At the end of every Contextural residency, we have an exhibit of work (hopefully) done through the summer. (Some people put whatever they like in, done wherever and whenever, which to me is pointless…….but we won’t go there.)
Being as this is the 10th anniversary for Contextural, and even though i’ve only been a member since 2009 (though i missed one year), i thought i’d look at my own work done 10 years ago.
Seriously? Very little i did then is show worthy really. Futzing about with mixed media, extraneous details, overloaded with technique and colour, the only value they have now is as samples and whatnottodo-whatthehellwasithinking’s! ICK. Fortunately (?), most of them are photos only, lost, tossed or given and flooded away (2013), so i don’t have to store them 🙂
But i did find this:
Above, the finished page, below, in progress shots:
A page i had done for an international fabric art journal exchange, i could work with this. I can incorporate the indigo, ecoprinting, rust and potassium permanganate and create something new. Looking back can take you ahead.
albedo too 
I’ve been looking back as well . . . some of what I did was cringeworthy but without them I wouldn’t be doing what I do now. The thing I found most interesting is how one builds on the other and the elements that are discarded and those that remain in some form. I love looking at the work that artists did even 5 years ago and comparing it to now . . . sadly some seem to be doing much the same thing. Not you though!
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Yes, Wendy, cringe and laugh worthy 🙂 some of it, but wow there are occasionally some good ideas in there to mine from!
I get that some keep doing the same thing even years after, as it’s a form of perfection by that point, but i would get bored doing that continually, as it also can become a well worn rut. On the other hand, i know of one artist who does the most exquisite hand embroidery, but under another name does something entirely different, so different you’d never recognize it as her work 🙂
Skill set can be an albatross, or a cocoon breaking revelation.
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Yes, ive often said a protective castle can quickly become a prison but I like your way of putting the concept much better.
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