I’m back to reading Rick Rubin and thought perhaps a reflection each day. “All that matters is that you are making something you love to the best of your ability, here + now.” And so asking myself, am I making something I love, in a greater scope. Yes, I am. I am making something with fabric, my medium of choice. Even if I sometimes use other mediums I will always circle back to fabric in some form.
I think if I’m not in love with what I am making then it becomes frustrating work — I get angry or disinterested and it drops off. Not to say that I sometimes find frustration in the joy, but it’s usually temporary and a hurdle to work through.
The process is the part that I love — it’s the process that engages my heart, and the making that I feel deeply — not all the time, and not w/ every piece, and not on a constant high — but enough that curiosity draws me forward towards completion. In the bigger picture — all that matters — yes, in the end I need to be in love with the work on some level.
Now here’s the second part: to the best of my ability… am I always working to the best of my ability? I doubt that. Is every piece full of my heart? Do I stretch myself totally every time? I can’t truthfully say I do.
I think when I explore an idea — first piece — it may not be my best work. It might be the experimental one, or the piece to get the idea into reality. Then I see the good points, the not-so-good points — what works and what doesn’t. Perhaps this is where I might first be making samples, sketches, little starts, and remember that when I do those, I am in a better position to make better work — from the beginning.
And so, to the “best of my ability” is what I make — at a point in time — that best will be different with each best, a bar that “hopefully” is constantly moving upwards. Each best builds on my bests of what I have done. The here + now is in the present but will change with every new work.
When I look at the work from the beginning of the residency, it is timid, little steps, but barely moving forward. I would say that they are the foundation on what comes next, and next, and so on — incremental steps forward into more, that, I believe, will be my best at some point when it is finished, later at home.
PS - The images below: I've almost run out of fabric so have started using my stash of rice paper and experimenting with gravity! Today I'm tearing them up for collage - stay tuned!
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