Spend Time Creating: Saturday Theme

Today is Saturday - the one day per week that I do not work... well, that's not entirely true, but I do not work for other people on Saturdays. I only work for myself, and I don't tend to do much of that.

Saturdays are my days to sleep in, to putter around my town and my home, and to spend a bit of time just being quiet. I usually take a nap at some point during the day. I also try to create something for myself or for others, taking great pleasure in the process of creation.

This week, I took a little bit of time to play with paper. I made a book late last year that I decided I wanted to use for me. I have made many books that I have given to other people, but I decided I wanted this one just for me. It is my "Love" journal and is dedicated as a scrapbook for celebrating things that I love. My family is first and foremost in my book. It couldn't be a book about things I love without them being in there. I am starting to put in different things as I find some inspiration. I use my Pinterest boards for this inspiration, and I made some stickers from the things that I have collected. I put those little reminders into my book this week. There were some quotes and some color combinations and some silliness because I love laughing about all sorts of things. The pages that I filled were simple, but satisfying.

Last week, I did some painting. I haven't painted much lately because my finger was healing from its fracture/avulsion incident. I dropped some watercolor paint on some paper and watched it move and blend. I also attempted a cat portrait with some acrylic paint, but the paint has separated so it didn't turn out the way I hoped it would. That's okay. The nice thing about painting things is that you can always paint over what you have done to make it look different. I will do another layer of paint, collage, stenciling, and ink splotches on the paper and then turn it into bookmarks or envelopes for my journals. Nothing goes to waste around me.

The point of being purposefully creative, for me at least, is to explore ways of thinking and seeing that have never occurred to me before. I have a friend from high school who often goes to social media and asks us to pick colors. She then takes the selected colors and paints. Her pieces are very abstract and VERY large, and it makes her just express emotions that she does not express easily in words. I love it when she asks for color suggestions because she always posts the works in progress and when they are complete. I love this for her and for the rest of us that get to glimpse what she feels.

My sister also paints. She uses acrylics mainly but has started learning about watercolors lately. Her pieces tend to be nature-oriented. Mine tend to be more abstract. My grandmother used watercolors as well, and I have several of her paintings that my aunt selected for me after Grandma died. I spent a ton of money getting one of them framed (which she would NOT have appreciated AT ALL), and it hangs in my library. I will frame the others by myself, still spending more than she would appreciate, but I will add those to my library to help me find the vibe that I want for that room.

Today's creating will happen after I leave my home to head out into the world for a medication pick-up and some shopping. That's right. I am going to go shopping. I want to go to the Dollar Tree, to the pharmacy, to Five Below, to Home Goods, and to Burlington Coat Factory. In actuality, I will probably burn-out of my interest in shopping by the time I get to the pharmacy, but I hope to find something that stimulates my creativity in some way. We will see. After being out in the world, I will probably want some time to myself. Before I leave, though, I need to start a load of dishes in the dishwasher and get something to eat. I also need to put groceries away in the pantry and start cleaning the floor. There you go. Time to get going on those chores.

I hope that you will spend some time creating today.