is, I suspect, best done in a bad mood. Failing that, a questioning mood. Why do I keep all this stuff? Why don't I tidy up as I go along? Why do I feel as if I want to work larger than I have been? Do I really need all this fabric? Where can I put all these books? You know the kind of thing, I'm sure. It helps you to throw things away, or give them to others, which makes it easier to find places to put things; and that, in turn, gets things clearer in your mind. I write about it at length in the Creative Focus book. At times like this, I rather think I should be taking a large dose of my own medicine.
And that really is what I intend to do. I spent an hour in one of the fabric studios today, and it still looks like a large bomb hit it. Partly that's because my son has several boxes of his stuff, mainly books (wonder who he gets that from...?), in that particular studio. They're going back up to Scotland just as soon as I can manage it (mwahaha...). But it's also my doing. There is a lovely (or rather, unlovely) guddle in both cloth studios, and I'm sick of it. So the next few days will be partly spent working on putting things to rights, and the rest of the time spent telling the cats that I didn't order the snow up just to spite them, and that there's plenty of food in their bowls...in between cuddles, of course.
That 'work larger' thing is intriguing, though. Partly it's just Bertha's influence. Partly, though, it's a need to give myself the space to express things, as I do in my paintings. I don't like painting small, and I no longer feel I want to sew small, either. And partly it's the restlessness that you get at the beginning of a new phase of work, as you wonder, is it worth it? Do I really want to do that? Say that? Express that? Will I be able to do the theme justice? I don't know any of that. But I do trust the process, and at the moment, the process seems to be saying, tidy up, get ready to work, get out of your own way, and hurry up about it. So that's what I'm doing. Wish me luck, it's scary.
5 comments:
Marion, I don't care how little a mess is, at this time of year, the *cleaning bug* bites and off we go. I am still staggering with a cane doing mine, a tidbit at a time, but what gets done gets done.
Life just gets ahead of us, and purchases, and then one day, when the time is right we SEE what we have to deal with.
Sending you good thoughts for the purge-party..... :)
XXOO!!
Anne
You have my sympathy, cat-wise. Ours seem to think that if the weather out the back door is not to their liking, it might be different out the front door. And can't we DO something about that, please!
i detest cleaning which is why it doesn't happen very often...or maybe i'm seldom in a bad mood? :) look forward to seeing how the working larger comes out. one thing about trying new stuff- i give myself permission to learn & experiment, which takes away some of the pressure and can lead to lovely new directions. may it be the same for you-
I love the airiness of the piece at the top of this post. Etherial with some substance, not an easy thing to achieve!
I agree with Anne, its obviously the time of year for having a clear up - the amount of bloggers that seem to be doing it at the moment :)
I always have a huge problem throwing anything away, even the smallest scraps, in case they 'come in handy'.
Post a Comment