Sarah Crawford :: The Countdown :: 32cm x 32cm :: Acrylic on canvas
It’s been a quiet time for my artwork since returning from Colombia. I’ve been busy, yes, definitely there is that. I also had that feeling after those amazing trips when you wonder where your place is in the world. You don’t feel as inspired by your surrounds because you have just returned from something so different, so spectacular and life changing that you can’t imagine going back to the life you once had. The things before you went away that you were unhappy with are magnified ten times over. A million times over. You wonder how you let them stay in your life. Maybe because you were in the countdown. The countdown to the dream holiday. You can put up with so much when you know you have something wonderful to look forward to.
So when you return, there is no countdown. It has dissolved. Gone. You have your memories of a world that was fun, where you smiled each day, laughed, experienced the new, explored and loved every moment. There were no pressures. You did what made you happy, each day was about living for joy, making the most of it all and capturing moments so you can hold onto them forever. You felt a warmth in your heart because you are feeling passion for life, you are living.
The few months after returning from this trip I found it hard to paint. My surrounds and my life were no longer inspiring me in the same way. I wasn’t feeling that same passion I had experienced. So it became a quiet time for my creations. Trying out new techniques, sketching up new ideas. Nothing really filling my heart with a sense of love.
It took me two months to make big changes to find that passion for life, for creating. And another month to really start feeling myself again. My trip to Colombia changed my life. It was everything I had dreamed of and more. It left me with a sense of happiness but also the urge to be there once more. So I now have made my own countdown. It doesn’t have any number of days just a knowledge that someday I would be back there, in Cartagena, listening to the music, laughing and happy, in awe of a culture that is so spectacular and rich in history. And now, I am sitting here, full of passion for life, and in what I do. I am on my new adventure with no idea what will come next other than something fresh. Something new and before I know it the countdown of days will be on again to go back to Cartagena. But for now, I paint and have new ideas, am finding inspirations in so many places – and dreaming of relaxing in a hammock in the not too distant future.
Sarah xo
The painting ‘The Countdown’ is the first for me in 2012 and is part of series of the same name. It represents the need for passion in life and of living each day with hope and happiness and believing there is a countdown to something even more spectacular to look forward to.
Click here to view this artwork and more at www.sarahcrawford.com.au
SARAH CRAWFORD ARTIST 