Quiet panic stations.
The countdown begins.
The holidays are over and July has stepped aside.
There is much I hope to complete in the next few weeks.
I will embrace my creative chaos,
Make in too many directions,
And see where it takes me!

I dub thee Princess Artémis.
Without going into details, she is definitely a crown ahead of me on the messy stakes and doesn’t seem phased at all.
What, you may ask, does this have to do with my making?
Well, I seem to have a tendency to spread out. I use my studio and the house and my bedroom and occasionally the kitchen table or outside in the sunshine.
Mixed media is a blessing and a curse. The world is my oyster and just about anything can become a pearl. I have an abundance of tools of the trade, collecting is easy, regular making is challenging. Even the way I approach many tasks is back to front.


I have never really considered myself to be messy as such. Disordered and muddled, to be sure, creative chaos, most certainly.
I often chastise myself about my migrating piles of stuff that seem to spread themselves around over time and space.
Then, I come across some incredible book that inspires the tidy organIser within me and in eager spurts, I attack these piles and make more mess in an attempt to find order.
No doubt I am surely going about it the wrong way because that tidy organIser is a very tiny and largely dictated by social expectations, so I rejoice and smile contentedly when I discover such reassuring titles as the ones below.


A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder - How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and on-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place by Eric Abrahamson
The title alone does it for me!
I never got around to reading all of this but borrowed it many times.
Obviously got lots of comfort and reassurance just from the title!
I am not a hoarder as such though piles of things seem to trail about me...I've even found scraps of my writing about these stalker piles dated at times when they have bugged me most.
So I laugh and think must I simply embrace them as a part of me and do my best with them?
To be continued...

Mess
Keri Smith has published many creative writing journals that help you to explore and step out of your comfort zone.
A Perfectly Kept House is the Sign of A Misspent Life
I am always ready to live life and indulge in the moment...the dishes and co. will still be there later!
Messy
This sounds wonderful. I know a few colleagues who may find it reassuring too!
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying
This is the odd one out. I love the idea that there is magic in tidying, (is that the Mary Poppins in me?), and I am fascinated by the thinking behind many eastern philosophies such as wabi-sabi, boro, kitsugi...so much wise practical simplicity.
I haven’t finished reading yet but got a good laugh out of the extremely varied reviews.

Think Less Learn More: Unlock the power of the unfocused mind by Srini Pillay

And I’m taking notes while reading this gem. It touches on that nerve where we are all striving to fit into a social mould that may not correspond to us. Maybe my mind wandering, skipping and dancing helps me to be creatively healthy! We all know that there are many ways in which we learn, so naturally we think and function differently too. Why do we keep trying to shove ourselves into boxes?!


So rather than change who I am, seek the positive, make the most of my muddled self, embrace and accept, own it...and keep reading books like these!

Off track
Mesmerised
Pinned
Lured
Awed
Tantalised


This week I am seriously overdosing on visual inspiration, spending hours looking...imagining, wondering.
My head is all over the place - high on ideas, needing to reel myself back in and get on task.
With the musical done and dusted, now begins the 7 week countdown till Head-onistic. That makes it very real, the pressure is on...only my own made steam though, in hope of putting something amazing together.

I hope there are some busy hat makers out there getting ready for the competition. It will be so exciting to see your creations! I am enjoying the holidays and have been gathering materials in coastal op shops, like a bower bird. I have also been working with wire and have a few things going at once, somewhat like my book pile. I’ve made a few little sketches so I don’t lose myself.

In between the busy-ness of the musical, end of term and straggly ends, I continue to work on my projects, with a strong hat/headpiece theme, in preparation for my upcoming exhibition in September.
With two glorious weeks of holidays ahead, I plan on plenty of making as well as time to look at the clouds, change scenery, rummage, read, write and ponder. 
Like my reading pile, I am working on a few things simultaneously! 
Some beginnings and imaginings,
some manipulating,
some embellishing and finishing.

Making time for relaxed experimentation is super important.  Research is often rushed.  It shouldn't be. There is much to be gained through testing, prodding and playing around with materials. I believe it takes a while before we realise that growth lies within the creative process more than in the finished piece.  It is during this process, when you are immersed in activity, that you will feel that good, juicy well-being sensation warming you from within.
On a roll we say when we find our senses receptive and the creative wheel turns effortlessly from inspiration to process to product and back to inspiration.
Time stands still in these moments.
My challenge is to experiment while moving forward steadily, without getting caught up or lost in all the possibilities...or pondering!

Helping out with costumes for this years school musical has been a treat.  What an incredible, busy and exhilerating week!  I enjoyed seeing everything come together despite the ups and downs.  I am amazed by the talent and dedication of the staff who put it all together and I loved seeing the students shine!

An incredible way to:

• get out of your comfort zone
• share skills and talents
• learn new skills
• discover hidden talents
• get to know people better and make new friends
• be part of something bigger than yourself
• belong in a team
• have heaps of fun
• feel appreciated
• show off a little
  
• create amazing memories
  

It was also a fantastic way to celebrate reaching HALF WAY in my 52 weeks project!  This is giving me such an insight into my creative process and helping me to think differently in some respects.
There is much social pressure for us to do and be in certain ways...
when the most important is simply TO BE. 
Listen to your heart, work with your natural rhythms and experiment and create whatever you feel.  The magic will begin to flow before you know it.

Metamorphose transmute configuré mutate convert transfiguré alter transmogrify

A caftan style costume from an old sari.
It’s interesting how ideas transform themselves. I sometimes wonder if an idea ever really belongs to me, I often feel like I am simply the means.
Souvent, time dictates, usually because I have too much or not enough of it.
Generally I think too much and easily get caught up in the inspiration part of a project.
It happens before you know it and you realise that rather than actually making, you have spent an hour or two in front of Pinterest or a pile of books, tallying up everything you can and will do, salivating over the possibilities, sliding into inspiration oblivion!


This idea ended up a lot simpler and quicker to achieve than when first imagined, though still having the aesthetic punch I’d hoped for. Regularly it’s the materials that lead the way: use what you have and improvise. The caftan alone is nothing special but teamed up with a few accessories, it looks great.