Creativity Playdate #3

An artful weekend and I feel so good! My work has robbed me of arting time and energy, leaving me tired and depressed and very grumpy. Life without arting/creating is dull and boring, very gray. This morning I feel alive and colorful again.

On Saturday, we had Creativity Playdate #3. Ank Stuyfzand did a great job of having us think about and create a representation of our life: past, present and future. Because of only two hours, she encouraged us to work on one or two, however we were free to do as many as we liked. The resource table was literally laden with stuff; mostly recycled stuff. I’m talking sand and glitter and feathers and beads and fabric and small plastic creatures and wooden fences and Styrofoam and candy wrappers and sticks and shells … there was also a table of magazines. She provided us with small 5x5 inch stretched canvases, which became a nice base for our project (one less decision to make!) They say that creativity is supported with reduced resources; this was not the case and very creative art pieces were produced!

I focused (why isn’t this a surprise) on my future and retirement. I knew I wanted to play with clay as I hadn’t done that is a while. So I created a dancing lady with feathers in her hair and red dancing shoes. I added a rose to represent taking time to smell the roses. I added small fabric snippets because fabric is an important part of my arting. As I described her, I decided that she represents my present. I covered the painted canvas with burlap; one edge is straight, the other frayed. My present desire is to become more frayed and less rigid (this is a direct statement about how my work right now is so rigid and so uncreative …)

"Dancin' Lady"

I also made a clay bird, who also has a feather on his head. The bird represents freedom which I definitely equate to retirement. She is in a bed of sand and shells (I hope to always live close to the beach) and beads (representing the creative ideas that she is spreading).

"Free"

Unfortunately I used clay that needs to be baked to dry and attached it to the canvas. So this is not a permanent piece. However, I can move the dancing lady’s arms around :).

Thanks to my creative friends for playing again and thank you, Ank, for leading us on this journey. Creative juices were flowing on the drive home with Deb and Phyllis. I shared my dream of a Creative Playdate Retreat; a weekend of creative explorations and expression. The vision has begun to form!