I had breakfast with a friend this morning. I told her the word for the week was
"jagged" and she talked about the candle holder I gave her some years
ago which is now in her china cabinet.
I was scratching my head about this, trying to remember it while she wondered aloud about how I can consider
myself strictly 2D when I make so many 3D things.
"Yeah, but the candle holder is just four 2D sides that
I stuck together." She gave me one
of those endearing, exasperated looks and rattled off a bunch of other examples
of 3D stuff I've made. Okay, maybe
she's got a point, especially since I've been obsessively making Sculpey
flowers lately, and I did make the deer hide drum in the photo behind the candle holder. (Skinned, butchered, cooked, and ate that deer for that matter.)
I don't take any of my 3D stuff very seriously, and I guess
that's the point. I started doing
stained glass because I hired someone to teach stained glass classes when I was
Arts Administration Director for Wickliffe Civic Center (WICCI). Mom and I thought that might be fun, so we
signed up together. While breathing
lead fumes and burning my fingers on "real" projects, I ended up
making a lot of jagged shards of pretty glass.
Since I didn't want them to go to waste, voilà, candle holder.
But I don't think of myself as very good at these kinds of
things. It's just the stuff I do in
between "real" paintings, often things I do obsessively like Sculpey
flowers. More shards of stained glass
live next to the Sculpey in the closet. I wonder what else might be in there? Loops for making pot holders for sure, and a bead loom...
(...time out to rummage through closets... candle making,
leather crafts, embroidery, yarn, beads... a lot of rivets, fabric, buttons...)
Okay, okay, maybe I do make some 3D things? But I stick to my original premise that I
approach these things in a 2D way -- which must be untrue since now I'm looking
at some metal circles that might improve my Sculpey atom and some glass beads I
could string on fishing line...
On top of all that, now I also have a big pile of stuff on
my floor that seems to distress my puppy.
I suppose she knows a new pile of stuff means more obsessive craft
projects and less petting and cuddling, but I think my brother might get a new
leather wallet unless he's wants to stick with his latest duct tape creation. Maybe I should take a time out and get some
new duct tape in snazzy patterns?
Sometimes non-artists seem interested in how artists
think. I can't speak for all of us, but
I think a lot of us follow some variation of the above? My friend makes a comment, and now I have
piles of weekend projects with which to amuse myself. Maybe I said something that inspires a pile on her floor
too? Maybe just my laughing at her when
she talked about shelving her creative aspirations?
P.S. I found out that you can resuscitate crumbly Fimo clay with a little vegetable oil + found out it turns black if you forget it in the oven.
What a perfect jagged candle holder Linda. Stained glass sounds fun. I know what you mean about having so many different projects going on....There are never enough hours in the day! Sounds like some of your poor sculpy is more dead than jagged ;-) Enjoy a creative weekend I'm off to an inky workshop..I can't wait. Keep an eye on the oven
ReplyDelete"Mess up your own house this weekend!" I love that sentence. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a funny post. I was especially amused by your friends "endearing exasperated looks." How well do I know that urge to make all kinds of different things out of all kinds of different stuff, as well as the dissappointed when you realize that cool stuff plus a great concept does not equal (usually) the skill to pull off what's in your head. I always feel a sort of tension between focussing on a few things and trying to get better at them and throwing good sense to the winds and just trying all kinds of stuff. I love the candle holder, by the way. I've wanted to do stained glass for years....
ReplyDeleteI see that you're not fully aware of the extent of your talent. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's a dangerously awesome candle holder!
Thanks everybody! Kind of makes me feel a little abashed that I forgot about this candle holder. Maybe I should burn more candles, or make a sculpey candle holder, or a copper wire one....
ReplyDeleteGood job on the stained glass votive. It is really cool indeed. I used to paint on glass. It's nice to have many creative outlets. What a nice friend to remind you of your many talents.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sharon! I used to paint on glass a little too, though I remember seeing some things you posted and your glass painting was a lot better. Maybe I should hunt around for that paint in the closet too? :)
ReplyDeleteIsn't the best work of art we do often when we are not serious about it? There are no expectations, so instead we flourish. And make excuses such as this obvious 3D object came into being by proxy of seeing it in 2D. Whatever you name, it's wonderful. :-)
ReplyDeleteAw thanks! I think you've got a point about not having expectations and flourishing. Sometimes I have to give myself permission to enjoy what I create. Easy when I don't care much about the outcome, harder when I do. Happy creating!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed bouncing along on this familiar, bumpy road... especially since it reflects the opposite in my life at the moment - clearing a desk piled high with papers - old papers, new papers, important and unimportant all in their files and folders and piles... most of which have been sorted into recycling to make my desk available...to CREATIVE stuff again. Mostly because it's much too cold to go outside to reclaim the garden yet. I find the sorting of things I kept because they USED to be important frees up my mind to sift and sort the hidden cubbies behind other thoughts. Eventually there's more space in the tangible world, and my mind alike.
ReplyDelete