Category Archives: Blog

The art of the everyday

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It has been a couple of days since I posted here, following my piece on fragility. It has also been a couple of days since I finished a piece of art. I have been giving myself space to breathe and it feels good.

When I awoke with the word “fragile” on my mind the other day, I knew I had to learn from it. Why, when I was doing something I loved, something that should be fun, was I feeling so exhausted? What was supposed to be a pleasure had become a chore and the joy, which was the intended outcome of daily creativity, had been replaced by anxiety. Whilst I was still enjoying the actual act of creating, I was feeling pressure to deliver. Pressure to make something good. Pressure to have something to share, something valid to say. This pressure, of course, came from me, nobody else.

I felt at first, that the important thing was to create something every day, regardless of all else. I made it my mission to push on against resistance, to put on a brave face and create no matter how I was feeling. Whilst it felt good to achieve my goal, the sense of satisfaction was dampened by the emotional and physical exhaustion. This was an unsustainable, reckless form of creation. Surely a better approach would be to do what feels right when it feels right and to acknowledge, examine and seek to understand those struggles and feelings of resistance and learn from them. So, for the past two days, I have taken time out to reflect and return to my original aim for this project.

In sitting back and examining my project so far, I see that in trying to focus on my art, I had lost sight of my original intention. I remembered that my original idea to inspire and celebrate creativity in everyday life sprung from a desire to bring more creativity into my own life and to encourage others to acknowledge and enjoy creativity in all its forms. It was not to stay up too late making art like there’s no tomorrow, worrying about whether or not I would manage to create something original and post my next blog entry before midnight. So on Thursday, a rare day at home with no kids, I did what felt right. I tackled the chores I had been putting off for the past week; I cooked; cleaned; rearranged; listened to music; to discussions on the radio; I went out for dinner on the spur of the moment. I felt great. And importantly, I took the time to notice the creativity in many of my daily actions. On Friday, I did the same. I did what felt right, spent time on activities that bring me joy and I did them with awareness. I had coffee with friends and engaged in lively banter and exchanges of ideas; I worked on the garden – cutting the grass, planting new life; I started a couple of little sketches, but let myself not finish them; I cooked up little apple and blueberry pies, topped with stars; I fell asleep early with my boys and awoke at midnight to spend a little bit of time writing, unpressured. The natural, spontaneous creativity returned.

So today, I am celebrating the creativity in the ordinary and the everyday. I am honouring the inventiveness in the things we do without really thinking… fiddling with a recipe; dressing colourfully; taking a little detour on the way to work; distracting the kids with a new game in the car; arranging a little still life on the bedside table or flowers in a vase… the list goes on.

We create our own lives, every hour, every day, and there is delicious creativity that slips by unnoticed in the smallest of actions.

My challenge to you is to take notice of the many wonderful, creative things you do as you go through your day. Be mindful. Acknowledge this creativity in your daily life, do things with awareness, take pleasure and pride in these little achievements.
Please share your experiences here.

Fragility and growth

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Last night, I was wondering what it would be like to create at the beginning of the day, rather than after dark. This morning, I awoke with the word “fragile” on my mind. Feeling somewhat flat last night and questioning myself and my mission here, I had reached out for help. It was suggested to me that I use my creations to track and express my moods and emotions… something I do inadvertently at times, but rarely consciously.

So, this morning I set out to express that feeling of fragility. Blue seemed the obvious colour to use for this word and an egg (raw) seemed the perfect canvas. As I took photographs of the painted egg, two other things caught my eye… some cress planted a few days ago, beginning to grow on a tray in the kitchen and some grass planted out in the garden a few weeks ago, now an inch or so high. In my mind I began to explore the connections between fragility and growth.

I will not go into detail here, other than to say that at that moment… photographing the egg, noticing the growth from the seeds, I saw myself as those fresh shoots… green, new, growing.

In the morning rain, the paint washed off, but the egg remained intact.

