The Ugly Phase

I have three projects started, and every one of them seems to be at the ugly phase. It's at this point when I wonder what I was thinking and if it will ever come together. Taking a big leap of faith, I plow on, but I do wonder along the way if it's a waste of time. I think, though, that some ugliness is usually necessary to make for an interesting final piece. I just mucked up a painting I had going because it was too pretty. It bored me. And now, it's definitely not pretty, and I can only hope that something interesting will start to emerge.

This is the background for a long, narrow piece I started. All I know is I want it to be dark and ethnic looking, and have lots of hand stitching and layers. I started with some intuitive piecing in browns and blacks and then hand stitched on some reds to form a background. Now I have to try to move forward without critiquing too much and hope that something evolves out of it.

On another note, I recently signed up for L. K. Ludwig's online photo journaling class and am very excited about the first project. She's only charging $25 for a month of instruction. You can find out more about it here.