by June | Jul 21, 2018 | Blogposts
She was a child who loved to create! Colours in her paintings, unusual shapes in her designs, squiggles on paper that became flowers and patterns and who-knows-what in her young imaginative mind, brought her great delight and satisfaction.
But when her teacher didn’t “see” what the child saw and said “Why can’t you colour within the lines? Why can’t you do the assignment as I gave it to you?”, that all came to an end. The little child interpreted those comments that she was a failure and carried that feeling with her throughout her adult life. She hardly ever uttered the words “I’ll try.” And if she did try, it was always stated as “I’ll try, but …”
One day at coffee during a workshop I was facilitating, Elspeth began to explain her frustration telling me that she was not creative, she could not draw or paint, she had no artistic ability, and she was going to leave the workshop. “I’m such a failure!” she said, staring at the blank sheet of paper, unable to put any mark on the sheet of paper in front of her. Failure? Not in my eyes. But in her eyes, yes, failure.
Elspeth was not looking at her work that day through the eyes of the happy little girl of long ago who took a pattern and played with it using paints and crayons and coloured pencils and her creative imagination. In her creatively extended pattern beyond-the-shapes’-boundaries, she was anything-but-a-failure. When Elspeth grew up and remembered her childhood teacher’s comments, her spirit was stifled. For decades, she saw herself as a failure, not just in artistic endeavours, but in many areas of her life.
As we chatted, she began to realize that a comment made long ago had crippled her adult self-image. Right then and there, she made a conscious decision to no longer give her power away to that memory and she decided to remain in the workshop. Before she knew it, she was creating incredible pieces of marbled paper which she later turned into envelopes, greeting cards and wrapping paper. “I didn’t know I could do anything like that” she said with a big smile as she left that day. “But I can! And I will!” And, she has!
How often do we let the negative words of the past flood our present and restrict our creativity? How often do we allow others or memories of the past have power over us? How often do we put limits on ourselves and don’t risk, don’t travel, don’t take workshops, don’t step out of our comfort zone and try something new. We’ve all done it at one time or some way or another. There are places I have not travelled – yet. There are books I have not read – yet. There are dreams I have not realized – yet. There are things in the technology world I cannot do – yet. There are crafts and skills I cannot do – yet.
One thing I know … I won’t let negative thoughts, memories, people stop or limit my forays into learning and growing. So, this weekend, I’m off to learn a new Paste Paper technique … removing another thing on my “Yet-List.”
© June Maffin
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by June | Jun 10, 2018 | Blogposts
A bedtime story … about a Frog Hat. It’s a true story and I thought it would be fun to share it ’cause there is so much happening in the world that seems to be robbing people of fun-moments. So – on to the story.
Every spring, my husband Hans and I would go to an art retreat for a few days. Everyone brings art supplies/books they no longer use/want and/or artistic creations they’ve made, etc. which are then raffled off and won by successful bidders. Each year, the Frog Hat is hidden in one of the items and the successful bidder of the object becomes the new owner of the Frog Hat for the coming year – whether they want to or not! <g> Then, at the next art retreat, they must hide the hat so that someone else becomes its unsuspecting owner.
One year, my name was drawn for an item I had hoped to get and inside it – was the Frog Hat! Hans looked sooooo great in it, I encouraged him to share it with me for the year. And, he did. He wore it the rest of the art retreat weekend. It was a fun weekend! He wore it to our son and daughter in law’s wedding when he gave his speech to the couple (he was the groom’s Best Man <g>).
During his speech about the importance of ‘play’ and laughter in a marriage, Hans told the story of the Frog Hat and at the end, gave the bride and groom a Minnie Mouse bridal veil and Mickey Mouse groom’s hat we couldn’t resist purchasing for them while in Disneyland to remind them of the importance of building in moments of play and laughter into their marriage. It was such a fun wedding! Then he wore it at our local Farmer’s Market as part of his ‘sandwich-board’ costume he wore to tell people that his art group was sponsoring an Art Sale just down the street that day. More fun!
