Allowing Creativity

For a long time I haven't exercised my creative side...actually, that's not entirely true, I have been creative, just not artistically creative in the way I used to be.  I'm not beating myself up over this, I've had a lot to do, raising children, working, running a business, being a wife, looking after a home, keeping a blog (albeit erratically).  But...my easel lies empty...my paints have dried up...my art supplies box gathers dust.  Over time I've had little whispers from the part of me that misses making art. Sometimes I've answered soothingly that one day I'll get back to it, sometimes (most times) I've just ignored it.  Like many ignored things the whispers became more insistent...so that they were not so much whispers anymore as irritated hisses, then shouts, then heart aches and lustful thoughts of long afternoons abandoned to acrylic, oil and pastel. 

A couple of months ago I decided that there was never going to be a convenient time to get arty again.  There would always be something to do, someone needing my attention and/or a job to be done. I couldn't put it off any longer, I had to create, but I've forgotten how. I struggled to see where it would fit in my life nowadays...I still don't really have an answer to that.  What I did decide however, is that I was going to drop some other things for a while and give that time to art. I looked for inspiration and found it here and joined up, being an EssCee* seems like a calling.

Then I decided that for the month of August I would take a little break from social media, let my friends out there in the Twitter, Facebook and Google+ lands miss me a little and devote some time to getting all painty and gluey.

So now what?  Today I will pull out my art supplies and see what's there (and still usable).  I may shop for replacements. I may doodle a little in an art journal I bought several years ago that still lies pristine and untouched. I may rummage through my collage images and I may actually begin a project.  I'll see how the spirit moves me...but it will be baby steps, all the way.

I’m hoping this creative break also includes more blogging. 

*S.C. Spiritual Creative

Every cloud…

 One of the few benefits of being home from work sick is that there is little to do but rest and read blogs (and Kindles).  And eventually, when feeling up to it, write a long overdue blog post.

So here it is.  In my last post I mentioned ‘change’.  You may be wondering if there has been any change, and if so, what was the nature of that change. You’ll be thinking it obviously wasn’t a change to the regularity of my posts that’s for sure.

Well, there has been some change but so far it’s been pretty subtle.  I feel like I’m starting to settle into myself a bit.  I’m not feeling so angsty and a lot of the questions I’ve been asking over the past couple of years I’m finally managing to answer.  I’ve always known that I had the answers, but for a while now I’ve had a lot of trouble accessing that inner wisdom.  More on all that another time.

Other changes have been obvious, we’ve actually managed to find some time to move forward with some of the home renovations and painting etc.  That’s been good and I’ve been gratified at how much something as simple as a coat of paint can change the energy in a place.  I have a few furniture projects I’m working on and we have new flooring going down, hopefully before Christmas.  There will be photos.

I’m doing some things for myself which is nice including a couple of online courses, one is a Soulcollage® course through ‘Daily Om ‘.   I’ve only just started so haven’t created anything yet, but I’ll post a picture when I do.

So I feel as if I’m gradually  moving into a much saner headspace than I‘ve been in for a while.  I hope it continues.

Habit Forming

Yes, here am I again…at the risk of giving Dave a heart attack I’m blogging 3 DAYS IN A ROW. I’m trying to get back into the habit of blogging.  ‘They’ say you have to do a thing for 3 weeks for it to become part of your normal routine.  I’m not sure who ‘they’ are or whether or not that’s true, or indeed whether I can manage to blog consistently for 3 weeks, but at least for today it’s giving me something to write about.  Wow, that was a long sentence (which is probably what it feels like you are serving as you read this drivel). 

My grammar is crap too you may notice. 

It’s Saturday here, raining again which is lovely after the long, hot, dry summer.  Tom will be working on an essay*, so he’ll be closeted away drinking tea, muttering and tearing at his hair.  Since he’ll be hogging the laptop** I have to find some other way to entertain myself, so the girls and I will embark on some sewing projects and an art project that is due***.   I also may watch a couple of episodes of ‘Lost’.   All in all a lovely way to spend my day I think.

