applying apples

Tags

crafts, creativity, cutlery, home, home improvement, home making, painting

Yesterday evening I decided it was time to do something I have been wanting to do for ages. It was time to revamp my cutlery holder.

Many years ago my uncle made me, upon request, a wooden knives, spoon and forks holder out of wood. It has five slots and lives on my kitchen counter. But over the years the wood has become more and more stained, but not in a good way. The whole thing just looks a little unloved and tired.

before the revamp

Not wanting to wait another day I spontaneously took out my paintbrush and and a small bottle of colour and painted it green, nearly sage if the label on the tube is to be believed. But just a a plain one coloured thing is not what I wanted, so I looked around for inspiration and found it in some paper napkins.

I love these retro-graphic apples

The next step was the trickiest. I had to cut out all the little apples and apply only the top layer of the napkin onto the painted wood. Because napkins are so thin it is a little bit fiddly, but with some muttering and sighing I managed to cut out and detach enough to complete my design. I applied the apples onto the wood with paste, the kind you can get in any crafts shop.  Now, all I need is for it to dry, give it a lick of of varnish and TA-DA: a new and improved cutlery-holder!

art-icipation

Tags

architecture, art, arts, crafting, creat, creativity, literature, Pablo Picasso, Picasso, quotes, random, thoughts

Tomorrow I am going to grab my pad and pencils and brave the word of art. I am going to create, if good bad or absolutely ugly is yet to be seen. But I am still excited, an art-icipation flowing through my veins, hopefully getting those proverbial creative juices flowing.

So as I sharpen my pencils and dust off my sketch-book, I can’t help but wonder about what role art plays in our lives, not just for those who make, but for those who take as well.

Art seems to be what is left, when all else is gone, and it doesn’t matter if it’s words, images, sounds, crafts or architecture. The Colosseum in Rome or the Pyramids in Cairo, the pots left over from Pompeii or Faberge’s golden eggs, melodies composed by  Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Bach, sonnets and stories written by Shakespeare, Wilde and Austen, are all mementos from the past, yet they still find a home in our world of today.

I read somewhere that many see creativity as the source of meaning in our lives. This doesn’t mean that if you are not creative you have no meaning, but when we create, we experience a surge of energy, a sense of purpose, fulfillment and contentment when we achieve what we set out to do. And it doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s crafting with the family, knitting a sock or painting a masterpiece.

Art is what separates us from monkeys, the way we use language to tell a tale, how we combine colour and fabrics, how we decorate our homes, own things we love but have no purpose other than just being beautiful. We value  the result of an individuals creativity, a four-year-olds painting holding pride of place on the fridge, a crooked vase holding a bouquet of flowers reminding of a ten-year-olds attempt at pottery, photographs decorating our homes taken for their beauty or the memories they hold, music a constant friend (or foe) to our ears, films and plays while away our hours,  gallerys, museums, monuments are places we visit, talk about and remember.

We may not always realise it, but we are surrounded by art, in one form of the other, our world filled with the results of creative thought. And it is what makes the trudge of every day life bearable, cushioning us from reality and showing us the true beauty of living. As the master Pablo Picasso said so well:

The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life of our souls

captive creativity

Tags

creativity, miscellaneous, quotes, random, thoughts, thouights

I have itchy fingers today, the urge to make, create or imagine is strong but I can’t quite figure out where to start. It is a bit like the feeling you get when a word or name is on the tip of your tongue but miles out of your reach, that frustrating sensation at the back of your mind when you can’t quite catch the idea or thought that is dancing in the shadows never stepping into the light.

This feeling isn’t new to me but I have never been able to figure out a way to channel it into one project and normally end up with a frustrated day filled with half started things. So today I have decided I  will try something different, I will tend this captive creativity and wait till one idea ignites a spark that bursts into flames.

But until that happens I think i will just shoulder my camera and go for a stroll, see what my lense finds and maybe, just maybe my creativity will break free and I’ll have something to show at the end of the day. As Albert Einstein so aptly puts it:

True Art is characterised by an irresistible urge in the creative artist

restless feelings

Tags

creativity, discontent, feeling, health, life, mental-health, psychology, random, restlessness, thoughts

Today I am feeling restless, I am finding it hard to focus, concentrate and although I have plenty to do I just can’t seem to make myself sit down and just do it. This state of impatience and fidgetyness (if that is even a word) is quiet annoying yet it seems as if I just have to except it and wait till it passes.

As I pondered this unpleasant state I am in I remembered an article I read about a month ago in Psychology Today. It was called Devine Discontent and looked at the positive side of feeling bored. Boredom seems to be something we all experience, some more than others and some even seem to be predisposed to the inability to focus, always following the lure of the new.

I can’t really remember being bored very often as a child, but I do remember my grandmother, a true Hanseatic lady with Prussian blood, always saying “only stupid people are bored”. And although I understand what she meant I tend to disagree.  While some people may become bored due to lack of imagination or stimulation I think many feel restless with something because it has become too mundane. This feeling of discontent with what is happening  around you or feeling unsatisfied with where you are in life can be a great motivator for change. After all why change something when you are happy with it, so maybe we need discontent to actually focus on something we don’t know yet, imagine a different future if you will.

Of course we need the stability of the known to be able to sustain a day-to-day life but isn’t it the unexpected, the search for something different that makes life interesting and more exciting?

So maybe instead of just waiting for my discontent and restless feelings to past I should harness them and try and figure out what would help. Refocus my vision, reorganise my thoughts and who knows maybe I will find a certain kind of contentment in my own discontent.

who do I think I am

Tags

creativity, culture, idea, lables, Margaret Mead, miscellaneous, motivate, motivator, quote, random, thoughts, work

I was reading an article on how to discover your strengths and a little test at the end supposedly showed you yours. Not really one for tests I took it on a whim and the answer was: I am a motivator. I was a little surprised by the outcome as I do find it hard to motivate myself quite often but seemingly I am good at doing it to others.

As I read more about what this test meant by being a motivator the wider my grin spread, how did they know?  The results told me I would probably never spend a week in silent meditation but liked to work alone. Seemingly I am a good communicator who whats honest but fair feedback, who respects people and dislikes incompetence. I tend to put others before myself and people say I am creative, clever and cheerful. I did have to chuckle as I felt somewhat caught out, yes a week of silence  sounds like tourture to me, I despise dishonesty and I am a bit of a chatterbox. And as I like the sound of the three C’s, so I think I will just believe the test to be true.

The more I thought about what this little test had told me, the more I started to think about who I am, or who I think I am anyway. I do believe I am creative, a writer at heart who doesn’t really want to grow up and enjoys to play, laugh, dance and read. Very loyal to friends and with big dreams. But is that who I am, or how people see me?

We all go through life being labeled by people. First its our parents, siblings and family members. I was always the stubborn one, who did things her own way and was creative and quirky, a storyteller but naughty and cheeky, disobedient at times. Then it’s our friends and teachers who tell us who we are. I was clever but lazy, a talker who included others and was fair, but would also be mean if I disliked someone. At university the courses we take seem to but names on us, quirky, arty, nerdy, smart, caring etc. I think I was arty and quirky. Employers then take a turn and tell you, you are a good teamwork, innovative, creative, slow, late, tardy, unreliable, dependable, helpful etc. As a free-lancer I am all of the above and move … some I probably don’t even know about.

Of course labels can change as do boyfriends, clothes and sometimes even friends but are these labels really who we are, or are we all of what people think we are? I don’t know, but what I do know is that it is Monday morning and I have a whole week too find out if the label motivator really fits.

And as cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead once said:

Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.