When we plant little seeds, they are fragile, delicate, vulnerable, but treated in the right way, loved and nurtured, they flourish and grow. I hope that in acknowledging my own fragility… in allowing myself to be vulnerable, but treating myself with love and care, I am paving the way for fresh growth and new learning.

Another interpretation

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I have been feeling tired today. I have been quietly questioning my commitment to creating and posting here daily. The more I create, the less I sleep and this is something I need to address as other things are slowly slipping. I need to resolve how to fit the creativity into my days rather than tagging it on at the end when I should be sleeping. I wonder how different my creations would be at the other end of the day… if I was to make something the moment I awake?

A link sent via Twitter inspired today’s creation, which was made whilst watching a link sent to me on e-mail.

It is another interpretation of yesterday’s photograph.

Dressing up

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A full day today… friends to play, cakes baked, lunch with family, hunting for treasure with new metal-detector, tennis, homework, etc… all good fun, but I was exhausted by the time I walked in the door this evening. I had to find something fun to keep me motivated.

What would be the most fun thing I could do? I took a glance over my bookshelves for inspiration and my eyes rested on I Will Never Forget You… Frida Kahlo to Nickolas Muray: Unpublished Photographs and Letters. Yes! Dressing up!

I have wanted a little more colour in my life for a while now, so who better to dress up as than Frida Kahlo, the Mexican Queen of Colour. I pulled out an old net skirt, long and layered in an interesting blue hue; raided my jewellery box, pulled out a few old rings, a necklace I rarely wear as last time I did it shed shiny red beads all over the street and in spite of having gathered them and fixed it, I no longer trust it to hold together in public; a spotty top; a sequin-covered cardigan; shocking pink tights; a rainbow scarf… not all of it Frida Style, but in the spirit of. I then put scissors to an old bag made of bright felt balls and turned it into a necklace… something I have been thinking of doing for some time, but held back until now.

Time for a self-portrait. I took a number of pics using my webcam and then selected a few to fiddle with in iPhoto. The results you will see here. The final piece – a black and white photo which I printed onto watercolour paper, then painted using Inktense blocks and watercolour pencils is more Madame Yevonde than Frida Kahlo, but I had fun playing.

And today, after 7 days of making art and writing about it daily, something wonderful struck me… I feel like an artist!

Two old favourites

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For today’s work of art (and I can tell you it is a big leap for me to refer to something I have made as a “work of art” rather than just “picture” or “piece”, although this does not necessarily reflect my view of what I have created, more a shift in my thinking) I returned to two old favourites – nature as subject and mono-printing as method.

Today was yet another grey day, but a free day to create, so I took the opportunity to stay indoors and focus on something I am rarely able to do… spreading my materials out all over the table and taking my time to create.  I inked up the lino, tore up some large sheets of paper to fit the tiles and started to draw what I saw from the window… not the garden as a whole, but the individual elements that make up my pretty, small, but unkempt garden… the big tree whose leaves have appeared only this month; the blueberry bush whose flowers are fading, promising fruit; the white-flowering shrub whose name I have never known; the tall grasses at the back, waving, drooping in the breeze; some smaller flowers, low to the ground; the old metal table; the honeysuckle, not yet flowering; the winding wisteria.  Of course, being mono-printing, when the paper was turned, the drawings were in reverse, but I was happy with the overall effect.  When the ink had dried, I tore around each element then stuck them back down on another piece of paper to make the finished piece.

I had considered adding some colour to it, but being happy with the result I decided not to mess.  I can always scan it, print it, then add colour to a copy if I want to play another day.