And then – then we had to think of something to hide the Frog Hat next year’s art retreat. And, we did! Hans built a little bird house and under the fake flooring, he placed the Frog Hat. Our final bit of fun with the Frog Hat came when no one – not a single person! – figured out which item was concealing the hat that year. We had fooled everyone. 🙂 Fun – not just one moment but lots of moments of fun … and all because of a Frog Hat.
by June | May 21, 2018 | Blogposts
a drive down a road not travelled
a chair by the river called and spoke
gaze ponder exhale write sketch feel believe
inhale peace
blessed moment
oh that we could all
come sit rest
somewhere
from the chaos of the world around us
we can
we must
Photo & Text © June Maffin
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by June | May 15, 2018 | Blogposts
Dandelions. They are here; they are there; they are everywhere. And they offer a delightful opportunity for reflection about life. Their bright yellow dandelion flowers pop out of tall green grass. Often regarded as unwanted additions to lawns and gardens, two questions rise: are dandelions, weeds? are dandelions, flowers?
I like to think of dandelions as unloved flowers: bringing nourishment to our bodies in salads; encouraging our sense of beauty and playfulness when created into Dandelion Tiaras such as the ones in the photo that a friend and I made.
Perspective. Maybe it’s all about perspective? And not just perspective about dandelions … but perspective about all of life?
© June Maffin
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by June | May 10, 2018 | Blogposts
Thoughts of … travel … grief … discovery … float through my head as I deal with jetlag and begin to sort through photos I took while on my trip to the Netherlands visiting with my late husband’s Dutch siblings / nieces / nephews.
My camera … captured images of tulips, cobblestone streets, picturesque villages, family birthday parties, historic buildings, and working windmills close by one another in the village of Zaanse Schans such as this photo of one of the windmills I took that day. My heart … captured images of previous visits, grief, beauty, healing and more.
And now, jet lag. I’ve read that it takes one full day to recover from each hour of time-difference. If that’s true, then it’s going to take me at least a week before my body doesn’t want to wake up at 2:00 am. In the meantime, photos of my trip are beginning to be sorted.
Ibn Battuta (Moroccan 14th century botanist, judge, explorer who traveled some 73,000 miles from present-day North and West Africa to Pakistan, India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and China – a distance surpassing that of Marco Polo) understands: “Travelling – it leaves you speechless then it turns you into a storyteller.” In time, photos from my trip will likely emerge … as likely will the stories. May we all make time to remember and tell our stories.
© June Maffin
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by June | Apr 26, 2018 | Blogposts
On this day, April 26th, many years ago, I received my very-favourite-ever-present … the safe delivery of a much-prayed-about, hoped-for, oh-so-wanted baby.
Doctors told my husband and I that I could never conceive … surprise!. Then they told us that I wouldn’t carry the baby full term … surprise again!
Then they said that the baby wouldn’t make it beyond the first month … another surprise!Oh, dear doctors, please don’t tell new moms that. You can given an educated guess, but you don’t know for certain!. And then they said that the baby wouldn’t make it beyond the first year … clearly the doctors hadn’t met my son.
Along with what seemed to be an unending series of visits to Children’s Hospital with painful and prolonged testing and procedures over many ensuing years, a boy who “beat the odds” from the get-go, continued his life.
As a child, he was tenacious, courageous, had a great sense of humour (he loved being the McDonald’s Hamburglar at Hallowe’en). He was willing to try things (including baseball and soccer neither of which he liked!). He became fascinated by politics at a very early age (even at eight when he worked for the Tom Siddon campaign!), and much more. Health issues still plague him as an adult, but he deals with them as he’s dealt with all of life – head on, Courage doesn’t always shout. Sometimes it’s just a quiet voice deep within that says “keep on, keeping on!”
© June Maffin
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{blurry photos – originals aren’t blurry … just these copies. <sigh>}
