not what I meant at all…

17Feb
by Janine @ Rainbow Hare
Week 2 of the 5″ x 7″ Challenge in which I have agreed to make a year’s worth of 5″ x 7″ art pieces with a focus on making a piece a week, rather than on quality, although of course both would be nice. 

What to say about this piece!

Only, in my mind, echoes the refrain from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock “That is not what I meant at all; /That is not it, at all.”

My idea, this week, was to have a landscape of neutral fabric with a single orange balloon floating in the sky – a little, everyday per ardua ad asta sort of thing. Unfortunately, I have more than I like to admit in common with Mr Prufrock. Not the thinning hair or the anguishing about picking up women (just to set the record straight!) but the dithering and inaction and overly thinking about what I’m going to do, rather than just getting on with it. But, mindful of this Ted Talk on genius by Elizabeth Gilbert which I blogged about here, I plunged in.

And the result was just horrible!

I completely mis-judged the scale and my little piece was totally dominated by the hills and houses which should have been background. So I decided to go with the flow and add a bit of detail to them. I still thought a touch of orange would be nice but, rather than a little balloon, dwarfed by the landscape, I settled for the sun and a little orange stitching.

I can see the 5 x 7 size is really going to be more challenging than I’d expected.
What have you challenged yourself to make this week?
Janine @ Rainbow Hare

15 thoughts on “not what I meant at all…”

  1. Newbie Jen

    Janine, I love this! I don't think the house is out of place at all, maybe because I've seen so many houses with huge landscapes behind them?? I love it, and what an interesting challenge!

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  3. nerospost

    Oh, this is so wonderful! I love it! This week I made my first fabric scarf (at least I can't remember making any). Happy week! x Teje

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  4. Celtic Thistle

    It is lovely Janine, even if it isn't exactly what you had in mind. I have been challenging myself with Katy's paper-piecing designing in Word, so I know exactly how you feel about projects not turning out exactly how you imagined them :)

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  7. Jess

    5×7 is pretty teeny tiny! I would definitely struggle to work within that scale – I think you've done really well though. The stitching really helps define everything.

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  10. Hilda

    I really liked your piece. In doing the 5X7 challenge, I'm keeping in mind it's just to exercise my creative muscle. (I don't expect works of art–instead just to work at art.) Thanks so much for linking Elizabeth Gilbert's TED Talk. I really enjoyed that! Keep showing up and doing the work…you don't have to take all the credit or blame! ;-)

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