Hieroglyphically Pirated Incunabula

Never complain, never explain. (Attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, Jennifer Jones, Henry Ford II, Katherine Hepburn, Dorothy Parker and others)

I have often regretted my speech, never my silence. (Publilius Syrus, 1st Century B.C.)

Robert Genn's e-mail messages knock me square between the eyes somedays, like today.
The quotes above start us out, and then the 'meat' of the matter is discussed, following:

The art of remaining mute is one of 
the keys to personal creative evolution. By speaking out and 
expressing our plans we often diffuse our need to do. It's as 
if some of the energy required to produce the creative product 
is already used up by the words themselves. Here are a few 
thoughts:

Never explain to others what you intend to do.
Never submit half-baked concepts to anyone.
If you make written notes beforehand, don't leak them.
Start work first and self-workshop further development.
Sanctify your working space by limiting interlopers.  
Cover up serious projects until they are well along.
Learn to be your own best counsel and private advocate.
Do not be concerned when you talk to yourself.

Back in the dark ages I took a quilting class from Nancy Halpern and Rhoda Cohen-
they did some team teaching back in the late '70s and I had signed
up to get a little dose of both of them, sort of 'two for the price of one'. I held
both of them in high esteem as they were local 'stars' in the quilt world way back
then. Nancy showed us a little technique for trying out a pattern without actually
making a quilt to see if it worked or not: She used large format graph paper and
each square represented a quilt block. We cut out teensy little squares and
triangles and pasted them into the blocks to try out pattern combinations and see how
changing one fabric could modify a whole quilt. I remember she had handouts
with different subjects listed for us to illustrate with different fabrics.

I cannot tell you how this appealed to my sense of detail, so I went home and made little paper quilts until my notebooks were full. Fabric lasted forever as I was only using 2 or 3 square inches per quilt so I could use the 'good' stuff. I went through glue sticks like they were free, and took the pages to my crit group to show them what an imaginative and prolific 'quilter' I was.

Finally someone whacked me on the head and made me realize that I was getting all my energies out with these paper quilts, and had no need to ever sew again. I stopped immediately and picked up my scissors (because this was BRC- Before Rotary Cutters). My next cut was into fabric large enough to actually sew, and I have never returned to making mock-ups or even drawing quilts again. This is similar to what Robert Genn is talking about, using your energy towards your project rather than sharing the momentum ahead of time.

If you ever see Nancy Halpern and Rhoda Cohen teamed up, run, don't walk, to the sign-up sheet. You may not learn what you came for, but sure as hell you will come away from the experience with essential new wisdom. And please tell them I sent you- nothing like paying back your mentors 30 years later.

Fast forward a decade or two, and I am dealing with a photographer jammed with his equipment into my studio so he could take mock pictures of me 'working' on a quilt for a book on collage. I had put on my arty jewelery and my best 'casual' make-up and clothes for the photo-shoot. And had followed instructions to have my notes and sketches ready to photograph as part of the in-process photos. I spent two days doing little drawings on notebook pages, crumpling them and folding and smudging them to LOOK like they were done ahead of time. In actuality the quilt was complete on the wall and I was doing the so-called preparatory sketches from it. Completely backwards, and completely lacking in spontaneity. I had to rip out one edge of binding to show me 'sewing' it on. I learned from this experience too- #1- never let a photographer and his 2 trunks of equipment into a tiny studio. #2- don't bother to even take a shower for a photo-shoot because all that will appear is your elbow. #3- your mother will still not be impressed.

The Writing on the Window


and the detail of me running away from home.