I said there’d be more about my Aotearoa NZ sojourn. And lo.
Kiaora!
Sally Swain’s mini artelogue journal
Smiley face snow-streaked mountain on a hot summer’s day. Can you spot the friendly mountain appearing in journal page above?
A Smiley Face Snow-Streaked Mountain
watched over the place I fell in love with,
Then I had a week in which people from my long-ago world kept surfacing. In person, on social media; some were alive; some were not.
Emotions stirred, swirled, whirled.
I walked at night past an inner city shop – Dove and Lyre Fossils and Crystals. There was a dinosaur footprint sitting in the window.
Dinosaur footprint
in
Dove and Lyre shop
A dinosaur footprint?
Here’s the
Resting-in-Abundance Tree.
Resting-in-Abundance Tree
Sally Swain © original art
It’s made of paint and beads on calico,
with a glitzy golden sequinned border,
an ounce of optimism
and a dollop of desire.
A Resting-in-Abundance Tree
Magic Close-up Tree 1
In my fifty-six year old world, I was horrified.
That’s what I called my 2013 exhibition at
Beyond the Ordinary Teahouse. Surprise surprise – lots of teacups.
Would you like to see the painting I called ‘Space Odditea’? It’s never before been seen by non-Sally eyes.
If not now, when?
Space Odditea
Sally Swain © original art
I thought it wasn’t
(plenty of people go hohumm about this book)
(I boldly declare I like it),
you might enjoy Elizabeth Gilbert’s thoughts on the creative process.
I know I do.
Inspired by Summer Solstice
play-in-progress stage 1 Sally Swain original art
Maybe you’ll feel like gobbling, imbibing, EATING her words.
You might experience them as a PRAYER to creativity.
She might help you fall in LOVE
I’m ripping my way through a magazine, literally, seeking yummy shapes and textures for a collage. I chance upon this quote:
Language is very linear; you have to say one word after the other in order to get somewhere. The good thing about art is that you can say several things at the same time, in many different languages… but it’s still comprehensible.
I love it. I have to make a new collage featuring these words. String loops itself onto the page too – very non-linear.
Artlanguage Sally Swain collage
I feel a niggling guilt about my maintenance of Things.
‘Things’ are not where my energy goes.
Creativity, care, creatively caring for people, inspiration, respect, art therapy, cultivating gentleness and kindfulness in the world. These are some of the places and spaces I prefer to focus on, given the chance.
The peeling paint wall outside my sweet rented workplayspace is one of those Things calling for attention.
Mostly I have a very un-grownup ostrich strategy of filtering it out. Mostly I don’t see…I don’t actively look….at such niggly naggy Things if I can help it.
One day
So many doctors (and definitely nurses) I’ve encountered over the years have rich creative juices flowing in their scientific veins. They don’t
Art and Soul Space 