Look after your roots

We reflect the dirt we're planted in, so look after your roots.

The plant on this page is rising up out of an area that has lines of the same colour as its leaves. It made me think of how we reflect what we are planted in. If you put white flowers in a vase with dye, they take up the dye and change colour.

Plants in poor soil won't grow as well as those in good soil. It may seem that they do for a while, but without the food they need, eventually they will wither or be stunted. So it's important to make sure your roots are in good soil - dig in plenty of nutrients.

Suiboku-ga

It's always fun to have a go at something new. I rediscovered some Chinese brushes that my parents brought back when they visited China quite a few years ago, and my mother-in-law gave me a book on Suiboku (Japanese ink painting) at Christmas, so I pulled both out and here are some first goes.

Suiboku requires the brush to be held at 90 degrees to the forearm and completely upright over the paper. The elbow should remain raised from the table. I'm sure I didn't stick to this rigidly, but I had fun. Each of these little studies took just a minute or so to do and I added the black lines to the beetles after they had dried.

Say it... and say it again

If you want them to hear it, make sure you say it lots of times in lots of ways.

It is easy to say something to someone and just assume that they heard - and understood - you. Oftentimes they haven't! Don't be afraid to say something more than once and in a variety of ways, because what you say and what people hear is not necessarily the same. When you need a whole team of people to be on the same page with something, you can't say it often enough.

Bloom first

You can't be fruitful until after you've bloomed.

The usual way of things is for seeds to sprout, leaves to grow, and then the plants flower - or bloom - before they produce fruit. To bloom is defined as 'to come into or be in full beauty or health; flourish'. It makes sense that we need to flourish before we become fruitful.

So the question is: what does it take to flourish?

The answer will be different for each of us. The aim, then, is to work out what we need to flourish and then make sure we live a life that allows us to do that. Producing lots of leaves is all very well, but it doesn't lead to fruit.

You may think that flowering is not really you - you're not a showy tropical plant, full of large colourful blooms. But there are flowers that are much more subtle than that. It's not about how showy your flowers are, but that you produce them.

Outshone?

Are you happy to let others shine?

Do you throw shade or shine light?

This page makes me think of bubbles, and the radiating lines bring to mind shining light. Together these things make me consider raising others up and letting them shine. It may feel that 'if they do well, I miss out' but that is very rarely true in anything that matters.

Investing in people is always worth it, so let them shine - or even better, shine a light on them. Never let a chance go by to raise others up and give credit where it is due.

A welcome sign

Does a welcome sign hang over your heart?

Are you good at hospitality? I don't just mean the kind where you cook a great meal, but the real hospitality of making people feel welcome in your presence wherever you are, not just in your own home.

I have to admit, there are times when I don't feel hospitable. When I'm tired and crotchety, having to be welcoming does not come easily. I would much rather be on my own, waving a paintbrush around or curled up with a book. That's because when I'm tired I'm me-centred rather than thinking of the other person. Being hospitable means concerning yourself more with the comfort of the other person than your own.

A welcoming heart needs to be ready to be uncomfortable and to put aside its own agenda.

Fences

Are your fences trying to keep stuff in or out?

We all build fences, whether to protect our hearts when they've been wounded or to keep safe those things we wish to jealously guard.

Fences have their place. Wounded hearts need to heal and there are some things that need to be jealously guarded, such as our close relationships. (Being jealous is often given a bad rap, but it can be defined as 'keeping watchful care to keep'.)

It is good, though, to check periodically what the fences in our lives are there for. Are they healthy boundaries or isolating walls?

Turmoil

Trusting that the turmoil will calm eventually.

This page is made up mostly of blotting off the gelli-plate and using up excess paint. I use plastic credit-type cards as palettes, so when there is paint left over on them, I just scrape them off. This means that the layers are just piled up on each other with no thought as to how they will fit together.

It is a page of turmoil - defined as 'a state of great disturbance, confusion, or uncertainty' - much how I feel some days. What gets me through is seeing women in their sixties and seventies who are living fulfilled and happy lives. It lets me know that 'this too shall pass'.

Floundering

If you're floundering, at least your'e in the water and have ventured out of the shallows. Calm down and stop thrashing about. Relax and float. Breathe. You are not drowning.

Framed works

I've been working on a couple of things to frame for the Halewood CultureFest Arts and Crafts Exhibition. And here they are! 'Fly' and 'Seek the Light'. The differences in colour in the photos are because some were taken with my phone and some with my camera and at different times of day. Amazing the difference it makes.