Enough

I took a little time out from my job last week and did lots of crafting,
which was fun ~ and I've made quite a lot of progress on the things that I have been creating.

The wire cuff that I've been crocheting is nearly finished.
Here's what it looks like when it's worn:

and when seen close~up:

I like its boldness and its weight; it feels good on. (Now I just have to work out how to fasten it off!) Working with wire is very more~ish. I want to make a wire crochet necklace next, and I'm planning on following this YouTube tutorial.

I've also finished the Crocus Scarf:

It's very soft against the skin and, as you can see, matches one of the affirmation stones that I've recently received from the lovely McCabe at dancing mermaid.

Here are the rest of the pebbles that McCabe's sent me:

I think that they're all delightful!
Since I've had them I've been reflecting and meditating on the idea of being enough:
I often get caught up in busyness and perpetual hurry, especially at work,
and it's good to stop and remind myself that I really am enough.
I don't have to push myself all of the time
and I'm allowed to be creative and to play.
(Robyn Posin explores this notion beautifully.)
I'm wondering, does what I'm saying resonate with anyone else?

Wishing you all a week that's graced by creativity and playfulness.

Recapturing Creativity

When I was younger, I used to draw all the time.
I drew joyfully, creatively, effortlessly, freely...
but
somewhere along the way
I lost that easy pleasure.
Art school knocked some of the joy out of me. Not that I regret going ~ the experience provided me with some invaluable lessons but it developed my inner critic in a big way.
And, these days, I always seem to be too busy. I'm expected to be very serious at work. Sadly, I can't imagine anyone approving of me doodling through meetings.

Even so, I manage to nurture my artistic side a little. I still draw sometimes. I occasionally get to go to drawing courses. I went to some fabulous lessons with an artist, educator and creativity advocate called Dawn Meader. Dawn now lives and works in Santa Cruz but I still draw inspiration from her ~ I receive an ezine she produces every month and really enjoy reading the creativity exercises and looking at the beautiful reproductions of her work.

Here are some of the pastels I completed in her classes:

These drawings are enormous by the way ~ they cover my double bed. (Dawn had us draw on huge pieces of paper so that we sketched with big, loose gestures.)

I also keep a little sketch book in my handbag. My idea for the sketch book is that I draw in it for five minutes every day, sketching whatever's in front of me, disengaging my inner critic, accepting whatever appears (a bit like writing morning pages if you're following The Artists' Way.)

I've also found a gorgeous blog called Creative Every Day. It's written by an artist called Leah Piken Kolidas. Leah writes perceptively about the creative process and posts some really interesting links to articles and images. She also draws beautifully, creating her artwork with the ease and joy that I would love to recapture.

A Small White Rose and the Chooky Dancers

My garden continues to delight. Here is a bloom that's been picked from the little rose bush that sits by my back door:

and, speaking of delights, have you seen this
~ a fabulous YouTube DVD?
It's a record of an indigenous dance troupe called the Chooky Dancers, from the top end of Australia, who are dancing to Zorba the Greek.

Watching this made me feel glad to be alive...and sentimental.
I used to be a music teacher, working in a very multicultural school (thirty different cultures were represented in our student body) and this troupe reminds me of some of my indigenous students, who used to dance an incredibly beautiful, unmistakably Aboriginal, very ancient stomp.
Deadly.

Silk Painting

Last Sunday I rediscovered a silk scarf I painted quite a few years ago and I thought I'd share it here. I made it at a weekend workshop. It was my first attempt at painting on silk.

Here are some details:

and here's the scarf in it's entirety:


The square in the middle is unintentionally wonky but, wonkiness aside, it was great fun to paint. The silk colours were really pure and vivid, the paint blended effortlessly and I loved the process of creating it. I liked making it for sentimental reasons too ~ the leaves I drew are from my much loved gum tree, so it's a nice memento.

Writing this has helped to get me all inspired again (which is one of the things I love about blogging) and I'm planning on going to more silk painting workshops when I get the opportunity.

Creativity Challenge

Magpie-girl is hosting a creativity challenge. Twice a month, she's inviting people to play with new art techniques. The first challenge is to alter a photograph...so I've been writing and drawing on printouts of some pictures I've taken in the garden with smudgy, tacky Micador crayons. It's fun! I think I'll be ready to put some up on line soon. In the meantime, here's an image I've been drawing into ~

a fragrant posy of freesias, sweet william and snowflake daisies:

I love Spring time.

Succulence

This is a little pencil sketch I made of a small succulent that grows in my back garden...and here's a photo of it:

One of my favourite authors, SARK, uses the term succulent frequently. In fact, she's penned a fabulous book called Succulent Wild Woman where she defines succulent as " ripe. juicy. whole. round. exuberant. wild. rich. wide. deep. firm. rare. female." SARK writes, with great candour, about self nurturing, creativity and living joyfully. She also hosts a wonderful online community called PlanetSark which I've belonged to for over three years.

Some of the members of PlanetSark have beautiful blogs. These include:

Leonie life Leonie is gorgeous. She's a writer, photographer, artist and spiritual soul,

dancing mermaid McCabe also takes photographs, paints clothes and writes with great honesty and sensitivity,

abc creativity Andrea is an artist and creativity advocate who holds marvellous workshops,

romantic circus songs Lisa Marie is a writer. She just wrote a poem called Never Made it to L.A. which knocked my socks off,

and side project Melissa's blog is completely handwritten and full of whimsy.

Be inspired!