Inspire 52 - Week 15. Arting about with Ludovico Einaudi

Hello everyone! USA, UK, Australia, Russia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brazil, Germany and South Korea ... (these being my top viewing countries so far),  indeed welcome to the Inspire 52 Artist Blog, hope you are enjoying it so far.
So onto and into Week 15. I am really starting to get into the project and am indeed feeling inspired (thus being the very nature of Inspire 52 ... phew!!) Each week is really taking me somewhere, I don't quite know where yet, but the journey is great for me. It is giving me lots of insight into myself as an artist as well as me as a person in this world. It is also providing me with playfulness and the opportunity to continue focusing on my art practice every week, which in turn is making me a much happier person; last year I remember sometimes I would go a few weeks without art-ing and I would think 'ooh, somethings not quite right', and then I would remember that I hadn't done any art in a while! Hurrah for 52 projects!

I hope you enjoyed my rather long blog last week and did not give up half way through, because the end bit of it has carried forward my inspiration for this week. 'Ode to Art' really touched me last week. I read it back several times and there really is a lot going on between the lines for me, so I hope you enjoyed it too.

This week I have taken the poem and used it a source of inspiration to create a new collection of aluminium jewellery art. I have had these sheets of aluminium for a few weeks now and been too afraid to scribe any lines on them, as there is not room for error when drawing on aluminium.

The idea to create illustrations on aluminium first came from Caroline Parrot, an artist who works with aluminium and who did Make 52 last year, we worked together to create illustrations on aluminium for her 52 project in 2011 and incidentally, she launches her Make 52 solo exhibition next week at Walford Mill Crafts, Wimborne Dorset, very exciting. I wanted to see how our practices could fuse for my 52 project and so Caroline gave me some aluminium to work on. Caroline if very busy with the launch of her exhibition at the moment, but I am hoping that we will be able to collaborate for one of my Inspire weeks later this year.

So I finally got the courage and inspiration to use the aluminium this week and this is what happened. These are the two illustrations below. One is with a gloss finish and the other mat.

                          Ode to Art - Illustration 1 Gloss                                     Ode to Art - Illustration 2 Mat

I created these pieces not only with Ode to Art in mind, but also in response to the wonderful contemporary classical sounds of Ludovico Einaudi, who guided my pen gestures and resonated sounds that I transformed into lines. I love working to his music, it is so inspiring to me. Here is one piece below ... 'Fairytale', the perfect piece to accompany me as I illustrate into my monochrome world.

Ludovico Einaudi, simply love him ... well his music anyway! Never met him personally!! Sometimes I put the music on and drift of to sleep, it is truly magical. I didn't fall asleep whilst drawing by the way, instead the music lead me into a fantasy musically illustrated landscape.

Here's a little picture of the work station, pens, rubber gloves to avoid greasy fingers on the metal which will stop the ink from absorbing into the metal, poem, notes and a few pictures for inspiration from some of my previous works ... not to mention Ludovico playing in the background!

The concept of this piece is to create an illustrated jewellery collection. These sheets of aluminium are going to be sliced up and made into bracelets, as the picture is divided up and be available for sale.

I like the idea that different people will each take a piece of one picture and as they wear the piece they will take it on their journey and hopefully the bracelets will also inspire the wearers to journey into their imagination too.

All of the bracelets will have a little signed piece of the poem on the inside too.

Here are some examples of how the designs may look once they are cut into bracelets. Each bracelet will come with a signed copy of the poem and an image of the complete picture from which it came.

The Ode to Art bracelet collection will be available to buy at my next exhibition.

 Adventures Into The Monochronium 26th May - 7th July 2012 at Lighthouse Poole.

I am really looking forward to seeing how these turn out ... I think they will be really special and I am looking forward to wearing a little piece of 'Inspire' on my arm.

Inspire 52 - Week 14. Home Is Where The Art Is

WARNING!!!
It's a long one this week, but there's plenty of adventure down a country road, out of a sinking canoe and into a little white boat, make sure you take your passport! I've got so much to say this week and with a little bit of reading between the lines, I hope you enjoy it.

