Monday 30 June 2014

So many ways to heal.....

And this is an actual "Mindy". It is called "Wander" and you can see why from the words she has written on the painting. I particularly love this one as painting, writing, planting flowers in my tiny garden and walking by the sea or through the countryside have, as always, played a big part in my recovery....ongoing as it may still be. Still, reminders like this one from Mindy are perfect for all of us, whatever our mood might be.

"Wander among the trees,
Feel their grace embrace you."

Wild Surrender - Mindy Lacefield

I mentioned in my last post my recent struggles with my anxiety disorder and one of the things which really made me realise I had got very low was that I lost all my interest in painting which has been one of my mainstays during the last 5 years since my last battle with cancer. It was discovering a book by the wonderful Mindy Lacefield called "Wild Surrender" which finally got me over my reluctance to get out my paintbrushes once more. Mindy's art has a strong focus on simplistic style faces and children yet which are actually quite technical to achieve. Her idea of creating "primitive portraits", ie pictures which look (and indeed are)rather unfinished really captured my interest. I absolutely love her work, it is so delightful and so appealing to me. Her books also include her poetry so on finding Wild Surrender, I knew I had found someone with whom I could creatively identify.

I have had a go at a couple of primitive portraits which I have added to this post. Just my first little exploration of Mindy's ideas but they were such a joy to paint. It was like tapping into my childhood again and as we so often read it can help those of us with emotional or mental distress to make contact with our "inner child". I think working in Mindy's way does this exactly for me and could not have come at a more perfect time for the way I have been feeling over the last few months.

Gone so long....but coming back


Well if there is anyone left following my blog I am so sorry I have been missing for so long. I have been through several months of struggling with a very tough time with my anxiety problem...Generalised Anxiety Disorder...which I have had since childhood. It has been really bad since my last post back in February but I have been working hard to try and deal with it during the last couple of months. I have reached a point now where at last my interest in painting and writing is coming back to me and although I have managed, with the help of fellow members, to keep my site Freeing Your Wings going, I am afraid everything else, including Dancing Daisies, fell by the way side.

But I am back to a place where I am beginning to paint and write and think and want to share...so thank you so much if you are still around waiting for me to add a new post. I chose this picture to go with my blog today because it just sort of says it all to me about where I have been in my head of late. The picture is one from the wonderful production of "Ashes and Snow" by Flying Elephant Productions. I love this with a great passion and every one of the stills taken from it speak to me in bucketloads. I would like to share more with you over the next couple of weeks so I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do.

This one just reminds me that we all need compassion and understanding in our lives and there are times when we just need to retreat and rest and be cared for. I am so lucky that my family and friends have done this for me ... yet again.

Anyway, it actually feeds great to be back and if you are still around, lovely to be in touch.