I'm taking a brief break from the continued saga of our Melrose Crawl to answer a question posed and reflect upon it. Often I fail to reflect upon how things unfold in the orderly way that they always seem to, until someone asks... and thinking upon it, on purpose, really awakens my sense of wonder and awe about Life and the things we can so very easily miss or take for granted as we go about our day ... or not even really think about at all. And perhaps we should... because very often even the simplest of things is rather remarkable and miraculous when you take the time to consider it in depth.
I was recently asked if I'd begun creating my Magnolia Pearl style Belt and the answer is yes, in my own way, I have. No matter how excited I am about beginning a new creation I go about it in a very unhurried pace, with no time line or deadline, unless it's a commissioned piece and a date has been requested. Taking time not only to imagine how I would like it to come together by envisioning it on the canvas of my imagination, but also to allow time to filter and perculate what materials will be used in the process and take time in the gathering for a new creation. Things I don't always have a definite Plan for locating or using, but they usually just seem to show up at just the right time... serendipity-like! Like the awesome lid from a broken Silver Jewelry Box that was in the Thrift Store today and will be absolutely perfect to transform into the Belt's Buckle, for only 99 cents no less!!! Something a customer damaged in such a way that it might have been thrown out and deemed worthless to sell had I not shown up after Church today, discovered it just waiting there for me... and asked the Clerk if I could just purchase the lid that had broken off and could she give me a special price since the undamaged piece had been priced at $4.99 before the mishap that ruined it's original Purpose?! I've never drawn out a sketch of any piece, nor made a pattern or mock-up, I usually don't have a clue how it will all come together or be constructed until I'm actually doing it you see. Yes, very unconventional, with no formal training, and so I don't really know what shouldn't or allegedly can't be done and that is probably to my benefit because then I just believe all things are possible. *smiles* And somehow it always comes together just as it should, in it's own time. And in a way each piece creates itself and I feel as though I'm just the vessel being used to perform the work. But I know something much greater actually manifests the creation of it, something I've never been able to adequately explain because frankly I just don't know how I could in mere words. I just know that during the process of the imagining, the gathering, the creating and then beholding a finished creation there is a complete awe that I feel about the whole magical, Artistic, creative process... it's something deeply within... something put there inside of us I believe by the Master Creator Himself, just waiting to come out. Just waiting for us to oblige in being used for that Purpose to make something beautiful and bring it into the World, something that is a tiny part of us and was once within us, a mere seed that has finally come to fruition. I liken it to when you give birth... because in a way you have... whether a Child or your Art... the birth of something that God partnered with us to create and bring forth. And when it is finally here you step back and look in wonderment... at your baby... whether it is a human baby or one of your inanimate creative babies... and say WOW, that came from me in that miraculous way that it does. And know that though I may get all the credit from the World for the birth and creation of it... I was merely a tool in the Hands of God... Dawn... The Bohemian