So this week brings a new huge shift for me, in energy, emotion, and location. I have to relocate and I am hoping this new place will be a 'home' for me. Even though I'm really not physically moving very far, I will be moving to a new beginning for me and a new phase of my journey, so in this respect it is a fair size shift that I will be embarking upon... and I'm really looking forward to it.

I've just never been the 'settle down' or 'conventional' kinda gal I guess... which in turn has lead me on adventures and away from the sense of 'home'. I must say, I do long to find a home, but it's not really just about where you rest your head at the end of the day that makes a home a home. It's more complex than that. For me it's about feeling welcome and safe in a place that feeds my soul and enables me to be free to be me.

As I am getting older, I do feel that I am getting wiser about life! Don't get me wrong, I still have a lot to learn, but as I look back and reflect about places and spaces I have been, I can start to unravel and understand who I am today and how all of those experiences have made me who I am.

I have struggled for pretty much most of my adult life about understanding my 'purpose' in life. Despite having many great life experiences, I have spent many years feeling a disconnection between what is inside me and what is going on in my outside environment. Finding myself in situations that seem surreal and unconnected to what is true to me. I must admit that since coming back to England, about 6 years ago now, I have probably begun the most important journey of my life and yet ironically that journey has involved coming back to my home country.

"Life is old there, older than the trees, 

younger than the mountains growing like a breeze ...

All my memories, gather round her
Modest lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye ...

Driving down the road I get a feeling

That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday

Country roads take me home to the place I belong ..."

Exerts from Country Road - John Denver

Something clicked with me this winter, my purpose started to show light in the crack of an opening doorway. I travelled back into times of disconnection and began to identify what was missing back then, and the answer was always the same. It soon became very clear that this there was this 'thing' that is the most important 'thing' in my life, it always has and probably always will be. It feeds my soul, makes me happy and enables me to be me and is my purpose. Now I know this all sounds very dramatic, but I have realised that there is no point to my life without art!

You may wonder why I'm making such a big deal of this, well recognising and unconditionally embracing my creativity is something that I have spent many years supressing. I have been surrounded by many business people in my life, people into economics who count and calculate everything and continuously watch the news! Who make statements like, "artists are over sensitive", "artists are on a different planet", "artists aren't in touch with reality', so as a result I resorted to taming my art spirit in order to conform and make other people happy. I even tried watching the news everyday, reading a newspaper a few times and becoming friends with a calculator! (the only downfall to many years of a news-less life is the other week when I found myself without petrol, but even that was a bonus, because it enabled me to slow down and walk to places instead of taking the car - healthy bonus!)

This has ultimately lead to feeling lost and disconnected to the life I want to live, and in the quest to make others happy, I found myself paddling upstream in someone else's river. 

Hazel - Hazel River  - art + someone else's river + a stack of newspapers + a bucket of calculators + old canoe = capsize + abandon ship

(.... ooh ... I feel a story coming on!....)

So, I got out of my old calculator and newspaper filled canoe, abandoned it on the side of the dark river and walked toward the 'purpose door' that was seducing me on the river bank with it's attractive warm glowing light from within. I peeked through the key hole first and saw something very different from  the place I had been trying to conquer. I had been on a quest against the current, that the shadow once told me was the right way to go.

I pushed the door slowly open and a warm breeze caressed my face. I found myself on the bank of another river, but this one was bright and crystal clear. How come it was so different from the other one? I turned back to look through the door and I could see the shadow standing on the side of his river, surrounding him was also brightness and clearwater, yet when I looked further upstream, I could see my canoe slowly sinking into the muddy river bank where I has left it. The newspapers and calculators floating up to the surface of the waters and being swept away in the current. 'That was a narrow escape', I thought to myself.

I stepped inside the door, and closed it behind me. My feet filled with the feeling of butterflies and I looked down. There was a suitcase, it had my name on it, and lots of stickers of places I had already visited and others where I have not been yet. I opened it and inside was a passport and a ticket for travelling plans with my name on them. There were also pens, brushes, lots of paper and a cuddly cat and owl fluffy toys and a load of keys, all sorts of shapes and sizes, some old and some new. 'Bizarre' I said to myself then closed the case, picked it up and walked over to the river side. 

