No matter how far you've gone down the wrong road, turn back.
I've been struggling with the Rules quilt for several weeks. Your comments, and my friend Julie helped me identify why it was bothering me.
I wanted to make myself a Rules quilt because I loved the lovely rhythm of the shapes of the letters and the negative spaces between them.
The quilt was going according to plan until I got past "you miss." After that, when the letters -should- have been getting wonkier and looser - breaking the rules - instead they got more alike. I had made "all the" with the same fabric!
Then, I made a lovely, calligraphic "F." It was gorgeous, but it didn't really have enough visual weight. It looked too flimsy, and the quilt looked disjointed, like it was two separate quilts. Also, the upper case cursive F -required- lower case cursive letters to form the rest of the word. It would have been too formal, too precise. Not part of the spirit of the phrase "If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun."
I've made enough art to know that how the piece works as a whole is the most important thing to consider. If there is one element that distracts from that whole, it has to be modified, and may need to be removed.
So the striped "all the"... gone.
The lovely cursive "F," that's gone too.
I believe I have turned back from the wrong road, and am now on the right one.
(and yes, that Turkish proverb is on the short list of word quilts I want to make.)
7 comments:
Thanks for sharing that. I personally hadn't been that keen on the F but obviously it was YOUR quilt and my opinion doesn't matter, but it's refreshing to see an admired, respected, and published (!) quilter admit when something is wrong! The quote is very insightful... Maybe another quilt in the making? LOL
So now the big cursive "F" gets to wait in your sewing room for its place in the world to be revealed or created. A little sad for now, but I am feeling very optimistic these days and I have no doubt it will resurface when the time is right.
good decision and good to have made the decision and move on. you could make yourself a little quilt that just says "all the Fun" hee hee heee. or else find another use for that lovely elegant F
Good post ... good decision ... good for you!
Now you can move forward again!
Not always easy to make the "right" decision. Love your work.
Bet you didn't know it, but you wrote that proverb for me. Thanks. It's been a tough week at work.
Deborah
A good decision. There is nothing worse than having "writer's block". I too have just ditched a whole load of letters and started again.
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