sideways

(in case you were wondering where we were these past few days, the answer is here. and it was luverly)

now then, the creative process (she says casually as if it had long been agreed between us, that on this day and in this place a discussion would begin, concerning the creative process, and artistry in general, that would go on for, say five, or six, posts, at the very least, with comments, interjections, back-tracking and genial not to mention ingenious conclusions...)... is all about leaving off the main road of the idea, and taking that little overgrown side-track you didn't even know was there until the funny-looking birch tree on the left winked at you.

or: take this little wedding dress, worn by our good old friend Alice (mama, it's actually a dress-up wedding dress, Alice is far too young to be married...). there i was, following up this link on how to turn a man's shirt into a smock. cutting and smocking away. as per the instructions. when my eye fell on an odd object on the floor of my sewing room (...now for those who haven't been in my sewing room of late, i should mention that in view of how literally littered every surface of that room is with various objects, odd and even, it would have been infinitely more surprising if i had in fact been able to glimpse a bit of the floor itself...). the oddity turned out to be the collar of my very man's shirt, which, having been cut out in a circle in order to make the smock, then obediently followed the laws of gravity and flopped at my feet. and standing there, looking at this sad sad collar, orphan without its shirt, i suddenly thought: wedding-dress! ten minutes and a bit of lace later... i mean seriously, how does that work? (homework to complete before next installment: think of more cases of "sideways" creativity. tell me about them. watch Elizabeth Gilbert's TED talk.)