Do you have rules for yourself when making your art? You make the rules. You can break your own art rules. For a long time I had a rule for myself that once a piece of art was finished, I would leave it alone. I chose to not change or update a piece.
When I started exploring art quilts I didn’t really know what I was doing. As I got better and more confident, I decided to leave my previous work as it was. Could it be improved? Yes. But why not just move on. Oddly enough, while I knew I could do better, some of these early pieces sold.
Well, a decade passed. Now, I have a better sense of myself as an artist. I decided to take another look at certain pieces. I gave myself permission to rework a piece. If I make the rules then I can break the rule. I liked this freedom and lack of guilt. Break your own art rules.
A Prolific Artist
My fellow artists have called me prolific. That also means that I have a lot of work on hand. During the pandemic I took a different view, reusing a former piece in response to the George Floyd murder. I reused a beige,cream and black abstract art quilt (12″ x 14″ 30 x 36 cm) as a background. I appliqued a black male figure with a sparkly golden heart on top of the abstract piece. Break your own art rules.
Luckily,this piece was successful. I repeated the process with a cream colored abstract with green accents. This time I added a woman dressed in a skirt and serape for a Mexican theme.
10″ x 12″ 25 x 30cm
Pumpkin pie,this abstract quilt began the background for a Day of the Dead skeleton.
Breaking a Sewing Rule
I recently broke a sewing rule. I have been sewing since high school which is a long time ago. Somewhere along the way I got it into my head that when hemming a seam I should top stitch it. The stitches would supposedly look better that way. Recently I sewed several large fabric gift bags. First, I folded 1/4 ” fabric from the top and then another 1 1/2″ fold over. To sew this seam down easily, I sewed the seam down on the inside of the bag instead of on the front. However,if there was a difference it was slight.
I cut up Gridlock I, a large black and white abstract piece( 33″ x 31″ 84 x 79 cm)into 4 smaller pieces. They are not all the same size to maintain a detail. However, because it is an abstract the four pieces work well independently. Changing a finished piece is something that I would never have done in the past. I broke my own rule. I come from the traditional bed quilt world. To me, this quilt seemed small compared with a double size bed quilt that I was used to making. However, as wall art it is too big. Many people don’t have a large wall to accommodate such a piece. Changing one’s mind is acceptable. Give yourself permission to do it. Break your own art rules.
What rules do you make for yourself? Maybe you have rules about certain colors or materials you use? Break your own art rules. No one will know or even care. Creativity might even flow!
http://annbmayartquilts.etsy.com
https://annbaldwinmayartquilts.com/2023/03/how-to-make-art-in-a-less-than-perfect-situation/
https://annbaldwinmayartquilts.com/2023/01/why-one-begins-an-art-quilt/
