I've been trying to figure out my reluctance to show projects in progress. I hate doing it, and I don't know why. I know people would enjoy seeing stuff in progress because *I* love seeing people's projects in all their various stages. I LOVE it. But I'm totally resistant to showing my own process. Why is that?
I think one reason is that I'm never totally confident in what I'm doing. Because I don't start out with a definitive plan, I'm mostly just winging it, making it up as I go, and there's always the chance--a pretty good chance--that I'll change directions in the middle of everything. I think part of it is that I'm afraid I'll show something in the middle, and someone will post a comment and say, "You know what you should have done? It would be so cool if you'd blahblahblah," and I'll read it and smack my forehead and realize they're exactly right, that that's EXACTLY what I should have done. But I'm way past that point, and there's no way I'm going to backtrack and start over. And so then I would just abandon the whole thing: no point in finishing if I've realized I took the wrong direction because I'd always be going, "It would be soooooo much cooler if only I'd blahblahblah."
And then the whole abandoning it thing. Whenever I think about that, I hear my father's voice saying, "You're never going to amount to a hill of beans." I have no idea why I hear this--I've been an adult for many, many years, and my father has been dead for a while now and never said this to me as an adult, and I have no recollection of his having said it in respect to my not having finished something I started when I was a kid. But either that was the case or that was my childhood belief, that if I didn't finish what I started, I'd Never Amount to a Hill of Beans (and, people, please don't tell your children this: forever after they will imagine a huge, huge, insurmountable hill of beans, and they will wonder, for all their lives, "Cooked or raw? Black or navy? With or without pork involved? To exactly what kind of beans am I supposed to aspire?" You know, if they were like an English nerd or something.)
And then there also seems to be this: when I'm nearing the finishing of a project, I look forward to sharing it--taking photographs (which I hate to do) and posting it here (which I love) and getting feedback and answering questions about how I did something or where I got fabric or materials or whatever. I love imagining that someone else is going to see it and get that little rush of "I can do that!" and set off on some fabulous adventure of making (which they will then show me, which will set me off on another adventure, ad infinitum). Sometimes that anticipation of sharing is what keeps me going near the end when things get tedious--when I'm spending hours and hours beading, or when I'm appliquéing little tiny nit-picky things, as I am on a couple projects right now. My appliqué skills aren't that mad that I love doing the tiny tedious stuff, and sometimes I just want to give up and use hot glue. Never mind that I don't own a hot glue gun (in league with The Dreaded Wal-Mart and spray-on tan, I'm sure) and know it wouldn't hold up through the wash. Still. Anything seems preferable to appliquéing millions of tiny letters in some funky font.
I'm going to try to work on this because I know that having a blog means you have an agreement with people who come by to visit. If you're not giving them what they want to see, then you're not holding up your end of the bargain: you come by to visit, and I'll show you something I hope is inspiring. Still, it's scary. I'm going to have to work up to it, I think. Either that or work a lot faster so I have more stuff to show. . . .
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it's here!
1 day ago
15 comments:
Wow, Rice, you sure do put a lot of pressure on yourself. (And sorry about your name. I'm *saying* it right, i'm just not taking the time to look up there and see what-all keys i'm supposed to push to make it come out *looking* right, okay?)
You know, there's NO harm in NOT finishing a project.
*Maybe* it's not what you expected.
Or *maybe* you realize you really didn't wanna do it after all.
Or *maybe* you just figured out that you simply hate it now!
My point is; even in Nature, sometimes a project just isn't *supposed* to be "finished"! It's OKAY to *not* finish something here and there. It's perfectly acceptable to THROW SOMETHING IN THE TRASH! since it's not becoming that "awesome" thing you'd first envisioned!
Step aside, take a deep breath, and tell yourself that "Nobody WANTS to be a worth Hill of Beans, in the FIRST place!!!"
Then give the project an *Honest* evaluation, maybe discuss it with an impartial person, and then decide if it's Worthy of your Time and Trouble.
YOU ARE WORTH WAY MORE THAN ANY HILL OF BEANS!!!!!
...okay. I'll get off my Soapbox now...
=-)
Ricë, I actually think it's a good thing not to discuss and show projects too early in the process (you have found a point you like to show things towards the end and that works for you).
I don't talk about things that I'm working on while I'm working on them because it takes the energy out of them (or can), for me.
I have a couple art friends with whom I might discuss things in progress because they understand, after years of talking with me, my process, and I respect their process and know it will be valuable to discuss things with me. We have a certain way of talking which comes out of the way I view process and the way I teach. We ask questions rather than say "wow it would be cool if you did x."
So a friend might ask me, when I show her the first painting in a series, "I'd love to hear why you selected red for the background and will that continue?" (or other related things. Then I can say, "Just because," or I can say whatever I want to say (the type of stuff that might make it up on signage in the gallery if I've really thought about something). But the end result is that without being intrusive she's got me thinking about the color choice and the fact that it has impact and I need to think whether or not that matters to me.
