My new motto. After running some of these workshops lately, I have had many students who were too worried to glue down their precious cuttings that they had laboured (some for weeks!) over. I am right there with them - I have cuttings in drawers with little labels that I have been stashing for YEARS (how crazy cat lady is that?!) that have been so overly stored, that they don't actually look so good anymore (a bit crumpled and pathetic looking - there are only so many times you can pick up a cut-out of a tiny pick axe before it starts to whither).
I found myself saying to these students "think less and do more" (or, "stop talking and start doing!"). What's the worst thing that could happen? That it could look crap? Ok. Sure. Try again. You could waste a Very Important One Of A Kind picture? Yeah, you could wreck it. And?
It is something I could probably afford to apply to my own practice. I have been in the studio since 7.15 this morning. Yep. I have spent about ... 7 hours on the thinking bit, and am only just begun to actually make some visible progress in my 'doing' section. There have been a reasonable amount of distractions: emails, cups of tea, Very Important Facebooking, but also a lot of dithering around, messing up my hair and whining about the lack of progress. It is a very important part of the process.
But at some stage you need to suck it up and get to work.
So, see ya - I have some Very Important Dhalias to deal with - I might wreck them, but if I do, I could always try and paint them again.
xx
L.
Hi Lucy, just stumbled upon your blog whilst getting distracted from my work. Yep, trawling the net is imperative for creativity, especially pinterest... oh dear and there have been a number of teas, coffee's and anzac biscuits! But you are right, now I'm off to finish that weaving. Love you work!
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