This Inspired Life

Tyler sent me this article from Powazek today: "Why Everything Sucks, Why That’s Awesome, and How It’s Changing Us". And I found it quite apropos in relation to my goal of creating something every week for a year. If I had a genie in a bottle, I'd just be a fabulous creator of everything, and I would never suck. But I don't have a genie and I haven't had thousands of hours of practicing, well, anything at all. The thing I've done the most of is writing. And I'm still at the "not suck" stage. I have a long way to go before accomplishing "master." I've always been okay with that. It's been driven into my psyche for as long as I can remember that writing is hard, and it takes a long time to be really, really good, even if you have a natural talent.

I think I have a natural talent for creating art. Still, I know I need lots of practice. TONS. Hence my goal to create every week. There's a staunch perfectionist and worrywart in me, but I have a very casual side too: someone who can simply slough off my mistakes, my faults, my inconsistencies, and hang them on my wall of class A efforts with a huge smile. I had a moment of feeling embarrassed to show my first artwork of this project, but I fought it off quickly. This is about sharing my experiences and chasing a dream, and hopefully inspiring someone else to do the same.

I decided that since I have no formal training in art (except for grade 11 and 12 art classes and whatever I've dabble in since then), I would take inspiration for some of my favourite artists to begin. For this artwork, I studied some of Michelle Moode's art, as I love her mark making and mixed media approach. She's one of my favourite artists.

I began this piece with sketching out some of my ideas with pencil. And then I just dove in, tore out a sheet of my 9x4.5 Cartiera Magnani paper, and drew some of the elements that I knew I wanted in the artwork. It started out well and I felt pleased, but once I began to colour the shapes with watercolours, I became less enthused. I have no idea how to work with watercolours, so the shapes that started out nicely became the subject of my experiments with this form of painting. Also, because of my frustration I ended up using too many colours, rather than forming a strong colour palette and sticking with it. I also felt that I was keeping the elements too constrained with the black ink, and when I ventured out I did not feel happy with the results, except for the threaded "hearts" in the centre and the typewriter ink. I like some of the elements in this piece, and I think I will take those and work on a new piece in the future. For now, I will let this one sit and breathe for a while. While not a seller, I think it has promise if I work on it. Go me.

So even though I'm almost always strapped for time, I made a goal for this year to create something once every week for the entire year. It's ridulously lofty and yet it is a goal that I'm really excited about. I think about creating art almost all the time, and often I begin, but don't finish. It drives the perfectionist in me absolutely bonkers. BONKERS!

I've been tweaking my rules here and there -- initially I thought I would create an artwork once a week, and then I opened it up to simply creating something. That includes stuff like cooking (or baking) something new, building a new garden bed or feature, sewing myself a skirt, making a birdhouse...or even a daisychain, whatever! It's all about the act of creating. I'll write about the things I make and hopefully it will inspire you to create, too, on whatever schedule fits your lifestyle.

You know who inspires me? My seven-year-old niece Sophie. She is a truly wonderful artist and her imagination never ceases to amaze me and fill me with wonder. Here are a couple of her artworks that we have in the house. The turkey I received as a Christmas present in 2008. I love it. The colours and design are just amazing for a kid. She must have been five or six when she created this one.

The cherry tree? I saw it on her wall last week and asked if she would sell it to me for $5. SOLD! I plan to frame it, but for now it's in my studio and every time I look at it I think about how beautiful the world is and how precious our ephemeral time is here.

That feeling has helped me a lot these past eight days, as I grieve the loss of our little dog. What you focus on expands. So, I'm focussing on being grateful as much as possible, even though sometimes I am so angry because I feel robbed of more time with Piper. Her passing so suddenly has been like a punch in my stomach: appreciate those you love and care about, appreciate nature and this planet, appreciate yourself, appreciate the amazing pets and animals who come into our lives and fill us with joy for such a short time. Thank you for reminding me of this, Sophie.

Each of us suffers the feeling that our life is falling apart, of hopelessness, at some point. (Unless you're a game-show host, then you probably just have a gigantic smile on your face all the time -- Botox anyone?) We might feel like it would just be easier to not care so much.

How do we navigate the waters of despair and fear? I am sure everyone has their own ways of staying sane; here I'll outline a few ideas I have for when you're going through a particularly bad time.

• Identify how you're feeling. If it's anxiety, the remedy may be much different than, say, anger or sadness. You can relieve some anxiety by exercising, eating extra healthy, talking with family or friends, or taking certain health supplements. Sadness is a totally different beast. Sometimes sadness just needs to be for a while, like when you're grieving the loss of a loved one. And that's okay. But there comes a time when you need to get out of that mire, and there's nothing better than asking and receiving support from friends, family, your doctor, or a counselor -- anyone you trust. It's proactive; none of this "time is the great healer." While there's some truth to that, "talking it out" speeds up the process immensely.

It's finally summer here on Vancouver Island (there's talk of a heat wave this week, a welcome weather change from the mostly cool days of late). Yet, I find myself feeling down, especially today, the first day Tyler, my husband, went back to work after having 10 days off. Both me and Piper are missing him, and I'm wishing we were all together, me and Ty lazily reading books in the hammocks, the sunlight flickering through the alders above us while Pips naps beside us.

