Balance and chaos

I am starting to feel a little more comfortable with blogging. My question is how do I keep up with this and leave enough time for creating art? My questions are always about balance. Whether it's working outside of the home or at home, the key is in balance. I have not created for a week or so, and I feel like a carbonated drink that has been shaken and is ready to blow! We had some chaos in our family that caused distractions from life's routines, but that has settled down some (teenagers! Need I say more?). Now I am acutely aware of the clutter and chaos surrounding me in my studio (repurposed from our living room!), so I am itching to sort and straighten so I can focus on art instead of everything trying to distract me. I also know that not only is the clutter visually distracting, but everything carries energy and too much of that can be very distracting!

I am remembering the self-defeating believe one who works in the home has to battle: that not working outside the home means I have all the time in the world to do everything (and I am a life junkie, so I want to do everything)! I am reading a wonderful book right now (ah, the time to read! What a luxury!) entitled The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women by Gail McMeekin. McMeekin interviewed about 45 creative women to glean their thoughts on how to be creative. It's a fine book, informative and thought provoking as well as offering challenges to the reader to follow through on ideas.

I am pretty avid about using highlighters when I'm reading books, and this one is already marked on every page. I relish quotes and McMeekin does, too, because she has designed the book with wide margins where she inserts wonderful quotes. Such as:

"What you love is a sign from your higher self of what you are to do." -- Sanaya Roman, writer

"One exciting aspect of the current ferment by women is the fact that as they struggle for authenticity, they simultaneously illuminate their personal creativity." -- Jean Baker Miller, women's researcher and writer

"Nobody can be exactly like me. Sometimes I even have trouble doing it." -- Tallulah Bankhead, actress.

And a personal favorite that I am now incorporating into my morning ritual:

"In the sacred traditions, the first thing you do in the morning is ask for blessings from the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Because all that you are going to do that day will change the universe." --Laura Esquivel, writer.

Above all, McMeekin affirms the power of women. YES!

Anyway, one of the statements that struck me yesterday (as I was sitting on our deck in the warm sun of early spring... yum!) was that one needs to make time to create. Creating takes time. This sounds like stating the obvious, but so often we forget this important aspect of creating. I believe that each of us is creative; however most of us don't give ourselves the time to explore that creativity. One of the things I love most about teaching/facilitating "playshops" (we're not working, we're playing... so why call them workshops?) is seeing a light go off in someone's face who didn't believe she was at all creative and finds that she has created something beautiful and uniquely hers. What a teacher's reward!

So I need to set aside blocks of time (I did up until a couple of weeks ago since leaving my day job...) for my art. To show up.

About chaos and clutter on my worktable: sometimes it's a gift because pieces of art come together (by being unceremoniously shoved out of the way in a fervor of creating something else) and serendipitously present themselves as being perfect complements and connected to each other. That's how my "Light Catcher" Angels came to be. A couple of years ago I had been working with some vintage chandelier crystals. I had some mother of pearl "leaf" beads as well as some metal face beads shoved to the side of my work space on my desk (I have lots of space, but when I don't put things from previous projects away, it becomes a very small space!). When I again moved the chandelier prisms to the side in my hurry to start yet another project, the Muse gifted me with the realization that they all belonged together; I saw all those pieces miraculously arranged so that they made angels! So chaos isn't always a bad thing; but often it is really distracting!

I have decided to include a crop circle with each posting. I am so fascinated by their creation and their exquisite imagery. I hope you enjoy them, too. When I visited two crop circles this past summer, I felt peace, healing, and bliss from the grain and earth. More about that in another post.

I hope you feel peace, healing, and bliss today!

Peace,

Kate