COLLAGE, HEART, MAP, LOVE
Oh WOW!
I have trouble with time management, but this is ridiculous!Almost a month late, I grant you, is tardiness in the extreme.
My only excuse...exhaustion, business, frenetic, hectic, insane, merry, super-duper mad, migraines, illness, work, family, markets, websites, exhibitions, sleep, exhaustion...and repeat.
I have 3 kids - 14, 11 and 7(8 tomorrow). I have a husband. I have 2 puppy dogs, 2 cats, a green tree frog. I teach 1-2 days per week. I collapse at the end of each day, pretty much 7 days a week.
There is a never ending list of things to do and attend to. My life is triage.I go from one task to another. I love my life, I love my home, my family, my art, my creative crazy, colourful world.But sometimes all that chaos and colour and just gets bigger..and bigger...and bigger...
And that's when I have to step back, take a walk in my garden(which so so so needs weeding and some TLC), put on some music, sit down in my studio, make something, paint something, ignore the other stuff...and lose myself in the process of brush, paste, water, dab, mix, take way, add, more colour, less colour, shade, do a line, cut, stick, add a bit, pull back...the quiet meditation of going to that place that soothes the soul.It does not always happen.Making.
And not making for the sake of making. Not painting to sell, or a commission.Not forcing it.Sometimes it is easy, sometimes the blank page makes me nervous.
Life has been particularly busy of late, and I have been struggling to keep all those balls in the air and still maintain a little space for me.Carving out some time.Because one of the reasons I put off doing this collage, was because I had a vision in my head from the get-go,a very very clear image of a heart. And a map.I knew I wanted to do something about a map to find a way to my heart.A heart map.It was firm in my mind...and that was it,so I was waiting till I had the things I needed to make it. Namely...TIME.
So... finally,finding the heart, finding the maps, finding the vessel,(bad pun) finding the scissors(!),and then the time...eventually, as I knew it would,really happened.
I cut, I pasted, I painted, I shaded, I restuck, I photographed, I downloaded,and now I write.Got there!
And the way to my heart? The map to my heart?
Apart from cheese...and sleep, and perhaps a red mini-cooper with British flag detailing...or a trip to Europe, or New Zealand, some new artwork for my walls a Lovestar vase,a David Trubridge light for my hallway,some classes at The School with friends,some magazine subscriptions, some Funkis clogs,meeting Pip Lincolne and my Blog Rainbow Pals,buying plants for my garden, brushing my daughter's hair, iced coffee frappe's,an Ouchflower creation,a Beci Orpin or Megan Morton book, a Kara Rosenlund photo,some new music, a Pacman arcade game and a real Swiss cuckoo clock...(okay..there is a lot that makes my heart happy...) well, the truth is,truth be told... I just love sitting alone, with my creating bits and bobs, in my house, in my studio, and time to make. True x Then again..if i was to get one of those, several of those...then, yes, it would certainly add to the happy factor!!!
" Heartmap" collage,watercolour December 2014