Bringing My Muse Home

So, I got back from my house-sitting job Sunday evening...it felt great to be home....I've been house-sitting A LOT and felt scattered and transient and was ready to be home, even though the work ahead of me here is a bit overwhelming.  I won't even begin to tackle my sewing area until sometime late next week...right now my oldest son is preparing to leave next week for work and his need to spread things out and decide what to do with his possessions...what to take, what to leave and store, what to get rid of....is taking up most of the extra space in the house and will until his departure.  On the flipside, I am enjoying spending some quality time with him, knowing that this house will soon be emptied of everyone but myself full-time and my husband part-time....it will be very different from how this house has been a revolving door of folks needing a home, or coming to hang out, or stay, or leave, and space being at such a premium...part of why my muse checked out for such an extended period of time....it was fairly impossible to be creative when so much other stuff was going on and distracting and detracting from what I wanted to do....but my muse came home...finally she has decided that she too can finally have a little space here to do her job...being my muse, pointing out more new and interesting things that lead me to inspiration...and I am extremely grateful that she is here.  We have so much to do....
Yesterday, after having had some wonderful rain (finally), my son and I went out and toured the garden areas....picked the first zucchini and cucumbers, along with some tomatoes...there will be tomatoes for a long time to come!  And so it was quite rewarding to go around and look at my baby veggies, baby gourds, basically the fruits of my labors as the steward of this blessed piece of land that I am lucky enough to call home.  It feels great to know that this is the small beginning of something that I hope will become bigger than me, bigger than anything I've ever done, and something that will ultimately benefit others less fortunate as I work to turn GoodKharmaFarm into a non-profit, slow money entity that will help sustain others in such a basic but necessary way.
Also, I started picking little areas of the house and decluttering them...and uncovered a few treasures, like some different pieces of foam board that I had reclaimed from the recycle shed at the dump and so I got out a couple of interesting colors of acrylic paint and painted over someone's watercolor prints and will be able to reuse these for my own art....goes back to the original intent of GoodKharmaReThreads that has become GoodKharma Everything....making something out of nothing....And so I just painted over them....as someone will likely paint over my art someday....these things happen...
And I also found a couple of small foam boards that just had prints laid on them, botanical prints from the era of dusty rose and dusty blue and all that...still wrapped in plastic...so I unwrapped and discarded what wouldn't be used and now I have some nice clean boards to work with, too. In the process I actually made some

space in my room...decluttering!  I also got some books cleaned out and listed on Paperback Swap so that they can find new homes.
So, while I hadn't had a chance to make anything, I did make myself useful.  A great feeling...
As I was painting over those boards....this is when my muse tapped me on the shoulder...she said..."what about those Buddhas that you started and had to put aside when the house became too small for you and I to work peacefully...where are those guys?"  I thought, huh?  Well they are right here under this pile of stuff...all these sketch pad and trays and paints and wooden boards, along with all the images of Buddha statues that I found intriguing and artistic and want to eventually try to paint.  So once I could move the boards I'd painted over, I pulled out one of my  Buddhas...a watercolor on linen that was tucked away in the pile...I immediately realized that I would be mixing colors and trying to get back to the original essence (or not) of what I loved about this image of the Buddha.
Here is what I managed to accomplish yesterday during a couple of hours...

This first picture is where I had gotten with him before my muse and I had to take our hiatus...I had found this to be extremely tedious at the time....and hard to figure out ..couldn't get the colors to be like the colors I'd used....and my muse whispered to me to mix some colors and get on with it....so that's what I did....

And by the time I felt finished for the day, as these things have to dry and set a bit...working on fabric is definitely more challenging and interesting than paper....I felt pretty good about what I had managed to do.  I am looking forward to getting back to work on him today at some point...either he or my sweet muse will let me know when it's time to sit back down with this Buddha...

I also unearthed a whole book of poetry that I had written during my teens, and also many poignant quotes that I had written down...and I will be using some of these things as inspiration for posters, the ones that will go on those boards that I uncovered, repainted, etc., and I may dabble with them a bit today, too.  It will be interesting to take a quote and interpret it as visual art.  I think this will be a fun thing....I had started something of this nature...another unfinished work....that I will also be getting back to....for the little bird, she calls to me, wants me to finish her and write her story.....I used a reclaimed corkboard bulletin board type thing that I brought home last year from the dump....and decided to see what it would be like to paint over...

So I have much to do...many places to pick up where I left off...many new places to start from....many things whirling around in my head that I want to try to make or do....its why I work much better with my muse's guidance...she gently nudges me toward a single thing to be working on...and doesn't get offended if I can't get into that particular thing at that particular time....like the seagulls I so do want to paint....I spent two days trying to finish an unfinished sketch before I realized that I didn't want to do seagulls then...and I began sketching from a photo from last year of a butterfly...and it came easy and smooth and my muse just smiled...she knew she was needed here and that her room was ready and waiting...

I'm so glad to have her home!!  Enjoy your day...I know I will enjoy mine....who knows what's waiting for me out there...time to go check the garden!  Peace to you from me and my lovely muse....from our house to yours...