What feeds me

How do I feel? Actually I feel very calm. Possibly it’s just asking a deeply hidden anxiety but I don’t think so. I’ve done the work so really there’s nothing more to do right now but cruise into it all.

I’ve been asked to sift through and find some items to place into a cabinet in order to add to my story

-          Things that inspire me

-          Things that I need

-          Things that I write

-          Things that I read

-          Things I draw

-          Things that I play with

-          Things I think about

Clearly my blog is all part of this too but I can’t exactly put that inside a glass cabinet. This evening I’ve fished out some old sketch books and marked some pages that I think will work.

I did enjoy the process of hanging and found it all relatively painless. I can see that the miniscule changes could become irritating after awhile but for me the novelty of my first hang was all good.

It’s a gorgeous space in and of itself which doesn’t hurt my euphoria (plus a stunning autumn day). In fact, I did wonder if it being such a classic beauty of a space might overwhelm my work but I felt right in the space.

This afternoon since I got home, I’ve just been taking it easy. I’m in a very relaxed positive mood and one thing I love to take my time doing is to cook. There’s quite a satisfaction to be had in preparing food. My mother had given me home-grown Jerusalem artichokes straight from the garden. Into the sink they went to help ease the dirt from their skin. As I began to peel them with what may have been the world’s sharpest peeler (most fingernails are intact...) I delighted at how fresh they were. Thanks mum! An entire Paul Kelly cd’s worth of songs later and they were peeled, clean, sliced and caramelising nicely in my new copper pan with lashings of organic butter and sprigs of thyme from my front garden. Adding half a litre of vegetable stock and before you know it, a batch of delicious homemade soup for my fridge and a batch for my freezer.

So the link here is that good seasonal produce, mindful preparation and satisfaction of the senses all feed my art and fortunately at the same time – my belly

My rules for making art

1/ Just do it!  That could be a good tagline for an ad...anyhoo...for me it means, just apply pigment, just pick up the pencil, just start - in some way

2/ Ignore rule #1  pre-thought is actually part of the process.

3/ Enjoy life in all its colours and textures. Richness of experiences can only help to cultivate your internal life which in turn seeps into your art.

4/ Don't overthink

5/ Do what makes me happy. 

6/ Try new things - new media, new styles, new subjects

7/ Cultivate your own space for art. Make it a place you want to spend time in.

8/ oops - looks like I only have 7 rules..

Opportunity doesn't exactly knock...

Opportunity doesn’t knock exactly but it can completely depend upon saying yes instead of automatically saying no. Sometimes I’m too tired to say yes; sometimes it’s simply easier to say no; sometimes it’s like I’m on automatic pilot and haven’t actually thought about the proposition.

If you’re someone I said no to when I haven’t actually thought about then I apologise but of course, I may have actually said no because I mean no. In fact, I know that it is vital that everybody learns to say no without feeling bad or guilty. It’s really important that we can put our boundaries in place. This is an important lesson that we need to allow our children to learn as well and we can help this by respecting them when they do express it.

That said – I mean something else with this post. I mean that sometimes saying yes can lead to new and exciting possibilities. Having a coffee with someone can lead to offers of new places to explore whether it’s work, travel or whatever.

I’ve recently signed on to the #100 happy days challenge which essentially is a project that encourages the individual to mindful of their daily  lives and express the happy moments they find in each day, It’s not anything more complicated than that. Now, I already consider myself to be quite aware of this but I’ve signed on to reinforce this and also hopefully create awareness of this in others.

Feel free to follow me on Instagram (amandakennedy4) to see this project.

Progress of the latest piece

I think I'm done - titled "Sated"

Write drunk, edit sober

Hemingway may or may not have said this but whatever the case I agree.

I'm not suggesting creativity comes only from getting smashed. I'm saying that a few  glasses of wine can help loosen our own self-censorship tendencies that often occur.

I've always supported  the 2 glasses rule - that the best ideas often come after 2 glasses of wine. Subsequently, one needs to remember that more glasses of wine doesn't actually equate to greater creativity once you get passed this watershed of 2 glasses......

Of course, it helps that I enjoy arting (yes, that's my new favourite word...possibly made up) during the afternoon and evening. I'm not inspired to create in the morning - that's for getting stuff done, running errands and so on {see my previous 'rhythms' post - I'm sure you've already read it}.

For myself, this can mean paint or charcoal on my wine glasses, smudged on my cheeks or up my arms. I make a mess when I create but I don't really care. It's all for me. I paint for me. I draw for me. I really like it when other people appreciate what I do but when it comes down to it - it's all about AND for me!