Repeat after me. It's process not product. It's process not product. It's process not product. Each day that mantra challenges me to let go and dive in without expectations, without end goals, without success or failure.
So this past week has been all about play. I have been slicing, dicing, scribbling and tossing things around without much success but with a whole mountain of possibilities.
It started with the rotary cutter.
Pieces of past projects.
After sorting through all of my finished and unfinished work last month in preparation for a couple of exhibitions in 2018 I realized that not only do I hoard work but I also experiment a lot. Which means I would have to make another trip to the local Depot store for yet another plastic bin to stack up under the (already overloaded) table. Which brought me to the realization that I do not really need new materials. I already have a excess of fabric and stitches to start new pieces. So, I have a new law: nothing is sacred. Well maybe I should qualify that: some things are sacred, but not all, no matter how many hours I had put into it.
It's process not product, it's process not product...
So I cut things up. Sometimes it was random (2" squares) and other times it was fussy cutting (I really like that little spiral of thread on that piece so maybe I can combine it with another little spiral I have over here.)
I combined a lot of the pieces into a scrap explosion.
Blech! I hate this. I really hate this. Where is my rotary cutter?
More cutting
After cutting up the cut up pieces I started with new fabric to create a composition that would included the textured pieces.
Maybe sideways is better?
Then I got this wonderful piece of striped fabric from a second hand store and couldn't resist taking the composition one step farther. Same color palette, new texture...what could go wrong? Ok, maybe 2 or 20 steps further. I am removing fabric pieces in the original composition to let the stripes bleed through.
Ship of fools, work in progress
It's been a full week of deconstructing and reconstructing. I had a few little AHA! moments, but mostly it was about play and process and risk. A satisfying journey that gave me these little pieces:
Scraps that talk
It's process not product. It's process not product. It's process not product....