I’ve spent a couple of hours today making more gelli prints using stencils, masks, stamps and bubble wrap. What do I do with them? I use them for collage, in my art journals, card making and even in finished art works. Some of them will end up with more paint, crayon, pen etc over the top yet.
My sister gave me a lovely set of Golden Open Acrylics – the traditional colours – for my birthday. I love them, and already had the modern set, plus Payne’s Grey, Permanent Dark Violet and Nickel Azo Gold. What I’d never done is a colour chart with them to see what they create. This morning I was awake early so decided to get out my art journal and have a play. It’s always surprising the colours you can make from even very basic mixes, and is a good visual reference to look back at.
My ‘One Little Word’ for 2018 was ENOUGH. You can read about it here. It’s been a good word for me this year, as I start to reflect on the year that’s been.
One of the things I talked about in the original post was ‘Imposter Syndrome’. We held staff training this week and I talked a bit about imposter syndrome, without naming it – relating to something that happened when I was at Christchurch’s new library recently.
This year I choose to go to counselling to sort a few issues that arose after I got past the 2 years of post-weight loss surgery psychology appointments. I’ve talked about it before, so won’t bore you with the details, but in thinking about this post I’ve realised part of what counselling was about was accepting that I *am* enough. Hmm.
So, was ENOUGH the right word to guide me through this year? Absolutely. There’s something quite magic for me in choosing a word, writing about it, creating it on a postcard sized artwork to have in my office, and letting it guide me. Will I be choosing a word for 2019? Yes. But not just yet, I need to dwell on the possibilities a bit longer…
I’ve had an arty sort of day. I’ve worked in my art journals, but also felt inspired to grab a canvas and spread some paint around. Not sure if it’s finished yet, will leave it lying round and see what I think. As usual, there are messages in my art journal pages, which some people will recognise as relating to them…
Last night Tony, Sandra and I went out for dinner then enjoyed the Rocky Horrow Show shadowcast by Flash Mob Taranaki. I haven’t laughed so much in years. “Eddie – drawn, not sketched…”
Cath Sheard Art 