My Creative Voice.

Oh that voice. My creative voice can be quite ruckus sometimes. It keeps me up at night, distracts me from the present moment, and drives me to work at every spare minute. But I have never felt more alive than when I am listening to the voice.

There were many years that I didn't listen. I was also caught up in working every day, full time just to pay the bills. When the moment came to be creative, I was often too tired or the process of making something was too scattered and unorganized. Since Cutie gives me the gift of staying home, I am able to really listen to the voice more than ever.

I know that I need to be doing something creative to feel fully alive and accomplished...and happy.

One thing I notice is that my creative voice is medium specific. I spent years painting and drawing. I had so much trouble with thinking of an original image to draw or paint. For me, that form of expression was often stressful and unenjoyable.  You would think, I could just look into my soul and paint, or draw, what I saw, right? Isn't that how it works? It just wasn't that easy for me. I would stress about what to paint, and have literally no place to start. The stress would overwhelm me and I would give up on the project altogether.

Enter quilting. Every time I start a  new quit a magical process of exploring beautiful fabric begins. For me, the beautiful soft fabric IS the original image. For me, quilting is a medium that eliminates having to imagine an original image because the original image (the fabric) is in front of me. This also eliminates a lot of stress and makes the creative process so fun and enjoyable! When I don't feel stressed and when the creative process is enjoyable, my creative voice gets ruckus and a really positive cycle begins. Creation, craft, art, ideas, images, flow through me. And soft fabric quilts are my favorite medium.

I wish I had began quilting years ago...but, all in due time.