Build a Bridge

April 8, 2005

Last summer I read Twyla Tharp’s fantastic book called The Creative Habit, and among many great suggestions, she writes about one technique that has really helped me. She calls it “building a bridge” meaning building a bridge from one day of creative work to the next. She sites Hemingway as an example: He stopped writing at the end of day, only when he knew what he was going to write the next day.

After reading this, I began to try it with my own work. I try not to work until I’m bone-tired and at a total loss for what to do next. I find a place to stop when I still have energy and know what needs to be done next. This makes me excited and look forward to returning to the studio the next day.

Here’s my pattern printed out and taped together. I used to lay more paper on top of one of these patterns to make ANOTHER pattern to cut fabric for my background. One day I realize this was silly, I could just cut the original pattern apart, use the pieces, and then tape it all back together to use when I trace my applique designs on WU.

Now that I have the background pieced together, I can pin it to the design wall. I’ve blocked out all the colors I’m going to use, following the small drawing in the upper left corner. This is better than before when I layed fabric on the table, because now I can really step back and see the whole design.

I’m always impressed by the impact of bold patterns and colors on black, hmmm, maybe I should do a black background quilt.

Before I make the final cuts on a figure, I do a rough cut because it’s difficult to precisely cut large shapes when there’s a lot of bulk on both sides of the scissors. I guess it creates some waste, but not as much as if I were to make a big mistake. Hmmm, this looks interesting too, maybe I should do a rough cut quilt too!

So I keep cutting, pinning, and re-evaluating all the fabrics on the board. As I worked today, I realized that I probably have some habits that come from my painting days. One is to try to work the whole “canvas” at once. This means, don’t ignore the whole design while focusing on one detail area. Every part of the design impacts every other part, and it’s always a balancing act to make it all work together well.

The other is that I always design standing up. This is probably due to the influence of a college painting instructor who said to never paint sitting down. His theory was that it’s too easy to be lazy if you’re sitting down, that the tendancy is to not get out of your seat enough, walk around, and evaluate your work from a distance. It also helps to be on my feet as I’m always running over to the fabric shelves to “try one more shade of green.”

So I’m making progress on this quilt. I think I’ve gotten the hang of building a bridge to the next day, and I need to work on building a bridge to the next quilt. I guess this might mean starting a drawing for the next quilt before I finish this one!

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