Catch it if you can!

Do you ever moments when you know if you try to do a thing, it’s not going to happen?

I thought I was the only weird one out there in that I’ve always said to people I can go to do something, look at my studio or the thing in question and in that instant there’s just a big fat ‘no, non, nein’ just not going to happen! 🤨. That usually lasts for a day or two and I can still feel in the mood to do something else and switch to that instead.

But sometimes the not doing lasts much longer and it’s recently been brought home to me that not doing doesn’t mean not thinking or not being creative; it’s just not the physical, practical part of things. I listen to a ton of podcasts and I particularly loved what Joshua Yeldon had to say on the ‘Talking to Painters’ podcasts No.101. He talked about fallow time and I loved that analogy as it flipped my sense of frustration on its head. I felt that I had lost time over the last few months and not made the best of it even thought I just wasn’t in a place to be actively making. It doesn’t feel good when you want to be practically moving forwards, perhaps we’d also call it being blocked, but in future I want to try and welcome such periods as ‘fallow’. Yeldon talks about believing in this, that there is time to be doing other stuff and not actively creating. Working with the rhythm of practice, everything in life leads to the work if we can avoid seeing all the other stuff as a hindrance or pain stopping us. Family or home, health, mental wellbeing… whatever it is that you need to do needs to be done rather than the making. And he then says ‘if you try at that time, it won’t happen!’

Being somewhere else with family commitment is a time to see other places, experience other things, walk another type of place. Doing personal work grows us as a person and we return a little stronger eventually.

Joshua Yeldon

So then I asked an AI assistant to tell me more about creativity and fallow time. It did a pretty good job I think, here is what it came up with:

‘Creativity and fallow time is an interesting concept that recognises the importance of rest and incubation in the creative process:

* Fallow time refers to periods of rest or inactivity, which are necessary for the brain to process new ideas and for creative inspiration to flourish.

* In the agricultural world, fallow time refers to leaving a piece of land uncultivated for a period of time, which allows the soil to rest and regenerate. Similarly, in the creative world, fallow time can help rejuvenate and revitalise the creative mind.

* During fallow time, the brain is still working on creative ideas, even if you’re not actively trying to generate them. It’s like a garden that’s growing even when it’s not being tended to.

* Many creative people have found that their most innovative ideas come to them during fallow time, when they’re not actively trying to come up with solutions.

* Overall, creativity and fallow time recognises that rest and incubation are essential parts of the creative process, and that taking breaks can actually help boost creativity and innovation.’

The other thing about all this is that it implies it’s planned. Leaving a field fallow is proactive. Looking back, I could view the last few months as fallow but I didn’t plan them and maybe it’s worth considering this rest time in future. Now that I feel the sap rising again I do indeed have ideas and a sense of creative rejuvenation! (We are entering Spring in the UK which helps. I know many would say that their creative rhythm of practice often reflects the natural rhythm of a year.)

So Yeldon goes on to talk about the belief that the rain is coming – being ready to catch it and not miss it. Creativity comes and goes but the main point is to …

Have a bucket ready for when it rains!

Meanwhile I’ve been stitching ‘air’ as the third in the elements series. Making these little stitchpots has been my familiar comfort blanket. I have loved having them to do when between other projects or not feeling like doing anything else. The challenge with this element was to find a lightness and movement, an airiness:

I have ‘earth’ left to do then I think I might have come to the end of this particular obsession, hopefully making room for other things. I’ve been doing these tiny pots for over two years and they have been my companions in my sewing trug day after day. Perhaps I will get them all out when done and take a photo, I’m sure there must be over 150 in my cupboard!

The very end of January brought a joyful painting course with Kate Rhodes looking at ways to paint more freely.

I have known for some time that I wanted a few things in my paintings that I seemed blocked about. It was definitely wonderful to be away with dedicated immersive time and a great tutor to create a shift. I was able to give myself permission to make some moves I couldn’t at home. These are sketches of a favourite scene from one of our home walks. I want to use sketching more as a way to distil what I’ve been looking at, catch a feeling, to understand gestures and mark-making.

Sketching before ending with something more finished was a great way in – a way to both access memory and ‘creatively misremember’ it. (Andrew Cranston).

I love that phrase! Isn’t this a good way to explain the magic that lies in artistic expression? I want to do exactly that whether in textile art or painting – to put my spin on something rather than make a faithful representation. Not being able to quite remember something is a bonus in this case, and for those of us a little older than some, rather reassuring!

I’m just starting gathering thoughts and items from walking locally for a group project. It’s come out of these months of not making and time has allowed ideas to iterate into something I’m quite excited about. It will take a while to show you work here as I need to do more gathering before I can start but what I can say is

…I definitely caught this one in my bucket!