Returning to your roots

This week has been very stressful for me. We've had car issues (mechanics, need I say more?) and health insurance issues (trying in to reduce their costs by killing me with paperwork) and I haven't been sleeping...I hit this place yesterday where I thought I could feel my brain trying to explode out of my head. And then to top it off the IAA is meeting on Saturday and we have a record 12 people coming! that's 11 ATCs that I had to get done. Normally, art is a solace for me, but when I sat down at my studio table all I wanted to do was cry at the thought of having to make so many cards.
But then, something wonderful happened; I pulled out my trusty copic markers (have you seen them? They're amazing! Alcohol based, so no nasty cancer causing chemicals, completely refillable with replaceable nibs, so environmentally friendly and beautiful transparent colors) and I started to color. All of a sudden, I remembered when I was little, how much I loved to color. First with crayons and then later, with colored pencils. It was a form of meditation for me, putting color to the world and settling everything inside. And as I sat at my table coloring in my ATCs for this Saturday, I found that same safe place inside of me. Everything relaxed, everything stilled and the world, for once, did not seem such a chaotic place. Instead it was awash in transparent colors reflecting a serenity I'd all but forgotten.
You should try returning to your roots--find that first thing about art that you loved and do it again. See if it doesn't still fill you with wonder.
Here are a sampling of my cards--I couldn't fit them all in one scan since there were so many of them. The name of the stamp I used here is "Anxious Annie," I thought it was fitting. You really have to click on the picture to get a real idea of what the colors look like. Since the cards are so small here, you can't see the detail.


Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.