Thursday, January 23, 2014

Chop!

Nothing earth-shattering today, just a quick note about finding a little bravery when re-imagining your work.

Say a piece isn't working. Like, for instance, this one from yesterday's blog post.


Say you're ready to throw in the towel, wad it up and put it in the recycle bin, or stuff it away on a shelf so you never have to look at it again.

Rather than give up, what might you do, instead? Well, you could Gesso over it and start again. Or you could paint large, opaque blocks of color over it and then try to bring more detail into it with imagery. Or you could collage all over it. I've done all of those things, and more, and I'm occasionally asked where I find the courage to destroy something I've made in order to remake it. My answer is always the same: What do I have to lose? If something isn't working for me, putting it away on a shelf isn't going to make it work better. So why not try something else?

Like cutting it up into little pieces.


Little 2-inch pieces of delicious color, movement, and composition. Little 2-inch treasures that can then be pieced back together, mosaic-style, onto a cradled gessobord.


Oh, yes, I did! And you can, too.

Re-imagine creatively!

6 comments:

Kathy said...

Brave AND beautiful! Oh, and the art, too! Way to go. Chopping and cutting works for me, too, with fabric. Somehow those little pieces really are like jewels, then.

Anonymous said...

Amazing remake & I love the new piece you created. Thx for sharing it.I never would have thought of something so radical on my own.

Jeanne Aird said...

Great revision! Has much more movement and interest. I've recently done the chop, chop on a couple of my quilts and am liking the results. As you said, just putting away on a shelf isn't going to improve it.

Judy Rys said...

much better

Hilary Florence said...

What a transformation! And I really like the result. The colours really gel, and all those lines cut off in mid-air really fire the imagination. I must try the same with one of my quilts!
Hilary Florence

sonja said...

liberating and a great way to go what if ! in paper and fabric!