I definitely go in cycles. Overall, I try to balance my activities but there are times when I definitely "binge" on something until I'm good and sated. Something or someone piques my interest and the next thing I know, I'm reading everything I can about it. Eventually, I reach a point where I'm tired of the subject or at least reading about it, my brain saturated like a sponge raised dripping from the dish pan. Time to give it a rest or put the information to use. Sometimes between research and practical application, I go through a buying stage, adding references to my collection and supplies to my stores.
Right now I'm at the end of a reading and research cycle. I binged on 8 or 10 library books on surface design, comparing them to a few books I own. I'm not the sort of personality that jumps into new things comfortably unless I have some background knowledge first. I've been dabbling a bit with paints on fabric, but had so many basic questions that I felt I needed a crash course to avoid stumbling and bumbling along, wasting time and materials. This range of books certainly gave me that.
Now I understand about the different types of paint and how to use them, the types of brushes I should buy, how to set up my work surface, the pitfalls to avoid. Now I have ideas of how to play with the basic rules to achieve interesting results. I've ramped up some confidence and added a few paints and brushes and such to my "surface design" cart. And suddenly, I find I don't want to read another word or look at another picture on the subject. I'm ready to squeeze some information out of my saturated brain and get on with the play!
This is an ongoing theme in my creative journey: Knowledge helps suppress the anxiety which holds my creativity hostage.
Right now I'm at the end of a reading and research cycle. I binged on 8 or 10 library books on surface design, comparing them to a few books I own. I'm not the sort of personality that jumps into new things comfortably unless I have some background knowledge first. I've been dabbling a bit with paints on fabric, but had so many basic questions that I felt I needed a crash course to avoid stumbling and bumbling along, wasting time and materials. This range of books certainly gave me that.
Now I understand about the different types of paint and how to use them, the types of brushes I should buy, how to set up my work surface, the pitfalls to avoid. Now I have ideas of how to play with the basic rules to achieve interesting results. I've ramped up some confidence and added a few paints and brushes and such to my "surface design" cart. And suddenly, I find I don't want to read another word or look at another picture on the subject. I'm ready to squeeze some information out of my saturated brain and get on with the play!
This is an ongoing theme in my creative journey: Knowledge helps suppress the anxiety which holds my creativity hostage.
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