Yesterday as I was gathering leaves and rocks from the garden, my new housemate reminded me that our people do not lack creativity but they lack platforms from which to propel ideas and turn them into extraordinary works of art. In his case, his creativity has been padlocked, limited because no one wants to give him the space to dream and make it happen. Like me, he lives on another planet that is filled with dancing flowers, floating materials and mixed permanent paint. The world we escape to in the middle of the day, where we tap into our creative side. My housemate needed that desperately to be able to express himself not only as an individual but also an artist.
Our Wednesday project involved an over-size glass champagne vase, sea shells, spray paint, flowers, aqua crystals, palm tree leaves and white sand (sago). We were testing a few center pieces for an upcoming event. The aim was to create something authentic, hip, local and cost effective. An original piece that can be placed in the middle of a marble table and ignite some creativity. A center piece that can connect to the creative side of any onlooker.
Mr Pink as I will call my housemate, was open to all ideas. There we were, in the middle of our dining room, spray painting, cutting stems, shaping leaves, collecting thoughts to be put on display. Mr Pink talks more than me, surprisingly and that added to the busi-ness of the House of Elle. "The problem with us (meaning them not us) is that we are scared to let other people create something better than our creation. Instead of encouraging other like-minded people to create, we tell them not to do it. It will cost and will not turn out the way we (they) want. These are the people that want to dull our sparkle!" Mr Reef complained as we were working away.
"Shux, my sparkle is already gone or misplaced as I haven't touched paint in the last three to four months. I haven't written or created in too long a time. I need to get this sparkle back!" I mused.
A few weeks ago, someone asked me to please write about food and wedding
planning (how to plan a wedding from the very beginning)! First step to wedding planning..get a groom?. Yes to food because I love to eat, not so sure about wedding
planning as of now, she has red hair, purple lipstick, a mismatch
outfit and just refuses to comply with any theme. In other words, the
wedding plan is somewhat cheeky and all over the place. I keep telling myself that I have another year or so to go and as long as we set the date, book the venue, buy the dress then everything else will fall in place (absolutely not). Planning is time-consuming and accompanies confusion, information overload, salesman syndrome but if done effectively, it will save the couple from paying money towards a one day event that some end up paying for dearly. There is no perfect way to plan unless you sit down and discuss what kind of wedding you want, whether you want an extravagant wedding, to impress the crowd or a backyard barbeque with close friends and family. I prefer the latter but being the favourite daughter (sorry sisters) the bbq stance will not work for mother dearest. If men were left in charge of the planning, things will happen faster and one just might end up with no tables and more alcohol. I can see where this wedding planning blog is going.
Anyway, as we were creating center pieces, the underlying theme was:
Do not let anyone dull your creative sparkle. If you decide to do something, do not hesitate. Hesitation will only lead to confusion and safety. Get out of your comfort zone. Work with your budget, if there is no budget then work with the concept you have in mind. Do and then re-think and change things around. There are no rules to creativity.
The end product was a beautiful vase full of things and a whole lot of laughter at how ridiculous we were.
It was good therapy and we have another Wednesday project lined up next week.
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| Photo(s) source: pinterest.com |
