From small beginnings
An encounter with the postman
I would like to say that I create a new art collection the same way every time and that I have a winning formula but I don’t. I do, however, have some trusty tools including my sketchbooks and my art journals. These are the places I inhabit most often when trying to make sense of creative ideas that are all a bit jumbled up in my head. Getting these ideas onto paper seems to help. I often move from observational work in my sketchbook onto my art journal where I let my creativity run free. Reflecting on both pages means I can then make some sensible decisions.
Sometimes, that is isn’t the route at all and I love these ‘pop up’ creative ideas that have made more effort to find me than I have to find them. In this example I am sharing today it involved my gel press, some blue paint and a palette knife.
It was one of those moments that resulted in a wee ‘studio happy dance’ and I treasure such moments. Without these moments art making can become a little sterile. For me, experimentation is everything in the creative process as it feeds my soul. Swish, swish, swish, paper down, rub gently, lift paper equals happy dance. I couldn’t believe my luck but sadly had to park this revelation until I created more time. But the swishing and the dancing stayed with me and, in the past few days, I have been able to revisit and have created a small collection of work ready for the re-launch of my Etsy store in September.
The collection is made up of wee handmade sketchbooks, art cards, textile amulets and brooches. I deconstructed a broken necklace to create some of the finishing details. I hand painted the fabric and then tore it up and stiched it down with my trusty sewing machine making wave patterns as I went - joyful. The cards are made from prints that didn’t make the cut for book covers and some recycled paper. I stitched a wee clock charm to the design as the collection is called ‘Time & Tide.’ Inside the amulets is a small collection of things that I hope will be welcomed by the new owners.
When I gathered it all together to take a photo I felt the collection was complete and smiled at the happy moment that created it. Art should be joyful and the ‘Time & Tide’ collection is designed to note that ‘time and tide wait for no man’ from the much used saying. Some years ago I did some research into this saying to find the earliest trace likely in the 13th century and the meaning has been distorted over time. The word ‘tide’ didn’t, in fact, refer to the ebb and flow of the tidal waters in the sea. Tide referred to a ‘period of time’ and quite possibly a season. If we translate that to ‘Time and season wait for no man’ I am completely onboard. Those that know me well know that my current favourite saying is ‘if not now, when?’ I overuse it with relish to anyone I think might want to hear it. I would put these two sayings in the same camp. The joy of putting them together means that we might consider the seasons as a natural guide to how we live our lives and make the absolute most of each and every tiny shift in the natural world. I align myself with trees and take my lead from them. When some of the world believe the trees to be dormant in winter I know them to be incubating and drawing strength that will see them through the other three seasons. I do my best thinking in the winter along with the trees.
Time does appear to travel more quickly with age meaning that we must take all our opportunities and be open to ‘new’ constantly. I embrace change as a way to press the ‘refresh’ button and, in doing so, feel I have lived multiple lives, not just one. Now, at 58 I embracing the relative freedom to do what suits me so a happy creative accident with a palette knife can be nurtured and developed at a pace that also suits me. I learnt many years ago not to make excuses but to take action instead. My job as a principal lecturer in a university had had its day so the most obvious thing to do was to move my family to a Scottish island without a job between us. Then, the next obvious thing to do was to offer my four children the opportunity of home schooling and that set the course for the next couple of decades. This decade and any I am blessed to have in the future, will be about happy accidents and dancing in the studio not caring if the postman has just walked past the window and looked in. ‘If not now, when?’