Full Circle
I talked about the process of creating this piece (and the mad rush it involved to meet the deadline) in December on the Creative Mom Podcast. This was my last piece for Creative Therapy for 2009. [Catalyst 93]
It was a good year with Creative Therapy. I wasn't sure initially about it... I was reluctant to say yes when invited to join the team of artists. I wasn't sure if I could take on "one more thing" (especially since I went back to work and have since gone back full time!). But, the pieces turned out to be important for me in 2009. I shifted a lot of my creative energy and time into addressing the catalysts. I maybe did more than I had to, but I early on established my mantra for my work on Creative Therapy: "It has to matter... to me."
With that as my guiding principle, I tackled my two pieces of art each month, often on prompts that were hard for me to see my way through, often during times in my life when the juxtaposition between the catalyst and events in my own life were too close... were challenging... were not easy. But I worked through each piece. And I think in almost all cases (okay, I think there may be one...) I created a piece that "matters to me."
I had initial thoughts about all of my pieces at/for Creative Therapy being on a single theme (nope, not birds!). But, not one piece met that theme. (Have you been around long enough to recall what I did or my guest artist spot on Creative Therapy the year before I joined the team?) Funny how that works.
Instead, Creative Therapy pushed me (and Karen is AWESOME in that she welcomes ANY kind of art from her team and has totally supported the kinds of work I've done even though I'm definitely on the fringe when you look at the team as a whole). In responding to Creative Therapy catalysts, I worked much more heavily in what looks like a graphic novel format but is really my own spin on that arrangement of lines and shapes and spaces. It's something I've come to love, and I'm glad to have had those catalysts to work with... each one really pushed me, and I can see the growth in my own work in a year. And then there were weeks when I did more deliberate and unified single drawings, like this one. It was a good year.
And... yes... I'm signed on for a second year with Creative Therapy. My first piece is due this week. It's halfway done. I'm working well outside of my comfort zone. It's the kind of piece where all my shortcomings come to the surface. But... there's a deadline ahead of me. We'll see how it goes.
(Oh - and I should add... it was on my son's advice that I stuck with the black background on this piece. I contemplated leaving it white. But he said black was best. He's a very good source of creative advice!)
