DON'T FORGET TO PLAY IN THE SANDBOX!

background is a tag made with the napkin collage process

Pablo Picasso sure hit the target with this one.  I love this saying, "You don't make art, you find it", by Pablo Picasso.  This week in my studio I decided to make 2 long plates.  I stood there for a few moments admiring my glass (yes, I admit to my little addiction, I do love the colors and shine of glass) trying to determine just how best to put it together, letting the glass play out on my work space.  Those creations that I do not force, turn out far better than when I push myself to make something very specific.  I think it is because I am letting my mind create as I go, rather than re-creating something.

I am a big believer of repetition to learn a skill, but then “let it soar!”  When I take an art class, I go back to my studio and make more of them, until it becomes automatic and I understand how it works.  I can’t tell you how many glass kaleidoscopes, patterned stained glass projects, tatted butterflies and flowers, as well as jewelry techniques I have done when I learned something new.  Besides, it is something new!  And that is so much fun to keep doing!!!!  Many times I go back to these projects to refresh.   But what I love is to just “freeform” my work and see where it goes.

When I get a nature inspired design in my head, out comes the paper and colored pencils and I look at photos to see the character of the item and sketch, sketch, sketch until I feel that I have the general direction of what I will do and what colors I would like to work with.  This part is almost as fun as cutting and stacking glass for the final piece.  With freeform projects that don’t need to look like a flower (smirk), like this week, I stand and stare at my glass selection, lay pieces out and see what looks like it belongs.  This time I kept the plates clean and simple.  Don’t get me wrong, they don’t all turn out, but even if they “don’t make the cut” I did learn something that will improve the next attempt.

one of the plates ready to come out of the kiln

With my other favorite art forms, freeform peyote, bead embroidery and what I call my “half and half” bracelets are where I tend to gravitate when I am creating jewelry pieces.  With the mixed media scrapbooks, I enjoy a mix of materials to create those special books and pages.  I think this process helps us create something that speaks from our hearts or a way to include a little part of ourselves as our art piece takes form.

If you have not done this with your art of choice, I highly recommend it.  The good news is… you can’t get it wrong, because there is no pattern to follow.  The great news is… you will have fun playing!  When was the last time you had the time to “play”?  Then it is about time.  They say many of us lose our creativity as we get older, so it is probably about time we stepped back in the sandbox.

There is a good lesson to keep in mind during this process.  It is unrealistic to expect every piece to be at a level you would put your name on it.  That is perfectly OK.  I know many times I found this disappointing, I still do.  But what we can all agree is that there is something to learn from each piece that improves our work.  And, as it was pointed out to me many years ago, what we do is handmade, not manufactured, so we need to accept those little telltale signs that show it was indeed handmade. =-)

Have fun in your sandbox!