After doing some blog hopping this morning I feel decidely 'beige'. There are such amazing designers out there pushing it to the edge and it's made me feel my work is very 'safe'. I always worry so much about the practicalities of a piece...the wearability, the 'will it catch?', 'will it go with lots of outfits?', 'will it appeal to the masses?'.
The blog hopping this morning was the result of feeling 'blah' last night and actually putting the beading down early and going to bed. I hoped to inspire myself. Sometimes where I am gets me down, Southern Utah is not exactly the San Francisco I love where inspiration is on every corner and where what is outrageous here is daily wear there. It's so easy to get into a safe rut here. I find myself talking a lot about California and remembering what fun it was to be out costuming all the time and I make one of my girlfriends send me all the details of where she went, what she wore, what she did so I can live vicariously.
I'm a duck out of water here and that's why I'm working so hard at this beading business, so that I can at least travel, plus it's not something that will keep me here when the reason that does is gone.
I think I also have to get a bit more rigid in my daily planning, if I can get everything done for my month of classes plus the bead society in one week then I could devote the other three to designing and that might give me the time to phase out the safe and be more daring.
So, my day today is full of pattern writing, laundry and class tonight. The DBS FMG order arrives today and tomorrow will see Suzanne and I sorting it into individual orders. Then I plan a weekend of beading with a little art thrown in.
It is rather easy to get 'dwarfed' by other peoples work. It takes some practice to sit back, breathe and remember they are doing what they are supposed to be doing and you are doing what you are supposed to be doing. That's not to say examining your style and thinking about how to stretch is not a good thing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marcia. One of my students pointed out to me that I'm so busy working on designs they can do that I forget what I can do, she has a point. I think condensing all the prep for teaching work to one week will help. I think I just need to relax and let my creativity lead me where I'm supposed to go.
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