The field of wishes...

So I was all geared up to get back in the studio, but somehow I have not done a thing in a month! A whole month and I have not even stepped foot in the room - how does this happen? Well so easily it seems. I go through periods of strong forward steps, where the images I feel come out so clearly on the paper and I am at work and at my best, but then there is this other side that comes over me like a black, energy sucking cloud and I can't do anymore than cope with a day. These are the times that I most certainly need my creative gang that started at the beginning of last year. We meet every other Thursday to talk about our work over the last 2 weeks and then set ourselves goals for the next session. It is a simple format and for this reason I think it is successful. The group is diverse enough for interest, but similar enough for connection and they are the most understanding of people who can take you to task in a gentle way over cake and coffee. They will point out that actually yes, you really do need to just get off your butt and do something, ANYTHING and the magic will begin to happen again. We talked about rituals a little this week and I realized how important they were for me to step over the threshold of my studio and to make me feel more serious in what i was doing. I realized that my rituals were to put on my paint stained apron, set my computer to a radio show I like to listen to and to light this incredibly expensive candle that I bought by accident, but that does actually smell delicious. These are acts that make me commit to the room, not the washing up, the phone, the hoovering, but to the room and the space where I am so happy that it feels like nonsense that I need any coaxing to get in there. So that is what happened, I did my rituals, I tidied the space because it was most necessary and hoping above hope that I can fake the cloud away in order to just keep on taking more small steps to finding my way.

Inspired by a field of whole rounds of dandelions i rushed home to get my camera only to find a few gusts of wind had taken many wishes already into the sky, but it had planted the seeds enough for me to work on my next picture. Here is the beginnings of my work in progress.