I looked upstream I could see a little house on a hill in the distance, I figured that's where I needed to go. Before I even contemplated how I was going to get there, given that I had left my canoe behind on the other river, a little white rowing boat came floating down the river. There was no one in it but it just parked itself up beside me. Just then, a flap opened up on the side of it and out sprung a rolling red carpet that unfurled itself right up to my toes. This made me jump and I looked around to see if there was anyone near or in the boat, but there was no-one. I walked down the soft beautiful red carpet and climbed into the boat, and just as fast as it unfurled, the red carpet rolled itself back up and snapped shut inside it's hatch. I secured my suitcase under the seat and sat down. I was about to take hold of the oars when I head a voice, 'Passport please', I turned around, 'Passport please', knock knock knock, 'Passport please'. There was a little box, it was locked. I scrambled to open my suitcase. There were loads of small keys, at least 20 small ones, I thought this could take some time. I randomly took a key and tried it in the lock. It turned. 

'Good morning, we have been expecting you' said a little blue elf with a pair of glasses. 'We have been waiting a long time, but hey, no time like the present hey?' 'Yes, I suppose not', I replied, stunned and curious at the same time.

'Business is business, so business first please, can I see your passport?'. I handed it over. 'I see, very interesting' he turned a few pages, 'right, okey dokes .... uhuh, I see... great stuff...' he stamped the passport on several pages, 'lovely jubbly', shut the passport and gave it back to me. 'Please make sure you lock this box after me, thank you and see you again soon', he smiled then jumped off the tiny stool he was standing on and skipped down a tiny winding staircase that seemed to lead beyond the bottom of the boat. I peered inside the box, but he was gone, so I closed the lid and locked it shut, safely put my passport and the key back in my suitcase and sat back down. 

I took in a deep breath and took hold of the oars ...

What is at the end of the line? ................ Home is where the art is ................

BACK TO BLOG!

Ooh got a bit carried away there ... loving it getting lost in the 'zone'... anyway, I hope you get gist of this weeks blog, insight and message.

I have just one more thing to say, I'm coming out of the closet! YES, I AM AN ARTIST AND I AM PROUD!!!

Just one little thing before I go ...

Ode to Art

The journey began at the beginning;

Air was filled with blossom flowers

And river fresh with playful singing,

The gift was given, presented powers.

Translating sounds into lines on pages

Spellbound images, whispered words, 

A pocket full of ink and painted fizz

Is my ticket to ride the soaring birds

The journey becomes clearer in stages

The right train really won't take ages

To find that home is where the art is.

Poem by Hazel Evans 2012

Inspire 52 - Week 13. One Momo in Time

"Time and tide wait for no man"

St. Marher, 1225

It was the obvious choice of quote so it had to go in ... forgive me by not starting off with a more original quote, but in my defence it's a pretty old one which is fabulously wise!

(Note to self ... find another time related quote before the end of this blog).

So here we are, time has brought us bright and spangly into spring. It's been glorious sunshine all week here in this part of England ... simply a divine way to welcome the longer days. It does strangely feel a bit like summer, so are we in fact ahead of our time?

I have been trying to give myself a bit more time and have started to voyage to nearby destinations on foot. This has given me the opportunity to enjoy the trees, which have begun to wake up, and take a medatative moment of 'just stop working the brain so hard 24/7'. I do love a good stroll, even if it is in an urban environment and the traffic is shouting loudly, I tend to pop in the tunes and absorb the fine notes, then find zen in the pace. Of course, one cannot beat a lovely promenade down the beach promenade ... that is, after all, what it was designed for and indeed fulfils it's role perfectly!

Take Time Out

From where do you actually take time 'out' of? Can we take time out of the cupboard, a box or a bag? 'Honey, can you just take the time out of the freezer, it needs to defrost in time for dinner!'

