Knowing When to Say “When”
What do you do when your current project is just not turning out to your liking? This happened to me recently, but not for the first time. Over the years, I’ve had different approaches to this problem. Usually, I continue with the piece, working to improve it. Sometimes that improvement includes something very radical!
At other times, I just put the whole thing away. I do so with a little frustration, but no sense of failure. I know the PROCESS of making art is as important as the product. I try to analyze what went wrong, so I can learn from it, and then I move on.
So, with that preamble, this is the story of the collage composition that I just removed from the design wall.
These were my starting fabrics, and the inspiration for the entire piece.
All of these were hand painted, some sheer, some textured. A good starting point, although I knew I’d need a more diverse selection of values and colors.
I played with the fabrics on the design wall for a while, just to get an idea of where to go.
Hey, not bad! I liked where this was going. Bright colors and strong contrasts: just my cup of tea.
I even took the time to sketch the design:
But, eventually, the whole thing looked over worked, and non-descript. It just didn’t have enough contrast and interest.
Trust me: the real thing doesn’t look nearly as good as this photo!
I know exactly what it needs: stronger contrast. But to achieve that, I’d have to pretty much start over, and I’m just not that interested in this piece. So, my orange fabrics are now sorted and stacked, waiting to be put away.
In the meantime, I’ve come up with several other ideas that DO excite me, so I’ll start work on one of those. Mixed media collage maybe?
Ellen Lindner
How do you know when it’s time to say “when?”
