I really like to allow chance to play a part in my work. I find work that is too well planned restrictive. It doesn’t allow for serendipity, for the element of discovery. Sometimes this can mean starting again, when what I am making just won’t come together. And that is all part of making. I do try to look at mistakes and see if they lead somewhere else. Sometimes I have picked up a ‘failed’ piece six months later and seen it in a new way, or incorporated it into something new.
Occasionally I do need to draw and draw to finesse an idea to the point where I am happy to start making. And even then chance plays a part. Seeing something ‘become’ on the bench is different from a sketch on paper.
I do not often refer to the drawings once I have started. The work talks to me. Relationships between shapes and the balance and space from all angles all matter, and are not as well represented on paper.
Does the object ‘work’ from all angles, is it structurally sound, do the negative spaces work, is the relationship between the various elements working, could I take something away or do I need to add something, is it the right scale, does it have that mysterious integrity, does that colour work, is it saying what I want it too, does it intrigue and invite inspection? All this and more.
And this really only starts to get asked when I have something on the floor or the bench.