The answer to that is “no.” But I think all of our phases of life work together and add up to perhaps a final, completed manifestation of where you were always supposed to go in life.
I have been absent-minded….from art that is…because I am on another “assignment,” I haven’t been giving much mind to making art….but I still love it. I enjoy the “eye candy” of others that I find on Facebook, but am not driven like I used to be to go “make something right now!” But I am a “creator, ” there is no doubt about that. I love creating, whether it’s painting, paper collage or dyeing and printing fiber, or illustrations for books and writing. I love it all. I love creating on a print table, or taking lessons to learn something new on the computer and then creating digital images and patterns in Photoshop and Illustrator products.
At this point in time, I am packing to make a move to a different place for my studio and office. All of you other creators out there know what that means, right? That means that while I pack, I am going to sort through and maybe even “get rid” of some things. But getting rid doesn’t mean throwing away, no. “Getting rid of” means thinking of people who might want my stuff! I was not trained in childhood to throw anything away! I have already given four bags of blue jeans to a woman in my area who makes rag rugs! And Facebook is a great marketplace to get rid of stuff. I have a contact to sell my stash of commercial fabrics to…I just have to get to the place where I have gone through it all and then contact her.
So today, I am at the studio working…and I am finding myself going.through.every.little.thing. I love looking through my stuff I haven’t seen for awhile! How about you? All the memories of the fun you had making it! Yeh. Wow. I’m immersed in it. It’s just hard to believe how I want to hang on to every.little.thing.I.ever.made. Why would I ever get rid of that little photo book I had printed? It contains photos of almost every silk scarf I ever printed. It’s a record of my creating…I will never print another book as this was a trial catalog to document my previous work. Many of those scarves I no longer have as they were sold or given or traded away. The book is the memory of all the fun I had and the patterns I made.
I save every.scrap.of.paper too. Patterns and colors always draw me away….
There’s other stuff here in my shop that isn’t art stuff. I am preparing a giveaway pile that I will set out on the sidewalk that people can just take, but so far it’s not a very big pile. I don’t know how this ends up…I just know I have to move and I’m trying to do it in some organized fashion (so I have some idea where stuff is). Most of the dyeing and printing stuff will remain packed up after the move while I decide what to do with that. I am not planning to have more classes and workshops.
But packing could take a while at the pace I’m going….I might daydream a lot…
Art Journal---A Creative Journey 