It’s been a busy week for me at work with long days and some time over the weekend spent in the office, which means less time for art…so, today is a “light” art day. The good news is that work is going well even though it’s busy–a win on all fronts and I have plans to spend more time in my studio tonight, so that’s good.

Anyway, I just completed the third lesson in LifeBook 2013 and I was absolutely THRILLED to try something that I have never done before. Our guest teacher this week was Christy Tomlinson and we focused on the idea of “new bloom”…creating a flower unlike any I’ve ever created before. Here’s a picture:

It’s constructed with repurposed paper from bill envelopes for the background, washi tape, Golden fluid acrylics, tin foil, tissue paper, repurposed paint covered paper towels from my studio, a variety of adhesives, marker and a super fun library stamp. You know the ones that the librarian used to stamp the due date on the little card in the back of your book? Yeah, that kind.

The flower is three dimensional and it really pops off the page at you. The background had me finger painting with the fluid acrylics, which is quite the change from my usual approach. I loved the way Christy created her background in the lesson with creative abandon and so I did my best to do the same. It was incredibly fun and freeing! I plan to try this technique again soon–although not tonight as I hope to tackle the second project from week one instead. I have the background created…but am stalling out on drawing a car. Tonight I think I will just do it and see what happens, stop worrying and censoring myself so much. Results next week. (gulp.)

This week’s lesson has me thinking about how in order to bloom, the flower has to change. Since change scares the daylights out of me on most days, I created this piece to remind myself that without change there would be no blossoming. Being in bud form is safe and cozy, but it’s not the full expression of the flower without the process of opening and changing. A metaphor for life, no?

I think Anais Nin said it the best:

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

Embrace your own blossoming this year…

Rachel