Sojourner Truth

"I will not allow my life's light to be determined by the darkness around me." Sojourner Truth

Shine your light and don't allow those around you to dim it. Your light pushes back the darkness for everyone in the room.

Lost for words

 

Feeling like some days it's difficult to string a sentence together.

I know it will pass, but gee, it's a pain in this phase of life to reach for a word and it not be there. I'm finding it harder to put words on my pages and canvases at the moment as well. Maybe they're connected. In the meantime I'm getting used to losing the thread in the middle of a conversation and just letting people know that it's menopause brain.

Finished canvas?

 

Still working on my canvases for a possible SALA (South Australian Living Artists) exhibition next year. This one had been sitting for a while and I knew it wasn't done. I turned it upside down and piled on some larger areas of colour. The way the marks from underneath showed through made it a lot more exciting to me. It may not be to everyone's taste, but for me it brought the canvas alive. Suddenly it was coming together. The black lines at the top left are made with an interdental toothbrush. I love the way you can't control them very well and they make some really interesting marks with twists and thick and thin line. They're one of my favourite brushes for mark-making at the moment.

I think that simplifying the colour patches - making fewer of them - and blending them a bit more, but still allowing the history of the canvas to show through worked for me. I guess it just reflects the way that I like to simplify my life but am aware that all the things I have lived through still show in one way or another, as they do for all of us. Also, turning the canvas upside-down gave me a new perspective on it, just as we need with life from time to time.

Leading or following?

 

Not everyone can be the leader - without followers, there is no leading happening. We all lead or follow in different aspects of our lives, and that is just fine. Some people naturally rise to leadership positions, no matter where they start out. Others spend their whole lives in supporting roles. Both are required and, although we accord status to leadership, without those supporting people - the executive assistants, the administrators, the people who provide childcare - the leaders would have a harder time doing their job. 

So lead where you're called to lead, and follow and support in those other roles. Both are necessary and both are worthy.

Thinking of giving up?

 

Just when you think about giving up...

There are times in life when you wonder whether that thing that you're doing is worth it. It takes time and energy that you could be putting elsewhere with more satisfaction and a topping up of your battery rather than a draining of it. And just when you ask yourself whether it is all worth it, there comes some feedback and encouragement that says it is. 

Hang on in there just that little bit longer than you want to, because just as you're thinking of giving up, that is generally the time it starts to pay off. Of course, there are some things that reach the end of their useful life, but hanging on in there for a little longer can bring rewards.

Slow lane

 

The slow lane for me, please!

This last week was full-on for me. I know most people would have sailed through it, enjoying all the socialising. For this severely introverted artist, it was exhausting. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy socialising, but when it's three nights in a row, combined with an extra day at work, and a sewing and printing project that needed to be finished, well... let's just say that I'm glad I get to pause for breath this week. 

I know that lots of people feel that their full calendar is a badge of... I don't know, some sort of status, I guess. But for me it just signals exhaustion. I like the slow lane. I like having space to think. I like solitude. I don't equate success with the amount of 'stuff' I do.

Stamina

Building stamina. It's amazing how doing something new wears you out. 

Doing something new makes your brain work more. You're making new connections, memorising new tasks. The sheer amount of concentration uses up energy. But as you settle into new routines, the pressure eases a bit, and you build some stamina in that new skill/job or whatever. 

Putting in the effort in the beginning is worth it, and although you might feel like you'll never 'get it', it becomes easier as you stick at it.

Sketchbook to canvas

 

I recently watched a set of videos by Kellee Wynne about grid journalling. I pulled out my sketchbook and did a set of grids and wanted to see if I could transfer one of the compositions to a canvas. It's not really something I've done before. I decided I liked this one:

And here is the canvas I produced from it.

As you can see, I didn't use the same palette, but the elements are all there in about the same proportions. 

I often like smaller pieces I make, which are much simpler than my larger pages/canvases, but don't usually scale up. When I work with a larger canvas I tend to make even more marks! I guess I just like to play 😊

Finding my feet

 

When I started my new casual job, it was terrifying. There was so much to learn, and so much responsibility looking after someone else's shop all by myself. Now it's been a few weeks and I'm starting to find my feet.

Isn't this the way with anything new? At the beginning we feel way out of our depth. But if we stick at it, we can find our feet and maybe even start to enjoy ourselves. So face the fear and push on through. The rewards are worth it. 

And in other work - I think this canvas may be finished. Gonna let it sit for a few days and see how I feel about it.

Face canvas

She faced the world head-on.

This is my newest canvas which just cried out for a face, so I put one on it :) It doesn't fit with any of the other canvases I've done recently, but it was what I wanted to paint so I went with it.

And for those introverts among you, here is a gift my husband bought for me. It's a yarn holder to stop my ball of yarn from rolling around when I knit. And the sentiment is one I feel quite often.