Deconstruction

Today I took down our Christmas tree and deconstructed Christmas! It took ages, but I was very good and actually threw out some tired looking decorations and tinsel. That's a big thing for a hoarder to do. I've decided that 2009 is my year to declutter. Just ask me this time next year how it went!

The other day I complained that I could not find my spirit doll pattern because it was put in such a safe place I couldn't remember where it was. So I decided to stop being so uptight and wanting my 'perfect' pattern, and make a new one. In the end I made 3 new shapes, which is somewhat of an improvement and I'm happy with all of them. I even remember where I put them.

I don't know why I put myself through this self-torture, but today I took a book out from the library called "The Most Beautiful Villages in England". One of the villages is Clovelly in Devon where I grew up, so now I can pore over the pictures and make myself really homesick! It's not that I dislike Australia or the place I live in at present, it truly is beautiful and we have some very good and dear friends. It's just that England is still in my heart, and denying it's importance as my birthplace and my 'belonging' would be damaging to my very soul. So I don't mean to upset anyone who calls Australia home, I'm just being honest about my feelings for my home country. I also firmly believe that we are where we are meant to be at the time, and that we should live for the present moment and enjoy it to the full. Think these musings are a deconstruction of the longing I described in yesterday's blog post.

Anyway, in this book there are some gorgeous pictures of olde worlde houses with churchlike arched windows, rickety roofs and tiny weeny front doors! Some will definitely appear in my art, and I find I quite enjoy painting pictures with mixed elements from the three countries I've been lucky enough to live in. When I lived in Auckland I remember painting a woman dressed in a medieval styled dress with nikau palms in the background. Very multicultural!