Inspiration versus Execution

I wish I had had the guts to become an artist. I’m confident now that I had potential. I could have gone to art school and been trained and my entrepreneurial nature would have, I think, ensured economic survival. I was too afraid to take the risk.

So here I am, a retiree with a passion for crafts; there are some remarkable benefits to having waited until now.

For one thing, I am a wiser person now. I have patience and that is a good thing. Plus, I am really enjoying being conscious of my creative process. I love, for example, realizing how my process begins with a vision that sometimes comes from my imagination but more often is inspired by something I see online.

The end product, however, is never anything like the inspiring image. And often, once I do start — and my beginnings are always cautious because I am afraid of failing — I can lose my enthusiasm quickly, daunted by the challenge or disappointed in my initial try at execution.

But I always persevere (and I’m sorry if this sounds like bragging) I always succeed — at least to my satisfaction. I don’t think it’s bragging because I have less self-esteem than anyone I know. It’s just that at my age, I realize how many times I have lost faith, recovered and been pleased with the outcome.

I definitely had a slump making the cardinal dress but it is now, for me, a (Chris) triumph.

The pearl dress did the same. I had a huge loss of confidence shortly after beginning, but yesterday morning I went to the crafts store and got lots of goodies with which to tart up my pearl dress and now I am excited about finishing it.  

I’ve decided on a pearl mixture instead of a uniform pearl application for the bodice. And I found a lovely soft pinkish ribbon that might make for a lovely waistband. I may just have enough of the gold paisley paper to make a collar. I’m hoping I do, otherwise I’ll be making a collar with something else.

I’m pretty committed to sleeves for this dress, too. There were no sleeves on the last two dresses I made, so I’m ready for the finicky work.

I’m going to have to buy more mannequins and they ain’t cheap. But I’m pretty committed to a show or exhibition or both now, so there may be some chance of cost recovery.

This image (Above) is the image that inspired me to make a pearl dress. However, my dress has no black, is paper, is white and gold, is opaque, has the pearls on the bodice not the skirt and is formal, heavy and retro in appearance and not delightfully modern and slight. You'll see soon, photos are coming.