Thursday, May 14, 2009

Sunny Flowers and Shade

Sunny Flowers and Shade
Mixed Media on Vintage Book Page

Hi all. Still here. Sorry for not posting lately. Still funking over here, but that's not the only thing. The economy has hit us kind of hard and worried creep up. I also don't have as much access to the computer as I did before and not as much time to work. Plus I'm not really feeling creatively inspired.

It got me to thinking.

What do we do when we are in a time of constraint? When the motion that was happening before seems to choke up and slow down?

It would be very easy to get cranky and sulky. I can't deny that I don't do that sometimes. But it really isn't a productive way to deal with constraints. Frankly, it just makes you feel worse.

So when I was being cranky and not really liking what I was painting and not really wanting to paint anything anyway and feeling sulky that I had to share my computer time and all around just kind of grumpy, I thought I'd just try something new.

Well, not new. Old. I took out one of my old loose book pages, torn from the altered book I did years ago. In fact, a page that I had already started drawing on... if you look closely, you'll see the outline of a hand and a few words within the petals that have been circled. I drew my Mother's Day flowers on the page and fussed and fussed with it until I found it was acceptable.

So here's what I made within my constraints. Something loose. Something that wasn't defined before I went in, but was allowed to grow of it's own accord. I let myself mess up and just painted on another layer.

Sometimes, I think dealing with our constraints as they are helps us to be more creative. We have to search for new avenues to take, new uses of old things, ways to make our limits into freedom.

I have no answer for getting out of constraints that are too tight. I only have ways of making the constraints not feel quite so constraining.

ps This also fits the "Petal" prompt for Inspire Me Thursday.

8 comments:

Juliet Colors said...

I like this. :-)

Sorry you've been feeling funky.

Shell said...

I'm glad even though you have been feeling uninspired, you created your flower. Sometimes we just have to create from where we are. That includes all those shadowy and heavy feelings.

tekeal said...

i like the layering of flowers and words... i often feel i am the queen of sulking... painting definitely helps w that, helps me feel i have a life of my own and am connected to something bigger... paint funky, even if it's in your mind. and take care!

septembermom said...

I like how you work through your emotions in your art. I like this flower. Pretty cool.

Genie Sea said...

May those constraints loosen and you all can breathe. :)

kt said...

I love that, considering your mood and situation at this time, that you chose a sunflower to draw. A flower whose petals are open to reveal a beaming face uplifted to the sun and whose color is so vibrant. I can't help but believe that subconsciously you are trying to relieve the stress and that when you sat back and looked at this cheerful vase you felt, at least momentarily, happier and more relaxed. I hope life continues to move upward for you.

Anonymous said...

I'm more creative/productive now than I was when I had time. Too bad it seems to work that way. As long as we can (oddly enough) be inspired by our lack of inspiration (or maybe that's stress/frustration), we should still be okay in the end.

It seems that some of the most brilliant works of art and literature come from the most constrained people. Perhaps the limits focus the mind.

Loni Edwards said...

A beautiful piece of work! I hope your days get brighter!

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