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Makers Gonna Make
There is a joke that behind every great man is a great/patient/nagging woman, but being creative myself, I've always understood what drives Mat – it boils down to the phrase "makers gonna make". I'd never expected him to thank me so sincerely, because I’ve never seen the creative drive as unusual, or as something to suppress.
When you spend your time on creative things, you're more open-minded to other people doing the same. You help when creative mates need a hand to put up an art exhibition, or promote an event. Living with a creative is another story though, as rather than the occasional hand, it becomes a constant ebb and flow.
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I wear silver most of the time (in a game of Werewolf, I was once "killed" by being pushed into a pond and "drowning when her jewellery weighed her down") So, I default to making silver tone jewellery. Then a repeat customer said: "The only thing I could wish for is a gold version, as most of my jewellery is yellow gold, but I don't even know if that's possible!"
If what you hang on your walls reveals anything about yourself, my craft room shows that I burn paperwork, love my mum, and like a bit of abstract in my life. (One of those things may not actually be true…) Having just added a newly finished cross stitch, I've also realised this wall is unwittingly very inspiring for me personally.  When my rather smart husband helped me reorganise the room using good old IKEA units, I figured it would look best to pick one wall and use that for all of the art I wanted to hang. A gallery wall may feel a little cliché these days, but in a box room, you work with what space you have! When it started, I knew that things were of different dimensions, so a perfect grid would never work. Instead I chose some lines to work from, and (almost) every item is lined up with at least one other item. What I chose for the wall was as simple as what didn't fit in elsewhere in the house, or what I wanted to see it as I worked. I wasn't planning something to inspire me!  Let us begin with mum's collection. The yellow and green abstract was painted by my mum specially for my previous craft studio (I like a yellow room to work in) and the black and white landscape I took from her studio after she died. The landscape reminds me of where I go mentally to relax and be calm, it looks like countryside I grew up in. That box frame with a brush and pencil in? The contents are an unfinished project from her desk. So yup, there's quite a bit of my mum on this wall. I can bang on for ages about her influence on me, and her positive impact on a few people, but long story short, great creative lady, not perfect, but all the more lovable for that.
Strangely for a creative person, there aren't a lot of things I've made on show around the house, but two of my pieces live here. The framed key is a piece I created for an art exhibition I organised. Originally I kept the piece because I loved the colours and the key, but now it also reminds me of how I achieved a bonkers plan to coordinate, fund and stage an entire art exhibition. Hidden depths and all that! Showing a level of skill I've since lost, the pencil drawing is one of my few traditional media pieces I am very proud of, copied broadly and very patiently from a Mucha print.
Perhaps the most inspiring piece is top right on the wall. It's an abstract which was a gift from Pete, a talented painter and very unique chap, who struggled immensely after he developed Parkinson's. Unable to hold the keys to play the flute, unable to control a pencil or paintbrush, he could no longer find a satisfying outlet for his creativity. Frustrated, angry, eventually, he found a way to embrace his shaking and twitching, and took his art in a new direction. Later, sadly, his mind began to shake loose too. Much more trivial: The print about burning things that bore me is sort of a reminder to be organised, but mainly something which makes me smile. I'm not grown up, I'm just playing with more expensive toys these days ;)
Also, I don’t have to have whopping goals or grand plans. If I want to do a bit, and I do it, go me! If a goal without a plan is just a dream, this reminds me that's ok. This room is my place from which to send nice dreams out into the world.
There you have it, what began as just things I liked, turned out to be things that also inspire me. What do you have around you because it inspires you? |
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February 2024
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