To Risk and "Be"

The realization today was the downward pull of winter. While I did not mind shoveling the wet and heavy two-inches of snow that fell last night, it did not help my mood. I really had intended to clean the paper work area of my office, but the small containers of bits started calling to me. At first, it was dosed with a large amount of guilt. Am I becoming the person with bits too small to use? To brighten my mood, I decided to make a small collage ( 6 x 4.5 inches) only using things I had in one of my containers of small bits. The background is from a card made by Marianne Hammett of Chicago. The silk piece was applied to the card so crooked that it made me crazy and I could never mail it to anyone. I think I did a good job of camouflaging the crookedness by adding the wave trim and cutting the card.   I don't know what she uses but I also discovered almost nothing sticks to the silk! So efforts to change it failed although if you look closely you can see some stamping that I attempted. I do like the way I was able to change the white around the silk. The image of the woman is from a card my friend Marie Z. Johansen created and has sent me several times. Love it! I added the cherry blossom to her forehead and her "halo." I will gladly gift "BE" to Marie if she would like to have it. The words are reminders to myself and were left over from test prints for my 12-12-12 quilt.

This does show me, once again, that sometimes a limited palette works and what is needed to create. Too many choices can be just as bad as too few. Of course, it did not make much of a dent in my small bits, but it did brighten my mood.

While working on this piece, my mind went back to several conversations I have had this week on risk. I listened to one friend give a list of endless excuses of why she cannot be creative and so much of it was fear-based. Does trying new things take courage?  Is trying and failing such a bad thing? I frequently ask people who are afraid of risk, "What is the biggest chance you have ever taken?" I realize that getting on a plane and traveling to an unknown place a third of the world away is foreign to most people. But something is lost in our obsessive concern for safety and security--the spirit of adventure. Life is a gamble in which we don't get to deal the cards, but we are obligated to play them to the best of our ability. None of us gets out alive. I would much rather take a risk and fail then to simply be safe.  On the flip side, I have reconnected with former student and friend Diane Fisher. She has asked me to help her guild be more creative/adventuresome. I am so honored and excited! So what is the biggest chance you have ever taken?

And I'm making this my Off the Wall Fridays post. We all have to support each other!