My mind tends to race. There are times I think I will explode - with ideas or worries, well mostly worries. Trying to ease a pacing mind is so hard. A couple of months ago, I placed this grouping of watercolors I had done in my bedroom. Quite frankly, I was tired of tripping over them and when I finally put them on this lone white wall, it hit the spot. It felt soothing. It became a place that I could rest my eyes and the chatter seemed to stop in my head.
I think that's why when I'm really tired I like to look through magazines, I don't read, I just look at the pictures.
Gardening does that for me too. I love weeding. Nothing feels better than cleaning a bed full weeds so all you can see are the flowers. When so much seems to be uncertain and with the hard realization of how little control I have in life weeding can feed that need for control and structure in the chaos.
I Often from other artist's how they think watercolor painting is so hard because they have so little control. I do remember when I first learned to work in this medium, it was unnerving. The water would just pull the paint every which way. I didn't like that. But then over time, I learned that I wanted the water to do it's thing and surprise me. Soon those elements were the parts of painting that I loved the most. And I soon learned that the controlled perfect paintings weren't always the most intriguing.
Again, I'm back to how my art informs life. But lately I've really longed for control and order and a plan to actually fall into place and work. I'm not always enjoying where the "water pulls the paint."
So, I look to my wall and I'm reminded of that which soothes my pacing mind. What you don't know is that in each of these pieces I painted, there were some unplanned surprises that I didn't like and actually worked best for the piece. I enjoy them now, but back then, I thought of ripping them up or even not finishing them. The biggest irony is they now soothe my mind, the one that needs control, order and a solid plan.
(By the way, I did stitch the ABC embroidery using Alicia Paulson's pattern and instructions. You can find more info on her lovely website http://aliciapaulson.com.)