8.09.2013

inspiration bored



Last week I tore down my inspiration board, which had consisted solely of images I collected over a decade ago when I was a gung-ho botanical painter. They were pinned or draft-dotted to a 12" wide floor-to-ceiling wall protrusion between our kitchen and living room where everyone could see them all the time. I left the jumble of all of it up there for all this time, thinking that those images define my aesthetic and were reminders of what I wanted to achieve someday.

They definitely were good reminders. There were images of peonies and persimmons from my idol Jeffrey Ripple, note cards with Charles Rennie Mackintosh's whimsical but accurate flowers printed on the fronts, and pages of portraits by Lucian Freud ripped from some old issue of Vanity Fair. There were Polaroids of my process work from the early Aughties, postcards from all the openings I attended mostly for the free booze and snacks way back when, and myriad random other botanical illustrations.





I was surprised to find that I am really happy to have that piece of wall clear. I told David it was a place where we can start to pin real estate or other images together as we work to get ourselves out of our small flat someday, but now I think we'll keep it empty. When you live somewhere as long as we've lived here, it can become really hard to make it feel fresh. Getting rid of vestiges of a past life that means nothing to me now on the surface was a good call. I literally breath easier when I'm working in the kitchen at night without my that part of my past hanging right over my shoulder. 

I started thinking about what other places in our home might hold that kind of old news and immediately flashed on our stacks of books. My books in particular are mostly leftover from architecture school or were purchased during long-faded obsessions with different architects and artists and places in the years right after I graduated. I have no intention of getting rid of those books, but when we move someday they won't deserve that kind of prominence anymore. 

I hope you have a great weekend! We're headed to Marin for one last pool day before Oliver starts preschool next week. Summer's pretty much over for us here, and that's a bummer. 

xoxo









4 comments:

  1. I like white space, it helps me think. Here's to moving forward!

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    1. I like your white space in the few photos I've seen of your place. So peaceful! xoxo

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  2. Can totally relate. Since we've settled back in after our travels, I've been doing some major house purging in an attempt to create more breathing space. Also, when you live and survive on everything in a suitcase for 4 months, it really lets you know what you actually need. Got rid of over half my clothes and books, including my law books that have been hanging around unused for the last 4 years. Feels amazing to let the past go.

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    1. First, happy to see you here, Alyson. Second, yes about the travel, although ours was nothing like yours, I felt the same way when we returned. I just have that pesky problem of never enough time to purge with the kids around all the time (not for long, though). I am kind of waiting for our move, whenever that might be, to gut this place. I want to leave with half of what we have here. I'm also a super nostalgic person who can hold on to the silliest thing right now because I never want to let go of my kids' early childhood. I'm working on that one!

      Wow on the law books. I wonder if you'll ever involve yourself with law and such again. I'd love to keep on moving forward away from architecture, but I keep getting sucked back in. :)

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