“Write it. Shoot it. Publish it. Crochet it, sauté it, whatever. MAKE.”
~ Joss Whedon
I’m finishing up the last little bits of my secret project just now.
It’s a project that has involved a lot of planning, and more writing and oracle card consulting and rumbling through my many bowls and boxes of crystals than I’d figured on.
And it has also needed art.
That’s okay. A beautiful friend of mine, Sally, made some art for me ages ago. That art was originally destined for a book I was creating before my Lyme diagnosis and treatment necessitated me shelving that idea for a while. Sal’s art was perfect for this new project, so we purposed some of it for this one instead.
Another talented friend, Bek, has been playing with that art and using her graphic design skills to bring things together for me.
But now we’re coming down to the wire with deadlines, and I needed more art. Art that was odd. Art where I couldn’t seem to find suitable images that fitted what I already had.
Art that would be miraculously sourced before my Friday night deadline, only hours away.
What was I to do?
In the end the answer was horrifying and obvious. I was going to have to make that odd art myself.
I felt a bit sick.
There were no suitable excuses. I had paper and pens and paints and brushes. I had pictures in my head of what was needed.
Before I could change my mind I pulled out all my materials, sat down and began.
As I did, I heard the very loud and stern objections of almost every art teacher who’d ever taught me as a child or adolescent.
Shut up! I said to them. It doesn’t matter if it’s craptastic, I reminded myself. Holding my tongue on just the right angle to aid concentration, I began.
First I painted a magical carrot. (It looks more crisp in person!)
Then I drew a Lucky Dip bag.
When I was finished I eyed them off objectively. Could I use them, I wondered?
The answer was yes. If I am crazy enough to create a project that requires such oddities as magical carrots and lucky dips then surely my wonky art will suffice.
I spent an afternoon furiously creating the rest of the images I needed. I was intent and focused as any five-year-old. And just as defiantly proud of my final efforts. Did I mention I’m deep in a period of Sustainable Madness right now?
What else was magical and mad (besides that carrot) was how much fun I had!
Who’d have thought that art and carrots could be so good for the soul?
