The problems of preciousness….

I recently listened to a podcast by Sage Bray that talks about preciousness and it got me thinking that part of my drivenness might be related to a sense of preciousness.

I can be a bit precious about a lot of things and this sometimes stuffs me up. I can be especially precious about time and materials and my efforts and all sorts of things and I realised that this preciousness really impacts on my capacity to explore and play.

I decided I needed a little ritual to remind myself, every time I sat down in my studio, that while my time and materials etc ARE precious, so is experimentation and play and exploration! So now I try to remember to pause before I start and light some incense and say, OK you silly git, time is precious, materials are precious but so is play and exploration blah blah blah.

Obviously I don’t speak like that to myself. I am kind and open and compassionate with myself at all times. Ha Ha! The actual words are evolving but it is the pause that’s important. just remembering that I don’t have to make something worthy of selling. Or perfect!

In the spirit of keeping it light, exploratory and curious, I’ve spent some precious time in the studio mixing colours inspired by a gorgeous print by Sophie Munns, whose work I love.

And then I just let myself play with those colours. I was vaguely thinking about a friend’s birthday and the possibility of earrings but set no DEMANDS. And it was fun! I made canes (which I love doing but haven’t for a while) and went for the intricate and the broad. As it turned out, my friend did get some earrings from this little range. I’ll do a bit more with these colours and ideas and then let myself float somewhere else!…

You can find the podcast here and find more of Sophie’s work here.