I was in a mood yesterday. I should probably apologize to my family because I am sure I was absolutely no fun to be around (possibly bordering on horrible?) I can’t say for sure what my problem was. The day was grey and so was my mood. Then when I was down tidying up my basement workspace I spilled some ink that was sitting in a little cup. Grrr… What a mess! Great, one more thing to have to clean up…. Then this message from the deep recesses of my brain: Is is a mess, or an opportunity?
I reached for some paper to blot it up. Then I thought what would look really good with that red ink would be turquoise, maybe a little white…oh, and how about black? And before you know it I had splished and sploshed ink and paint all over the table, and was grabbing paper and ripping out book pages to soak it up! What fun! This is not the way I usually work, but it was so enjoyable, and so freeing. And so, so messy! But in a good way.
I feel like in a way I have gone through a devolution of sorts. With my first big journal I was always trying to plan and create something specific. Then with the newer small journal I was trying to be a bit more experimental, with no plan really. And now to this, throwing paint around and mopping it up with stuff to see what happens. And honestly, I think at this point, it’s exactly where I need to be.
To make this I played with book pages, journal pages, Dylusions inks, acrylic paints
I can’t tell you how much I love this. You, my online bloggy twin/soul sister, are in the same spot as me in terms of evolution in creating. I am in a much more “slap shit on a page and see what happens” space than I have ever been. Come on in, the water’s fine!
Your comment made my day! Thanks Carly. So glad we found each other in blog land
Agreed!! XO
Love Love this! The fun you had totally shows through in the results! ” Is is a mess, or an opportunity?” is my new mantra!
Thanks eg! It’s a good mantra for art and life! Hope school is going well
Maybe every mess could become an opportunity if we are just open to it!
Love this post.
So true! And thanks
[...] For the most part things went exactly to plan. I did make a few modifications to account for the materials I had on had. I found for my matchbox that the interior opening of the frame I chose needed to be a tiny bit wider than the template. I loved the corrugated cardboard that Miriam used in her frames, but I didn’t have anything like that lying around, so I used some of the paper I made during the mess incident. [...]
Wow – you got some great stuff out of that “letting go”. I need to give that a try, as I am too much about the control!