Making Time, Taking Time with our resident artist Helen Walsh

Flow: Solway *Textile Postcard, part of Upland’s online exhibition: A Postcard from D&G*

TIME is a strange thing isn’t it? It can be given and taken, spent and saved, lost and found, it can fly by or it can drag. Time is precious and I think over the past few months, when many of us have found ourselves with more time than usual, a lot of us have been thinking about how we use our time and what our priorities really are. What do we really want to spend our time on and what could we really do with wasting less time on?

*A bit of experimental drawing: Feather and pan bottom!*

Prioritising is something I’m not very good at, if I have ten things on my to-do list I feel like I have to get those ten things done now, even though some of those things might not really need my attention for a few days, weeks or sometimes even months. This can sometimes lead to me feeling quite overwhelmed so every now and then I have to sit myself down and remind myself that not everything has to happen right away. I make lots of colourful lists and mind maps and almost always realise that I’ve got myself in a bit of a tizz unnecessarily!

I’m working on getting better at prioritising and I’m also getting better at making time to do some of the things I want to do, for myself, as well as all the work based things I want to do. I’m very lucky to be able to do what I love and make a living creatively but it does sometimes make it hard to distinguish between work and life. As in most things in life it’s about trying to get the balance right but there’s no set formula so there’s a lot of trial and error!

Anyway, this month I’ve been spending a lot of time making clothes and my own bath bombs and body products. I’ve loved making my own clothes since I was a teenager and over the past few years I’ve really got back into it, it’s so satisfying making something that fits and that is uniquely yours. Often, I find that I don’t give myself any time for non-work making but recently I have and I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s also given me a bit of ‘head space’ which in turn has allowed me to make progress with my ‘proper work.’ Time for yourself shouldn’t be seen as a luxury, it’s something we all need to support our mental health.

I like to spend my time (my work time and my free time) creatively and I know that there are a lot of people out there who’ve discovered or re-discovered their creativity over the past few months. I told you last month about the embroidery kits I’ve been working on. I’m really pleased with how they’ve turned out ans they are now available in my Folksy shop. I hope they’ll encourage people to try out embroidery and discover how rewarding it is to make something yourself. I’ve also got some lovely inspiration packs full of bits and pieces from my stash to kick start your creativity. They’re full of fabric scraps, buttons, trims and other interesting bits!