Monday 24 February 2014

Unsinging Muse - what to do with work you don't like

Untitled and Unloved by Gillian Cooper
I finished this smallish piece a few weeks ago, but haven’t felt inspired to share it.  There is something about it that just doesn’t work for me, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.  I thought perhaps it was too simple, yet it has all the elements I have been working on in my Unsung Muses series; figure, waves, patterns, incomplete fragments, but somehow... somehow...
 

Detail - colour not quite right
Is it the different colourway? Is it that the background isn’t pieced? Is it because it didn’t take weeks of labour as most of my work does – I was trying to see if I could make ‘quicker’ pieces?  What do you think?  Brutal opinions would be appreciated as I suspect this piece is just going to sink to the bottom on a pile and I’m not sure it will even make it on to my website when it is revamped.
Detail - colour not quite right - I think the shot cotton makes it harder for the camera (and me!)
Does this happen in your work too?  How often do you get to the end of a piece and discover you really don’t like it?  One person looking over my shoulder at it said it was ‘cute’; which was a bit of a kiss of death for me!  What do you do to recover your work at that point or do you just write it off to experience?

3 comments:

Vicki Miller said...

I think the background might be the problem, it doesn't seem to help with the flow of the piece, but who am I to say so? I think when were are in this place where you are with this it is very hard to be objective. I would put it aside for a while (or a while more) before I do anything. Perhaps it is your mind ruminating on new things you are not ready for yet

Gillian Cooper said...

Thanks for your thoughts Vicki. I think it will get buried in my studio mess for quite a while before being recycled into something else!

Margaret Cooter said...

Next time you have a dyepot, why not dip it in? The colour needn't be strong, just enough to unify what's there. Even if that doesn't revive it, you'll be able to think about "what's wrong with this" from a different angle.
Or ... make another in different colours and see if that improves it. Who knows, it could become a series!

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