larchprojects

[larchprojects]

Obligatory "new year, new me" blog

Although.....not. I've really neglected myself in terms of nurturing my creative needs. I've found it difficult to find the time. There's been a number of significant events that have taken place recently that have really made me re-evaluate what I prioritise in life. Too many unimportant things get too much of my time and so I'm rethinking how I deal with prioritising. Aside from this, the new year isn't going to provide me with a "new me" rather a "better me" I've made new year resolutions before and managed to stick with them considerably but they always felt like such a noose around my neck. Resolutions usually involve some element of torture. Instead this year I'm making positive changes rather than rules. Draw more, paint more, create more. Take more photographs. Love more. Exercise more. Help others more. Read more books. Educate myself and enjoy learning. These are only a few of my new year aims but I'm already looking forward to the year ahead. Bliadhna Mhath Ùr!

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Hard beginnings, Hello and Humphrey

So, I've been putting off this first post for some time. Procrastinating? Yes, I've definitely been guilty/a victim of that in the past. There's been a certain uneasiness...anxiety I would say best explains it. I suppose it's the same sort of problem as when I begin a new sketchbook. It's all fresh and clean and free from my soon to be formulated mistakes, smudges and bad ideas. As soon as a mark is made in the sketchbook, it's the end of that cleanliness. It's no longer perfect. The possibilities are boundless before anything is begun, once that first line is drawn, it's as if the sketchbook is marred. Damaged somehow. Intoxicated. Poisoned. I've recently worked incredibly hard to change that frame of mind. It had acted as a barrier to where I've wanted to be mentally and creatively. It was stifling and suffocating me from within. I've reminded myself that in life, nothing is predictable. Without mistakes and without that awkward and hated first smudge in my book, that my sketchbook is not unique. It's the same as all of the other books made in that factory. All it is is a blank book. It's what each person makes of their blank sketchbook that counts. The smudges, the mistakes yes, absolutely! Infuriating and irritating. But oh, the ideas, the fun, the limitlessness and the things I get right. They are what will keep things moving and keep me improving to be better and do better than I did yesterday. So, here I am, with tentative first steps I find myself writing this and realising that things have become far more deep and revealing than I had ever first intended. Especially for my first written post of my creative art/photography blog. I hope you don't run away and maybe you'll come back and visit here to see what I get up to. You'd be most welcome :) R@LP P.S Humphrey is mentioned in the title of this blog. I almost forgot to explain, he is my antique man in the moon (see first pic) He has been for sale for over a year in a local antique shop, tucked away in a back room. I've cooed over him since I first saw him, at one point about 8 months ago my husband almost bought him for me when he agreed to a price, then telling me how much, I told him I wouldn't pay that. So in the shop he stayed. He waited. Last week my husband and I visited the shop. We found a piece of furniture we liked and saw Humphrey still collecting dust and decided to try and barter our way to get Humphrey too. We agreed to a price £12 less than was on the ticket and so, Humphrey came home! He has pride of place on our livingroom wall. Where he will stay for the foreseeable future!

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Humphrey