Friday, March 10, 2017

Creative block

It appears that all this introspection is resulting in some sort of "analysis paralysis".  My husband, joined me when I was wandering around the basement studio fondling fabric and sort of tidying up.  We were both sort of looking at the three heavy-duty shelving units that hold my large storage tubs of, mainly commercial, fabric--most of which I will never use.  Bless his heart, he thinks I should make bed quilts out of it, to get rid of it.  But that's not "art", I bleat.  "Maybe not, but we need to get rid of it".  He's even offered to do the rotary cutting for me.  Well, one guideline that's been suggested for creativity blocks is to "just do something', even if that's just sorting fabric or cleaning the studio. The only difficulty with the idea, is that , while we might make the tops, they will still need quilting, and I can't do larger quilts on my domestic machine.  Yes, I know it can be done, but not with my limited hand strength, and the very small area I have for working.  I can't deal with the weight of more than about a 40 inch square piece. Regardless of that, I'm going to give some serious thought to his suggestion.

But at the same time, deep in my heart, I worry about whether my creativity is gone, as part of the aging process.  A slow, dementing process is always a fear in those of us who are getting older. So, I've gone back to the the jar of "prompts" that I made awhile ago, and haven't dared touch ever since.  This was little pieces of paper with an idea or suggestion written on each one.  The idea is that, when you're in a "blue funk", and don't have any ideas of what to do next, you reach into the jar and pull out a piece of paper and do whatever it says.   So, my jar is now sitting there, staring at me, and daring me to pull an idea.  I'm just having trouble actually reaching into it.  What if, whatever I pull isn't something I want to do?  What a stupid way to think!!

So, I think my next project will be making sign to tape on the mirror in the upstairs studio that says "JUST DO IT!!"

1 comment:

Yanicka said...

I am at the exact same place. It suck