Back to the Easel: Creating Again After a Break

Our journey started back in 2021, still in the midst of Covid with the world shut down. Though with everyone homebound, art seemed to thrive. Everyone was trying to find a project to do to pass the time. Whether it was picking up a new art medium, or a new project, everyone was finding ways to pass the time. This is where our story began. The start of the business, when time seemed to move slower. Things were exciting, and the future looked bright. Filled with as much time as I could possibly have to do art, with two young kids.

But slowly, businesses started to open back up, and the demands of everyday life came back. Everyone was returning to the office, meeting up again, and returning back to what life was prior to covid, if not a little more cautious. Societal pressures to make things go back to the way they were, were high, if only to make up for the time that was missed.

This, this is what happened. Life. I am sure books will be written about the time after covid in the future, but it was not an easy time. Art went back to being non-essential. Instead of curing the monotony of shutdown, it turned into something that could only happen sometimes. Prices rose and life demanded more.

For me, putting down the paint brush meant picking up other hobbies. Reading, wood burning, beading, crocheting, and needlepoint to name a few. Anything I could do with my hands to create, brought joy. I was constantly finding new things to try, much to my husband's chagrin. But creating things that I enjoyed, challenging myself with new ideas, sparked something deep in my chest. Something that might have been buried.

For years I sought my theme. Trying themes on like a mask. Trying to push and shove it into something that didn't quite fit. I greatly admired artists whose art all went together. Those who had found their niche and stuck with it. It was what made them memorable, exceeding and succeeding in their field. I so badly wanted to be one of those people, I harmed my own creative process in the processes, getting discouraged when it just didn't feel right. During my extended sabbatical from art, I discovered that the theme that I so longed for, didn't really matter. Sure, it would be nice, but not necessary. So, I stopped trying. I stopped searching and scouring. I stopped putting so much pressure on this small soft thing that made me so happy. It didn't need to live up to anything; it just needed to exist.

So, I started making things that made me happy. Things that I enjoyed and brought me joy. Finding inspiration in my favorite daily activities. While my art and projects are all different, and don't fit in one single thing, what part of life truly fits in one spot anyways?

My first project back, was a painting of a drawing. A sweet little house, that was a little different. Blue bowed walls, and a hairlike roof. Two eye-like windows that looked out onto a field of dandelions, and a round door slightly ajar. It's not perfect. B

ut it's different, it exists between the space of perfect and imperfect. A window of whimsy that tickles the imagination the more you look at it. Why is the door ajar? Where does the path go? The answers are up to you, because it exists only to provide questions and never answers. It is just how it was always meant to be.

Moving forward, I want to create more things like this. Things that exist on their own. Things that give life to moments, thoughts, and journeys. Things that spark that hint of imagination that still lives in each and every one of us. That may look like a painting, that may look like something else. But whatever it is, it will be something, and that alone is magical.

So, what sparks your joy? What do you yearn to do when you have to do regular everyday things? Then do you give yourself time to do those things?