It is week twenty-eight in our fifty week calligraphy challenge, and we were asked to create a decorated letter. One letter, elaborated, gilded or illuminated any way we want. Of course I chose ‘A” and began brainstorming. I had recently talked to someone about the time we climbed Mt Fuji, ran with that idea and here is where I ended up. I utilized authentic, vintage kimono stencil patterns I had collected over the years to build up the patterns. The little people climbing are my way of illustrating how it felt…whew! It took me more than three hours to pull it all together.
Such fun! Doing something different and creative, not knowing how it might end up. I had to make all sorts of decisions – some went well, some not so much. In the end I am the only one who knows HOW it ended up this way, and that is indeed how it should work. Sometimes the best we do is stuff we don’t really know how to do, we jump in head first and amaze even ourselves with the outcome.
Why not get extemporaneous on something on your to do list? Why not jump in with no plan and get rolling, dig in, pull up your shirt sleeves and get lost in the work. Make, create, write, read or even organize your world. Plant those flowers, design that project guide, build out that project plan or simply start making gifts for the holidays. What?!? Holidays already, say it isn’t so! It is never too late to start, get enthralled and enjoy the process as much as the outcome.
I will say I did not look at my watch all morning. Suddenly it was more than three hours later and what I thought I would end up with is not at all what is on the page…and I’m glad. Letting go of things fills our souls with freedom, fun and possibilities. Maybe that nasty thing you don’t want to do needs to be turned on it’s head and attacked with joy and creativity. You never know what might happen, and aren’t those days the best?
Ann Art Gallery Blog 