Ok it is really more of a stain or dye than a paint but paint made a more catchy title.
Sometimes I feel anxious about nothing in particular and everything all at once. Do you know what I mean? Those questions in your head about what you are doing with your life vs what you should be doing with your life?
Most days I am content and happy to pass my time on this planet engaged in activities that I enjoy with the people that matter in my life. But every now and again I feel the nagging question of, is it enough? Should I be doing more? Should I being doing something entirely different?
Sometimes it seems that the closer I get to being me and living the kind of life that matters to me, the more disassociated I feel from the rest of society. I do not share the same priorities. I no longer have a traditional week day job. I don't "live for the weekends" or need to spend my precious vacation time traveling to far off tropical paradises. I come from a traditional family but have never had one of my own. I don't need or even want the designer jeans, the biggest house the, the fancy car.
What I do want is time. Time to be with the people I love. Time to have new experiences. And time to create.
I have long believed that to create is the most life giving force in the universe. Some people are gifted enough to create great music, great pieces of artwork, amazing architecture. Most of us create on a much smaller scale. We redecorate a room. We experiment with new recipes and ingredients in the kitchen. We tell a story of who we are on our Facebook page.
When we feel anxious about our lives and/or our futures. It becomes easy to think that these small things we have created in our lives are somehow insignificant, that we are wasting our limited time on trivial pursuits. But I would argue that those silly little activities that we find enjoyable are among the most precious things that we have and we should endeavour to have more of them not less.
And so this week as I was feeling anxious about nothing and everything the thought occurred to me "Stay Calm and Keep Crafting." From experience I know that the anxious feelings pass and that during the anxious times I am best suited to stay the course and not change what I am doing. Self-doubt is a part of life and I believe that it is healthy to ask ourselves from time to time if we still want to continue in a particular direction or if we desire to change our course.
The trick is to answer the question honestly for ourselves and not to choose what we think we are supposed to choose. For me, for now the answers remain the same.
I need time with the people I love,
time to have new experiences
and
time to create.
So early in the week I decided to make a wall hanging with the wording "Stay Clam and Keep Crafting." And through out the week as I felt the anxious feelings I reminded myself of this little mantra.
But it wasn't until I saw this stain on my sidewalk that I had my inspiration for the materials to use for my project.
A purple petunia flower had fallen to the ground been crushed and the water that drained from the planter near by had caused this beautiful purple color to seep in the sidewalk.
As I am generally up for any crafting experiment I set about collecting all the dried up purple petunia flowers from my pots.
With a few drops of water and a little petal crushing, the color starts to emerge.
I did a little testing with paint brushes but discovered that the best deepest color emerge by just letting go of the project and letting the dye do what it would do.
Some where along the way I started to wonder about other things I could use to color my paper.
Some crushed up bing cherries that were a little past their prime made a beautiful reddish color.
The orange mums produced a lovely yellow.
And a tea bag yielded a nice brown.
Some folks may think I wasted my time. Others may be inspired or at least find the project interesting.
Me?
Well I found it enjoyable.
:-)
Happy Upcycling
Be true to yourself.
The universe will be better for it.