In Time

Can you actually get in time? Like, climb right inside it? If you can be in good time, can you also be in sticky time? What does it look like inside time? I think it would be an interesting place to visit....

Sorry ... I'm getting way too surreal ... it's 1:59 am on Friday morning and I am feeling a bit delirious ... need sleep ... must ... log out ... come  ........ back .................tomorrow ......zzzzz

I'm back! ... Friday morning ....

Time... an hour ... a minute ... a second ... a moment ... a beat ...

The inspiration hit me like a big surprise party this week. I really didn't know what was going to happen until Thursday afternoon. During a meeting with a collaborator for my upcoming exhibition it just all made sense and the light bulb came on. Music - art - music - art - music - art - perfect combination - indeed, 'thus not one and the same?' I ask!

I will be working with Timo Peach from Momotempo on the sound-scape for 'Adventures into The Monochronium' and I'm not going to say anymore than that because my plans for the exhibition are just getting more exciting by the minute!

Week 13

Ahh, a bakers dozen, an extra one in the pack, what a bonus ... can I have a scone with my tea? ... and nope, 13 O'clock does not exist on my clock!

Temporary image ... not with my nice camera at the mo'mo' 

Will re-post with lovely pics soon and let you know on www.facebook.com/HazelEvansArtist

Timo gave me some listening homework to do which was perfect for the creation of this new piece. I knew what I had to do, and it fitted in perfectly with an illustration I wanted to create using this old clock face circle. This clock design is going to belong on the front of my new portable artist home. It is, as we speak, in construction by Arts University College students at Bournemouth ... and this clock will feature on my front door. It is indeed coming along well and will be ready in about 3 weeks. It includes a wardrobe, a Post Office, a suitcase, a piano and a typewriter amongst many other things.

So back to the Momo ... I created this piece with time in mind and on The Midnight Road. http://soundcloud.com/momotempo/the-midnight-road

The journey was a short and a well executed one, as once I got on the path, it was smooth running from there. It took me over the threshold of midnight and continued into my dreams once I had put down my ink pen and rested my head in bed.

As usual, the story of this piece unravelled itself before me. And so the story began (this is the first time I am going to write it sentence after sentence by the way)...

One moment in time
Two spend or to keep?
See
Four you or me?
Jive alive
Biscuits travel
Elevens'
Wait for Tea.
Nine Lives ...
Play it again ...
Seven ...
Midnight Biscuits ... I think there is enough for everyone... you and me
Feel the beautiful warm sunshine ... I think there is enough for everyone... you and me
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
One ticket please ... where's my suitcase?
... all the trees are sleeping...
Trying to stay awake???

I think it makes sense! It does to me, I hope you get it too... (she glances at the text then back at the picture - text - picture - text - picture with The Midnight Road still playing in her ears) ... "Yes I think it makes sense!!"

Well that's this week done ... enjoy and have a great rest of week whatever you may be up to, wherever you may go, but what ever you do, make sure to spend a moment of utter enjoyment to fill your soul with joy ... somewhere and somehow it can be done ... music is a good place to start!

My next exhibition at Lighthouse Poole is going to be quite different from the last ... you will find out more next week ...  so much is happening ... it's all kicking of ... join the ride ... we are going on a journey! ....

P.S. Momo, am lovin' the use of Mono!

Check out Momotempo - Awesome stuff
http://www.momotempo.co.uk/     http://soundcloud.com/momotempo

Oh!! almost forgot that quote I promised at the beginning of the blog... here's two that jumped out at me ...

"I must govern the clock, not be governed by it."

Golda Meir

"Know how to live the time that is given to you."

Dario Fo

Inspire 52 - Week 12. Adventures Into The Passport

Week 12 of year 2012, and it's the year for a new passport for me... Yes indeed it has been a whole 10 years since my last one, and I am now preparing to get a new one, but before I do lets make some art about it!

The whole notion of getting a new passport has inspired me this week and it seems to be perfect timing numbers-wise, the perfect dozen! And what better time to think about the adventures ahead as we break out of the grip of winter into glorious summertime.... I AM ALIVE!!!

