The lockdown has given me the blessed opportunity to step back into my artistic efforts.Back in my 20's, I was always making something - drawing, painting, crafting. Once family and career and life took over, I put all my supplies in plastic bins in the basement and hoping for "some day I'll finish this." So, that time is now. I've pulled pieces and items from all over the house.
I gravitate to decorating with stones and shells as part of my aesthetic; there are candle bases and vases filled with stones or a cairn on a shelf with my rock designs. On every beach vacation, I'm known for scavenging for stones and shells. I've actually picked them up from streets (much to my daughter's embarrassment). I usually have to leave a good portion of my findings since I can't carry them all home. The ones from our trip to Cape Cod are stored in the plastic coffee cups we used in car. My collection includes keepsake shells and stones from Caribbean, Mexico and even Iceland. I've been actively doing rock art for the last few years, but not all stones lend themselves to that.
So, I've fired up my glue gun and my creativity! This has been an easy effort to do while we're watching our movies
and shows, rather than being on my phone, I'm actively planning out how I
want to lay it out. That actually takes the most time. The glue gun part happens quickly.
I embellished this turquoise blue wooden piece (purchased from a home store) with a collection of store bought shells. So, these shells are obviously
more exquisite and uniform. The shells were sitting in an unused vase, which was moved around until it was hidden in a corner. Now it's front and center of my bathroom. The incentive for this was finding similar products on Etsy going for $200. 
Oh yeah. I got this. The other frame is a wooden piece my daughter had half decorated in elementary school. I painted a uniform navy blue and glued the shells. Majority of the effort is in planning how to use these shells and balance the placement.
These blue candles were a collection that I received as a gift and were still in the box. I've spruced them up with glass marbles and shells and stones. Heck, let's do that vase too.
Also, thanks to Pinterest, I learned how to make shells into candles. So some of the beautiful larger shells now can be a decorative candle.
As for the wreaths, I bought 2 straw ones in 1997 (it was a thing in the 90's). I wrapped it in a pretty head scarf that was too torn to wear, a tulle ribbon from the gift wrapping drawer, and butterflies cut out from a tour magazine (print on inside and colors on outside)I love that all these old items in my basement and storage are now having a new life. I've already given my mother the wreaths and some candles. I've shared pictures with other family who have requested certain pieces.
By the way, I'm not done. I ordered some canvas boards (my first real expense!) to support some of the pebble artwork I plan to do.
In addition, I've also steered my creative efforts towards my poetry and blogs. I've been sending out my work to different online journals. Not all get accepted, but you need to keep trying. I've also been writing a lot for myself thanks to April being poetry month and there were lots of writing prompts going around.
My Poems published May 2020
"Unclaimed and Unnamed" - QUARANZINE: Art in Isolation
"Middle House with the Red Door" - Silver Birch Press
My LinkedIn blogs:
Work From Home Tips (Part 2)Note that my poem "Unclaimed and Unnamed" was posted on my blog in April as "Fall on Me." I edited it and reshaped it to be tighter before submitting and accepted a suggestion from the editor. It is one of my darker poems, but these are the times where we are grieving for the world.
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