18th February 2010
We are slowing moving into my favourite time of year – Autumn that is. I am still yet to catch my breath after the start of the school term and, as we are doing home renovations, there is chaos all around us, but I can see the golden autumn light shining up ahead with the promise of less heat-waves and more polished floorboards.
So, now what to do?
What to do?
Where are my children? Far from home! (well. not really. Quite close by at educational institutions actually.)
But suddenly I am all at sea. After 7 years where motherhood has been my primary focus I am wondering how to scramble back.
“Let the nothingness wash over you” is what my dad would say, he in the midst of the first days of retirement. “Write a blog post!” My mum would chime in, always checking and often being disappointed these days. “Make some more of those bloody bunnies and make yourself some cash!” is what some of my friends would say, still rolling their eyes at the ludicrous yet profitable nature of that pass-time. “Get your illustration folio together and get some freelance work” some of the others would suggest. “Finish that flaming second draft, you lazy nong,” Is what another bunch entirely would shout at me, as their waggle their chopsticks over Beef in Mandarin sauce at our favourite cafe. “Make me a chocolate cake!” Is what Amelia would shout as she waves goodbye at the school gate. “Don’t forget to pick me up and then can we watch tv?” Is what Lily would say.
But I don’t know. I just don’t know. This term is so short. Before I know it I will have settled into a routine only to find that we are on the eve of the Easter Holidays. Can I put off real life until term two perhaps?
In the meantime I am going to drink a cup of tea, read Keri Smith’s How To Feel Miserable as An Artist and write and enormous list.
28th May 2009
My creative space this week has been quiet. I managed to finish the doll, but life is shifting slightly as Lily’s afternoon naps all but disappear and we get busier with friends and family. I am looking ahead at the next six months as being fairly full with the daily hub-bub of being a mum, but 2010 will be different again as Lily starts kinder and I start working again. What will that work be? That’s probably where my creative space has been this week – in my head, figuring these things out; making plans… The rest of 2009 is about working that out and setting things up ready to blast into action in February 2010.
More creative spaces at Kootoyoo – thanks Kirsty!
28th April 2009
Such a lovely, rainy, insidey day to day. My favourite.
I have a kid home sick which is a little sad as she is missing a (rather chilly and wet) school excursion to the Botanical Gardens. I am missing out on a good coffee and project-based chat in Fitzroy which is also a bit sad. Instead I am going to make some more of that chai. And ponder Every Day in May.
Élena paints every day in May, and has done so for the last couple of years.
It is highly likely that I will not be reading the Twilight Saga every day in may as I am almost done, so that will leave a gaping hole in my schedule. So instead I think I will do the Every Day in May challenge to “commit to create something every day in the month of May”.
Maybe you could take part too!
So now, what do I concentrate on? For a scatter-brain like me this is the hardest thing. Do I blog every day? Should I write some fiction (which really does need a little attention)? A granny square? Perhaps a papercut? That would be insane – my neck and shoulder wouldn’t be able to handle it. I am still recovering from last week’s two day effort. Maybe even just a doodle in a sketchbook is a good idea. Perhaps anything creative would be better than nothing.
What will you do if you take part? Maybe your ideas will inspire me…
29th May 2008
I have been having such a good run of days where everything feels perfect and like it’s all clicking along just the way it should be. You know the feeling – you find yourself driving back from somewhere late in the afternoon, the traffic is light and moving steadily, there are big puffy black clouds over the Dandenongs looking dramatic, the sun is shining on the autumn trees just so and there’s a good piece of music on the radio. The kids are chatting happily rather than grizzling or fighting. No one is sick, no one is sad and you realise that everything feels pretty good. Everything feels exciting, the possibilities seem endless and there is a gentle sense of an overriding rhythm. On those days I can feel such inspired energy running through me. I am such a bloody pessimist though, that these moments are always bittersweet, tainted with that “oh, it’s too good to last! I wish I could just hold on to this forever!”.
And of course (because I just knew it!) today isn’t one of the good ones. But that’s part of the rhythm too I guess.