*Not sure if I’ve mentioned Tom is back at University doing a Masters in Science and Public Policy? Well. He is.

** I still have my iPhone so I won’t be totally removed from my beloved interwebs and email.

*** I’m doing a ‘Creative Goddess’ e-course which involves lots of fun with my paints and pastels and other arty materials and little forays into Art Land.  Something I’ve been neglecting for years.

So…what does the weekend have in store for you my lovelies?

 

Nothing exciting to report...

...shocking I know! Yesterday I had a two hour nap...TWO HOURS!!! Then I ate dinner, watched a DVD and went to bed! I may have sleeping sickness.

Today I made a feeble attempt at sorting through the year's worth of art work that came home from school on Friday. I seem to be just shifting piles of it around various locations. I wish I could resolve the 'art work' issue. My children are obsessively attached to their work and they are the most unbelievably artistically prolific children I have ever met. They draw, paint or create daily...and never just one...oh no, it's always several pieces. I don't want to spoil the fun, but really there just is not room for all this art! Where in God's name can I put it all? I can only dispose of it by stealth, always leaving a few behind hoping they may not notice. They do though. I've tried offering to photograph it all for posterity and just keep it on a special disc. They're not buying that though. If anyone has any suggestions I'd be grateful.

Later today we will put up the Christmas tree. I haven't done it yet because a) I've been too busy b) I don't like putting it up too early (I get sick of looking at it) and c) we're heading to the beach house next weekend so I wasn't sure there was much point. Apparently that is very un-Christmassy of me and we can't get into a Christmassy frame of mind without the tree...so I've relented and we'll do it this afternoon. We'll also do a smaller version at the beach house so Father Christmas knows where to leave the presents. Two tree decorating sessions, yes that's sure to get me in a Christmassy mood. Or some kind of mood anyway.

On my desk

Boy, these on my desk posts come round quickly don't they?

So today I have a pattern, fabric and notions for some light weight, casual trousers....boring black I'm afraid but as I'm very much the amateur when it comes to making clothes I decided to keep things very simple....if these work out I shall be more adventurous next time. I'm hoping to make a wrap dress to wear with them and I have some lovely fabric for that.

Then, after lunch I may go down to the willows with this....

I'm feeling a little bit artistically inspired today by this....

Beautiful woodblock painting by Cressida Campbell. Not that I'm planning any wood block work, if only I were so talented (and patient). Cressida has just released a book of her work which I would love. I'll have to drop some heavy hints as I have a birthday coming up...and of course there's Christmas too.

Colour

Today I needed colour. For all kinds of reasons life has seemed a bit bleak lately and although I haven't whined about it on the blog I've been quite unhappy. So I decided I wanted colour and I wanted to create. Now, not many people know that I love to draw, don't misunderstand me here....I can't actually draw, at least not well....but I like doing it anyway. I like to draw lots of things, especially mystical things....magical images. Today seemed like a day for that - I need a little magic in my life. I should have been working on something that is a serious thing-that-I-get-paid-for job ....but as I've already mentioned, today I needed colour.

I particularly enjoy using pastels, nice ones, expensive ones. So today I got these out...

...and I also got these out......

I tend to work in mixed media so I used them all and as you can see from the tiny brush in this one I used some paint too.....

You can also see the very, very early stages of a Wild Willow Woman. I began a series of 'green man' type drawings about 5 years ago, you know.....'the face in the leaves'....both genders are represented because really, why would they all be men? I haven't made much progress with the 'series' they are fiddly, take ages to do and frankly as much as I love to draw, I don't get the time and it's not a priority. Which is quite sad really. Anyway, what you see here is a very vague representation of what the finished picture will look like...layers and layers of leaves still to come.

So in the ultimate act of procrastination today I drew instead of working. It's been nice though.