June Work in Progress

Well here is the work to date.... took me awhile to get the picture taken and now posted, but I did it :) Still a bit more to do, but working on it steadily. I have been struggling a bit with everything not being perfect, but am constantly reminding myself that this is my first attempt and doesn't have to be perfect lol.

I am quite nervous about posting a picture, but I look at this as part of the challenge and the journey.

Where has the time gone?

That was the question I asked myself this weekend. The month is almost over and I am about half way done with my first page. I am enjoying the time I have spent working on this so far, and wishing I had more time available to devote to it right now. I finally decided on a size, mainly because it is what the work I have done so far suggested, ending up with a 4 1/2 inch square. I have also been sticking with just seeing where the page leads me, instead of planning it out. I believe that has been the most challenging part of the project so far.

I started the project with a thought of what this journal page was going to be about and I am finding that although it has helped me to look at one particular issue in my life, it has grown to be so much more. I have found myself inspired to start writing again and have decided that I will be putting a poem or journal entry on the back of each page that is inspired by the completed piece. I am making myself wait until the piece is complete to write, but the words are already echoing in my head and heart and it feels so good to be creating in this way. It has also been freeing in terms of my self-confidence and love for myself. I found this really came out last week when the group I belly dance with had a hafla and I had the most fun I have ever had just improvising a dance and letting it flow from my heart with no worries about how I looked, or was the technique perfect, all the usual tapes running through my head. It was simply being in the moment, feeling the music and letting it out.....in exactly the same way the beads have been inspiring me to just let them be free without constraint or plan.

I also took some time out on Saturday and took a class from a fellow journal project member and I loved it. It was the first time I had taken a beading class and I really loved it. I made a pretty little necklace that I actually went home and finished over the weekend and am happily wearing today :) It was also so much fun to sit and work and talk with other bead enthusiasts and share ideas and thoughts and just be in a supportive, creative atmosphere.

Well back to work for now, counting the hours until I get home tonite and can play some more. The beads are calling :)

At the beginning....

I started my project two nights ago and am really enjoying myself so far. In the previous days I had had a number of ideas and thoughts and themes running through my head, but it wasn't until I sat down to begin that I truly knew what my inspiration would be. That hit me as I found a pendant I had been holding onto for awhile and realized it was very symbolic of the challenges of the last few weeks. I struggled a bit in actually deciding to use it for the project, but once I had it attached to my cloth, it just felt right.

This is actually quite challenging in that I am not working from a pattern, nor have an outcome pictured in my mind. I have never worked this way before yet I am enjoying it. The really fun part last night was as I was just putting come curved lines down, I saw a shape emerging and want to follow that out now. I am just loving the freedom of not having to be perfect, of letting my imagination and creativity flow without boundaries or even definition.

My boyfriend is out of town this weekend and another friend I bead with occasionally is alone this weekend as well, and we are planning a day of beads tomorrow and I can't wait. As this will also involve bead swaps (including the game of finding the oddest or strangest bead we have in our collection and requiring a trade and then use of the bead, amid lots of laughter and teasing) and trading of ideas and lots of love and laughter, I am so looking forward to this weekend.

I am planning on posting a progress pic on Sunday, to document this journey in pictures as well as words. I can't wait to see where I head next :)

Trilly