Incubation or Gestation?
I think incubation pertains mostly to eggs and viruses and gestation mostly to mammals. Which word would one use for an idea?
Usually I have couple of ideas that I'm planning to use in a quilt hanging out in my head. It can take weeks and months for the idea to manifest itself.
The case in point: I have had an idea that I explored with paint and canvas off and on for more than thirty years. Basically, calm water with still, unmanned, moored wooden boats. This past weekend I stumbled upon the background, a piece of hand dyed shibori perfect for the calm water yet complex enough to suggest reflections. Whilst I interviewed other hand dyes later back in my studio for the boats fabrics, I happened upon a misplaced, small technique study for reverse applique that I had played with almost ten years previously.
Apparently I'm easily distracted when I'm ambivalent about cutting gorgeous, one of a kind, hand dyed fabric. I became completely absorbed in the "new" project. And, surprisingly, convinced that it was the background for yet another idea that I had "incubated" and abandoned out of lack of inspiration: crows. Go figure. I didn't even know that the crow idea was still inside there!
Here's the crow. Now back to the boats.