It has got me thinking about the journey of the last 10 years. Where has this passport taken me? Who is that girl in that picture in 2002 and what has happened to her? And what is the next part of the journey?

I remember which Post Office photo booth I went into to get this picture taken. It was the summer in 2002 and I had come back to England  from my first year living in Grenoble and teaching English. I was in love and living with my French boyfriend at the time. I was also working in a surf jewellery company and in the picture I am wearing one of the shell necklaces.

The journey of the last ten years has taken me far from one camera flashing moment in that photo booth. Looking though my passport I have stamps for France, Morocco, Slovakia, Egypt, Tanzania, HongKong, The Philippines, Borocay Island, and Namibia. These journeys have taken me not only physically to other destinations but have formed part of who I am today. Some of the journeys were in love, others in adventure or escapism.

Passport Memories

Road trip from Grenoble to the Tatras Mountains in Slovakia. Three days journey through Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Slovakia over Christmas. It was a beautiful trip to visit my best friend at her family home for Christmas. Christmas day was in Saltzberg, Weiss bier and sauerkraut in the central square. A nice moment. Driving home in the driving snow. Life would get more complicated after this.

I remember walking down the street in Metro Manila alone, the colour of my skin and my height clearly distinguishing me as a stranger. My mobile phone rang. I knew the number. I didn't answer as I didn't fancy being subject to exactly what I was escaping from... if only he knew where I was, I am sure it would have made him even angrier! It was probably one of the most surreal moments of my life so far.

Hong Kong. A flighting visit. I was on my way back from the Phillippines and I had a six hour stop over. Any normal single white female would have stayed safely in the airport and read a book, but I fancied a challenge with my new found sense of freedom. I sat in the airport for 10 minutes and weighed up the pros and cons and then decided to go for it. I checked out, got on the navette train, then got a taxi, walked a bit and then got a boat over to central Hong Kong. It was about 6pm and all the town was illuminated. Nobody knew where I was in the world. It was great. I walked around for a bit took some photos and then got the boat, taxi and train back to get my flight home. This moment changed me.

So what now?
I long to travel again. I love travelling on my own, or meeting up with someone somewhere then going onto somewhere different. I love journeys. My next big soulful journey I want to be India. But the USA has been calling me to go back there too ... I don't know... one thing is sure, I've got a lot to get done here before I can go anywhere else.

What about this week?

So as you can see from the image at the beginning of the blog I have created a new passport. My next exhibition is going to be 'Adventures into The Monochronium' and I figured I needed a passport for this as the journey is quite an official one! I have made sure I have gained all relevant and official stamps and visas necessary and am now preparing to embark on the next creative journey.

You are of course welcome too. You can come to 'Adventures into The Monochronium' without a passport if you are just visiting for the day, from 26th May onwards. I will however be there until 7th July hence official document requirements! Now I know this seems like quite a way away, but like all great voyages it's all in the preparation to make a safe and enjoyable trip!
Who is the woman in the new passport?

Well that is a good question. I think she is someone who knows more about what she wants from her next journey.

Inspire 52 - Week 11. Lighthouse and the Ballet Boyz

Ooh, that title "Lighthouse and the Ballet Boyz" sounds like a new fairy story! Maybe I'll write one! But before that here is my inspiration for this week...

If you have seen any of my work from my life before Inspire 52, you will know that I am Artist in Residence at Lighthouse, Poole's centre for the arts, and have been developing my art practice with inspiration from the performing arts. This ongoing relationship with Lighthouse has been invaluable for the development of my work and you can see through my exhibition work, live art and 2D work that performance art has a great influence on my style.

When I began my residency at the end of 2010, I started making simple observations of shows by attending a wide variety of rehearsals and performances. These sketches have transformed my style and approach to my 2D work and have greatly influenced my use of black ink, as this is all I use now when I go to see shows. I tried colour a few times, but when the lights are down or up in various different colours, it is difficult to distinguish which pencils are which; I once illustrated a pink violin when I wanted it to be orange! And thus so, one of the reasons why my affinity with monochrome became affirmed in my current work.

