for a few small works from my friends and daughter and grandchild behind my back. I don't keep any of my work in my studio, I want my mind to be open to what comes from inside my own head right there and then.
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