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Murphy in the Art Space


As as an artist it is hard to practice mindfulness. Don't get me wrong, I love mindfulness. I think it is a very attainable state of mind for the artist/art therapist/client to strive towards. Art part may even make it more attainable for those who have a harder time grasping the text-book-concept. However, when there is already an expectation of what something "should" be it is doubly hard to step aside and be "willing" to let things be as they may. 

My creative endeavors and my clients remind me of those very concepts quite frequently (as is the case in today's post). 
After 1 evening of soaking in Yerba-Mate tea.

In my previous post (Transitioning into 2015) I mentioned I would be participating in Creativity In Motions' Creative Deed 365. In preparation for my participation I dug-up some old library cards from back in the day when they were hand-written. For those who have never used a library card, think of it as a 3x5 card stock with writing on it that would direct the patron to the library material they searched for. A library in town threw out boxes of these years ago and I happen to have them for a rainy-day activity such as this. 

My well thought-out intentions were ...
... to cut the cards into squares and dye them in a large batch in preparation for the #creativedeed365 project. 

After cutting them I placed them in a Yerba-Mate tea bath and left them over night. Usually the longer the soak the stronger the color. Usually... 

I should have known that Murphy doesn't miss a creative session.

The next morning when I took them out of the bath I noticed that most of the writing had been dissolved and only ghostly imprints remained.

The cards were mindfully inspected and separated to dry. As they dried some cards began to develop a mottling in teal/pink/blue/green.

At this point I had not yet thrown out the tea-bath which had turned a murky color from the ink on the cards...so I went for it and re-bathed some of the cards beginning with the ones which did not develop the marbled stain. Why not. 

After another evening in the tea-bath the cards were laid out to air dry once more and the images below show what eventually developed.

Moral of this story, creativity and mistakes go hand-in-hand. So go ahead and invite Murphy into the your studio. You never know, he may lead you to something unexpected (even if it is unplanned). 





PS - I have not yet decided what to do with the cards, but I'll be sure to post about them when I do. Happy art making.
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