Unsure

layout
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com

Being out of a near constant stream of creativity and art making has left me feeling rather insecure and slow to nail anything down or complete something. I hesitate before bringing out the glue and sealer. I hesitate before making certain cuts to paper or wood.

This is my current challenge. I have a hard time feeling that I have wasted precious and sometimes expensive materials on a failed piece. This was much easier when I was just doing straight up woodblock prints. Sure, if I messed up an actual block that stunk because I was out one block and the time I put into it. But with actually printing I was much less scared of failure because paper and ink are rather inexpensive and I knew that even if some pieces didn't turn out I could use parts of them in other things eventually. I saved failed works sometimes for years, being a packrat has really paid off because now I am going through those pieces and finding bits of beauty even in the worst of them. Even a horrible piece can have an inch of beauty.

Many of these collages are rather spontaneous and fast. I wonder if that is wrong and I should labor over the layout for many hours or if I should just go with my instincts. One thing is for sure that this is something I need to figure out so I can keep it from holding me back.

I'm excited because I just got a wonderful and rather inexpensive refurbished sewing machine off of Overstock.com. Unfortunately I can't figure out how to even get it started, but that should be solved tonight with the help of a friend. I've been wanting to add stitching elements to my work ever since I started collage making two years ago. I've done a bit of hand stitching in some pieces but I really like the look of perfect machine stitching. I'm very excited about what is to come and I hope to share it here with you soon.