creativity & romance
Over on Threads this week, I found myself in an interesting conversation.
“How do you romanticise your life?”
It's not always a concept that comes easily, is it, when you get busy doing the days. Chores and animals and nagging kids to do THEIR chores and trying to get in a five minute conversation with the husband who is working 60 hours a week and painting the house in his spare time - it's far from glamorous and romantic.
And yet, I find myself doing it anyway. Almost immediately, I found myself replying to the thread, sharing my (rather neglected) photo a day project. Part of the reason I chose to share it as an insta account, is I find the project much more fulfilling & engaged when I share a little story, the ‘why’ of that image. I find when I write these little stories, I do tend to “romanticise” it a bit. The way I write there is different, more whimsical, than the way I write here or on my blog. Interestingly, after chatting in that thread, I found my next two posts were much more in the whimsical storytelling style, than my usual conversational style I use for most insta & threads posts. This idea of voice seems to be following me around my various internet haunts. We talked about it in the season four finale of the podcast. I wrote a substack on it. It's something I often ruminate on as I look through my blog archives and see my voice there change over the years.
I was working on a 15@40 project yesterday, thinking over this newsletter, and this idea of romanticising your life was flittering around the edges. As I punched and trimmed and stacked and stitched, the warm, almost-spring air streaming through the open back door, it struck me that this project is a form of romanticising my crafting life. It's looking for the projects and supplies and stories that light me up. It's telling stories, sharing the joy I find in these little moments of creativity and the people and places they link me to. The blog itself, another form of romanticism, a place where the handmade can be celebrated, along with the joy of making. This particular project will go on to be a daily sketchbook - another new habit I've picked up this week and am immediately obsessed. Taking the time to note and sketch something each day, no matter how mundane, or how magical; it's romanticising the everyday. Saying “this is a day I lived and it is worth recording that today I woke at 3:45am”
(I wish that was a bit of hyperbole for the sake of entertaining you, dear reader, but I did indeed wake at 3:45am and I did indeed add it to my sketchbook)
Maybe it's that being creative is inherently romantic. We make, because we can, because we want to, because it's joyous to create beauty from nothing. It's saying that imagination matters and deserves to be made tangible. It's saying that there is no moment too small to be noticed and recorded and celebrated. That, to quote a movie, life (and creating) will find a way. To me that's the true magic of romance - moments of the ordinary, made beautiful.
THINGS I'M LOVING FROM AROUND THE INTERNET
SKILLSHARE // I jumped on a trial of Skillshare for a homeschool creative challenge (which, admittedly, I failed), and kinda sorta forgot to cancel during the trial. It isn't the worst mistake in the world, to be fair, and I am having slightly too much fun picking classes to take during my membership - plus some for the kids to meet their visual arts outcomes. First on my list is this gel plate terrarium class - I already have the plate out from this morning's playtime.
ON MY KINDLE // I have picked up the reading pace again this month, and my top book for August is an Aussie novel - Roseghetto. It is a stunning, heartbreaking tale of growing up as a houso, living with and through trauma, and breaking the cycle of violence and poverty. (I will flag there is some content that may be confronting).
ON THE TUBE // Over the first couple of years of the pandemic, my crafty offsider and I jumped on messenger each evening, and watched an episode of one of our old favourite shows together (awkwardly timing the whole “you ready? ok press play” was an adventure - thank goodness Prime now has watch party functionality!). It was honestly a highlight of the whole lockdown-closed-borders-cancel-everything phase of the pandemic. This month, season two of another show we both enjoy has started, & between her family schedule, and me refusing to start watching at 9.15pm (stupid reality tv taking up too much airtime), we've fallen into watching together the night after. It's so fun to sit, six hours apart, & chat about the same show at the same time. RFDS is on 7plus (which means ads, sadly, but it's free, soooo…), & is a drama series following the (fictional) medical staff of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. I'm loving it; if you're a fan of Aussie drama, be sure to pop over and check it out.
ELSEWHERE ON THE INTERNET
on the blog// layering yarn with yarns… another post closer to wrapping up my Fifteen at Forty project with another multimedia project.
on the pod// hobbies, burnout and staying motivated when it all feels too hard
on the gram// the first finish for the new house!
Other non-crafty things I've been enjoying this week:
LEFT: The best place to soak up the sun at the minute? The front deck of the new house! I've been enjoying spending lots of time there, book in hand, over the weekend.
CENTRE: Miss12's creativity has taken a detour into the culinary, and she is fancifying every meal (and even snacks - the styled Oreo with chopped banana & a drizzle of caramel sauce was a particular highlight). This photo was her breakfast last weekend.
RIGHT: Spring is springing and all our fruit trees are blooming - nothing like the buzz of excited bees flying in and out of the hive to really announce the season incoming!
I am so unbelievably thrilled to see spring arrive. It's long been my favourite season, and not even the looming chore of spring cleaning can dampen my enthusiasm for the month ahead. After long winter full of languishing, I'm ready to wrap up the last of my current blog series, finish up our time in the cabin well, and embrace a spring full of fresh starts, new beginnings, and an abundance of creativity & inspiration.