Gwenn Seemel (@gwennpaints) tweeted today: “When a work of art is finished, it’s finished. I don’t touch it again”
I had just posted a little lunch time musing along the same lines but mostly about the difference in process between quilting and writing, so I messaged her back and she was most understanding. Later I went over to read her whole blog post and I left the following comment:
I agree with you, Gwenn: I see my past work as a progression. I might still be drawn to similar subjects but my ideas and techniques have changed over the years. I would be hard put to re-make something I’ve done before and I know it would be too hard for me to alter it. I do know people who chop up their unfinished works or works they don’t like anymore to make something new but my work doesn’t lend itself to that once it’s complete. I encourage folks not to feel embarrassed by old works – it’s where you were vs where you are now.
What I was pondering today was the difference in mindset between what I do re making big quilts of abstract, contemporary designs (I have no idea how to really describe them) vs the writing that I’ve been doing lately.
For quilts, I get an idea, figure out logistics and construction and go for it but I have a pretty good idea of what it’s going to look like. There are decisions to make and can be changes along the way, although these are generally small. When I get to the end, I’m done, it’s done and it pretty much looks like I hoped it would and hopefully even better.
For writing, I have much less idea about the finished product. The process is much more off the cuff. There is a need to go back and edit and re-write and I’m finding that very hard to do because it’s outside my past experience.
