Hello there lovely souls,
I have been thinking about you heaps and realising how it is a good time to keep you updated on things. I am still looking forward to posting about my lovely elderly neighbour and his artful home. It took me two days just to select and edit the 111 photos I took! Ha... I get carried away with just about everything. Anyway, here is a snippet of what is to come, depicting his front door and gardening table - not staged at all, as you can see. I like it as real as I can get away with, ha.
I don't know about you but I've had a really rough time this year but also counting my many blessings, for which I am deeply grateful for everyday. I tend to put a smile on my face and push through as much as I can, in general but whoa, it's been a tough time in this changing climate of truths and shifts.
Being creative does help but even that can take a back step until things start to even out again. I'm currently working a little in recruitment for a disability care company but I still need to find more work, to keep things afloat here. I am looking forward to being able to live off creating but it isn't enough right now, unfortunately.
I do see the benefit of helping people in the community though, so hopefully I will be able to find something that feels good in that way. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas. I am getting much better at reaching out for emotional help and support these days. I hope you are too. Being an empath has its ups and downs. I am selling some of my linens to try and down-size a bit and raise some living cost funds. It's not as difficult as I'd bargained for either. Yay to that!
I have started to eat healthily again, cutting out sugar and gluten. I'm just 20 days in but already feeling the benefit and enjoying the food choices.
It's been a bit quiet on my website but I am praying that will change when the time is right. I believe God has a plan for us all. Here is what I have just been listing today...
The skirt has taken me months to complete as I worked on it in time sections as it seemed to be a tricky one to put together, somehow. I was determined though as I had envisaged the final result. Some of it wouldn't even go through my industrial machine so I had to hand-sew, ha. That's OK though, sometimes. I also spent a lot time on the top too. I had this exquisitely hand embroidered linen piece for years. It is quite old too but it was begging me to be brought out and made into a garment. The stitches are so densely sewn and the fruit colours are amazing in their saturation. I added some more elements too, as you can see.
I have also designed and created a new range of earrings that everybody can have access to, as I have been making one of a kind pieces for a long time and sometimes it is good to offer a near duplicate, where possible.
These cost $30 AUD. I have been trying to get a currency convertor
put on the website but it means upgrading to an even more pricier
package, which I am unable to do right now. I hope it doesn't impact
on peoples' decisions too much. I have also now started accepting
credit cards through Stripe, as some people do not use Paypal.
Leaving Etsy was a big change for me but it feels like the right thing to do, seeing as I have owned my website for many years and I needed to organise myself better. There are a few hiccups that I am trying to figure out here, such as my image placements on this blog area, ha! They just keep skipping about and won't be tamed. I do hope it doesn't look crazy when I finally publish it.
I have been painting a lot too. I tend to go with my natural creative flow but maybe one day, I may settle on one or two things, to keep consistent. Like a proper job! Yeah, let's see that happen :-D
So this latest 'My Love' cat, is pining for his much loved owner that is away on a business trip to India. That is his portrait on the wall. His name is Deepak. My imagination is vivid and it will see me through with story-telling as I grow older, I'm sure. But of course, you can make up your own story on how this scene feels to you. After all, life is full of different versions of how we and others see ourselves. It is quite a large painting compared to the other cat ones - canvas on board. 30cm x 40cm
'Angel Above' has been created with lots of textured paint layers, papers, beads and textiles. It is quite a small painting but not tiny - 5 x 7"
My next post will be the one all about my lovely 94 year old neighbour with heaps of photos. I am having difficulty in narrowing them down as they're all quite something! Maybe as a one-off, you won't mind if I add all 100+ of them though :-)
Please let me know if you have any musings, advice or feedback on anything. I love hearing from you. I'll leave you with a recent picture of me in the colourful studio. I look a bit tired. Lots of love, Debra X
I love your comment about the photos that won't be tamed! However you intended, I love the way they are placed in the published post; random, sparkly, and colourful...which I've come to associate you with. :) And OF COURSE all your new creations are beautiful! I look forward to seeing photos of your neighbour's place. I hear you, too, about this year being difficult. Keep making and writing, though, as you have time. Things have gotten better in our situation; you can read more about it in some of my recent blog posts. Thank you for your encouragements over the past year!!!