All Lined Up

So knowing my penchant for avoiding tradition at all costs, who among you would have predicted that I would end up liking this arrangement, with everything lined up. Well, more or less lined up.

Still though, the goal is to attract attention to these and to entice customers to sign up for a class to learn how to make them.

The layout yesterday was confused. This is a lot more straightforward, but it is by no means final. I am happy with only one butterfly (I'll let you guess which one), and I really like the crazy little heart that's bouncing higher than the rest. The asterisks are fine, but I have two two-toned ones that are so subtle you can hardly tell they are two-toned. (Oops). I like the birds, but I don't think these four work well together.

So I have some work to do, but that's OK. It's the kind of work I like to do. 

One note: "Free-piecing" is a technique of construction, not of design. Yogi Berra famously said "If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up someplace else."  Very true. Working improvisationally means you make it up as you go, but it doesn't mean you are stuck with it if you don't like the direction it's taking. You get to change course. You get to decide where you'll end up. 

I always start with some kind of plan or idea, and working this way helps me figure out what it is about the plan that works, and what doesn't. I love the zest, the verve, the unlikely results. I love the surprises I find along the way. If I planned every last detail out before I cut into a piece of fabric, it might be "perfect" but it could be stilted, boring, predictable, dull and worst of all "overworked."

Philippe Petit (he's the one who walked a high wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 1974) says the point of Art is to make it look effortless. "I practice very hard to make it look easy." 

Well, yes. I work very hard to make my work look completely spontaneous, fresh and lively. It isn't without effort, but it doesn't mean I don't like the work it takes to get there.




(btw, I remember Petit's famous walk when it happened. The DVD "Man on Wire", the story of the walk is awesome, thrilling and terrifying. He's still alive.)