Why I'm Changing My Perspective About Working Slowly

Work in Progress: The Wolf Triptych artist's book
© Cherry Jeffs 2019
Mixed media on reclaimed dressing table mirror, 44 x 38cm

"I work very, very slowly." I admitted, rather shamefacedly.

I was replying to the artist son of a friend of mine about progress on my artist's books.

I can't tell you the relief I felt when he told me that he also works very slowly and finds the work so intense and demanding that he can't focus at it for more than a few hours a day.

​In that brief conversation, I realised that working slowly and deliberately - often getting up very close to the piece -  is how I find focus. It's how I reach that place called Flow. (A topic that featured heavily in my last post.)

Of course, there are times when I speed up! (Yes, I am the girl who once made 365 pieces of art in a year!) When I'm deeply in the flow sometimes it feels like I catch an updraft and am carried along without volition, barely able to keep up with the things I want to get done.

But when that's not happening, I plod along in the tortoise-like manner that is fundamental to who I am as an artist. And I need to be ok with that.

So here's what I've been on working slowly since January. 

From thrift shop find to triptych artist's book

Development of The Wolf triptych from £5 thrift shop item to oversized artist's book.
As you can see by looking back at the image at the beginning of the post,
I have now rejigged the hinge mechanism so that the back panel is level with the front ones.

Unusually for me, as the new year dawned, I had no clue what I was going to be working on art-wise. Then a couple of days into the year, I almost literally stumbled across this vintage mirror outside a local 'retro' shop.

I had no idea what I was going to do with it but, at £5, I knew it was worth buying on spec.

I started off with a vague idea of something Japanese-style and black, but somehow it evolved into a red-riding hood parable. (There's probably another post in the evolution of the idea.)- 

​The front is still unfinished: I have some more work to do on the figure and the trees. And then there's the wolf. (Is it's ok to have a wolf that appears to be smiling in a friendly way?)

And, beyond initial sketches, I haven't begun on the inside, so I still have a long way to go.

But all I can do is emulate the title of one of my favourite podcasts, and hurry slowly.

(Oh, and I promise to post blog updates of my WIP's more regularly for those of you who aren't on social media - which I totally understand, btw. But please make sure you subscribe to my blog feed, so you don't miss the updates!)

​