Day 1 - Lighting a spark

Quotes:

" The dance between darkness and light will always remain -  the stars and the moon will always need the darkness to be seen, the darkness will just not be worth having without the moon and the stars." - C. Joybell

"Everyone shines, given the right lighting" - Susan Cain

"The creative process is a process of surrender... not control" - Julia Cameron

"Here's the deal. The human soul doesn't want to be fixed or saved. It wants to be witnessed - to be seen, heard and companioned exactly as it is."  - Parker Palmer

Intention

To create a page about your concerns regarding whether your have the time and staying power to keep on the journey and complete it.

My process

            I used watercolour crayons, felt pens, a scrap of netting (in which supermarket vegetables were packaged) and cello tape and decided to spend no more than 10 minutes on the art work. (The black gesso background for the journal pages were completed in advance).

            I allowed myself to work spontaneously. What emerged was a blue flame (which to me represented focus and desire as a blue flame is the point of complete combustion in a fire and so is the hottest point), surrounded  by yellow-pink flames - which looked like a lotus. The lotus is a flower that blooms in mud. I took that as a metaphor suggesting that if I persisted with the project, the end result would be a 'bloom' of something new, emerging from the uncertainty and chaos surrounding whether or not to continue. The nebulous green, pink, purple and orange shapes surrounding it, represented what was yet unknown, but taking shape.

            I have been collecting quotes since my teenage years and so have a vast repository to draw on. In addition I have a Pinterest board called "Mindwisps" which I have used to park sayings that have grabbed my attention over time. I mined both these resources (and of course 'Google search' to find quotes that gelled with me each day.

You can use the process described above to craft your own artwork or you can device your own process. There are not rights or wrongs to this. Use whatever supplies are readily available to you and try to include a "recycled" element in your work - a piece of cardboard, wrapping paper, yarn, - whatever you find and wish to use. Let that element remind you that crafting change also involves re-purposing what already exists, but has served its purpose.

Journaling Prompt:

1.      What is my intention in engaging with this process, ie why do I want to do it?

2.      What do I hope to achieve at the end of the process? 

Daily Wrap up:

After completing your artwork and journal entry, consider the following questions:

- Has my work followed the suggested theme?

- If not, is there a pattern, underlying suggestion, message or idea which it has raised.

- Would I like to follow it further? If so, how can I do that in a way which empowers me?

- How do I feel about the work I have done? Why?
- What did the re-cycled object which I used suggest to me about aspects of my life which have served their purpose in their current form and need to be re-examined and re-purposed?

In your journal, write up a few comments answering these questions, or else highlight the sections of your written work that seem to suggest a pattern or feature you would like to work on.
NOTE (which applies to every day of the course): 
You do not have to answer all the questions suggested. If time is short, choose the question that most interests you and the one that turns you off completely and answer those. Your answers do not have to be long, a few sentences will do. Your answers can also take the format of a cartoon, a diagram, a flow chart, a storyboard - whatever works for you.