To arrive where we started
August 31st, 2009 § 3 Comments
We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started…
and know the place for the first time.
~ T.S. Elliott
The interesting thing about post-rationalisation is that whilst you’re explaining your choices, any weaknesses light up like neon. An ugly business! I’m starting to wonder if my last illustration, ‘Apron Strings’, hasn’t finished evolving. I’m asking myself more questions.
With that in mind, off I go exploring again…
Admiring all the cheery patterns and colour schemes found in vintage home linens; in tablecloths, sheets and aprons. Loving the worn warmth I see within them. Wondering which childhood memories are being stirred within me. Perhaps to me they symbolise all the nurturing of home itself; of daily grind but also of gentleness.
What is the true purpose of the bond between mother and child? And how do I capture that? Could it be about a basic human need to explore…? My littlest poppet is an explorer. She likes to know exactly where I am before she goes on another toddler expedition and makes many, many return journeys to check I’m still there. So I guess I am not only her guide, but her base camp. When base camp is warm and safe she can regroup and find enough courage to venture a little further. What an amazing role to play in a persons life! What a sweet discovery that maybe I wouldn’t have made unless, like my little girl, I’d gone back.
Images | Apron String, Various Brennemans | Vintage Tablecloth, Leslie Keating | OGBB Fabric Brown Green Squares by Craftapalooza | Mccall Apron 504, Carbonated | Please click on the titles for licence details.
The quote from Little Gidding is one of my touchstones.
thanks so much for sharing your creative journey there, I love to know how people do what they do! And i love the apron strings analogy – it’s really nice! x e
I can totally understand the distraction of being a mother and I only have one child. I love being a mum the longer I am one. I hope that lasts forever!
You do very well to get your Illustration Friday’s completed each week. I haven’t done one for over a year now.