In 2011 I created a collection of over 20 finished illustrations in direct real-time response to performances at Lighthouse, many of these were of The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO), and exhibited works at The Monochronium exhibition in October 2011. Since then I have been developing new collaborations with artists and working on my upcoming six week exhibition which will take place from May to July this year at Lighthouse, which also features as part of Dorset Art Weeks 2012 (DAW).

So where am I going with all of this? Well, what I want to get around to telling you is that this week, I have started back with my observations of performances, and what better way to start than by watching a company of very fit men dancing and flexing around the stage! Yes, Ballet Boyz, hurrah!! It was a stunning show and in a way I feel my illustration does not do it justice, but I have aimed to capture the essence of the show through movement, set and the connection between the dancers.

It is always quite tricky illustrating dance or theatre as so much of it requires actively watching the performance, whereas when watching the BSO or other musicians or concerts I can let my ears do the watching for me and translate the sounds into lines whilst keeping my eye on the pen and paper. So when I say saw The Ballet Boyz, I probably only really saw half of the show!

Having said that, the music and the set were very inspiring and you can see this resonating though the journey of this illustration, also with recognition of the urban feel of elements in the performance. I very much enjoyed their use of projected film and brick work walls and windows as their backdrop. The use of space definition though lighting I felt was also really strong and absolutely loved how this interacted with the dancers.

As I like to create a finished piece in the duration of the performance, it is often very challenging when the performances are short. However, I feel that creating the work in real-time to the performance gives it a real sense of authenticity when representing the show, the lines are the movements and sounds that have been regurgitated through my senses and nerves to guide my hand in marking the page. I really enjoy this process, it is really relaxing and very absorbing.

Sometimes this process has been very challenging when I can't really see where my pen is moving because it is so dark in the auditorium, my favourite seating is therefore under the emergency lighting! I actually really enjoy sitting in 'less popular' seating areas because it gives me a completely different perspective, than when I go and see a show when I'm not illustrating it. I often like to be quite far from the stage, and in particular I love being up in the circle when illustrating the BSO because I feel like the music lifts up into the sky and that's where I feel I am up in the circle. I also love being right at the back with all the audience in front of me. I think perhaps I feel like I can absorb the whole arena this way and it feels more spacious. This way I also have a wider vision of the performance which helps with capturing the shows 'essence' in my work.

I have enjoyed this week, it has been good to start back at shows to continue the development and absorption of the influence of performance art on my work. Although the sketches I produce are in real-time, the lasting effects of the performances I watch are still cogitating inside me ready for other artistic expression. Some of these will be undoubtedly revealed in my upcoming exhibition from the 26th May to 7th July at Lighthouse Gallery.

Now for the story ...

Once upon a time, in a land where the grass was as blue as the sea, there was a boy who lived in a lighthouse ... 

 

Hazel Evans Artist in Residence Lighthouse Poole

Inspire 52 - Week 10. Brilliance and The Flower Forest

Tuesday 6th March 2012

Wow ... I'm into double figures! Week 10 = just under 20% complete... not that i'm wishing the end of the project to arrive, indeed not .. in fact I am riving in the fact that spring is well on its way and I am determind to capture some beautiful moments this summer so I can't tell you how excited I am at the onset of spring, it's very exciting for me.

This week is pretty full on... Brilliance, the art trail exhibiton in Old Town Poole is happening this weekend and I am taking part with a new illuminated illustrative piece. The images below only show sections of the pieces I have created for the site specific installation I will be exhibitiing in collaboration with New Street Florist. I don't want to give the whole thing away just yet, hence the cropped images, but I will publish the entire images and pictures of the show as an addition to the blog at the end of the week.

Brilliance 2012 is also part of the Twin Sails Bridge, new iconic landmark in Poole, opening this weekend and I shall also be singing in the Olympic Coastal Voices Choir as part of the concert celebrations on Friday 9th March ... It's going to be a great evening ... lalalalaaaaa!

