Getting creatively stuck delights me. I know something good is going to come out of it. This attitude only arrived for me after I created a “for later” basket. This is where I throw castoff ideas, wonky paintings, drawings that didn’t work out, collages that never clicked. Whenever I’m stuck, this is where I go first.
I spend a lot of time testing ideas. Sometimes quantity leads to quality, but sometimes quantity leads to a lot of seemingly wasted pieces of paper. It’s hard to tell which it will be.
Now, I have a much longer view of how I create. If I make something that I think might be in the wasted-piece-of-paper category, I throw it in the “for later” basket and let it go. A decision for another day. I have made some of my favorite work this way.
Recently, in a creative rut, I dove into the “for later” pile and pulled out some drawings I created in 2021, newspapers I had printed in 2020, and prints I made in 2019 and I spread them all out. I grabbed some scissors and a very cute stapler. I cut, I stapled, I cut I stapled. No thinking allowed, just cutting and stapling.
These have transformed into the series Remixed Landscape. An exploration of the layers of experience in different locations, in different weather, paired with the concept of “wherever you go, there you are”. You can find them here. I’d love to hear what you think.
xo
