When looking for ideas for one's art, it isn't necessary to look very far from wherever you happen to find yourself.
Moon talk by a poet
who has not been to the moon
is likely to be dull.
-- Mark Twain
Having been educated as a writer, I've had it drilled into my head
ad nauseum that good writers write about what they know. As a young college student, I found it difficult to restrict myself to my own rather limited 18-20 years of life experience. And now, as a ...*
ahem...slightly older writer, it is clear to me that my youthful writing truly suffered as a result.
That's why my art is, by and large, the stuff of everyday. Because I want it to be true. If I can't make it true, I can't expect it to resonate with the people who engage with it. Keeping it real in some way offers an
easy-to-grab handle they can use to pull themselves into my creations, whether written or stitched.
It's a lesson I'm glad to have learned,
and one I wish I'd understood the value of much sooner.
Susan M. Hinckley
Small Works in Wool