You know, it's difficult to feel good and inspired all of the time. Life can be hard, even when you have an abundant life. But I believe the universe won't place anything in our path that we don't have the tools and knowledge to get through.

Last week I was crazy inspired by The Nine Modern Day Muses: I read something to the effect of “Be creative everyday for 15 minutes”, and I thought, "Hey, that’s a pretty reasonable commitment to make". So I did. I thought about it incessantly every day. And I’ve been trying, accomplishing those 15 minutes on some days, some days not, and then BAM! It occurred to me that even I can’t commit that every day, and I don’t even have a job! Or kids! Or a farm! You’d think I’d easily find 15 minutes a day to be creative. Especially considering I want to be creative, all day every day. But a lot of the projects I'm working on require much more than 15 minutes of my attention. Wait. Shift focus. This is important. It doesn't have to be finished in 15 minutes. Just work on that project for 15 minutes. Much less pressure. Baby steps, right?

And that’s why I love and recommend The Awe-manac: A Daily Dose of Wonder by Jill Badonsky. It’s an absolutely perfect book for busy folks, people who need a creative outlet after a long day on the daily grind, or when working on a project doesn't feel right one day, but there's still an itch in your brain. The Awe-manac: A Daily Dose of Wonder can be used as a stepping stone to becoming more creative in your daily life, at work, in your relationships, and for discovering yourself; because there are endless creative ideas in those 439 pages.

Here’s the happy news: research shows that hobbies are good for us. They allow us to escape the day-to-day grind of work, family or whatever else consumes most of our energy. They provide opportunities for us to learn about new things, and to connect with people who share our interests. Pursuing a hobby strengthens our own abilities within that pursuit. And did you know our blood pressure decreases when we’re engaged in doing something we love? Plus, a hobby gives you cool stuff to talk about at cocktail parties.

Here’s a breakdown of how four ways in which your hobby can and indeed will enrich your life:

I’ve made a few collages over the years. My first was for a friend who was dying of ovarian cancer at the age of 30. I gathered up some of the photos from our times together, plus a few of her with her husband. From magazines, I snipped images of things she loved: hiking, travelling, food and wine. It was a simple gift, but every hour I spent on it saw me thinking about Andrea in an intensely loving way. Her husband told me the collage was her favourite thing to look at as she lay quietly in her bedroom.

I made my second collage when I arrived in Victoria after having relocated from Calgary. It was the same year I’d lost Andrea, and my husband and I had just gotten back from a trip to Asia, so it was heavy on the meditation, travel and outdoorsy imagery.

For my third collage, I decided to host a gathering for friends. Like scrapbooking (which costs a hell of a lot more and is way too finicky for my attention span and level of patience), collaging is a great activity to do with any kind of group. It keeps you busy and gives you a constant stream of stuff to talk about.

A friend of mine laughed at my idea of hosting a collaging party. It sounded like such a Grade Five thing to do. Scissors, glue, magazines, posterboard. “Are you missing teaching or something?” she asked. But her skepticism only lasted until we uncorked the wine. By evening’s end she was surprised by how much fun she’d had. She was also amazed at how much she had learned about herself in the process of cutting out pictures and sticking them to cardboard.

It’s pretty easy to find inspiration when you’re outside, right? There’s nothing like a long walk to stir your creative juices, to temper an angry outlook, or to lift your spirits. Time outside resets our balance. It restores us.

But if you’re anything like me, you don’t find a lot of inspiration on those beautiful, blue days of sunshiny summer. I mean, think about it. I don’t know about you, but those are the days that take my mind as far away from work -- and the creative process -- as possible. Perfect days just make me want to sit on my deck, drink wine spritzers and dream about all the naughty possibilities that I might get up to in my real-world life. But they don’t inspire my writing.

No, the days that see me dreaming up conflicts and hammering out plotlines are the dreary grey days where the drizzle hangs thick in the air.

But let’s take writing -- or even creating -- out of the picture, and talk about just plain inspiration. You know, the stuff that sustains you day to day. In that case, I’ll admit it: a lovely day inspires me to be a better mother, and to dream of where my hard work will take me in this lifetime. Everything is just so much easier when the sun is shining. I feel in charge of my life, open to possibility, and infinitely patient.

COLOURLovers is an online community of people who share colours, colour palettes and patterns, and connect to talk about colour trends and read articles about colour. There are some neat, user-friendly tools to use, like Themeleon, which helps you customize your Twitter page. This is what mine looks like now. I know, I'm not sure about it either. It's tettering between really cool or totally hideous.

Another neat feature they offer is on-demand fabric printing using COLOURLovers patterns through Spoonflower, where users design their own fabric.

Sign up on COLOURLovers and you can "favourite" the colours and palettes you dig and then reference them later for your art projects. Lots to explore here and it's so much fun! COLOURLovers can be used professionally, for inspiration, or for whittling away the time. The choice is yours!

Want to know more about colours? I found a very informative Squidoo lens you should check out: "Color: Meaning, Symbolism and Psychology". Who knew owls were the only birds that can see blue?

Image Info

"Green Tea" by puglyfeet, inspired by Leanne Surfleet's photo.