Slow and steady...

I am making slow but steady steps forward with my detox mission! My head really is cluttered at the moment but I feel good about the progress.

So far I've blown the dust off my visual diary and started scribbling down my ideas for next years ICE exchange. I'm playing around with the concept of life lines, originally the idea was laughter lines. I don't mean the wrinkly sort...my ideas are more focused on paths represented by

 lines _________dots.......dashes _ _ _ 

and the paths are the places I've been, seen and loved. I am not well travelled having never left the North Island of my own country but there are definately places that have helped shape me as a person and as an artists. I have an emotional attachement to them. Here's a link to a series of Mick Mathers that's appealed to me for some time now. Not the same thing but appealing to me for similar reasons as 'life lines' is. This post is also very inspiring, thanks Robyn for your perfect timing in sharing this! I like the idea of taking a meditation memory walk and revisiting some special places. I then wonder if I should be looking forward and not back? In my head I can see pieces of maps, sewing pattern paper and navigation symbols such as the Southern Cross and compass points but I'm not sure how it all goes together yet and I havn't  reached that 'ah huh! moment. As you can see I am still confused and my vision is a little cloudy. It will come to me in it's own time and until then I will patiently wait. I'm good with that.

The other thing I have done is finish my 9 Grafitti pages.  The weather isn't photo friendly at the moment so no photos yet. The collages had been in the 98% finished stage for months and all that was left was the stitching. I can't believe a project that took months to get to only took me an hour to finish! Really! It feels good to see them done and I think I will turn them all into a visual diary to use next year.

Photos soon I promise!

Thank you for your kind comments, I have intentions to visit everyone a few blogs at a time so see you soon if I havn't already! 

Detox

I'm doing a detox! Too much housework, nursing, hospital and school work for me lately and I am definitely not achieving any sort of balance and haven't done for quite some time. So I am detoxing myself in the hope that I will find my artistic mojo beneath all those layers. I know I'm not alone in my struggle to find balance but my art supplies are actually gathering dust! I decided that despite everything going on I AM DOING ART THESE HOLIDAYS! Why is it something that is so important to me keeps making it to the bottom of the list? I have good intentions every week to spend time to spend being creative but leaving it to the end of the day when schools done, housework's done and kids are in bed inevitably means I don't do it....and I really need to. I could probably pick a better time given my daughters current situation but given I teach 2 out of 3 of my kids at home I really feel a sense of urgency to DO IT NOW while the school holidays are on...so I am. Obviously I won't be able to not do the housework but I'm hoping to finish these holidays a lot more in balance and in tune with myself.

Here's my to do list...
Finish my Graffiti pages, even though I missed the deadline for these. Something about these pages and my anatomically incorrect heart is really 'ringing my bell' so I am going to finish the series.

Finish the replacement ICE collage from this years exchange. Unfortunately one lady (out of over 100 artists) had her package explode in the post, one of mine was amongst those that went missing. I volunteered to replace it and it's about time I walked the walk instead of just talking it!

Start growing my ideas for next years exchange. I have a feeling the graffiti series are some how important to this which is another good reason to finish the pages! Visual diary, blow off that dust because here I come!

Visit blogs and be inspired! So many wonderful things to see in blogesphere and these fingers are doing some walking!

Photograph spring before the cherry blossoms have passed and all is green again. I am loving spring with my eyes every time I drop by youngest at school but it's about time I stopped and smelt the 'roses' too.

My camera's first outing in a while was also my daughters. The spring blossoms made for a beautiful walk and the perfect contrast to the bright hospital lights. It's so good to be home!

I'm sure you noticed this one's already been achieved...I wrote this blog post the other night as a draft and the next day remembered to grab my camera before heading into town. There's something about a list that puts intentions at the forefront of my mind. Already this detox is working and I feel a little more in balance.

See you soon!