Well this post has been a long time coming!!
Thankyou soo much to all the wonderful heartfelt comments of support that I recieved because I opened my heart. Its so important that you helped me realise how common this problem is, it truly made me feel less crazy. I have been working with my Homeopath and it seems we are well on the right track, so Im getting there, thankyou soooo much for the love, I am slowly getting back to you all xxx
I started this piece of art that I work on a few nights a week, here are some snippets and Im working in colour too!! great to get back to colour. When it is finished I will show the whole piece which should be by this weekend. It is on an old page collage back ground and in watercolour, (i love water colour), Im trying to get a few new techniques going and want to make it crazy busy with alot going on, but Im finding it a little hard to just let go and lash out, I can feel Im controlling the process too much and not just letting loose and not caring about the outcome...hhmmmm that sounds like me everyday! haha
I realised thru my soul searching in the last week that the time I really truly felt like myself was back when I was in my early twenties and I was convinced I was a grounded mermaid!
All I wore was shell jewellery, I never wore shoes in case I may crush my delicate fins, I made soups from sea weed for dinner, sooo gross!! and I used to thoroughly enjoy putting men in trances!
I was obsessed with mermaid artists like 'John William Waterhouse'
and 'Herbert Draper'
he is pure genius xxx
So here I am grounded mermaid once more, living on a farm by the ocean, drinking tea instead of seaweed soup, I spend my days being a mother, gardening veges and herbs, making prettiness and cooking for our souls....
I have hung up my gypsy life too, gone is the travelling vans and in its place are well defined roots...
which have blossomed into the most wonderful life, if only I could be aware of it 100% of the time.
I dont envy anyone elses life, or wish I was different, but I do have to change my perspective every now and then.
This photo was taken when I was 18 which seems like a life time ago, here I am in my mermaid get up, dancing around a forest, playing shipwreck beauties, which had to be my favorite game of all time. Too much 'Blue Lagoon' watching! those were the days, when you had a flat stomach just because!!
Much to Kellys disappointment, I dont wear my shell bra any longer..but I keep it in my huge chest of dress ups so that one day my daughter can run around with her friends pretending to be ship wrecked.
Its a curious thing the stages we go thru, ....
I went thru the whole pretty as a peach 'Alice in Wonderland" stage where everything was very girlie.. i still adore my red velevet Mary Janes I got from Camden Markets when I lived in London....
and lately Ive been getting back into my witchy poo self with all this soul searching, these were my mothers socks in the 60s but I prefer to use them as my dress up ratty hocus pocus wear..thank god I have a daughter to pass all this on to!
Im re-loving an old book 'Wicca in the Kitchen'. It gives the purpose and power of every ingredient and has me making foods for our moods and wants, its like an ingredient encyclopedia, such a wonderful book for when you feel like going slowly and making a meal that hasent been thrown together because someone is dragging on your legs, starving!.. begging for cheese!
can you see that little jar on the right???
thats called fairy spice, and any time that we are cooking, munchy gets to shake in the fairy spice, she takes her job very seriously and is quite heavy handed with her shaking!
Its a little old anchovy jar that is stuffed with moss and has a few fairy decoupage cut outs peeking out. For older children you may want to put little holes in the top like a salt shaker but at Munchys age the 'where does it come out' question hasent been raised yet!
Its a very cute way to get her involved with the cooking, although she would do all the cooking if we would just let her!
So I will be back in a few days with hopefully a completed work of art, maybe the start of a new artistic mission, I work so much better under pressure with a deadline and a long list, so I need to get back on track.
Thanks to those interested in "The Book Hunt" you have a month to do this too, so no hurry, a winner will be announced on the day I announce the new book!
Off to my hippy doctor this morning, then a friend is coming over so I can take photos of her beautiful pregnant belly and then Im picking olives this afternoon to preserve.
plenty to do in my little world
having a wonderful day???
I hope you are!
xxx
Sheree
Sheree, I feel as though you were reading my thoughts today! I love the new art piece you are creating. Oh, to be a mermaid! The photograph of you in your mermaid wear is so pretty - how lovely that you kept the items for your daughter to enjoy when she is older. :) I love Waterhouse's work so very much...the one you chose is just so beautiful. It's important to never lose touch with your roots - they've helped to shape who you are. Even though we change and grow throughout the years, every little part of us remains - I think. :) I have all my costume wigs and I still dress for Halloween each year! We all need a little whimsy in our everyday lives!!! It's magical. :) I own a similar book to the one you have, Kitchen Witch by Patricia Telesco. It has some lovely recipes and interesting facts about foods and herbs.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your olive picking and preserving. Yum - I DO love olives so much!
xoxo Theresa
I love the "fairy spice jar." I had a "tears" jar for my kids..any time they would start crying, I'd hand them the jar..we'd collect the tears in the jar and so they were gone from the eyes. I might make a fairy spice jar for the heck of it just to have in my kitchen with real mysterious spices in it for everyday use. Thanks for the inspiration and nice blog.
