Wednesday, March 30, 2011

No Such Thing as Mistakes

Let me start by sending my apologies to those who come here strictly for hat news. I'm doing other creative things, too, and want to use my blog to share them. My title says that there are no mistakes, but here I am, starting with an apology. I guess that's a kind of mistake, but we'll ignore that for now.

Every so often I get into a mood. I mentioned it once before. It's a strange feeling. As it builds, it starts to feel like all my neurons are exposed—like I've had three cups of espresso, and no dinner. It's kind of cool and kind of scary all at the same time—like a wild dream.

Finding myself in this mood I went to the studio. I picked up a few hats but felt completely uninspired. So I decided to take a look at the wall of demons that I was working out.

I went to a piece that seemed to have no destination, and just started working. I decided today that there were going to be no such things as mistakes. So everything I did was going to be okay. I don't think I've ever allowed myself that before. I just went with it and it felt great. I started collaging pieces on here and there, not really knowing where I was going or what story I was making. But making the piece made me feel a little free of the knot in my chest. I returned to the studio later in the night to continue. I tuned into some of my melancholy friends—Belle and Sebastian—for example.

This is going to be a series of posts showing the progress of the piece I'm working on. Sadly, I just realized that I don't have a photo of where this piece started this week. I can tell you that I started it yeeeeears ago, and it has just been waiting for me. I thought it was in the "demons" post, but oddly, it's not there. Hopefully the repetition won't leave you feeling bored, that my goal in life is to be an echo. I think it will be interesting to watch where this thing goes. I have no idea.

I've been enjoying making it so much that I have to say that I'm really glad I wasn't inspired to make a hat. I needed to make something much deeper.

If you're one of the many artists out there struggling to be creative—stop. Just go make something. There's no grade. Nobody cares. Don't make it for anybody else but you.

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