Let us Cultivate...

Cultivate Creativity, Sumi ink, Micron pens and Gouache on 9 x 12" watercolor paper, 2011.

I'm sitting here in my home in Franklin, Massachusetts and it's 55 degrees on February 22nd.  Where's the snow?  Where's the ice?  I bought new boots and a down coat so that I would be warm when I took my dog out in freezing temps.  I even stocked up on sweaters... for the dog!  I'm aware that living here in New England means not knowing what's going to happen next with the weather.  I still have flashbacks of driving home from work through a freak snowstorm in May of 1983!  So why am I surprised?

I encountered a crocus bud the other day on my way into my folks' house, which brings me to the theme for this post.  Stopping in my tracks for that split second, I thought to myself, "Wow!  Is that a crocus?  Is that a sign of Spring?  Where'd winter go?"  Maybe this bud was a sign that I should try my hand at growing things again.  Then I got home and looked at my array of almost dead plants in my dining room and reality set in.  Let's face it, I'm calligrapher, not a gardener.  My thumbs are more black from ink than green.

Maybe it's because the days are a little brighter and longer, but I'm feeling like something new could grow in this environment.  I'm excited about a new year long class called "26 Seeds. A Year to Grow" with Reggie Ezell, a great calligrapher from Chicago.  I took his other class called "Primitive to Modern", exploring letter art from the first human marks to contemporary styles and scripts.  Just thinking about all this makes me feel like exploring my creativity.  After all, my younger daughter is moving on to college and I'll have to find something new to cultivate.  

Maybe I'll take my new found resource of artistic enthusiasm and put it to good use.  Maybe I'll teach.  Maybe I'll expand my little  ETSY web-store (check out my link below).  Maybe I'll build a new studio over my garage (if I win Powerball).  

Who knows what new idea will take root... and what this crazy N. E. weather might bring next.

Thanks for looking,

Claire
Here's the link to my ETSY Web-store

http://www.etsy.com/shop/clairegriffin164

LOVE MAKES IT ALL GO 'ROUND, AND 'ROUND, AND SO ON...

"Love is the greatest Joy, Agony, Adventure, Journey, Treasure, Gift, Wonder, Choice, Honor, Experience, Dream, Education, Reason to continue Living.

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."

Well, it's that day again.  The day when everyone celebrates LOVE, otherwise known as the energy that make the world go 'round. Hence the posting for today.  I wanted to convey the kinetic energy that love creates.  That feeling that propels us on the carnival ride of life. I used paint markers and layers of color onto which the letters whirled in shades of grey, with the delicate black done with a fine pigma pen. I wanted to show how love drives humans like myself to do all kinds of things. 

Love from my parents and siblings gave me the foundation on which I've built my life so far.  Love of making art set me on the path of graphic design.  Love of letters moved me to become a calligrapher.  Love of my husband has brought to this place, 25 years of incredible marriage.  Love of my daughters made me the mother that they needed, and in return I feel so very, very loved.  And the love from all these experiences has given me the strength to reinforce my foundation.  All this love will move me into the next phase of life's adventure, getting back on the merry-go-round of learning how to love myself again.

I plan on making the most of my next step into the life of an empty nester. I'm going to take all the love I've gathered up and treasured over the last 50 plus years of my life.  I'm going to let it loose into the great big world and see what comes back.  Sometimes I may not feel like I deserve it, sometimes I may not feel like the world deserves it.  But that's the way it all goes 'round.  And we all know what drives it...

LOVE. Happy Valentines Day.


Thanks for looking,


Claire

Danger and Opportunity

"Wearever there is danger, therein lurks opportunity.

Wearever there is opportunity, therein lurks danger.

They are inseparable, they go together."

Earl Nightingale

When I found this Earl Nightingale quote while browsing one of my many, many books of sayings and quotes, I decided that I had to find some way to translate it through calligraphy.  The result is what I posted here today.  But first, I decided to do a little research.  Earl Nightingale was known for his radio show "Our Changing World" and strangely enough, he died on my 29th birthday, March 28, in 1989,
which was the year my first daughter was born.

1989 was the year my world changed.  Six weeks after my daughter's birth I fell into a horrible, frightening postpartum depression and psychosis.  What was supposed to be the best and most exciting time in my life became a blur of locked wards, therapy, medications and anti-psychotics.  I was truly in a very dangerous situation.  What I did not realize then was the real opportunity hiding inside the danger of those months.  During those dark days and the many years that have followed I have been given the opportunity to empathize with those many mothers I've met over the years who have faced the same horror that I did and survived like myself.  I was given the chance to really appreciate the gift of my children in my life.  I got through the murky tunnel of depression and learned to care about others who have encountered mental illness in their lives.

But this opportunity came with dangers I didn't expect.  For the past few years I have been battling type two diabetes.  I've experienced a relapse (though not nearly as dangerous as the first time) brought on by instant menopause after a hysterectomy and the expected, though not eagerly anticipated empty nest that is lurking just around the corner.  I knew when I chose to take the heavy medications 22 years ago that there may be long term repercussions and side effects (weight gain was the worst).  My only purpose for living at that time was to be a functioning mom to my newborn, so the choice was clear.  I was a mother and it wasn't about vanity or dry mouth.  It was about the new little life I gave birth to and was responsible for.  I have no regrets.

Now that my girls are moving on, it's time for me to take care of those pesky side effects and weight gain that have lurked in the background of my life.  I hope to find the pain that I pushed inside so that I could raise my babies to be beautiful women.  I hope to face the emotions and feelings that have been long buried, acknowledge them and move into a new place in my life after raising children.  I hope that in another ten years or so (no rush) I will have a grandson or granddaughter to devote myself to.  Until then, my job is to find me again, the lover of letter arts, the artist, the svelte five foot two, saucy gal, the wife, the daughter, sister and friend.  Who knows what danger may be lurking, but therein lurks opportunity.  Wish me luck.

Thanks for looking.  Check me out on etsy to see what I've been up to lately.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/clairegriffin164

Claire