I had an awful lot of fun in the craft store this weekend. I can't even remember now what my reason for going was, but I ended up buying an armload of miniature cabinets that just really piqued my creative imagination. I bought too many of them, and I shouldn't have, but they were only 99 cents each, and a lot of the ones on the shelf were broken, so my thinking was that if I really loved working with them, I would end up not being able to buy any more, so I should get them while they were available. Especially since they were so inexpensive.
I wasn't able to do anything with them this weekend, because I spent basically the entire weekend doing website work, and the part of the weekend that I wasn't doing that, I was doing laundry, or cooking. Well, except for the time when I was in the craft store, of course . . .
Anyway, my idea is to make little altars, or shrines, I guess, out of them. Paint them, or stain them, or maybe collage them, and fill them with little, interesting stuff. I don't know, I won't know until I start on it, I guess, but I've got a shoebox down in the basement full of collage elements--pictures cut out of magazines, and foreign stamps, and things like that. And seashells. And I have a box of paints, and somewhere there's a box of dollhouse furniture . . .
I'm not sure what I want to do yet, but it's so exciting to get that creative flow going again, and I was sad that I didn't have time to do anything about it. And I probably won't this week, either, but hopefully next weekend I can. I did spend some time last night looking through a couple of issues of Somerset Studio. The thing I have to keep reminding myself of constantly is that art doesn't have to have a "reason." I keep trying to justify it, saying that, well, I could make them for gifts, but that's not necessary--art exists for its own sake.
I guess it's just hard to justify spending time on something that seems so much like play, when there are other things that need to be done, like cleaning the house or doing laundry, or doing work that pays. I was talking to a friend about it last night, and he said that play isn't just a luxury, it's a necessity, particularly for creative types, and I know that's true.
I've been struggling with some mild depression for the past couple of weeks, but the time I spent prowling around the craft store and dreaming of what I might make from these little wooden boxes was almost euphoric. Or obsessive. There's that, too . . .
10 comments:
Willa --- I know the feeling. i have an entire space in my office dedicated to arts, crafts and creativity. Rarely go there. I've written just having that space is therepuetic, but I think I've written that more than I've entered that "space".
Regardless. It's who we are. I mildly regret my negligence to fun and other creativity, but I also know beating myself up about doesn't help either.
Martin ~ Northern CA
I love those cabinets! I've been making pocket shrines with things like Altoids tins for a while, and working with something a bit bigger like the cabinets you found would be so much fun.
Part of my problem is that I don't have a space dedicated to it -- if I'm going to be messy and work with paint or varnish, I have to lay out newspapers on the dining room table, and I don't have any place where I can just strew things around and leave them out. I suppose I should figure out a craft/creative space in the basement. Maybe that would be a good project for the summer.
That's an EXCELLENT idea! Thanks. :)
If I don't paint for a while, or at least do some collage or art journal pages, I experience withdrawals! I love to make photographs too, but it doesn't have the same effect as making art with my hands, getting paint all over me. I have very little space to paint in, but that doesn't stop me. I dream of having "real" studio space someday, but I sure am not going to wait until then to keep painting. So my thought is just this - if you want to make art, just make it. It's way more fun than making excuses for why you didn't! :)
Willa, I love your wooden cabinets. That is so cool that they were only 99 cents each. That's a deal that you couldn't pass up. I have been reading Somerset Studio too and it's a great magazine. It really gives me lots of inspiration. I have started making a few collage and art journal pages.
Nothing cheers me up more than to go to the art store or someplace like that and find something new to work on. I have always been intrigued with miniature things, doll houses, stuff like that, but I never had one. what fun to do something like that as an adult. Who says we can't play?
I don't have a good place to work either, so usually my dining room table ends up being my work table. Your basement sounds like a good option.
Just have fun with it, and I can't wait to see what you do with them.
P.S. I love your red glasses. Are they prescription?
No, the glasses were from, I think, Steinmart -- just cheap reading glasses. I love them, too. I've got cheap reading glasses in every room of the house. I keep meaning to mention, too, that Target has reading glasses for $1.00 in their $1.00 section of some of the stores. I don't know if all the Target stores have them or not, but I bought five pair! And they're cute!
Willa, what if you gilded one entirely and placed little velvet cushions on the shelves? I think that would be a wonderful jewelry armoire for special pieces - especially those heirlooms we all have...just last night I was wishing I had a special place to keep my great aunt's pearls.
That's not a bad idea, either. I painted a couple of them today, although for one of them, I used the wrong kind of paint, so I'll have to let it dry and then paint over it. But it was fun. I also painted a cheap birdfeeder that I bought unfinished. This part (the painting part) is kind of mindless. :)
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