Saturday, January 19, 2008

Chocolate mess

So I was working on my chocolate piece. It was close to done. (Feel the impending doom lurking in that little word "was?" Clever literary foreshadowing in my part, huh?) I was really happy with it ... it was looking better than I'd envisioned when I started out, even.

But there was ONE little thing bothering me. Should I try to change it? Should I leave it be?

I decided to let it sit on the wall for a bit. I took a few pictures, to see it from a distance. I messed around with Photoshop, to see if I could create the effect of the change I was considering and decide that way.

I emailed a photo to a friend and asked her advice. She said, "Leave it, it's great as is."

Did I listen?

Um, no.

I thought, I'll just do this one TEENY TINY thing, ever so carefully. And then I got a bit more confident. Hmmm... I'll just do THIS....

Uh oh. Problem I didn't anticipate, and it's (to me) glaringly obvious.

I tried to make it disappear. (Hah, you say, fat chance.)

I took pictures, thinking that maybe from a different perspective it'd look better and/or not noticeable.

Nope.

I thought, Okay. Calm down. This could be a good opportunity to do something really creative. After I finish hyperventilating, that is.

I messed around with various ideas for about an hour, feeling more and more annoyed and unhappy.

Finally, I reached for the scissors. A drastic overhaul was necessary. So, more cutting, more stitching, different fabric, more stitching...

And now it's up on the wall and I'm uncertain but I think I'm back to where I started, basically. I AM NOT GOING TO TOUCH IT FOR 24hours.

I am taking a break from it and alcohol WILL be involved.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ouch! Some say that good art is all about taking risks but I feel your pain.

Kristin L said...

Ouch! I feel your pain too as I spent a decent amount of time yesterday trying to undo a small something I had done on my chocolate quilt. Arghhhhhh!

Terri Stegmiller said...

You know, I think chocolate would have been the answer here, not alcohol.

Françoise said...

It happens to me all the time (except for the alcohol part of the story!)

Karen said...

I'm beginning to think we had too much time to work on these pieces. I am starting to hate mine, and think maybe I would have done a better job if I hadn't procrastinated on starting it.

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah. Been there :(