Timing

This evening I was interviewed about art, creativity and my creative process by Caneel Joyce, who is working on her Ph.D at UC Berkeley. She asked questions about how I decide which ideas to implement, and what happens to the ideas that are not pursued. I had never given much thought to that before.

I write down all of my ideas so I won't forget them, but I rarely go back and read my notes. I only ever want to work on my newest idea, because that's the one that I'm currently excited about. The old ideas are . . . well, they're OLD!

Caneel asked how I feel about the ideas that I don't pursue. Again, this is something I'd never thought about. If I stop and let myself feel, it feels a little sad that a lot of ideas get left behind simply because of timing. It's not that they aren't good ideas, but I was busy working on something else at the time they arrived, and when I have time for them, newer ideas have replaced them in my mind.

I wonder how much of the rest of life is like that -- all a matter of timing.

Today I put an opalescent glaze on my paintings, but there's not much to show you. Opalescence doesn't photograph well. The glaze is slow to dry, so I can't do much with them until late tomorrow or Wednesday.