Collage and blossoms

I must admit I have been avoiding the blog a bit at the moment. I have been finding that there is a bit of a conflict going on with me creatively and it has taken some time to sort through. It all started when I pulled out some collages to work on for the Collective Store and fell in love with the process all over again. I had been playing with some visual journalling this year and had been enjoying the process quite a bit and found that it was giving me an outlet to explore some looser work after the close concentration of botanical art.

I love Botanical art and find that I hugely enjoy completing these works, and I'm not sure if doubt and motivation issues have cropped up because for the last two exhibitions we have been required to complete natives, and to tell you the truth I am just not a native sort of girl. I like pretty, luscious flowers, and the mad bright colours and shapes of fruit and veg, and just can't get into the whole spiky, spindly native flower thing. I can recognise that they have their own beauty, but they aren't what I would choose to draw, and I think that has led to some frustration and compared to the enjoyment I had experienced doing the collages, I have found the need to do some creative soul searching.

I really enjoyed turning my designs into prints and cards for The Collective Store, and found it filled me with ideas for creating beautiful cards filled with lush roses and peonies, like the ones I photographed above, and beautiful delicate blossoms of fruit trees. I was starting to feel restricted by the more traditional botanical art, and think it is time to stretch my creative wings with it to reconnect with it on my own terms. I am sure this is also due to my growing confidence in the medium and in trusting my own aesthetic sense, and is a sign of moving beyond the early stages of familiarising yourself with an art form.

Having said all that I also realised that I don't have to do one or the other, and yes while it is a bit schizophrenic to go between mixed media and botanical art, it seems to suit me and I am excited about my creative life being able to go between the two when the mood strikes. It is like balancing order and play, and I am sure they will enrich each other. We hold many assumptions about how we should approach things artistically, but when you let go of those assumptions and limitations it is a very exciting time.. so I am feeling like I am embarking on a new time and direction and can't wait to see where it takes me. I think I need to rename the blog though.. so now to think of a more suitable name that more accurately reflects where I am heading.