The contents of my wastepaper basket? The aftermath of a sweetie-gobbling competition? A toilet seat cover?
No. This is the result of one of my brilliant ideas for a conceptual artwork. The initial idea was this: a HUGE heart, at least one metre wide and one and a half metres tall, hanging on the wall behind our bed. It would be covered with smallish white squares of paper, semi-folded, like little buds waiting to open, upon which little notes and quotes would be printed in black. Each square would be attached by hand with red embroidery yarn to the base of the heart. What a fantastic idea! I congratulated myself, and prepared to enter it for the next Venice Biennale, say ...
Luckily I decided to make a smaller one first, just to get an idea of what was involved. I cut the base out of a laminated paper carrier bag, and then proceeded to cut up part of the old i-D fashion magazine which has already yielded much paper goodness. I folded each square. Then I attached each square by hand with the red yarn. It took me half a day. And it looks weird. Lying flat or hanging against the wall (in my study). Maybe it is because I didn't do it in black and white? Or because it is smaller? Would that really have made a difference?
Have you ever had that? A brilliant concept in your head turning into a major disappointment upon execution? Oh dear friends, let me hear your confessions. Let our failures bind us together for a while ...
15 comments:
I actually rather like it. I do think it needs a really tight colour scheme to looks really snazzy though.
By the by, those prints on your wall are so cool!
i think it looks pretty good too! but i know what you mean about having a brainflash and going after it with gusto, only to have the result totally nowhere near what you had expected. it's deflating. my daughter had a similar experience in kindergarten yesterday. she made a heart and showed it to one of her classmates who thought she painted a pair of underwear.
i second that comment about the prints!
You must be JOKING- that is a brilliant heart and at first I thought that you had purchased one of our famous Bellingham rugs- Exactly like that except with fabric woven into a base of hefty canvas. I will take a pictur next time I am in the studio of the small rug I got of this exact technique and effect! NO Not a failure! It is wonderful!
It isn't actually that bad you know! Like Linda Sue it reminds me of a rug-you know the rag ones?
One of my funniest ( I think ) was a painting, lovingly worked on during two weeks without a tv in the 90s. It was a three part picture, top to bottom, telling the story of the Merry Maidens in Cornwall-a stone circle-the legend is that these maidens danced on a Sunday and were turned to stone. So I did the empty field at the top, the maidens happily dancing in the middle and the stone circle amidst cows munching grass in the bottom picture. I was quite pleased with my efforts and displayed the painting around the house. It took me about a year to realise that what I had in fact painted was three enormous pairs of Y-fronts! (the shape of the hills) It's in the shed now!
Oh look-Aimee's daughter had the same problem!
I actually think it is great. Quite beautiful. I love the textural quality. :)
Good grief, you describe almost every painting I've ever attempted! Somehow I always envisage something that would not look out of place in the national gallery and what comes out is (strangely and frustratingly) nothing like it! I'm learning to moderate my expectations but it still sucks.
That said, I agree with the consensus above - this is not horrid at all. At all! I like it too. But we didn't see the picture in your head so we're not comparing it... I get that. What sometimes works for me is to put it in a cupboard and rediscover it some weeks later when the original has faded in my mind and I can look at it more for its own merits, rather than in comparison to the vision. Often, it doesn't seem so bad then. Sometimes it's just as bad and then I paint over it. :)
PS how about painting it? The texture is lovely, and you could turn it white and bring it closer to the vision... That might help you love it more.
A very smart idea! I guess it was not easy putting all the pieces together.I definitely cannot do it.
Thanks for your comments for the poem. I appreciate your feed back. I was glad to read all your remarks. I am doing my PhD in microbiology and immunology (smile) not in literature.
heather - I absolutely agree with you about the colour scheme - the randomness of colour at the moment is not helping. I love the prints too - they are part of a series (I purchased the entire series) of ten, called Paper Prayers. The one on the left is by Lien Botha and the one on the right be Theo Kleynhans. They are both well-known South African artists.
aimee - Oh, I had such a giggle about your daughter's underwear heart! Please give her my regards and tell her that she is not alone in being a Misunderstood Artist! We know what we mean even if the rest of the world doesn't!
linda sue - Oh, you are always so supportive - thank you! Mmmm, a Hamster rug, I am in good company then!
Sarah - Oh, I love your story! Imagine your painting in the National Gallery with the title: Y-Fronts (Sarah Wallis, 1999). Hahaha - that would be so funny! Actually, when I visit galleries (a favourite pastime of mine) I like looking at serious paintings and giving them funny names. About displaying my work - I am always very embarrassed about my paintings and drawings and will only put them up (if at all) in my study. I am wondering whether other people have similar doubts about their own work?
wendren - Thank you - that is sweet of you! I am actually having a re-think (after reading linda sue's and sarah's references to rugs) - my idea is probably best suited to a fabric piece - maybe a square cushion cover - just the front bit. That would look quite nice, don't you think? I love this about blogs - you get people's comments and an idea can slowly morph into a different and better one!
kendalee - Thank you for your suggestions - they are both good ideas! I think putting something away for a while and see how you feel about it later is an excellent artistic device.
Khaled - Aha! So you are the Poet in the Lab Coat then!
i think it looks great.
inspiration hits me at night, as i am falling asleep, and then it looks foolish to me in the mornig - i don't even get to make it to the implementation stage.
I think there are no mistakes there. It is delightful so gorgeously textured!
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