I made this silly rule. I am to take two items out of the studio every day. They can be any size, anything at all, but I must remove two items from the clutter in the studio. On the first day it was two glass jars I'd used for cleaning paint brushes. That was easy, since they were ugly and stained, and I had just found a box of about a dozen more, sparkling fresh from the dishwasher and ready for use. The following day, however, it was more difficult to see useless items lying about,so I surrendered to indecision and took out the two lids that went with the glass jars of the previous day. The third day, I skipped the rule. And by the fourth day, I needed to get rid of four objects. Fifth day, six objects. I could feel the clutter creeping closer, and I rummaged until I found a box that I thought would fit the bill. In it were assorted smaller boxes of envelopes and blank greeting cards from the time when I spent entire days making cards. Years ago I used to recycled my less successful embroidery, the pieces that just wouldn't ever work, no matter how much I might try, and these small pieces made very interesting subjects for "carding."
"Great," I thought. "A whole box of boxes! I'm good for the next month." And to add to my relief, the big box under this big box had more card-making supplies. These, however, were smaller things, labels, bits of old puzzles, game pieces, hand-made paper scraps-- all unsorted and unboxed. Hmmm . . . .
I decided to save them for Bethy. We'd cut and paste and make wonderful, messy things. Then I could throw away both boxes. Voile!
But, Bethy wasn't interested. After a while, I realized that it was
I who was interested, and I made that incredibly fatal mistake of too much touching and thinking.
Which is why, this morning, when I meant to clean up from our day in the studio I, instead, spread the contents of the boxes on the drafting table, and when I finally looked up it was because Charles had come into the studio to announce that he was ready for lunch.
Lunch?
By then I had made a small selection of greeting cards, which I share with you.
If there is a moral to this tale, it must be that we should not make rules. Certainly not left-brained rules for right-brained operations.
2 comments:
You have given me a grand idea! Rose loves to color and paste, and make art... and I think that we shall make cards next time she visits. I have boxes and boxes of envelopes and papers (from my letterpress printing days). She's used to using scrap printer paper and the like, but if I intruduce different supplies and colored papers...perhaps she will "get into it" as much as me! I love to watch her create... :) We shall see!
Make notes and share with me how Rose approaches this. I would like to know how to make collage more interesting to Bethany. I have boxes of scraps and small pieces to play with. The odd shapes of the small pieces are inspiring, can be wonderful starting points for a design. They mix well with fabric scraps, too.
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