It’s going to get depressingly dark and gray here on the wet coast any day now (I’m Canadian. None of us can ever stop talking about the weather.) and I need to have a plan that will keep me busy over the fall and winter.
This fall it was going to be all about keeping it simple. It seems that I just can’t do it. Coming up with new projects and ideas is not usually a problem for me. What I can’t do is choose. As a visual artist I never could choose just one media, so of course I had to become a mixed media artist.
Now I’m having trouble choosing between what I should be creating with the help of computers and related technology and what I should do with more traditional visual media, or by hand for want of a better way of describing it.
In the end I decided that my goal will be to complete new projects using as many media as I can this winter. I’ll try some photography, digital printing, painting, drawing and sculpture, and throw in some of the crafts that I enjoy as well. Maybe I’ll mix them up or maybe I won’t. No rules. As for writing projects I think I’ll just stick to blogging for now.
It should go against my better judgement. But it doesn’t. It’s time for me to go with the flow. If I can’t get rid of this creative attention deficit disorder of mine, I’d better learn to work with it. Besides I know that there are people out there who have harnessed their creative energies with all sorts of unheard of combinations. Some of them, like Todd Paschall leave me feeling more than a little inspired.
Most people would be stumped at the thought of putting crochet and computers together but he came up with crochet by numbers. As well as crocheting large images that sometimes remind me of old picture tapestries, he uses his computer to produce patterns for customers from their own photographs. A few free patterns are also available on his site. He’s not only mixed his media to give himself a creative outlet, he’s opened up possibilities for people who like to crochet and created a business for himself. Pretty good.
As for me I’m getting back to my mixed media paintings and will also be making a bit of jewellery in my spare time. More to come on those topics soon. . .