Due to my recent bereavements, I haven't felt like creating much recently. Everything seemed trivial and pointless, and whereas I normally feel inspired to take up some sort of creative tools, I wasn't feeling it at all. Tuesday changed that. I met some lovely people, did a creative visualization and decorated a journal, and enjoyed feeling connected again.
Sara mentioned the book and creative course The Artist's Way which is by Julia Cameron and has been around for the past 25 years. She had a copy with her, and so I leafed through it and was impressed by the fact that it is a spiritual way, and also with the number of testimonials from people who felt the book and its suggestions had changed their lives.
Money is a bit of a problem at the moment, but sometimes you just know that what is right is right. I found a copy of the book for £6.50 on Ebay and bought it. It arrived this morning.
I'd actually already read the first couple of chapters of the book online and while looking at Sara's copy, and so I started straight away with the Week 1 chapter. There are a number of exercises to do. The first is "morning pages" which means stream of consciousness journalling first thing in the morning, three pages at least. Well, I've already been doing that since last Wednesday, as it was one of the things suggested by Sara, to do in our newly-decorated journals. The second is Artist's dates. She suggests taking $5 to the nearest five and dime shop and buying an unfeasibly large list of art materials with it, as a suggestion for an artist's date. Well I suppose the book is 25 years old. Maybe you could buy such a long list in the 1990s!
I took £5 to the nearest charity shop as the next best thing to a five and dime, and found a pure new wool sweater in beautiful colours of green and blue. Yesterday I was reading about a woman from Estonia who designs and makes the most beautiful coats, using felted knitted materials and crochet etc. I had decided that I would give that a go - 3D felting doesn't seem to be my forte, although I lost a bit of heart doing that because the dog got hold of my felting work and chewed up my first creations.
The idea of creating 2D art with felting and felted materials does appeal to me. It seems to me it might be very forgiving, like oil painting and pastel drawing, in that you can always go over anything which doesn't work properly. I've always liked crafts where you can layer and play with materials, and so although I don't think I will be able to make a coat any time soon, I think I may play with some smaller projects as a start.
The jumper was marked £3 and I ummed and ahed about the price of something I was really intending to destroy. Eventually I decided to go with and told myself my art was worth it. Arrived at the counter to find that all clothing is 50p today, and so it only cost me 50p. a bargain!
I came home and put it straight into the washing machine on a high heat, and then once the machine had started, realized I was supposed to put it in a mesh bag to avoid clogging my machine with wool which has come off the jumper. I stopped the machine, found a cushion cover that zips up and put the jumper in there, and then set the machine going again.
Tizzy and I went for a lovely walk. About ten minutes walk away there is a dog walking field, which she loves. It was beautifully sunny with hardly a cloud in the sky when we left, but once we reached the field the clouds were rolling in. Being on the edge of the wolds, it is sometimes possible to see the edge of weather fronts, as they hit the edge of the wolds, which are rolling hills just outside Market Rasen. There were a lot of seagulls wheeling around the field, making a lot of noise. Often the arrival of a lot of seagulls indicates rough weather is on the way, as they come inland from the coast to shelter. We have had some very windy weather over the past few days, so maybe they've been sheltering from that.I decorated my journal with a sunset over the sea, and as I walked I thought that maybe the colours and design of the jumper would lend itself to a similar design. I think what I may start with are a number of square panels, and make patches, with a view to one day turning them into something bigger.
I love the sea. I find it energizing and inspiring. My sister has invited me to go and stay with her in Torquay which is a coastal town, and I am looking forward to that when I can. for now I'm off to see what a hot wash at 90 degrees has done to a pure new wool jumper!
