Change brings hope

Change stirs hope

I’ll be honest, best beloveds. It’s been a tough time, the last year or so.

Amongst other things, I’ve come to realise that my Adventures in Depression include a not-at-all-small element that seems influenced by weather and light levels. And since we’ve had the wettest summer and autumn (2012) followed by the longest, coldest winter/so-called-spring in oh-I-don’t-know-maybe-forever, that’s been challenging. I’ve been pretty much just keeping my head down and putting one step in front of the other. Not so much to move forward, but simply to stop going backwards.

So this post isn’t about art, because I haven’t been making any. Beloveds, I haven’t even been doodling since before Christmas. I know!

But, if there’s one aphorism I cleave to, it’s this one: This too shall pass.

Because it always does. Things always change. And, although it’s not always better after things change, it is at least different. If you get bored easily, this is a Good Thing™. I often get bored easily.

So this is a post about change. It’s also about optimism.

As a naturally melancholic individual, I often struggle to be optimistic. I can see all the downsides, the potential problems, the impossibilities, the hairy-scary nightmare scenarios that the Goblin Horde are so fond of pointing out. I find it particularly difficult to be optimistic about the big stuff: finances, friendships, freedom, the future.

And yet, if there is one thing that brings out my weedy, underdeveloped optimism, it’s the scent of change in the air. Like woodsmoke drifting on a September breeze, or the first chlorophyll-laden scent of mown grass in April, there is something about knowing things are going to be different – somehow – that perks me up and gives me hope.

So, I suppose that in some weird way, that makes me an eternal optimist; there is always change, and change stirs hope.

Don’t get me wrong – I certainly fear change sometimes. Sometimes it fairly makes me quiver in terror, especially if my goblins are very vocal in their fears. But at the same time, I often feel enormous relief that here, at last, is another chance to make things a little bit better, a little more interesting or satisfying or (forgive the hippy speak) congruent. And that’s inspiring.

At the moment, I feel change in the air.

There  are plenty of loud goblin voices raising objections to any ideas or suggestions or plans or tiny tendrils of enthusiasm.

There is some confusion and disorganisation and scattered wisps of hope floating around in the mental fog.

There is a lot of fear too, particularly financial worry.

But there are also teeny tiny turtle steps of action.

I have started vegetable seeds: beans, peas, courgette, squash, and tomatoes. Salad and herbs to come.

I have started the long-overdue redesign and renovation of our garden.

I have started to clear out and re-plan our little home office room.

I have started a redesign for this website and decided to open up more of my life and interests here, eclectic though it may be. Let all the Fi’s be known!

And I have written this post, the first in nine months.

Go me.

{ 17 comments }

The one about the one-eyed troubadour and the herd of rampaging unicorns

1 July 2012

Once upon a time, (quite recently actually) I was abducted by a one-eyed troubadour, who despite his eye-patch, was devastatingly attractive in a romaticised, piratical kind of way. His hair was black and curly, his eye (the one you could see) was large and soulful, his voice was rich and strong, and he played the [...]

Read the rest →

New art, new photos, new cards, new writing

26 March 2012

All new all the time! Okay, actually not, but the way I’ve been working on this site in the last couple of weeks, it feels like it. The Steward has been a busy, busy bee. And now she’s handing over to the Herald to tell you about it. Tarantaraaaaa! Tarantaraaaa! (that’s a trumpet, btw, just [...]

Read the rest →

Once upon a time, there was a steward, a herald and a pirate…

7 March 2012

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1) I may not be what you’d call a Christian, but I take my wisdom where I find it. And it seems, that for me at least, this is more than just an aphorism. For me, it seems [...]

Read the rest →

AEDM, doodles and introducing Patsy

30 November 2011

I cannot tell a lie, beloveds, it has been a crappy month. When I last wrote, I was just recovering from illness, and was ready to tackle Art Every Day Month with gusto. Alas! the best laid plans, etc, etc. Instead, I injured my back, and have spent the last three weeks pretty much incapacitated [...]

Read the rest →

Catching up and moving forward

9 November 2011

I’m sorry, beloveds. I’ve been ill. Again. Alas, this is a bit of a pattern, which I have not yet solved. I work like a manic Jack Russell terrier so as to make a deadline, get something finished, get it out there, make an impact. And I do – make the deadline, get it finished, [...]

Read the rest →

In which I am interviewed

16 October 2011

A quick weekend post, beloveds, because I am excited to share an interview I did recently with Liz Massey of Creative Liberty blog. Liz’s tagline is Celebrating and exploring the creative process! which, as you know, is pretty much a lot of what I do right here, and the questions she asked me tied right [...]

Read the rest →

Market Days: Towcester Craft & Design Show

13 October 2011

I know, I know. You’ve been thinking I was run over by the herd of rampaging unicorns again, weren’t you, beloveds? Or was it the one-eyed troubadour this time? Truth to tell, I’ve been very, very busy a-Questing for the last few weeks as I prepare for my very first, official Real-Artist-in-Public here-and-now Market Day. I will [...]

Read the rest →

The power of a new story, or why questing knocks building a business into a cocked hat

5 September 2011

O best beloveds, there is power in stories. I’ve always believed this. (Which is why, despite having a degree that focused on the great literature of four languages*, I still prefer to read a genre novel with a rollocking good plotline and colourful characters over a contemporary exploration of virtuoso prose and modern angst.) But [...]

Read the rest →