This would have to be one of the craziest paintings I’ve done so far. Even though there is so much going on, it does have a wonderful energy in it. I do wonder why most of my artwork tends to become very detailed in it’s marks and patterns. Sometimes it’s hard to know when to stop, other times I just find creating those patterns to be quite meditative. I love many abstract artists that have a beautiful minimalist style and just like I am aware of it in the design world, I know it’s not an easy thing to do well. But I’m choosing to follow my intuition when creating my art, rather than have a plan or set process that instructs most of my design work. When I first created this blog, I had no intention of fixing on a particular style, but to explore many different techniques and mediums. There are moments though when I look at all the pieces I’ve created over the last few months and wish there was more coherence and flow, it would certainly make it easier to decide what to create next. But I also understand how that can become a comfort zone, and Maps to Herself is here for me to explore the edges, the wild unknown.

Over the last few months of sharing my work, I’ve received so many supportive and encouraging comments and emails. Quite a few people have said something along the lines of ‘I’d love to be able to paint like this’, and I definitely understand that desire to produce something that has a similar quality or feel about it. But that artist was meant to create that piece just as it is, and you are meant to create something that is uniquely you. Please don’t feel like your art needs to compare to others, if it brings joy to you in making it, and a smile or connection with another person who sees it, then that’s all that matters.

This artwork included some mixed media and on one piece of paper I stuck onto the canvas, which is highlighted now in the triangle to the top right, read the words ‘raving lunatic’. I laughed when I picked it out of a random packet of ephemera, and it was perfect to add to the artwork. Not because of it’s visual ‘craziness’, but that it reminded me of the ego. When it’s voice is strong, our minds can be quite accurately the mind of a raving lunatic. We are so hard on ourselves and often on others. It’s made me realise that unwanted patterns of thought have been creeping back in a lot lately, and that I need to get back into a regular meditation practice which I haven’t been allowing time and space for lately. It’s little reminders like this that help me when I’m off track and haven’t realised it yet. There is meaning in everything we create, whether it be big or small, and know that the universe wants you to keep listening, creating and sharing it with the world.

A significant portion of my excitement for this new year was created by the knowledge that we would be moving away from quiet suburbia to live close to the city. I spent most of my uni days in this same city but until now have always lived in a place where things were always just too far that you had to burn some fossil fuels to get there.

I’ve spent the last five years working from home, which I had always thought was awesome and in many ways it was, including only walking a few metres be at the ‘office’. But it took a long time for me to realise it was creating many negative aspects in my life. I had been hiding away, isolating myself to the point that I hardly felt any joy or happiness. Each day felt the same as the next and to put this experience into one word it would probably have to be disengaged. Things definitely needed to change.

It’s strange to reflect on the few years we spent in the home that my partner and I built together, the first home that was truly ours. We’d taken the next ‘logical’ step and aquired a mortgage, weekends of landscaping, long hours of driving for my partner to go to work, in an area surrounded by schools and not much else. I had thought building a beautiful house somewhere we could afford was the right thing to do, but eventually we realised that lifestyle just wasn’t working for us.

My work became my main focus, and since I was working at home it was difficult to remove myself from thinking about it. Countless times I tried to disconnect at a reasonable hour and enjoy some other things in my evening, only to find myself working and answering emails late at night. It became clear that I needed a separate location to do my work and the city had some great options to do this. I’m always looking back at this quote as a great reminder, which has been saved on my desktop for the last few months:

Moving to our new place has already made a huge positive impact. I am making healthier boundaries between work and life, thanks to hiring space in a coworking office that is close to home which allows me to just relax when I am at home. I’m slowing finding that while I consider myself an introvert, I have the opportunity to meet people that I really connect with which has been incredibly energising. Places are within walking distance that I think the only time I’ve walked so much in the last few years is during trips overseas.

And best of all, I’m making room for things that fill me up, many of which I am yet to discover but for me, being in the city means having more choices to trying and learning new and different things. I am incredibly grateful that these were changes that we were able to make, and I think this year will be full of more wonderful shifts and adventures.