Beltane Blessings

.....we're wishing you....

   ....sunshine and flowers.... 
    
    ....and...










Big Beautiful Bright Beltane Blessings!

Erasers, perfectionism, & happy accidents

When I was a kid, my art teacher banned erasers, so I learned to draw without them. I wonder now, if she had a deeper reason for teaching us to make "mistakes" into "happy accidents".
 She was a very good teacher... 

Now I am adult, if I need an eraser, it's a warning sign that I'm compromising my integrity, by not expressing myself freely. I'm pernickety & pedantic and secretly, I feel cheated out of my own creative experience. My effort to resolve the work unappreciated, I feel manipulated into having to produce something "perfect' for the rest of the world's to approval, instead of birthing something new with a life of its own, that I will love, imperfections & all, knowing the secret struggle we shared....

 

 There is a tenderness between the artist and the piece of work which has struggled to be born. Erasers, in a quest for perfection, can wipe away the unintended lines that reveal & respect the intrinsic character of the work....

And metaphorical erasers can disregard the private tenderness between a person creating their life, & the life they are creating that is known only to them,

 " happy accidents" & all.

Yep, she was a very good teacher....

Art Floozie

This week I saw Monet's water lilies in the flesh for the first time...
 it was a breathtakingly, achingly beautiful exhibition at NGV in Melbourne....
.... moved me to tears... and being privy to the work of the master has left me wondering so much about where to go with my own creative work....

With spring growth putting on a spurt, I am drawn outside to the garden, to create & maintain... inside the cluttered studio tells the story of someone who has never specialised in, or perfected any medium...

I confess, I am an art Floozie, with a capital F! I haven't had one life-long passionate love affair with any particular medium, in fact I'll play with any pretty thing that comes along! Some may be horrified at my lack of fidelity, but I simply can't pass up a new creative experience...... yet I don't consider myself "dilettante", which implies being hopeless... I am brilliantly, blissfully happy in all my art relationships...

There is potential for creative expression in almost any activity, whether tidying my personal space, or making something for others...

I like to make my work from many blended elements - knitting with 30 or 40 colours thrills me, and mosaics that employ varying shades of hundreds of carefully cut pieces of glazed tile delight me...

I'd never make a meal from one ingredient, yet those I choose must compliment & balance each other, lest they result in indigestion, and a badly executed painting has a similar effect on the mind.... on it goes, into every area of my life, this ordering, this impossible quest for beauty & perfection....

So, I think life generally, is an opportunity to express myself & connect with my inspiration, whatever I happen to be doing at the time... 
BUT, is this art? Is a life well lived one in which creativity has been priority, as well as pleasure?
 A reason for living could be to create a channel through which the Arwen flows unimpeded... but is it art?

Taking sides

....trees are helpful for finding your point of view....

...some people say it can be hard to see the wood for them....

...a Kookaburra seems to know what to do... just laughs, & finds a better vantage point....

 

..... perhaps your point of view might depend upon which side of the tree you find yourself standing on.....

Blessings of Imbolc and Lughnasadh

Waiting for spring feels akin to waiting for the first breath of a baby... all is anticipation for the new life that is...

The wisdom of the seed (or in this case, bulb!) is to store potential for growth...but it needs the animation of fire, the sun's illumination, to grow....

....this morning, as I reflect upon on the association of this time of year with Goddess Brigit, flame within the icy waters, it occurs to me that as midwife and healer, poet and smith, nothing in this world manifests without the warmth of illumination, and tender care.... that potential locked within a protective casing of ice over the fallow period of winter, now needs to be gently nurtured to fruition...

In my part of the world, we have had no snow over winter this year, but the symbolism still fits... the spring thaw has begun, and I look forward to a new season of growth and hope for a fine harvest.

In the South, I wish you the gentle blessings of Brigit's clear light, and in the North, I wish you the blessings of Lugh - God of golden sunshine - may you enjoy stamina enough to reap a fine golden harvest.

Wild weather and Violets

Windy and wild, this morning I picked the most pungent violets I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing..... 

I found a British hedgerow recipe almost a year ago, which I will share with you here...

RECIPE:

Take 3 or 4 handfuls of clean, fresh violet flowers, 150 ml boiling water,  300gms castor sugar..

Remove stalks and green centers of flowers, and put them in a clean ceramic or stainless steel bowl, then tip over boiling water and cover. Leave for 12-24 hours....

Then put the violets and water into the top of a double boiler, or a pot that fits over the top of another one. Add sugar and stir...

In a lower pot (under the one with the violets in it) bring water to a gentle boil, and; carefully stir the violet mixture until sugar is completely dissolved... now it is a syrup!

Now, strain off the violet syrup,put into a clean, sterilized jar, label and refrigerate up to 12 months...


Use in cakes and baked things like scones, biscuits, and in butter creams, ice-cream and custards.... Oh! how about a sprinkle in slightly sweetened organic whipped cream on a freshly baked, warm scone, with a bit of home- made crab apple jelly....


or add a dash of this syrup to chilled fizzy drinks and lemonade... I rather fancy trying it sprinkled over some delicately flavored, chilled fruit, such as fresh lychees..on a hot summer afternoon... soon...

Hedges and Boundaries

Since the turning of the season, and the recent "super" moon, my thoughts have been directed to creating boundaries....

... a concept of creating a line over which we will not step or tolerate others stepping over....

... lately, popular labels of "hedgewitch", "hedgewizard", "hedgedruid" etc indicate a new fascination with boundaries and containment, or lack thereof....the excitement, perhaps, of going beyond what is known, or socially acceptable, is attractive to some people...

I like boundaries... around a home a hedge delineates private property from public space...

... around a vegetable garden, it protects food plants from marauding wildlife....

....locked doors require people without a key to be invited in....

.... and within a home, doors on the various rooms facilitate privacy and containment...

.... I suppose I could speak to you about these doors being metaphorical symbols for what's within the psyche... but you can draw your own conclusions, and make your own associations, so I don't need to...

Boundaries though, do more than simply mark out a physical space....

Gardens planted within a fence grow better... I don't know why...it's not simply a matter of shelter, or micro-climates.... the plants seem to feel the boundary, and actually enjoy its containment...

Draw a line around an image, for instance, using a border, then notice how it strengthens a design... picture framers know this well - the choice of a mount for framing is crucial ...

Creating a fancy seam or border on a piece of cloth makes it look complete, or "finished"... I don't know why...

.....and on it goes...

Ritualists will often create a boundary around a ceremonial site by casting a circle, or making a sacred sign around the area to separate it from the mundane world ....

 

.....it seams to me that people enjoy boundaries as much as plants do, whether emotional, social, physical, or energetic...
.....because they can choose to stay within them, or leap over .... and like plants, people thrive when empowered to choose the situation that best suits them....

.....sometimes, the prettiest blooms are those that bravely poke through a fence to reach more sunshine...