Ideas are Messy

Learning to create with them is just part of the journey.

I started this week’s “artist notes” following several different thoughts (and have the partially written drafts to prove it).

I thought about sharing my anxiety as we approach election night. (I DID end up creating a few Bingo Cards for my family in the process, which you are welcome to use as well.)

I also started writing about the term “professional artist”. However, I struggled with my own thoughts on this term and decided to hold it over for later when my head is less muddled with election, pandemic, and the efforts I’m putting into self-motivation these days.

And then I thought about the mess that is sitting in front of me on my studio table, patiently waiting for me to pick up the pieces and work through the thoughts they represented.

It’s not what I was “supposed” to be working on, and definitely not what I had planned to share this week, but once I started to pick up the pieces an idea took hold and I couldn’t let it go. I wanted to see if I could make it work.

New Mixed Media Work in Progress…

So… introducing my latest little art making adventure now on my studio table. I’m not sure how or if my mental vision will work with what’s physically in front of me (currently pictured below), but I’m going to work through the process and see what happens. Because - as they say - that is when the magic happens!

I’m using materials left over from other projects that “didn’t quite live up to my expectations”, generously speaking. The painted block is from a series of little floral abstracts I created a couple years ago that I never quite fully developed and I still have many little blocks waiting for their time to shine. The yarn is from a shawl pattern I was hoping to design and I knit and frogged (knitting term for unraveling a project) and knit and frogged again, and maybe again (I kind of lost count). And then the yarn went into time out, only to be unearthed when I was looking for leftover sock yarns to make a new hat. (Knitting is my meditational outlet, and this easy free hat pattern was perfect for quiet evenings relaxing with the family or listening to my favorite podcast - and is uses leftover yarns! Bonus.)

From random mess to new art concept.

From the mess of unused materials and past techniques and concepts in front of me, (cold wax, oil paints, and book pages, to name a few), I now can visualize something sweet and interesting to convey the warmth and love of a cozy life at home despite the chaos that surrounds us right now. I honestly don’t know if these materials will work to convey my thought, and really, that is the point. Art is a process. It’s about accepting what comes and imagining what could be. It’s about learning to adjust and alter and change as the process unfolds. It’s about fully experiencing and engaging in the process.

At this stage, I don’t imagine the knitted shape will hold the way I want. I’ll most likely knit it again… and again to find the best shape. I am also trying to figure out what materials to use for attaching it to the painted block, and will more than likely ruin a few blocks as I try to figure that piece of the puzzle out. And I’m sure to create a mess in the process. And that is OK.

Art requires a willingness to not always know the final destination. It is a constant attempt to make sense of the world around us - visually, emotionally, physically. It is filled with messy ideas, jumbled together, trying to find their voice. All we can do is hold on, experience the moment before us, and try to create something along the way that is beautiful, meaningful, or thoughtful from the chaos. And if we stumble and create a few more messes too, that will just serve to inform our next attempt and maybe steer us down an even more beautiful path - one that we could never have imagined without all the messes along the way.

So, with those thoughts in mind, I wish you all a lovely messy creative journey!

Cheers,

Jennifer