Yellow Azalea

February was the season of ENOUGH with Get Messy. https://getmessyart.com/about/

So far, it is the season that has inspired me the most since I joined the site last October. Our creative leader and host of the site, Caylee Gray, introduced the season with the motto that ‘More than zero is ENOUGH’. What a great way to give yourself permission – both to start, and to not finish. The forums were a buzz of ideas about what enough meant in everyone’s lives.

For me, the word ENOUGH has so many meanings, but what immediately sprang to mind was related to sobriety. One drink was never enough. If you are a social drinker or a normie (that is a person who can take or leave a drink), you may not understand that sentiment, but if you have had a steady relationship with alcohol, you will know what I mean. I’m coming up 4 years in May and while there is the occasional twitch that ‘a drink would be nice’, I know myself well enough now to know that one drink would just be the beginning. That is how addiction works for me.

Exploring the word enough throughout the month, I came upon a few expressions worth sharing:

• Enough is enough – used to say that one wants something to stop because they can no longer accept or deal with it.
• I am enough – a lovely little affirmation to remind yourself that you are all you need to be, just as you are. As a person who is constantly striving to better myself, this one is a timely reminder.
• There is a difference between giving up, and knowing when you have had enough – a lovely little reminder to know the difference, and to realise that it is okay to let go sometimes.

What I love about these prompt words is that they get you thinking about your life through a different lens, using the word to encourage thoughts and behaviours. As omicron has spread like wildfire this past month, I know that I have been feeling like I have had enough. I needed a rest from the media, the incessant talk of Covid, politics and numbers. Enough was a timely reminder that I needed to take a little time out to play.

First up, I created a colourful title page for the month. Even doing this I was reflecting on knowing when enough is enough – when do you stop adding?

Then I took the time to create using the lesson with Shemi Dixon. This one was to create a background and then to add a face that you have drawn on tissue paper over the top. Although I did not exactly follow the instructions I was happy with how this one turned out.

A couple of days ago, I finished reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I had heard so much about this book – especially morning pages and artist dates, and have been waiting to get it from the library for a few months. Did I like it? Not at first, but now that I have finished reading it, I will go out and buy it. There’s a turnaround. At first I was a bit put off with all the emphasis on God as the creator, and referencing how we need to go through creative recovery to find our true artist selves. However, the author does stipulate in the introduction, that although she uses the word God, that this may not be your thing – but asked you to remain open-minded. She suggests substituting the word God with Goddess, Mind, Universe, Source or Higher Power, and this is what I did. Once I changed my mindset I was able to read along and practice many of the great ideas in this book.

From the book, I have given myself the space and permission to write morning pages (3 pages of whatever comes to mind) first thing in the morning most days since late January. I now understand why they are called morning pages – as the beauty of writing in the morning is just to download what is in your headspace before the next lot of clutter arrives.

As a result of the artist date idea, I went to the Mary Quant exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery. That was an awesome day out and well worth the entrance fee. I learnt a lot about Mary Quant and had never realised how much of an entrepreneur she was with the fashion, make up, shoes, and also the daisy doll. I was pleased I made the effort to get there during this current omicron outbreak.

The March season with Get Messy is vulnerability and once again I feel excited to create while thinking about what being vulnerable means to me.

Today, we have 18,696 new covid (omicron) cases in the community with total of 205,942 active cases within New Zealand. It feels like it is getting closer to us, as we now know several people who are isolating with Covid now and two of our carers children are sick with it, so they are not coming into work. This leaves Phil and I covering a lot of hours watching over Mitchell, so all I can hope is that none of us fall sick, as it is difficult enough as is.

Take care

Cherie