Clearly, both are important.
But if you’re the type of artist who’s restless and eager for the shortcut, always on the lookout for the procedure or process that leads to the assurance of a predictable outcome – then perhaps you’re not asking questions at all.
You’re simply gathering answers – and that’s only part of the artist equation.
And who wants to work towards a predictable outcome anyway? I’m after ‘wow’ every time.
Why do we hanker after the shortest journey? Is it impatience or inconvenience that then deprives us of the rich pool of analysis, in-depth research, innovation, and historical commonalities we can utilise in our work?
Big mistake.
These are the informers, the molders, the movers and shakers of our inspirations, enthusiasms, and motivations.
They also lead us to that most important question – what if?
And better still, they lead us to understand our own unique voice and style.
Sometimes too many answers cocoon us from the questions we should be asking ourselves as practicing textile artists.
We need to make discoveries for ourselves, we need to continually push to innovate to suit our own unique abilities and styles, and most importantly, to showcase our individual and distinctive influences too.
So rather than looking for the quick fix or the expeditious outcome, focus on the questions you need to ask yourself to find the answers most important to you.
Your work will become stronger and you may find yourself going down some very interesting and exciting rabbit holes of discovery.
Make art that’s a reflection of you.