Mono print collage

Drawing without looking

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Yesterday I was feeling stuck, not knowing what to create.  This evening, tired after too many late nights (immersed in the 30 Day Challenge and trying to keep up with life in general), and a day riding rollercoasters (really, it was my big boy’s Birthday surprise), I needed a quick artistic activity that was not too challenging on the brain.  So, I went back to an old favourite – a technique I use when I need to free myself up and get unstuck – drawing without looking at the page.  So, I did a quick self-portrait, looking only at my reflection in the mirror and the coloured pencils I was using, not at the paper.  It’s a bit of fun and is great for when you don’t have much time and don’t care what the outcome will be.  This one is about picking up a pencil and doing something, anything, rather than doing nothing.  Funny thing is, it is quite a good likeness at the moment!  Right, I am off to bed, then hopefully the next self-portrait will be a little more flattering.

A badge that says “artist”

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Day 4 of my commitment to creativity and guess what…?  I don’t know what to do.

For the past month, knowing that on May 1, I would – no matter what distractions and dilemmas lay ahead – commit to creating something, anything, every day for 30 days, my brain has been working overtime, my enthusiasm has been hard to contain, my ideas have been flowing.  Overflowing.

And now… just four days in, I feel stuck, blank, empty of ideas and inspiration.  It is a strange feeling and one which I have become accustomed to over the years and one which I can never quite get a handle on, but it seems to follow a pattern and the pattern goes something like this:

Life is busy, busy, busy… I don’t have time (or devote time) to sit and create, but I have ideas galore.  I feel frustrated at my lack of time as I have so many thoughts of things I want to make/do/explore that I truly believe if I had the time to do them, the creative juices would just flow and I would be producing wonderful things.

A few weeks later, I find myself with a small window of time.  I am excited, eager to make the most of this golden opportunity.  I think yeah, let’s get those ideas moving, let’s make something, do something, but I don’t… I freeze.  At this point, all of the ideas I had seem less exciting than they were and new ideas just don’t come, or do, but are instantly dismissed and I am stuck, not knowing where to start, not knowing what to create.  So, instead of doing something, anything, I do nothing, but feel frustrated.  At this point the voices come in… “Why were you thinking you could do all of those amazing things if only you had time?  What made you believe you could change a habit of a lifetime and suddenly become that productive, creative being you always wanted to be?  And who’s to say that if you got off your bum and did something that it would even be any good?  Who gave you permission to even think of yourself as an artist anyway?”  I listen, I try to dismiss them, but still I am stuck.  Confidence dips, fear sets in and all too soon I am too busy again.  Panic over… there is no time to create anything, I can go back to having the ideas and doing nothing with them.

So, why am I here?  I am here to address those fears, to change a habit of a lifetime, to believe I am good enough, to give myself permission to create, to acknowledge that I am already doing plenty of creative things on a daily basis and that I just don’t give myself credit for them and that every little thing should be celebrated and enjoyed to the full.

Today, instead of doing nothing, I will do a very small something… a step in the right direction.  I will make something for myself.  I will make a badge that says “artist” and I will wear it with pride.

Always Look on the Bright Side

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Today’s collage is a reminder to myself.  It is an expression of the reasons I embarked on this project in the first place.  I wanted to bring more colour into my life, more variety.  I wanted to spend more time exploring and playing and expressing myself visually.

It is day 3 of the 30 Day Challenge and I have already come up against unexpected obstacles and learned valuable lessons in my attempts to devote a small amount of time each day to creativity.

On Day 1, I had to accept that the piece I had in mind was not ready to be made then, and may never be.  I carried on regardless, determined to produce something and felt it was important to express the feelings that arose in relation to the conflict between wanting to create something and being able to create what I had in mind.  This is something I have always struggled with and I have vivid memories of a childhood holiday when, as often happens, I had attempted to draw something, but was less than satisfied with the results.  Instead of trying again, I hid under the table, crying, frustrated at my inability to live up to my own expectations.  There was nobody else there telling me that what I had done was not good enough, just me, aiming at perfection, but falling short, giving myself a hard time.  I think I have learned to be kinder to myself.  The desire for perfection is still there, yes, but it is not the be all and end all.  It is a different kind of perfection… the ability to create the perfect piece for that moment, the piece that whilst not technically brilliant says something, speaks to someone, expresses what’s inside.  My pose, arms spread, taken with my webcam on Day 1, represents surrender… letting go.  The anticipation and the fear are still there, but the excitement and sense of freedom I experience when I do let go of my expectations and just go with the flow, can be overwhelming.

