Thoughts

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it. - Marcus Aurelius


Thoughts
encaustic mixed media
12x24, diptych

My last post I wrote about my creative process- how one things leads to another. How one painting informs the next. Or sometimes many paintings later. I'm already thinking of creating paintings based off the last one, I have two in mind, in fact.

Other times I will get an idea to explore because of something I spy and it makes me pause. A few weeks ago my kids and I were going to spend a few hours in my studio, each working on own own projects- my 6 year old is really into drawing Angry Birds characters and my 2 year old is content to paint a random shipping box that I happened to have around. But I needed to clean up the work table first and I started to pile up all the papers, photocopies, torn up stuff that were strewn across the tabletop. I wasn't paying attention as I just needed to clear off the table asap as my kids were waiting and any delay could lead to a squabble. As I moved the pile of paper to another surface, I looked down and saw this:



...and I thought to myself, hmmm, that's interesting.....and I kept that spark in my head and returned to it the next time I was in the studio and created "Thoughts".

I find that I need to pay attention to those sparks, or seeds, that pop into my brain. Because I am not able to get in the studio everyday, I keep those thoughts simmering in my brain all week until I am able to attempt to execute them. I almost think that having that waiting period is beneficial as it percolates throughout the week. While I would love to be able to just answer that need to create right away, that's not my reality, and so it sits and simmers. This morning I got two seeds in my head, one came to me in the shower and the other when I was lying in my 2 year old's bed after reading her a book for naptime.

“She’s never where she is,' I said. 'She’s only inside her head.”- Janet Fitch

Had to save this quote as it made me laugh. Describes me and I'm not saying that's a good thing. I am always working on being present and not in my head so much!