Autumn is definitely here

Autumn is definitely here. It is one of my favourite seasons as I find the colours inspirational and it really brings home the impermanence of all around us. Mostly we do not see the passing of time, life is a tread mill and I find that unless we spend time to slow down and contemplate then we just miss everything.

When I decided to leave my career in the Police I came home and told my wife that I had decided that finally I had had enough of pushing water up hill and I was going to leave.

The obvious issue in modern life, and particularly in our western society is that we have bills to pay, mainly a mortgage and the associated financial considerations that go with it. Also we had our two young daughters one of which was only just born. So when asked what I was going to do and I replied " I'm going to be a woodturner" it was met with a certain amount of concern.

The rest is history, I am not going to say that it is easy as it is not, however I now do not see myself as having to get up to go to work each day, but instead go into my workshop to play. I am very fortunate.

What I am getting to is that what we do in our every day life is no different than the changing of the seasons. we can either stay in the rut or go in a different direction. of course it is easier to stay with the devil we know and to take such a big step is, I can say, frightening and exhilarating at the same time.

This can also be equated into our work. When starting turning I was very much into the traditional way of doing things. Wood should be left untouched to allow it's beauty to show through and should never be altered. Then over time I found myself wanting to explore what more I could achieve with my ideas. Keeping to the traditional ways restricted me and this caused conflict with how I thought my work should be, for it to become accepted by others, and what I actually wanted to do/experiment with.

As soon as I started colouring and texturing I found the responses at times less than favourable. People are still today very quick to criticise or say out load that they do not like work that has been ruined in their eyes.

However just like the changing seasons I have now let go of the concern of what others think and the restrictions that this holds. Also the part that I find the most refreshing, is that the amount of people now that enjoy looking at my work within the traditional fraternity has grown. More often than not when I demonstrate the pieces that hold the most interest for people are indeed the textured and coloured pieces.

More than this people now actually want to listen and accept the ideas behind the pieces. Of course there are those that do not always like some of what I do and prefer the wood to be left alone, as I do on occasions. This I do not have an issue with as it would be a very dull place if we all agreed.

So I see more and more the changing views of people towards a different selection of work.

What is important is to take time to contemplate, to contemplate not only what and why we like something but also why we do not like something put before us. Before we can say we do not like something then we need to understand why.!. To just come out with the statement is for me empty and blinkered. To understand why will help us to understand how to progress and to elevate our work.

After all how can I progress if the only thing I can say is that I do not like something without knowing why. If my reasons for not liking are personal taste, then this thought process has to be discounted. Or the personal connection/taste will also restrict my ability to create fresh new ideas.

This ties back in with my last post with regards to critiquing others work.

The picture above was taken near to my home. My camera is always on hand to take pictures of anything that I enjoy in the hope that I can find ideas from the colours, textures etc etc, as many of the previous pictures and posts have indicated.

Below are some more pictures taken of different items around my home.