This is me doing self-therapy again! Because its difficult for me as a disabled person to get out of the house unless I have help (ie somebody takes me) I do spend rather a lot of time at home ... albeit mostly contentedly occupied in my studio making stuff. But while I can stand a lot of my own company (especially when I've got Radio 4 on) I'm also a social sort of person and if it weren't for online groups and art communities I might have gone quietly bonkers by now, and its got to be said that I do get lonely at times for "real" people and conversations. However, I sincerely thank heaven for the internet, because without it my limited life would be a whole lot more impoverished!
But there are times when I think ... what can I
do to get out there, or find artsy people who like me have their days free, so that I can go out and meet them, or invite them here for mutually satisfying artistic encounters and exchanges of skills etc etc. So that's what was on my mind during the making of this page: the background below is my usual Neocolour II crayons, but laid down before I discovered just how much more intense the colours become on a gesso base. The glasses thingy (it must have a name but I'm blowed if I know what it is) is a stamp I've had for some time and never managed to use before!
So there I was, talking to myself and God bothering all at the same time, when it came to me that it was up to ME to do something about it. By the way, the light bulb is another stamp, a hand carved one bought from Etsy, and telling myself "its not Facebook friends you need (nice as they are) but a few more real ones". Anyway, having written all that down, out came the collage sheets to beautify it - lots of Teesha Moore images here.
And then I drew the doodly seams and strata - for me they kind of represent the complex layers that go to make up a life, any life not just mine. I like drawing and decorating these, especially because they start with wobbly lines, and in all the doubt and self questioning I was doing wobbly felt about right!!
So did I get out there and change my life into a giddy social whirl? Nope, but I thought about it a lot and the conclusion I've finally come to is that, although I love the art journalling groups on Facebook, if I want to attend a real life one I'll probably have to start it! So how about it - are any of you nice kind followers based in the north of England within reach of Preston? It really only needs a handful of us to make it work - I've got the table if you want to come and sit around it!! OK I'll settle for one or two ... just make yourselves known and I'll put the kettle on .....
