Finding my way through the layers

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed in my art-making is methods and materials that involve working in layers. I love art that has a rich sense of a story that has evolved, with evidence of earlier parts of the story still peeking through to be enjoyed.

I love the metaphor in that too. We’re all made of our history, and the big and small moments that shaped us often still show themselves in interesting ways. And it can be such an intimate and sacred thing when that happens. And beautiful to witness, even when it’s not necessarily a moment in our history that we were happy with or feel proud of. The sharing of these kinds of moments that have shaped us and deciding what we want to create with them next is one of the things I love most about therapy. And I love how layered art-making reminds me of this beauty in all of where I’ve been, even when life took me to places and spaces I wanted to change.

Intuitive art-making involves working without a plan and making the art up as you go. It can feel like such a risk that could end in a mess that feels impossible to pull something coherent out of, or it can surprise us with the most unexpected and wonderful results.

Like so many of the risky and uncertain choices were faced with in life.

And just like when we share stories about the things that have shaped who we are today, it can feel vulnerable to share, but I thought you might find it interesting to see more of the earlier layers that underlie some of my art, and the stages of their evolution.

Here’s the journey of Solace in the Wilderness…

And here’s where she landed…

She’s not what she was when we began. So much has been let go of along the way, so much more has been bravely accepted and engaged with fully, even though we had no idea where we were going. All we had was where we’ve been and the courage to keep letting much of it go, to keep tracking what we love, and to keep creating and re-creating with our whole hearts.

And here she is now. So full of stories and so rich in unexpected textures, colours, and surprises.

Solcae in the wilderness is available if you’d like to buy it. Here’s more details.