If there is one thing that 2018 has taught me so far it has been to "Go with the Flow". Yes, yes, I know, it's a bit glib and as far as nuggets of wisdom go it isn't always a wise or courageous course of action. However there are definitely times and places to just go with the flow, and that is what I've been learning - to stop resisting the things I can't change and just hop on the train of life's batty adventure. I have a tendency to fight tooth and nail for what I want but I am starting to see, in hindsight, how not always getting what I wanted opened up new possibilities for me. Life is funny like that - every time you think you get a grip on it it will employ another tactic to make you laugh at your own silly face. What a wondrous thing that is!
Anyway, this probably seems all rather esoteric. What I am trying to say is that I 'let go' of a lot of ideas about how life 'should' be this year and I have been all the happier for it! I mean, I was really upset when we moved from the west coast back to Brisbane, but in accepting that I am here again life has taken a wholly pleasant course. I have started gardening and learnt how to grow my own food. I have been able to spend lots of quality time with family and I've loved being back with my scrappy old wonder cat. I have been able to explore old haunts with new eyes and also spend time going on adventures to new locations close to home. My creativity has been divided between art, craft, and the garden and domestically I have pursued trying to find ways of living more sustainably.
In embracing change and going with the flow of life here the studio has become a cocoon of warm creative vibes. I stopped trying to be the artist I thought I should be and have dived into being the artist my heart wants to be. Art is refuge for me, it is not a place of resistance. The change I want to see in the world has to come from a place of love. This is something that has taken me my whole 40 years to learn. This is my truth.
So, all of the ideas I had about what art I would create this year have been gently swept aside by the winds of change, and here I am with what has evolved over the past several months. I am slowly adding new works to my website and it makes me happy and proud to see the fruits of my love labour all together in this space. It's a beautiful thing to create and believe in those creations because you know that they came from a place of tenderness and love for this beautiful planet we call earth. So yes, perhaps we should all sometimes try to let go of our desires, our visions of the future, our controlling tendencies and preconceived notions of how things should be. Perhaps we should all sometimes ride the wave and 'go with the flow' 'cause you never know where that flow might take us.💙