ReplyDeletewonderful post!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post Sheree...brought back memories of when my girls were little, and I did my best to create magical moments for them to carry through their lives. I loved the photo of you as a mermaid. It's funny how, as we age, we become who we were meant to be...sure, along the way, some of us become sidetracked and don many different masks, sometimes to please others...I'm so happy that you have re-found your inner-mermaid - clearly, that is who you are meant to be. Enjoy your day - it sounds like it shall be magical, just like you x
ReplyDeleteI get so excited reading your posts. Im lucky enough to have known you for many years and have witnessed all your style changes. I remember each and every one of them with such fond memories, although I think your forgetting the "surfy" stage hehehe that was very early on!!
ReplyDeleteLove ya
xo
Having turned 50 after reading this I really am longing for days gone by. My childhood was not all magical and fairytale like yours was. NOt even my tweens, teens and twentys. But I did have my fun times and my silly times and You've brought all of those fun memories back to me. Oh the hats I used to wear. and when the oldest was old enough to keep a hat on there were those silly stares of us in old clothes topped off in beautiful hats found at the goodwill. Shopping for comoanies tea time. The company were her diolls of course. Such good memories. Thanks Sheree...in my next life I want to be just like you!
ReplyDeleteTess
Sheree, I love everything about this post, you could be reading my mind! Your new art looks beautiful, can't wait to see it finished, and you've chosen 3 of my favourite mermaid paintings as well, the last one with the baby mermaid has very special meaning for me. This 'finding yourself' I have decided is a life-long journey, and involves being many people along the way, and sometimes, being many people all at the same time. I'm turning 44 on Monday, and I'm still working on it. I love your red velvet shoes, your witchy-poo socks, your shell bra, and your talent for bringing magic into the everyday. And I MUST get a hold of that Scott Cunningham book, it looks brilliant, I've read a few of his but never seen that one! And I was thinking too, after your last post, that this feeling so many people have of anxiety in the modern world...well, it's the modern world with the problem, not us. I honestly believe that people with extra sensitive 'antennae', who are in touch with the moods of nature and of people, who feel the subtleties and ambiguities of the world acutely, people who are really AWARE and AWAKE, couldn't help but feel overwhelmed and anxious in this busy, busy, everything-happening-at-once, no-time-to-slow-down-and-notice-what-matters world. I'm looking forward to moving to a quieter more peaceful place, closer to nature. Somewhere I can see the stars at night and just listen to the earth breathe!
ReplyDeleteAre you Peter Pan or Tinkerbell? I'm trying to decide. Maybe the Good Witch of the Forest on holiday at the ocean side. Well, you are whoever you want to be today. With a change of your clothes you are transformed into a creature of folklore, loving to entertain all those who come to visit. And you are teaching little Munchie the wonder of being just like you.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your next phase, and look forward to the next. There's no going back.
Warmest regards
Carol
it's great to hear that you're finding a path forward.
ReplyDeletelove the mermaid and the whole idea of a grounded mermaid... you look so chilled out in that younger pic.
waterhouse is one of my very favourite painters. i dore darper's water baby.
i reslly like the idea of giving my girl a sealed jar to 'help' with the cooking.
Hello my mermaid friend, go glad that you are at least feeling a little bit better. In the meantime, dream of the sea and swishing your tail!
ReplyDeleteI was so lucky last summer to go to an exhibition of Waterhouse's work at the Royal Academy of Art in London. I was blown away - the colours of the real paintings are just out of this world - no book could ever quite reproduce them. I wrote about it here
http://all-the-wright-stuff.blogspot.com/2009/09/myth-and-magic.html
Sheree,
ReplyDeleteThe altered page looks stunning in color...the jellyfish so vibrant...the mermaid gorgeous! I can't wait to see it finished!
I, too, have a dress-up bin.....but my daughter really has no interest in wearing any of it....maybe someday....til then, I grin and think to myself, "hee, hee, mine all mine :)"
Keep your chin up, Girly! Being present in our lives, I believe, is a challenge we will always face....there is just no way to remember every single second of every single day....just enjoy what makes you smile, get through what doesn't, and learn from both :)
I'm so happy to be able to come here and read your words....helps me smile when I have a "just get throught it" kind of day :D
Thank you!
What a lovely post! Your art is fabulous ... very soulful! My favorite part of this post is how, through time, you've redefined yourself ... and isn't that the beauty of existence ... that we can be anyone we want to be.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that Theresa wrote about you on her Thursday feature ... otherwise I might not have become acquainted with you.
such a wonderful post, full of celebration for the past and embracing a life that you live now that is full of family art and whimsy. Wishing you the best. Wonderful mermaid photo!
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