Impatience and Creativity

When I am feeling impatient, I become creative. Typically, I start painting or sewing. Usually painting. What reminds me of this is what I did a week or so ago when I was waiting for the new Harry Potter book to appear on my doorstep (which it never did – I had to go purchase it. Thanks, Amazon).

The day I was waiting for Potter was extraordinarily productive. I completed two paintings. I do not have these to show, as I’m waiting until the entire project is complete (I’m doing sixteen related ones for my living room).

But I do have this basket to show, which I was reminded of that day. This painted basket is actually titled “Impatience” and that’s what it reads on the bottom.

This incredibly involved thing was painted when I first met my husband 7 years ago. I was very taken with him from the first hours we spent together, and I was trying to be patient and not get too ahead of myself. So while I was trying to be patient and failing, I painted. Often I painted in the evening when I was waiting for him to show up at my house. Or when I wasn’t going to see him. It was only 15-20 minutes or so every day, so it took about three weeks to complete. It’s been a fixture of my decor ever since, and I now keep my paints in it

The material of the basket is wood, which is my favorite medium. The colors I chose remind me of the colors of Mardi Gras. The forms are ones that I find myself painting often – organically-shaped mazes, rhythmic yet detailed and precise shapes. It definitely looks like I painted it and no one else. If nothing else, this basket is definitely my colors, my shapes, my design, my material.

I tend toward these sort of engaging, involved projects when I’m impatient because I can really wear myself out without something to do. This takes up the mental space that would’ve gone into becoming a nervous wreck while waiting for whatever. I don’t wait easily. It’s my way of turning what would otherwise be a negative experience into something positive. And that, my friends, is reason #100,394 of why I craft.