As I have been posting my Canvas Play and Paper Expressions videos, I have been getting asked "What do you do with the paper/canvas after you create it?" It is a very reasonable question. After all, the pieces may not appear to be finished works of art ready for framing. At the same time, I am intrigued by the question and I wonder if it comes from a place deep within us where we somehow believe that something does not hold value unless we "do" something with it. I feel this pressure on myself sometimes. Am I of any value if I am not "doing" something with my time (at all times!)? It is this worship of "doing" that has led me to unhappy and unhealthy places in my own life. Times when I am not taking care of myself because I feel guilty if I am not "doing" something with my time. So I am toying with the answer, "I don't do anything with it." For some of the pieces I have created, that currently is the correct answer. The paper or canvas sits in my craft room - waiting to see what the future will hold. Will it be turned into something? A mixed media piece? A collage? A greeting card? Or will it just sit? And, if it does just sit...is that okay? My resounding answer to that question is YES! It is okay to not "do" anything with it. I believe that in many ways its purpose has been fulfilled in the making - by just coming into being. The fact that I was able to spend minutes of my life engaged in the act of creativity - of giving birth to something - of allowing expression to come through me - this is what the piece has "done" and I really need not ask more of it. My focus being on the process and what it teaches me, versus the product. Of course, I may find, as time passes, that the piece has more creating to do in this lifetime. That will be fine. It is also fine if the answer is I may not do anything with it. I hope you enjoy my Paper Expressions 5 video :)
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