Friday, October 29, 2010

365 Days, Day 144

The memory is like a cat scratching my heart (Marina Oswald)

After about 20 years of marriage, I'm finally starting to scratch the surface of that one [what women want]. And I think the answer lies somewhere between conversation and chocolate (Mel Gibson)

I scratched the surface of metal plates to make this art work. There are nine panels suspended in a frame. I have left it hanging outside the front door at Estelle Street.

A scratch can be negative, as in making marks with a sharp object on skin. Or it can be good – when you have an itch that needs scratching. You can start from scratch – start again from the beginning. You can make things from scratch – like making custard from milk, eggs, cornflour, vanilla and sugar rather than using custard powder. And if you add a block or two of chocolate to the bottom of each bowl, it is delicious.

Do you remember when you were at nursery school and you had to paint colours on your page and then scribble black wax crayon over the paint… and then you scratched a drawing onto the black and a beautiful rainbow picture was revealed? I loved doing those. I can still feel the excitement - not knowing what it would look like… building up layers and then scratching away the darkness and having pretty colours shining through.

Sometimes in life we build up our metaphorical layers to protect ourselves. Later when we are secure and happy, we can start to scratch away those layers and be delighted by the happy shiny little ‘me’ below the surface. Think back to when you were little and innocent and had no layers. That is the little-me that we could aspire to… Little-me remembers standing in the garden, wearing a navy dress with a red flower/bow and drawing on my blackboard. I was so happy in that moment, creating my own little art work. I think now, I can recapture that joy when I am creating. Today I started making my handbag, and I felt joyful inside, just like the little-me.

I am also rather happy when indulging in the little pleasures of life, like “conversation and chocolate” and…

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