It’s been so long since I have been here that I no longer know how to use the software! That just can’t be right. Wow, ok then, only took 30 minutes to figure out to upload an image. So here we go.

Years ago, I began to realize that my intuition tends to be right more often than not. I have learned to trust it though sometimes I ignore it. It’s like when you meet someone and immediately get a “gut feeling” about whether or not you like them. Sometimes it is off just a smidge but I still tend to be guarded with those folks.

Since I moved here almost FOUR years ago (hard to believe it’s been four years already!) I started to take some arts & crafts classes at a local studio. Not only is it a fun thing to do on a weekend, it has sparked creative urges I didn’t realize I had. Seriously.

A couple of weeks ago, I took a class in “gelli” printing. It’s this new fangled arts and crafts thing using a silicone pad of sorts and acrylic paint. You roll the paint on the pad and then “print” the image onto paper. Not really much to it until you realize there is.

So the pages I printed turned out to be, um, not the best. They turned out “muddy” or “muddled” because I was trying too hard had not a clue. But I kept the pages anyway figuring I might “do something” with them later. What that would be remained to be seen.

For many months, I have been thinking about figuring out how to set up a craft area in the house. There really wasn’t a good spot for one and I didn’t want to risk ruining the newish furniture or the floors. The original thought was to set something up in the garage but there are mice out there, it’s cold, and there are no windows for natural light. It would also be a giant pain to drag craft supplies from inside the house to the garage and then clean it all up again.

Finally, I realized that not making a decision was a decision – a decision to not do what I wanted to do. And so I decided to carve out a place in the office / spare bedroom for a crafting space. It was the spark I needed to move ahead AND to get out of the fund I had been in for months.

As I thought about how to set this all up, I started cleaning out the space and getting rid of crap. All the while, there was this nagging feeling that I HAD to go to this local junk type store. I hadn’t been there in years and I could not shake the feeling – the intuition – that I would find what I needed there.

So a couple of weeks ago I headed out and BAM! I found an old round table that was probably a small dining room table in its better days. The top was marked up but it was sturdy and real wood. For $30. Well, shoot, can’t beat that – didn’t care about how it looked as long as it was sturdy. And it was nearly the perfect size.

I put an inexpensive throw rug from Target under it and covered it with a table cloth.

One I had a table to work with, I organized all the crafting supplies on shelving and felt so much better. And then I pulled out those not so pretty pages from the class. I realized I might be able to work with them to create a mixed media landscape “picture” based on a prior class at the studio. And that, my friends, is the image above.

Now, it’s not the best effort anyone has done, but it is MINE. In a way, it took a bit of courage to put that image out there because there are any number of people who would think it was ugly, or not perfect, or crappy. Whatever.

I also had a nagging urge to go to a different resale store that is near the house. I hadn’t been there in months so I stopped by yesterday. I was looking for a cheap chair to go with the cheap craft table. Found one for $10 – an old wooden “school chair”. It’s not in perfect condition but I plan to paint it anyway. Intuition strikes again.

As I was working on some new gelli prints today, I started to think about all this intuition stuff. Part of my problem with arts & crafts is that I am always hoping for some perfect piece but don’t allow myself to just play around. I get frustrated easily when things don’t turn out just like I think they are supposed to. But part of the process is just to relax and play around.

And, I also believe that the playing around part is guided by intuition. In other words, I have to let go of “perfect” and follow my “art heart”.

Definitely something to think about. All children are creative in some way until some adult tells them they aren’t good enough or that creativity is a waste of time. Sad, but true.

I hope you are able to follow your art heart.