A Time For New Growth

Do you have things that you want to do – really want to do – but never find the time for? Important things that get swept aside by life’s demands and responsibilities?

If you do, you’ll understand how I feel. Over the last couple of years there have been creative processes I’ve wanted to learn and ideas I’ve had for ways to combine my photography with mixed-media art. But I haven’t given them the time they deserve.

A comment from my mother made me realise that I’ve reached the time where I want to get on with all these things. She looked me in the eye and said, ”You know, if there’s something you want to do, you must get on and do it now.”

Nothing unusual in that, you might think. But, at 91, Mum was suffering from severe dementia and was rarely able to communicate clearly. Usually her sentences would start off with something familiar but then drift off into nonsense. ”Tell me this,” she’d say. ”Are you up or down?” You can imagine my puzzlement in trying to figure out that one!

I’m sure you can now see why Mum’s moment of clarity made such an impression on me. Somehow she was able to think out and communicate her feelings about getting on and doing the things that really matter. It makes me believe that Mum was still aware that there were things that she wished that she had done. The persistence of this thought, even through the late stages of dementia, surely shows how important it is to do the things we care about.

So I am writing this blog as a way of urging myself forwards. When I learn new techniques for printmaking, collage and mixed-media art, I’ll be able to write about them here. This will also be a space where I can share my main passion – photography – and the inspiration behind it. (Which, as you will have guessed from the title of this site, is nature – plants in particular.)

This is the time of year that I love best – a time that makes me feel excited and energized. Everything in the garden is racing into summer. The trees are in full leaf and there is a rapidly-changing procession of colours as the flowers bloom. New growth is everywhere. Now it’s time for me to grab my camera and see if I can do a bit of growing too…

Are you in the same situation as me? If so, I hope you’ll be able to snatch the chance to do whatever it is that you really want to do. Time is never easy to find but it passes all too quickly and can leave us regretting the things we’ve left undone. Go for it!