When Hansel and Gretel wandered into the wilderness they dropped breadcrumbs so they would know their way back and prevent themselves from getting lost. As we all know, that plan didn’t quite work out for them. I always think that I have a great memory, but I am finally able to accept that memory is so malleable. In my head, when I look back on 2021, I think of the year as feeling tired and disgruntled and feeling uninspired and unmotivated.
When I wrote the title to this post I was thinking that my blog posts were the breadcrumbs keeping me anchored to reality. But considering that the breadcrumbs were eaten by the birds and Hansel and Gretel ended up as caged dinner, now I think that my memories are the breadcrumbs!
Thankfully though I kept this blog to document what happens in my art studio, because just reading through 2021 blog posts here I have realized that my memory is not completely accurate. I realized just now that not only did I show up and create, I actually made about 50 paintings and journals all together. That’s a lot! And not only that, but I wrote throughout the whole year and I had a pretty thoughtful year and a lot of personal growth.
I created the grid above with one of those apps that goes through your year on IG and then shows you the top nine posts of the year in terms of engagement. It’s always interesting to see what pops up. This one is showing how earthbound my creations this past year really were. What is not shown in this grid is that I did a lot of experimenting this year- more painting with gouache and oils, etc. But I still always return to my mixed media pieces with elements of repurposed materials. I really love creating those. On FB recently I posted one of my painting paintings, not a mixed media collage piece and a friend said, wow, where have you been hiding your painting skills all this time? And I replied that I paint and draw all the time and I love to do so , but there’s just something about the mixed media collages that I just love love love to work on. They are all a part of me. Just like my outdoor installation work. So different, yet the themes are the same. And it’s all me.
Honestly, I just love to make stuff. If I had access to a pottery studio and kiln, I would want to be in there all the time! Or if only I could sit at a sewing machine or even have my knitting and crochet needles in hand and a bowl of bread dough rising on the counter top, or in a plant nursery picking out all the plants and flowers my hear desires and planting them in our gardens…but we can’t do it all….or can we? I guess I’ll explore that this year, in a very non pressured way.
As for what’s ahead in 2022- who knows? I’ve been talking a lot with my husband about simplifying things, decluttering. I might possibly move my studio in the house rather than have it in our garage/basement. But I would lose space. Is that a bad thing though? Sometimes paring down to the essentials makes things easier. Paring down can lead to clarity. Which I realize is completely contrary to what I wrote in the above paragraph. Hmmmm. I’m still thinking on it. There will definitely be some changes this year.
“What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez