Renewal is my second Summer-Started series. The first was Transitions. As with Transitions, I chose a theme and focused on that theme every time I did any sort of work on it.
Renewal began in spring 2022 with a series of lemon yellow and cerulean blue pieces. And I let them sit for what felt like forever while I navigated a lot of strangeness in my life.
In early August, I set up my studio table for painting, stamping, and dyeing. I’d already tried several solid dye experiments that failed to give me what I wanted, struggled with several attempts at other starts that felt only marginally successful, and had one painful ice dye session that gave me some beautiful small pieces but left my back hurting quite bad for almost two weeks. I needed some change. The Folk suggested the theme of Renewal.
Through the fall, I worked on the parts for the series amid more chaos than I’d anticipated. I navigated grief, fear, anger, depression, exhaustion, anxiety, and so many twists and turns I lost count well before things settled out.
I let myself rest. Renewal. It’s what I asked for, and it’s what I got. This series focuses on the renewing part, because it is wise to leave the pain and suffering behind when you truly want renewal.
Have you ever wondered why it feels so good to lean up against a tree? Especially when you’ve just been through something traumatic?
Deep into the soil, Roots reach for the building blocks of what’s to come. Tucked away in their plan is a beautiful new beginning. Renewal. That’s their aim. They carry something new into the world with each inch of reach.
Seeds land where they will, with ideas in mind of how they’ll grow. Sometimes the ground is stable and ready to receive them. Sometimes they gotta take a beat to let the ground settle before they can dig in and get growing. Sometimes the ideas they started off with need a bit of renewal before taking root, and sometimes the ground does, too.
Upheaval must happen before Renewal begins. It’s not pretty or clean. It can be quite beautiful.
Sometimes, tearing apart what was is energized with great joy and delight in the chaos created. Those are the Kali-moments, when you look about you seeing all that you’ve ripped apart still hanging in the air in a maelstorm of confusion. The beauty is Terrible and Awe-inspiring. Then, it’s gone.
Renewal requires organization amid chaos. After the destruction of what was and the stillness of incubation, comes the beginning of something new. That something new requires a Big Dream.
Big Dreams give us a blue print for what we may become. The path there doesn’t always lead us to the exact dream, but it’s shaped and fueled by the dream.
Without a Big Dream, we remain only seeds. Filled with potential. Maybe even sparked with life. But directionless and unfocused we won’t grow into much.
So Dream a Big Dream, then grow like crazy.
Crack Open.
There’s Fire within.
That’s the heart of Renewal. Fire, Breaking into the world. When we tend the seeds of our lives well, they crack open, releasing so much stored potential. That potential becomes the garden of our personal Eden.
The world is utterly chaotic when you’re a seedling. Wind blows. Rain falls. Light feeds you…but it can also burn your tender leaves.
And the beings all about you! They move and sway and trample and come and go. There’s so much going on.
The directive you got was Sprout, and so you have. Life here is bright and new. If you grow strong, one day you’ll be the one commanding all the little seeds to Sprout!