That's just a quick example. But mostly I just work things out in thumbnail sketches, studies, and then final pieces. When the final pieces start coming in I can start showing the other stuff and discussing it. I'm not going to change that project based on what someone says but their viewing and comments might clarify something for me for future projects.
But mostly I just want to do the thing, right now, and I feel there is plenty of time to talk about it afterwards. If I talk about it (i.e., show it while I'm working on it) it's time away from doing.
I think you've already identified your "sharing" point and I don't think you need to mess with that.
Thanks, Wendy. The problem is that the stuff I do takes so long that, by the time I might have another idea for it, I've put in so many hours there's no WAY I'm going to abandon it. It would make me shriek and tear my hair!
Roz, that's exactly right, and I hadn't thought of it. It does dissipate the energy for me. I hate talking about what I'm working on while I'm working on it. After I'm done, then I'm happy to talk about it. It's the same with the stitching projects as it is with the writing--I've got the thing going in my head, but I don't want to discuss it until it's over. Then, of course, it's not that much fun to discuss because I'm already on to a new project and can't even remember what it was like working on the previous one.
Most of us are preprogramed from childhood to respond to these old patterns. Even though we think we are over the events we continue to dance to the past. I'll make this short and sweet it will resonate with you or not. Check out Robert G. Smith's videos on youtube under healingmagic or Faster EFT. NOT plain EFT but Faster EFT. I know I have tapped my way to a new me and I'm loving the freedon of it.
I quite like sharing projects in process, and I do with my refashion stuff. But my refashion stuff is just experimenting, I don't know what I am doing and I don't consider it my 'art'.
But I had a bad experience with my painting that I can't seem to recover from. Someone pinned one of my 'in process' paintings on their board as a finished work. It was ugly and I was horrified. I couldn't believe that she thought it was finished! though obviously she did. As a professional artist I am quite identified with my drawing and painting.
I have started posting a few drawings in progress on my fb page, but I try and make it obvious that they aren't finished. I know how valuable it has been for me to see other artists' process.
I have to confess that my very favourite posts of yours are the ones where you share your creative process, which usually includes unfinished stuff. It is so fascinating to be inside another artist's head.
It's not about Alfie? When did that happen?
It's amazing the things that are imprinted on us in our tender years. The little girls inside us still hear those words.
I started sharing works in progress, then yesterday I read that "artists" should never show anything but their best/finest/finished. There's always someone to come along and suck the life out of us! We are FREE to do as we please. Let us get to it.
That's funny. I love to show WIP photos but rarely take a shot of the finished product. By the time it's finished, I'm bored.
Ricë, I think that we just like to keep up with each other and know that all is well.
We are enclosing a back porch and changing the roofline with all that entails. I posted on my blog that I might not be posting because of all the mess or that I might post every day to retain my sanity.
Just an edge of what you are working on, or the color or the technique would be nice to see and we would know that you are busy and not ill or some such horrible thing.
Yes, I agree with those who say just a peek or hint of what you're working on is enough; just let us know you're alive and working every few days or so. I love seeing The Finished Project, but I most love reading what you write about your process, left-brainer that I am. The work you do is more important than the blogging thereof. I promise not to call the Blog Police if you don't post every step of all your projects!
A hill of beans seems like a very uncomfortable thing to amount to. ;-)
I think that showing work in progress is indeed inspiring (but you already knew that). Even if you don't finish it or it ends up as something different than expected or just sucks in the end. I think this is exactly what people need to see. So they know it happens to others too. And if it turns out spectacular, hey, all the better! ;-)
I come to the Voodoo Lounge for the sum total of the Ricë experience: cats, projects, EGE, bored-with-thises, love-thats, what-are-these-people-thinkings, excited-about-this-stuffs, travel, ideas, books, and your readers' comments. And normally I avoid reading comments, but you have a nice bunch of readers. A whole lot here, besides WIP pictures, to appreciate.
Marilyn the Art Appreciator
We DO have a nice bunch of people here, don't we? I love that we talk about stuff but that it's a Snark-Free Zone, so rare online these days where so many people spend their days getting into arguments with strangers. I esp. like it when people tell what they love (like books) and give links to photos of what they're doing--it makes it feel like a real (as opposed to virtual) community. Now if only the cats would bring us all coffee. . . .
My dad used to say "as useless as tits on a bull", not necessarily or exclusively to me, but to whoever was not following directions for helping him on some project or another.
I want my hill to be black beans with salsa. :=)
I like to see WIP so I can learn how things are done, which might save me a lot of grief when doing my own thing. I like that "Oh, so *that's* how they do that!"
I post photos of my WIP on my own blog and on FB, so that hopefully I can help someone else who might be wondering "How does she do that?" I also like the feedback I get from those who look at the photos, and either like the pieces, or ask more questions.
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