Finding Inspiration to Create, Again!

I haven't posted in our blog since last August.  At that time I summarized the exciting two-and-a-half week mission trip that we took as a family to Japan.  Since then, I have been very busy working full-time as the lead teacher in my preschool classroom.  I love what I do, but my deepest dream is to do more artwork.  I believe that one of the main gifts that God has given to me is to be artistic.  Ever since I was a child I have loved art.  My mom used to give me a big stack of paper and I would quietly draw for hours.  When I lived in Japan I joined a community art circle.  When I returned to the U.S. I took classes from professional artists at the Loveland Academy of Fine Arts.  I also took art and education courses at Colorado State University.  But, then life got busy with working full-time, becoming a wife and a mother.  I felt like I would never realize my dream.

However, ever since I have started on a tidying journey, inspired by the Japanese organization consultant, Marie Kondo, in her book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, I have begun to get new inspiration to do my creative work, again.  Kondo promises that if you truly do tidy up your life it will bring about more exciting changes to your life.  I have found that to be true.  It's like pushing the reset button on your life.  You begin to look at everything from a fresher point of view.  For me, that means  I have begun to look at every aspect of my life from my artistic bent.  If something is truly beautiful and an important tool that serves me well in my life and, as Kondo describes, "sparks joy", then I will keep such items.  If they do not, then I should thank them for how they have served me in the past and let go of them without feelings of guilt.  As I discard more and more items there is space, again, to figure out what I really want to treasure now in my present life.  I am presently going through "komono" (misc. items).  I had tidied my art supplies.  But, I had not taken a closer look at each of my watercolor paints.  Recently, I pulled them out, as I wanted to use them, again.  That's when I discovered that they were so old that they were all dried out.  I had actually purchased these watercolor paint tubes when I lived in Japan over 15 years ago.

Another person who has inspired me to use my artistic gifts, again, is also Sara Jo, from Bryarton Farm. Check out her amazing feed on Instagram! I have been touched by how she is always seeking to follow Jesus through her life, whether it's in moving forward in faith to adopt a special needs child from India or to be painting for a client, or in homeschooling her beautiful children.  Thanks to people like her and starting on this new reordering of my life, I'm beginning to have a vision of creating a happy space to be my art studio in our office in the basement.  But, even before I have finished fixing up this space, I have begun painting again.

I like all mediums.  In fact, oil pastels and oil painting are two of my favorite mediums to work with.  However, for these two paintings, I wanted to do watercolors.  The reason I wanted to do watercolors was because I'm painting them for my laundry room.  I thought that since the laundry room is the place where you use a lot of water, why not decorate with watercolor paintings in that room?  I have recently been doing things to try to beautify this space.  We live in an older home, which is a brick, cottage-style home built in 1970.  I have gradually been working hard to try to transform this little home into a sanctuary.  I don't have a lot of money to do this, since I'm just a preschool teacher.  And when we first moved here I was staying at home and homeschooling my daughter through her high school years.  However, just painting a space can make a huge difference.  So, I've gradually been working at painting nearly every room in the house.  Here are some before and after photos of my ugly laundry room, which a work in progress.

The plan is to frame my watercolor painting and put in up on the top shelf to hide the ugly hole in the wall.  And while I'm at it, I decided to paint a second picture of hydrangeas, to hang on the freshly painted wall to the right of the dryer.  I bought the frames at a thrift shop.  I also bought some chalk paint, which I've never used before.  So, I'm going to try it out on my frames to see how I like it.  If I like it, I might consider using it to paint my china hutch in the future.  Well, here are my paintings that I did this morning around 4 am this morning, since I couldn't sleep due to my cold.

I'll update you, again, once I've finished everything in my laundry room.  What creative projects have you been up to lately?  Here's wishing you a beautiful Sunday!