Went down to B&Q yesterday and got a very nice man to cut a quite enormous piece of MDF up into manageable sies for me, including one for my Oriental Pot piece. I have two more boards of an identical size as well - so I feel a bit of a triptych coming on I think ... probably more pots, but I have also got plans for some cranes and a couple of moon gazing hares - as ever my problem is one of selection from all the excitement in my head. Anyway - I got the board covered and the quilt bound and mounted - it is now just ready to hang on the wall.
I find this stage of the work perhaps the most difficult as I always seem to have lost confidence in the piece by the time I have made it and am full of doubts. I did make some final adjustments to this one - I brightened up both the pot and the blossom with some additional paint as they had lost their lustre during quilting. But I know now that all I can do is leave it and trust my original plans and the process, and believe that in a few months I will like it again. Does this happen to anyone else? or like so many things, is it just me! - Hilary x
No, it's absolutely not just you Hilary...I always feel the same. While I'm doing something, I'm hooked and work on it fairly constantly and I must like what I'm doing to a piece, or I wouldn't do it! However, when I'm finished, I usually look at it and go "blah" and see it's faults. I think I get too close........distance helps and like you, if I come back to something weeks later, I usually feel a bit more positive.
ReplyDeleteHowever, having said all that, I'm bowled over by your beautiful vase. You have such a wonderful way of putting all the fabrics together; they make such an interesting and intricate tapestry of colour, and they definitely say "oriental"!!
Hilary, we're all the same. Nothing ever turns out exactly as we envisaged it would in our mind's eye. I guess that's good in a way - if we were always completely satisfied why would we carry on? It's only because we know the next piece will be better that we start it immediately the present one is finished. Have faith - your work is beautiful and I'm sure you'll love it too if you give yourself some space from it for a while.
ReplyDeleteHi Hilary, I think there's often the satisfaction and relief that a piece of work is completed, but after that moment is over we wonder about the what ifs and that drives us to make the next. If we were less demanding and more easily satisfied then we'd be happy with the first quilt we ever stitched and the first painting we ever painted. Knowing the next one will always be the best one is what keeps us going and that's a good thing - there's three exhibition venues counting on that!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry Hils, generally by the time I've finished a piece I actively dislike it and can't wait to see the back of it! After a short break I generally feel a bit happier with the work.
ReplyDeleteThanks girls! - it is comforting to know I am in such very good company. I'm sure there is an element of over-familiarity, which is definitely best helped by the passage of time and distance from the making. But it is also so true that as you work, you are constantly realsing new and better/different ways to express yourself and developing new skills to do that with. I've only been doing this for a year post college, and yet even in that short time I can see change and hopefully progress, so how exciting is that when you think of all the years ahead?? Onwards and upwards then - pot 2 awaits!
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