Inspiration is a funny thing. This blog in a sense is a chronicle of my struggles to understand / cope with the nature of creativity.
The act of creation is an interesting thing as well. Any single person can create a hundred things in a week and not consider any of it to be artful. It is still creation though.
Day to day life management has forced my creativity into different veins that depend on the amount of energy I have. Sewing and crafting is for when I need to make something but I don’t have the grounded mental space or time to paint or write. Writing is a specific vibe that only works if I have an hour or three to myself to focus and channel the words from wherever they come. Painting requires short bursts of work throughout weeks and months with much thinking and meditation over the direction of the material in the time between. All this is to say that lately, I mostly sew.
I started this piece at the beginning of 2016. I’ve worked on it slowly; layering lines upon lines of colour. You don’t see it well in the photos, but the paper has a lovely texture. This is the first time I’ve bought 300lb watercolor paper. My god it makes a difference! I don’t think I can go back to anything lighter.
At first I had collected all kinds of photos as source images to create a piece. I had thought, I would paint something that meditated on motherhood. Instead, I abandoned all of the lovely images I had and painted this. I suppose it’s a more personal take on that subject than I originally planned. To me, it’s like an alternately turbulent and calming ocean journey. There are even a few sea creatures involved.
Jumbie Works 