For years, various friends have been urging me to read Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way. I bought it and it’s been sitting on my shelf gathering dust.
Now I’ve actually started working with the book, it turns out I fall into the traps she talks about. I have not thought of myself as a “real” artist. I’m not as good as people who are really creative, really artistic. Yes, I have an eye for colour and I can write a bit, but that doesn’t really count. I’m a fake. People will laugh.
Well encouraged a lot by my good cyber-friends Christine and Lucy, I’ve been raiding the art supplies shop, and have started experimenting.
I’m going to share the results with you here from time to time, and I’m also developing a separate blog concentrating solely on different expressions of creativity.
So here is my first proper attempt at mixed-media collage. (A real physical one as opposed to the digital one I posted here.) I put it together to commemorate the anniversary of my mother’s death, 18 years ago today.
The photograph at the top, superimposed over a night sky, is of her and me when I was about two years old. She always made me feel I could reach for the moon. The photograph below I took on a foggy day last month in the graveyard where she is buried. Not actually of her own grave, which is modern and less photogenic than these!
Julia Cameron says “Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.”
Technical notes: I built up layers of photocopies and photographs on a black card background, embellished by a strip of torn Chinese craft paper, some pressed flowers, the printed strip of words and some detailing in silver pen. Then I brushed a coat of clear acrylic glaze over the top.
What I learned: Not to stick things down until I’m ready (this is the second version…); that dried flowers need tweezers, not fingers; that acrylic glaze needs a soft brush - the stiffish one I used left little bubbles in the surface, which you can see if you click on the image and click again for a larger size.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Elaine 01.26.08 at 5:30 pm
Tess, this is beautiful. I’m so glad you are doing this…for yourself…and then sharing the results with us.
Betty 01.26.08 at 5:38 pm
Very beautiful, Tess.Incredibly moving, thoughtprovoking and artistic. You look so much like your Mother! I think I, too, could do with reading ‘The Artists Way’ Well done! Blessings Betty
Abbey of the Arts 01.26.08 at 8:47 pm
Marvelous Tess! I am so excited that you are embracing these possibilites, and that I contributed in some way.
I love your collage, I love the way you incorporated the photo, I love that you are sharing them. Lots of blessings on this tender day of remembering.
lucy 01.26.08 at 8:59 pm
tess, i have tears in my eyes and much emotion welling up. i will not try to analyze all of that here, but the response is what i imagine ‘great art’ evokes. this is so very beautiful and such a lovely tribute to your mother. [thursday was my mom's birthday. she would have been 87.]
i totally agree with elaine and christine. i am thrilled that you are doing this for YOU and that we get to experience the results and i, of course, am tickled to have had a little part in the inspiration.
one little aside (sort of)…this week i was on “diamonds” and noticed the last lines of “who is lucy?” they say…”lucy lives. lucy creates. lucy inspires”…that lucy is one smart girl if i can only remember to listen to her
i seriously did not connect my new blog with those lines. crazy, huh?
keep creating!! it is fabulous!!! xoxoxoxo
lucy 01.26.08 at 9:00 pm
p.s. i thought this was a picture of you holding a child! the resemblance is remarkable!!!
Tess 01.26.08 at 9:56 pm
Thank you, everybody, what a lovely reaction.
Betty, so very pleased to see your name pop up! I think you’d enjoy the book. I’ll bring it with me when we meet soon and you can check it out.
Lucy, that is so funny re the words from “Diamonds”. I thought that is why you named your new blog! Just goes to show your unconscious works overtime!
HeyJules 01.27.08 at 12:13 am
I tried not to laugh when you said you had the book and hadn’t read it. I remember my father giving me that book about twenty years ago and I just wasn’t ready for it. I ended up giving it away to Goodwill because I knew I would never be a REAL artist.
I wonder if there’s an artist out there that thinks of themselves as a “REAL” artist? I bet they are few and far between.
I do love what you’ve made here. And I also think its about time you consider yourself in that “real” catagory. You are. An artist. Really.
Tess 01.27.08 at 10:21 am
Jules, thank you for the comment. The story made me laugh, too. It’s like that old saying “The teacher appears when the pupil is ready”. Interesting that your father was the one to give you the book. I remember your post about his amazement when he realised the photographs in your blog were taken by you.
PS: I bet da Vinci thought he was a real artist!!
anita 01.27.08 at 2:44 pm
This is a beautiful piece!
lisa 01.27.08 at 4:23 pm
Tess, I am very moved by this piece.
It reminds me a bit of the Moon card in the Tarot. It does not feature the traditional symbolism of that card, but captures the spirit of the Moon nevertheless. The symbolism of the the Moon is of feminine mystery and Mother. It is about dreams and the deep connection we feel to things on a subconscious level, much like the bond between mother and daughter.
These are the ideas and feelings I get when I see this. Thank you for sharing it.
Tess 01.27.08 at 7:08 pm
Anita, thanks.
Lisa, what you said is lovely. You’ve spelled out some of the symbolism I was trying to capture here.
Sunrise Sister 01.29.08 at 4:17 am
Giving yourself a break is a great thing to do. We are certainly our worst critics and look what you’ve gone and done in spite of yourself - congratulations on this beautiful piece you’ve shared with us!