While I can't relate to the garden metaphor (I don't have a green thumb and have "decorated my backyard with mannequin bodyparts, and other odds and ends of junk not used in the studio), I can understand it from an objective point of view. It's a good metaphor and I can't immediately think of another that I can relate to unless I compare the process a bit to child-rearing. I often think of my art pieces as my children or babies. As my kids are adults now, I like how they turned out with my nurturing as well as how their own timing and will had made them into humans I really love. Sometimes my art over time will also seemingly change meaning and even look differently to my eyes. As for my garden..........I pay professionals to deal with it and they mow around the specific art-junk out there. My yard is also a graveyard for the many dead birds, cats, possums that are respectfully buried there over the 2 decades I've been here. As for past art pieces no longer working for me, they don't get buried but taken apart and repurposed for new pieces.
I am not a gardener but Miro enjoyed gardening. My studio is a rental house and the yard is all gravel. I just have it sprayed with weed killer once in a while. That is as close to gardening as I want to get. But I am a gardener of my mind. That keeps me busy enough.
While I can't relate to the garden metaphor (I don't have a green thumb and have "decorated my backyard with mannequin bodyparts, and other odds and ends of junk not used in the studio), I can understand it from an objective point of view. It's a good metaphor and I can't immediately think of another that I can relate to unless I compare the process a bit to child-rearing. I often think of my art pieces as my children or babies. As my kids are adults now, I like how they turned out with my nurturing as well as how their own timing and will had made them into humans I really love. Sometimes my art over time will also seemingly change meaning and even look differently to my eyes. As for my garden..........I pay professionals to deal with it and they mow around the specific art-junk out there. My yard is also a graveyard for the many dead birds, cats, possums that are respectfully buried there over the 2 decades I've been here. As for past art pieces no longer working for me, they don't get buried but taken apart and repurposed for new pieces.
I am not a gardener but Miro enjoyed gardening. My studio is a rental house and the yard is all gravel. I just have it sprayed with weed killer once in a while. That is as close to gardening as I want to get. But I am a gardener of my mind. That keeps me busy enough.