creative

Creativity takes courage

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

Quote Anon

If you’re on social media you may have seen the ‘Pantone challenge’, for those of you that haven’t, I’ll give you a brief overview. In essence you open up the (gorgeous) box of 100 Pantone cards – these are often used for colour matching, interior design and general arty joy and for the next one hundred days you use the influence of the coloured card to paint something. At the end of the one hundred days you have one hundred tiny pieces of art joy. If you’re interested in taking a look at some then Pinterest has lots of examples as does Instagram, using hashtags such as #pantonechallenge #pantonechallenge2023 Many of the examples that I’ve looked at have comments from artists such as how challenging it is to paint so small, or they’ve used it as a way to try and get out of their comfort zones using new art media’s or painting things they aren’t usual in their repertoire.

I am many things but an artist I am not. My Dad was pretty good and my Mum when I’d ask her to draw me something would reply.. “the only thing I can draw is breath”’ somewhere in the DNA I fell in between the cracks…I can hold my own but I wouldn’t suggest I have any talent. The UK examining board would agree – in 1998 I got a C grade (level 4/5 in todays terms) GCSE in art, right down the middle in the grading ranks but neither captivating or anything to be embarrassed of. I took the subject for a range of reasons, mainly because I liked it and also to reduce the number of written exams/revision and pressure I would have during the exam period.

I enjoyed my art lessons but quickly learnt it was a ‘visibly flawed environment’ to be in. Whilst art will always be subjective, at fourteen years old you know what you have drawn is better or worse than the people you are sat next to. This can be liberating and ego affirming or drastically humiliating and frustrating. One of my best homework memories I did was to sketch a dead fishes head…my Dad and I went to the fish counter and came home with our bounty, we sat and sketched together at the dining room table, me sketching away with my tongue drooling out from the corner of my mouth – the sign of true concentration, rubbing out various sections in fits passion and him flying in with his pencil to save the day. I was proud of those sketches, more so for its team work.

Now a days my ‘art work’ appears in two clear forms. I colour when I need to focus in online meetings (my diary even at 40 years old is a children’s ‘colour me in’ calendar of absolute joy) and I can doodle when bored or frustrated. Whilst I don’t consider myself an artist I am hugely creative (the Batchelor of Arts degree my confirmation) and when I don’t have a creative outlet I become unsettled in my soul. A recipe for a happy Lucy soul requires a balance of good food, daily meditation and yoga, reading books and a creative outlet, perhaps another reason I began this blog in 2014?

The Pantone challenge interested me and so I have purchased a box! Whilst I don’t plan to paint for one hundred days (I’m a full time working parent with plants to adore and pets to snuggle) I have set myself the task of producing one a week. To hold myself accountable I’ll post them on Instagram @fridgesays and I hope to display my newest creation in the confines of my home. Without my peers over my shoulder I hope to enjoy the task. Adult life is often with chores and sadly my creative side doesn’t lend itself to DIY…I also thought I could keep all of the pieces in the box and so wouldn’t burden my house with sketch books and canvasses galore. Mainly, I’m also doing it to get out of my comfort zone and to hopefully with time, patience and persistence get better at painting. I’m using Gouache paints recommended by my ‘proper paid artist’ Father-in-law (no pressure) and I’m anxious about this challenge because anything worth doing, anything out of your comfort zone and anything visual to all can be a little scary.

However, this post isn’t about my art challenge at all, I’m sharing it with you in hope you will reflect on what it takes to balance and light up your soul…do you need to exercise consistently, read more or sleep better? Perhaps you use to be incredible at art but haven’t picked up a pencil since you was fourteen, maybe you have other talents that the adult world means you have cast aside. Take the courage to step outside of your comfort zone, learn something new and reignite your soul. I wish you luck and if in one hundred weeks if I have over fifty cards that I’m proud of, perhaps future me will be a little more content and better with a paint brush than the 1998 version.

You must be shapeless, formless, like water.

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

Quote / poem / thoughts by Bruce Lee.

Todays post is inspired by Bruce Lee, before I ramble – id like to share the piece in its entirety.

“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.”

Simply beautiful.

I became aware of these words as I listen to the GABA podcast (and urge you to do the same), during a live on instagram Adam the creative and talented creator of GABA usally shares a reading, poem, lyric or thought before a meditation sound bath…one of them was the Bruce Lee reading above. It taught me two valuable things.

The first was to let go…truly let go. Today I had no idea what I would achieve, I let go of constructs such as time – we ate when we were hungry (so much simpler), at the back of my mind I repeated to myself a new mini mantra ‘be like water’….the time we have now, albeit unknown and at times concerning, is also a blessing for me personally. Grounded to home, time with my boys – a blessing that I’m also aware could be snatch back to school runs, work schedules, traffic jams and to do lists at any moment. However, through my days water experiment I found far more joy in the now, zero stress and bizarrely I was more productive. Perhaps opening ‘to do’ tabs of the mind, answering emails in under six minutes (the average response time to an email in 2020) and being productive, is ironically time consuming and unproductive?

We took ourselves off for walks amongst the bluebells (thank you Mother nature), connected with loved ones through various technologies and my sons home schooling happened much more like a running river than a mother (me) juggling and trying to overachieve whilst walking on hot coals and simultaneously smiling. It gave me a deeper sense of connection and gratitude for the simple delights of life and I’m addicted.

The second thing Bruce’s words taught me were about collaboration. Adam obviously had scribbled them down because they resonated with his creative flare, in turn he shared them with his audience and gave me inspiration for a blessed day and as many more ‘be like water’ moments and days as I can flow into my life, this is turn inspired me to write this piece….and once again, creativity seems to bring a sense of calm, restorative joy and flow to life.

I should probably wrap this writing up with a bow, a witty line or perhaps a single sentence… or you could just listen to Bruce, be like water and perhaps you will leave the confinements of being squeezed into a plastic bottle and will indeed find your own flow.

Write until you surprise yourself

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

Quote Anon

I do this all of the time, sometimes when I read back over all blog posts, I can’t remember thinking the paragraphs I’ve typed, let alone the structure, point or pressing publish…in fact, often I don’t even remember writing the content.

This is why today’s quote will hopefully encourage you to write a little more. Perhaps you have your own blog, a note book, a secret diary or a shopping list. From published authors to list gurus there is always a little more time to write in my opinion.

In school when my pupils are overwhelmed with emotion and they don’t even know why they are feeling the way they are, I usually present them with a pencil and some paper – sprinkle with half an hour of uninterrupted time and the answer is usually somewhere between the doodles and waffle. Letting your mind go free with the written word is one of the best gifts we can give to each other. As the pencil flows across the page somewhere between “I don’t know why I’m writing this” to the ‘love from xxx’ magic happens.

I feel like writing allows me to ‘speak’ from my inner core, a place that’s always in harmony. Over the last few weeks I’ve increased my writing, due in part to having more time but mainly because the need has increased. With more uncertainty comes the need to further anchor the soul, the body tends to follow. If you ‘can’t write’ or if you have previous described yourself as someone who ‘doesn’t do writing’ (like my son – he has an extreme allergy to holding a pencil and sitting still) or perhaps you are looking for a sign…here it is! Pick up a pencil, create the writing area you are most comfortable in (mine includes a cup of Green Jasmin tea), find a platform you are most comfortable in…paper, typing / online or in private and see where the nib of the pen takes you, or the journey of the mouse on your device.

Most of all, don’t overthink it, enjoy the process and thank me later.