Thursday, April 28, 2005

Creative Backwater

I am in a kind of weird holding pattern - knitting wise. Nothing I am working on is coming out right. It used to freak me out - and totally discourage me. Now, I'm beginning to think of this as just another cycle of creativity. All artists (and, as humans, we really are artists) go through periods of creative stasis. If you're a writer, you agonze over every non-working word. If you're a painter, nothing looks right. And if you love fiber, there are times when you feel as if your instincts have failed you in terms of technique, color choice and pattern - or so i tell myself. I have 4 projects in the works - and I don't like one of them at the moment. Still, 95% of success is hanging in there, so i persevere. Here are some of the rules i have laid down for myself:
1. No more new projects
2. Pick up one thing every night that needs a loving solution
3. Be gentle with the work - and myself
4. Refuse to be discouraged
5. Don't work (or make decisions) when tired - go to bed
No great profundity here. They are simple rules, but they seem to work. In closing, here's a statue of the saintly spinner who is my hero. I never noticed it before, but as i was ambling through Union Squre Park the other day - on my way to a committee meeting for October 2nd's Annual Knit out, there he was! He's been there for years, of course, and I never took the time to see him. It's the second time in a month that he's been presented to me - once on the west coast, now on the east. His presence blessed my afternoon!

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're so right to think of it as cyclical - our whole lives come in phases, I think. Keep your 'rules' in mind and it will all come good. I love your New York pictures.

12:19 PM  
Blogger benedetta said...

knitting (and blogging) apathy for me as well. too many other things going on. i like your rules, very helpful.

9:14 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home