Wabi-sabi

There is a very good definition of wabi-sabi here. In short though, it is the appreciation of beauty in the transitory and imperfect. I have always been drawn to such subjects in my photography. After Z gave me a lovely book she had decorated for my birthday, the craft paper pages inspired me in a wabi-sabi direction for some visual journalling. I had submitted them somewhere so couldn't share before. The bad news is they weren't chosen, the good news is that now I can show and tell. Anyway for me it is a really big thing just to submit them, a year ago I wouldn't have dared.

Summer_rain_lk A_little_bit_of_blue_lk
The_wind_blew_lk_2 These_things_lk
Read More

Seven: Inspire Me Thursday

Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life. Of course, tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life too, but I mean it in the very real sense that today was my last contractually committed day as teacher. Next year I will still be involved in the life of the school, keep my post as director of studies and do a bit of supply cover. But I will not be trapped in the hamster wheel (you know, the hamster wheel that they use for the rat race?) To put it into context, we are talking 3 hours a week instead of 50 to 60.

Part of what I want to do is habituate art in my life. To that end, I have been collecting inspiration blogs. The first creative imperative is, of course, to create. So I will write and draw and paint and scrapbook and make.

Inspire Me Thursday asks :

DISCUSS: What seven supplies would you choose?

Imagine you are going away on a trip to an artists’ retreat. A few days tucked away in beautiful scenery with nothing on your to do list except to let your muse run wild. Only one caveat: you are only allowed to bring seven items with which to create art — what seven supplies would you choose to bring?

  1. A spiral bound journal - it would be a toss-up between my everything journal, or my new wabi-sabi journal in a kraft paper book given me by my lovely friend Z for my birthday.
  2. Sharpies - a black, an olive, a turquoise (which I realise may count as three right there!)
  3. My tin of neo-color II crayons. But if that is cheating, I would take the lovely teal, a white and a brown.
  4. Gel medium, whichever I grab first & I'm prepared to use my fingers as spreader to keep an extra item (If I haven't used up my 7, if we are playing strict here. If we are playing strict then I will keep the black sharpie and the teal crayon).
  5. Glue stick for found objects.
  6. Stapler for found objects. Loaded stapler!
  7. My buff fluid acrylic.

Imtlogo04

Cool! Now I want to go on that retreat!

Read More

Art Space for My Creative Journey

So, you know those friends that you can really rely on? The ones that make promises and keep them? The ones you can call after midnight and they will not only forgive you but be glad you called (okay it helps if they are nocturnal too!)? The ones that only offer when they mean it, and they offer a lot? Well that is my friend Z!

She knows how much I have been struggling to turn my home back into my Home over the past year. She has been setting up her first home away from home over the past year, and we have spent many hours in IKEA, at hers and mine playing with flat pack furniture and power tools, and talking about asthetic ideals. In the same way as when once you are well into a diet, you become more critical of yourself than you were when you were heavier; having become more aware of my home and starting to clear my clutter, what remains has become harder to live with. So the other night she spent 4 hours sorting out her craft supplies and arranging them all pretty. And she offered (bless her!) to help and support me if I wanted to excavate my junk room and find the art room buried beneath it. And she meant it!

On Saturday we had brunch and changed our books at the library. When her plans for the afternoon changed, she offered to come over and make a start. We spent 8 hours on it, throwing out 1 or 2 cubic feet of stuff and recycling another cubic foot or two as well. Here are the results, although you will have to excuse the weird colours. If I will insist on taking photos after midnight, that is what I will get.

Artroom_light Artroom_desk
Artroom_shelves Artroom_beads
Read More