Anyway back to The Flower Forest, which is indeed inspired by flowers! But it's about the magicality of flowers and I have cretaed a concise illustrative story that takes the onlooker into an imaginary world where the flowers are massive and two sisters are on the quest for the perfect flower to give as a gift to their mother ... yes Mother's Day soon too! This piece is aimed to be simply beautiful with a sprinkling of fairy dust ... nothing too deep this week you'll be glad to know!

Click on the image to enlarge

I will post the full pictures at the end of the week as well as some pictures of the event and feedback on how it went, so until then, have a great rest of week... by the way my favorite flowers are those roses that have a beautifully strong scent that takes you back to ye ol' England. I also love forget-me-knots and all those tiny little wild flowers that just pop up every where in all sort of different places.

Ciao for now :-)

Saturday 10th March 2012

Hello and welcome back. Yesterday evening was fantastic. There was a great feeling about the whole event. The Twin Sails bridge openeing was greta and we (the Coastal Voices Olympic Choir) did a great job of our first performance.

It was wonderful watching people enjoying my illuminated illustrative installation. There were light installations in over 20 locations throughout Poole Old Town and on the quay.

My piece consists of three framed hanging illustrations, ink on tracing paper, with back lighting. The picture sequence tells a short story about two sisters who go into the Flower Forest in search of the perfect flower, and like all good fairy tales, it has a happy ending.

The Flower Forest

Into the forest they went ... they searched all day and all night for the perfect flower ... they saw roses, lillies and tulips, every flower you could ever imagine. At night the flowers came alive with pollen glowing bright. It was there in the moonlight, they found the perfect flower, a gift form the heart.

Inspire 52 - Week 9. A-Z of Pen and Mind

The pages were absent of markings as she opened the book. Pure whiteness was waiting for a burst of energy as she remained caged only by her will to make the first mark. As she began the scribblings, she recalled how the journey this week had taken her to revisit a drowned soul who told her to go back to where she came from because everyone was waiting for her to arrive. 'Don't let fear wobble you', said her friend, as she was reminded of the grains of seed she had planted. Pen in hand, she continued to scribe her way to the highest mountain and from the top she could trace her inky footsteps that illustrated the path to the top.

Just then, from behind swooped overhead the Junky Funky Flying Monkey. He grasped her with his furry hands and flew her over land and sea. They flew for two days and five nights, she no longer knew where she was or even if she could ever return to where she had come from, but she knew she was safe with his kind heart. 

They were weary when they finally landed but loaded with places and faces they had seen. As she fell asleep in the warm embrace of Junky Funky she drifted into her dreams. She was dancing at a grand ball, all eyes were on her but no-one knew who she was behind the mask. She danced the night away, turning and twisting and gliding into the music. As the clock struck nought in a bolt of light she was transported out into the rain. There was a door that she could not open. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't open it, 'If only I had they key' she thought to herself, as she resigned herself to being drenched and cold. It was now half past too long and in the midst of the quiet silence came a moment of rest. There were no thoughts and no more dreaming. But it only lasted for a moment as she was stirred from her sleep by the sound of tearing paper. 'What are you doing Monkey!!' she shouted. 'I'm clearing up' said Junky Funky, 'All this stuff needs to go'. Whilst she had been sleeping Junky Funky had been tearing paper all night, so much so that they were taken on a tidal wave of torn paper that swept them away in a gush of howling wind. 'Oh Junky, look what you've done! Why did you need to tear it all up?!!', But it was no good, the flood got bigger and the waves of paper grew higher and stronger, they were floating downstream in an upside down umbrella, rocking, twisting and twirling into a very big whirlpool.

'Paper floods are so much worse than water floods' she thought to herself as she wondered however would she find the X that marked the spot. Had the flood taken her on a new journey? or just down the same path faster, or down the wrong path slower? She just didn't know where she was. As the flood subsided and the umbrella stopped turning quite so fast, she found herself floating alone in the umbrelly boat. Funky Junky was long gone, he had dived into the depths of the paper ocean, she knew she would never see him again. Everything was still again as she twirled in the umbrelly boat under a starry sky, 'Yes!' she said to herself, something was becoming clearer as she looked over the side and saw her zheal reflection looking back. They both smiled.