Fifteen minutes a day, every day

Fifteen minutes isn't much of a commitment yet I am surprised by how often I have to remind myself that "it's time". One morning I mopped up coffee rings on the back table, then when they had dried, drew back into the page with ink and pencil. Another morning the sun and my morning cup of tea created interesting shadow play. The key is fifteen minutes. The key is to turn up every day, be present, and simply create something. Anything. Draw. Stitch. Scratch. Sew. Tear. Paste. Print. Anything. The best bit is, no one else has to see it and I get to record each day in the new home in quite a different way.

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Making progress Trees #2

The mess before the beauty

The excavator's words have stuck in my head, rent free. ' I have to make one hell of a mess before it can become beautiful. There is no beautiful end without the mess '. Or words to that effect. The retaining walls at the back of the house have to be finished before anything else can happen in the yard - and in between downpours, a few expletives and more rain, it has beena testing time for all involved in the construction. I thought about his words - and the effort of making a quilt from scratch. The planning, drawing, testing, dyeing, playing, creating, starting again, creating and the final 'ah ha'. There is so much 'mess' before a quilt is resolved becomes a thing of meaning and beautiful in its own way. Blessed are the excavators.

Mapping it out - initial thoughts

I find the process that resolves itself as a textile work challenging. In the beginning I am clueless. This is as much a strength as a source of mild anxiety. I have learnt persistence and turning up are as important as creative thinking. I'm mindful my first response is not going to be the best so I'm starting with a mind-dump. My focus is the Neville Bonner Pedestrian bridge connecting Queens Wharf to South Bank. Thoughts are scratched deep into journal pages. I'll find more connections over coming months. Right now I'm challenged and torn. What started as perfunctory research about Meanjin's (Brisbane's) newest bridge has developed into a sense of disappointment and WTFWTWPT (WTF-were-the-white-people-thinking)? I'm unpacking those thoughts in my journal - the architects and their inspiration, the consortium , what the bridge connects, where it leads, Yuggera and Turrbul people's connections to this part of the river, Mr Neville Bonner's own ...

Ali George Artist

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