But first…
Dulltown, Europe: Today’s financial forecast is for plummeting gold ingots to bounce off Ferrari roofs into deep, deep, foetid waters…
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For some reason or other I decided to look through some of the larger decalcomania monoprints that I made a while back; they are kept in a thick folder of A2 size clear plastic ‘pockets’. I hadn’t looked at them for several months, and I was curious as to what I would think of them after the passing of time – the artist needs a bit of perspective on his or her work now and again…
Ah, relief! I thought that most of them were ‘all right’, if not ‘fairly good’… but two or three… well, they were a bit boring… They had some nice little bits in them, but… they were a bit boring…
As I may have once pontificated in these pages, ‘if you want to raise the standard of the body of your work, in whatever medium you use, you should ruthlessly dump the worst stuff, thus raising the average quality!’. I pulled out the offending two or three substandard ones and cheerfully ripped them up… humming a tune as I did it…
As the bits of paper lay scattered on the bench top, I said, ‘Hang on Dave, some of these pieces look quite nice now they are on a smaller scale!’ ‘Yes, they do… don’t they Dave!’ I replied, and picked a few up for closer inspection. Hm… ‘Seems a pity to chuck them in the bin with the rubbish Dave.’ I murmured… and then I agreed with myself and nodded…
I got my old photo trimmer out and cut some of the fragments into reasonably neat little rectangles, as you can see above. (Oh, by the way, the shiny adjustable spanner in the top left-hand corner has nothing to do with the process; when I was taking the photograph I thought that the composition needed something there to fill an empty space on the bench, and the spanner was within easy reach.)
So, what should I do with them? I could send them to people as postcards, I could stick them onto nice pieces of tastefully coloured mounting card and get some cosy little arty-crafty shop in a ‘nice’ part of town to flog them for me at a fiver each; no, no, I can’t be bothered with all that, just the thought of it makes me shudder; they are nice though… Hm… Anybody want one? I have plenty…
is that tea or coffee in the mug? Oh, and yes please I would love one to put up in my living room.
I’ll get one in the post for you my dear chap…
You hit on several very wise points here! Yes, if you no longer thing a piece of your art is worth hanging onto, trash it. Or tear off the better parts of it. I’ve done that before myself. I have very few of the pieces I created before 2009. I did take photos of them at least. Good advice, Dave. Here’s some advice for you – get an account on Cafe Press and sell mugs with your art on them.
My Dear SDS,
You know, I don’t think I can be bothered selling mugs and things – I live quite frugally and don’t really need the money, or all the hassle of posting stuff off. But, thank you for the suggestion!
I think I might put one of the little decalcomania fragments in the post for you…
It is a bother, isn’t it? I still love your stuff anyway and wish more people could see it.
Oh, thank you Jean!
why thankyou, can’t wait to receive it.
cheers Dave, I love it.
You are very welcome my dear chap!
They are really lovely but I am intrigued as to what is the process of making them… if you don’t mind me asking.