On Day 2, the 20 minutes I had set aside became 2 hours of action, as I painted, coloured in, cut up, pasted back together and really immersed myself in the glorious feeling of making something.  There was something very physical about yesterday’s work.  I felt acutely aware of the movement of my arm as I was painting, black on white, and loved that feeling which was as though my whole body was dancing with the brush, taking part in the process.  This was a sensation I had not experienced in some time and I realised it had been years (I dared not count how many) since I lasted painted freely.  If something felt this good, why had I waited so long?  As I was painting, I remember thinking to myself, “I could be doing this blindfold, it does not matter what it looks like, I just love this feeling”. Examining the finished piece, I was not faced with a painting I felt particularly proud of, but something better, a piece that reminded me of an experience I had thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish.  I immediately let go of any fears of sharing my work (something I may not have done previously had I not been entirely happy with it) as it did not matter to me what this piece looked like, it was what it felt like to create it that was all important.  This was why I chose to share it step by step.

Day 3 and I’m all about having fun, feeling good, immersing myself in the things that make me come alive and seeing where they lead.  More obstacles will present themselves, I know.  New challenges lay ahead, but it’s all in the way we approach them and if I am able to look on the bright side and see them as a way to learn and grow, then I think I am on the right track.

Look on the Bright Side collage

Playing by my own rules

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Wednesday afternoon is art club at the local school.  I set up the club at the start of term and was surprised just how many children signed up, keen to explore their creativity, even after a busy day at school.  The energy in that room for our hour of art never ceases to amaze me.  Some of the children follow the ideas I put forward by the letter, others ask to do things a little differently and a few just play by their own rules, exploring their own ideas and building up their own personal style and visual vocabulary with, perhaps, a nod to the artist we are learning about on that day.

Today, I introduced the children to the art of Jean Dubuffet and, in particular, his collage works.  Having shown the children a few examples of Dubuffet’s art, I asked them to take their paintbrush for a walk and create a wandering black line all over their large sheet of white paper.  Then, as the paint dried, they built up colourful drawings and textures on smaller sheets of coloured paper.  These shapes and patterns were then cut up and stuck onto the black and white background which had, in some cases, been coloured in places or had further images added by hand.  Some truly wonderful abstract works emerged from this lesson and inspired my artwork this evening.  Tonight, I having a go at my own lesson… playing by my own rules.

So here, in a visual step by step, is what emerged and how I arrived at the finished work… my Day 2 creation for the 30 Day Challenge.

Screw Work Let’s Play

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May 1 and it’s day 1 of my second 30 Day Challenge. Led by John Williams and Selina Barker this kick-ass online community for creative individuals needing some motivation for their inspiration really gets those ideas that have been brewing over a period of weeks/months/years, off the mental to do list and out into the real world.  For the next 30 days, I am one of 200 people who are making their dreams and ideas happen.  So… here I am with my own personal challenge… to create something every day for 30 days.  My pledge is to put creativity at the forefront of my daily life, with a view (in the bigger scheme of things) to inspiring others to do the same.

Having signed up for the 30DC a month ago, I spent the past month thinking, planning, anticipating today… the first day of The Challenge.  I had a clear picture in my mind of what I wanted to produce on this, the first day… and yet, here I am at my computer, writing my blog entry at 10.30pm, waiting for the ink to dry on a little piece of art that is very different from what I had envisioned.  It is a small, simple, black and white piece that expresses my feelings today…open-hearted, fearful, excited.  So, I am already learning important lessons… learning to go with the flow, expect the unexpected, not worry if things don’t turn out as planned, and remain open to all possibilities.

Here’s to the next 30 days and whatever they hold in store…