Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Sister Corita's Rules # 6 and #9

I always try to remember Sister Corita's Rules. My favorite one is Rule #9 which says "Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It's lighter than you think." I used to have her rules up in my room while I was in college and now, thanks to Bea reminding me about them, I have them up in my studio.
Rule # 6 has been standing out in my mind lately. It says "Nothing is a mistake. There's no win and no fail. There's only make."

Here are some unfinished projects that I am working on at present. I never throw anything away and will always make a mistake work somehow, someway. In a previous post of mine, Paula Gron made a "blow-out" in her basket work for her. She didn't do it over or throw it out, she worked with it and everyone thought it was supposed to be that way (they never would have known it was a mistake if she had not told them) and they loved it.

All of these projects have so called "mistakes" but I'm making it work. All of these WILL be finished, that's one of my goals, and then I'll post the end result later.

This one is my Blue Moon piece. It has my hand dyed fabric and paper fabric. I have not stitched anything down yet. It's just all placed like I want it possibly. I may change it. Who knows. The Blue Moon this year was an inspiration to me and on 01022010 I started this piece. That date is a palindrome and that along with the blue moon I know this one will be good in the end.
This one below is a feather bleach discharge piece. Just have ideas for this one so far.
This one is my own soy wax batik bird piece with fabric paper around it. Quilted around the bird but that's as far as I've got so far. Have more ideas for this one.

This one with the Goddess and Hummingbirds will have lots of stitching, probably hand stitching on it. It was inspired by another piece I saw. It uses shibori fabric that I made and some more of my hand dyed fabric.
So, all of these pieces have "mistakes" in them but I didn't throw them out or redo them. I will continue to work on them and they will more than likely be some of my favorites.

10 comments:

Bea said...

Someone just sent me a link to an article that talks about the FEAR of a MISTAKE and it's effect on blocking artists. I think if we actually believe that whatever we set out to create is going to be perfect then we "see" mistakes.
I look at your pieces and find them delightful. Like her basket until you TELL me that they are a mistake or there is a mistake I can't see it. Sometimes I think we actually think we are in total control and charge of our art. The Muse doth like to play too. :)Bea

Brittan said...

yvonne, I adore this post... it is just what I needed. And as for your works in progress, even as they are now, they are wonderful... I have an obsession with trees (I am always painting them, I should post them...) and feathers (I collect feathers). The mood that your works are set in are also very beautiful, I love that shadowy, dream like color sceme... thanks
...little owl... <3 ...

Yvonne said...

Bea I think too many people are perfectionists. I have a friend that way in our little group but she is quickly learning to not be that way so much and having much more fun. Also many of them make a little booboo and they want to give it up and start over and then someone will walk in and say oh, I love what you did, speaking of their so called mistake. Funny isn't it!

Yvonne said...

Thanks Britan, I'm glad it was what you needed to read. I love trees and I collect feathers too. I'm always trying to figure out ways to incorporate them into my art. I'm glad you visited.:)

Deborah said...

What a good reminder that things aren't always what they seem! One of the things that comes to mind is the Amish? tradition of purposely including a mistake in a quilt.

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Mistakes? I see no mistakes on these pieces!! They're all great and can only get better as you go along.

Yvonne said...

Thanks MA, and yes that's exactly my point. You can't see the mistakes unless I would have pointed them out. :)

Yvonne said...

Yes, Deborah, I do recall the Amish doing that now that you mention it. They believe that no one is perfect, and they are correct. Putting a mistake in their quilts reminds them of just that. Look how beautiful their quilts are! I would love to do an Amish pattern one day. I love the colors they use too.

Clare Wassermann said...

HI THERE.I definitely think you must persue the finishing off of things. We learn more by our mistakes than anything else. Thanks for your comment on my blog. My stitching is just a running stitch, since you enquired, which is as Sashiko is. But I'd say mine was more in the spirit of Kantha stitching ... x

Yvonne said...

Thanks Clare for the clarification on the stitches. I have wanted to learn more about hand stitching and will so some research. Some of these unfinished pieces of mine I would like to do more hand embroidery work on them. So, time to learn and yes, there will be mistakes, but like you said, that's how we learn. Glad you visited.