Make it Monday

I've now been living in Amsterdam for an entire quarter. Time goes by so fast, doesn't it? The last three months were all about leaping up and down, clapping my hands and squealing "I'm living in Europe!!!!! I'm living in Europe!!!!! I'm living in Europe!!!!!!" Now, I've entered a phase where it's more of "I'm living in Europe! What now?" Multiple exclamation points give way to a question mark as I begin to ask myself: What do I want out of my time here?

So last week I sat down and looked into areas that I want to devote time and attention to this year. I won't go into all the details because it's very personal to me. But mostly I thought back to last year when I was dying to move here. What made me so excited was a picture of the kind of person I thought I could become, wanted to become, for which The Big Move would be the catalyst. 

One of those versions of me that I pictured was a more creative me. I know, it's ironic for someone working in the creative industry. I mean creative beyond what is required. I used to draw, but don't anymore. I love to write, but I don't make the time to do so apart from work and blogging. So I made some promises to myself, and to give them extra weight, I placed those promises in a structure. I drew up a plan to do certain things, for a certain amount of time, on certain days of the week.

Which is how Make It Monday was born. I designated Monday as the day on which, every week for one hour, I will sit down and make something with pen, paper and/or paint. I will draw, paint or collage something fun, creative and very me! I just wanted to give it a name, so Make It Mondays it is. It might change if I think of something better.

So here's something to kick off my first ever Make It Monday.

"Stepping Out," mixed media collage

Did I say one hour? Once I sat down at our long wooden dining table, I didn't get up for the next three hours. I had completely forgotten how much I love doing this and how much fun it is.

I love collage. I used to draw and paint when I was a kid, but when I was about 18 I started my long-term love affair with collage. I can remember exactly when I made my first collage and why. I'd just come back from my first Europe tour with the ACGC and had this inexplicable hunger return to Europe. (It really bothered me back then. I thought I was depressed.)

One evening at home I found a Newsweek picture of a girl trapped behind a barbed wire fence. I tore it out, and started filling the holes between the wires with bits of maps, brochures and photos from my trip. When I was done, I felt that each little piece of paper that I had chosen with such care finally, adequately expressed everything I couldn't say. I still have that first collage. And what I so yearned to do 11 years ago has been fulfilled: I'm back in Europe.

This collage is a little about that fulfillment, and more. Strange, when I was choosing all the elements I knew exactly what it was about. Now all I can say is that it's about flight, spring, leaving the grayness behind to start anew, testing the waters, and walking on air. And that making her outfit was fun, like playing grown-up paper dolls!

I started out being slow and uncertain, but when I was done my mood had completely changed. From thinking "I'll just throw something together to make a start, I'll make it better next time," I found myself quite pleased with what I'd created. And when I stepped outside to receive a delivery, I saw that I wasn't the only one who had been busy creating today.

Here's to Make It Mondays... may they make Monday blues a thing of the past!