06 October 2009

A Dilemma

Long story short: I broke it.

It used to look like this:



Now it looks like this:

And I'm sad about that. I painted it. As you can see, I am particularly Grade-Nine-ish at painting. But I loved this piece because it was, if you can believe this, my second-best piece ever.

Now it's broken. At least I was the one who broke it, and don't risk feeling grumpy at anyone I love for doing it.

I wouldn't have minded as much if I'd broken The Olives*, which didn't quite turn out as I'd planned:

Nor if I'd broken this dud*, my first-ever piece, painted with a brush so teensy it was a joke, whacking on any colours that were available at the time. The colours turned out so different when it was fired, and the glaze showed up my amateurish brushwork. Oh - and my chunky sponge technique:

And I would certainly not have minded if I'd broken the worst-ever painted fish of all time*, which is so bad that I am too embarrassed to use this serving platter at all:

Gack. I can't believe I am showing you these. Please don't stop reading my blog because of them.

All in all, it would have been better to break something I didn't actually paint myself, despite the poor quality of my painting:


But I didn't break those, did I? Nope, I broke the fruit platter.

So now I am faced with a dilemma. Do I:

• try to mend it with superglue, keeping it very safe for ever in a place reserved for 'display pieces' even though we have no such place, and are not the sort of people to have 'display pieces' anyway, and getting upset if the children handle it roughly in case it breaks again, allowing each year of its preservation to make it more difficult to actually throw the jolly fragile-mended-broken thing out,

OR

• take some pictures and throw the thing out now?


* -despite the fact that it cost a lot in paint and session time to actually produce.

13 comments:

Heather said...

Fix it! Fix it and use it! It's so lovely, though I think all of the pieces are, even the fishy one. Much better than I could do myself... :D

If I ever unearth the fruit bowl I painted, I'll show you a picture and then you'll feel much more Picassoish or Monetish about your own talents, I guarantee!

Femina said...

Glue it together, definitely. Sure, it might break again... but it might not, either.

tinsenpup said...

I like that! But I like the olives too and the fish are quite nice IMHO. I think it's okay to let it go now, knowing that you enjoyed it while you had it. Now you get to look forward to making more when you have the opportunity. I'm betting you can make an even better replacement.

Alison said...

I'd say try the superglue (Miss Pink thinks anything can be superglued. Obviously I have glued many, many things together in order for her to think so.)

I like the olives just as much. But I know most of us are more critical of our own work than other people are.

Swift Jan said...

For starters. I think your painting is quite good. You would roll on the floor in laughter if I ever attempted it.

I'm sorry about your fruit plate. I can understand why you would be sad. It IS very nice...

What would I do? Well, I am an anti hoarder, so I would take a picture of it & then throw it out. But thats just me.

((hugs))

Hippomanic Jen said...

Well, you're not moving anytime soon, so I say give it a chance for a second life. You can always ditch it later if you change your mind. I also like the fish and the olives (and the frangipani clock that didn't make an appearance). You are very clever and artistic, although it's always unfortunate when you break your favourite pieces into ...er... pieces.

♥ Boomer ♥ said...

You are so talented!! My son says I'm a hoarder, and with that being said, I'd glue it and use it. But I'd also start working on another one as much like it as possible. It's so pretty.

Jen said...

I think that its beautiful and you should try and fix it and then save it or display it so that it won't break again.

You are a great painter!

The Accidental Housewife said...

I'd ditch it - after a couple of months of not seeing it I'd probably forget I ever had it. But if I kept it, I'd be sad every time I glanced at it and remembered.

If that olive dish was in my local shop I would buy it. And get one for my mum, too! I love it, it's classy.

Long dark hair, blue eyes said...

I think you should get rid of it too. If it were me - it would upset me to see it broken.

And I agree with the others - you other "works" are really good too!

Anonymous said...

Hi
I would ditch the plate and forget the tradegy that happened. I have seen things glued and they choose the most dangerous time to fall apart again. Cut your losses, although I agree that is sad.
HJs Mum

Joy said...

What you could do is break it some more and then glue it to a wooden serving tray and grout in between the broken pieces. Crafty people do that all the time with broken tiles and you can keept he image intact, just grouted.
Do it! It's too pretty and it would look great on a tray.

Joy

Joy said...

The word I was trying to think of is mosaic. Here are some samples I found on the internet.
http://arcticmermaidmosaics.com/mosaic_art_gallery.html

Joy