Harder than one might think...

Taking a break from your work or even an activity you love can be just what you need to renew your interest or give you a totally new perspective. You can get back at it feeling refreshed and full of the vital energy needed to dedicate yourself to the tasks at hand or it can be a little more challenging...Maybe the length of the break has a lot to do with it.

Don't get me wrong, I have been busy creating, it just hasn't been with any particular purpose or goal.  My home is filled with new paintings and photographs, but now what? Some will say it's like riding a bike, but truth be known, I was never the best bike rider.

I get the distinct feeling I'm just rambling on. I am just writing whatever pops in my head. Sometimes that might be just what one needs to get those juices flowing. Of course, it could easily go the other way and just turn into crazy-maker thoughts! I'm going to go with 'creative juices"...Yup, that's what is brewing in my head. And, until a path comes in to focus, I'm just going to post and share some of the work I have been doing in the past couple of years.

Background- Painting of moon snail shell 50cm x 50cm oil on canvas 2017
Forefront- Ceramic wave with celadon glaze, bits of ceramic messages, an shells 2005

Shells, waves, rivers, oceans...It's all about nature again, only this time I'm not land-locked. I'm more water-logged. ;-)

The shell paintings were destined for a group show that I had to bow out of due to health concerns and in the end they inspired me to redecorate the living room!

This is one of the livingroom wall arrangements.

Living on the coast also had a part to play. I started observing shells, much like I did the rocks in my previous series, and noticed that although they are similar, each one has it's own identity. Each one is unique, as these photographs which I have taken in the last couple of years demonstrates.

      

Some of these photographs are framed; all of the shells are part of a growing collection; all are art in themselves. Many inspired a few oil paintings, which I will be posting in the next few weeks.

In the meantime...Namaste!

(All images and text in this blog are protected by copyright by virtue of their publication.)

Endless chaos of the cluttered mind

The past few years have been really all-around crazy for me in every sense of the word. At times I feel that my head is akin to that drawer so many of us have that is just jam-packed with all types of junk imaginable, tossed in there because you just don't know where to put it.

If at least there was room in there for thoughts to ferment long enough to reach maturation, then to be released leaving space for the next thought or idea to develop...Alas, creative ideas just get thrown in with worries, useless thoughts, memories (both good and bad), plans and projects, lists of things I want to do, I could do, I should do...Every day the drawer gets harder and harder to close.

Ever the optimist, I keep trying to put order. The first thing I need to do is to take stalk of what is in there and focus on one area at a time:

3 Hearts

An assortment of Carniverous plants:

Five Heads:

This is just at first glance...Clearly, the time has come for some serious spring cleaning!

Curio Studio is where my creative side can really come out to play. It is where the interesting, the unusual and the creative come together. Nothing has to conform and nothing is judged. Sadly, it has been enduring a serious drought as the mundane has pushed it to the back of the drawer. The struggle for a drawer of it's own is evident...Hence this blog, hence yesterday's post and today's inventory of what you can find there. (Some, to my dismay, covered in cobwebs!)

You may be wondering who is keeping Curio at the back of the drawer...I know exactly who she is. Her name is Sonia, Curio's alter ego...No wait a minute, Curio is Sonia's alter ego...No wait, they're so different they can't possibly be occupying the same head-space! One thing I do know, Sonia is getting stronger and now she wants a blog of her own. We'll see who gets the upper hand!

Cold - Acrylic painting

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Security - ceramic


Silence-ceramic

Détresse- mixed media

Humanité-ceramic sculpture

Three Sages - Ceramic

Sage and the Kimono Dragon