I came to Growing Nowhere after several weeks on the road around Europe, feeling nomadic and a bit up in the air. I came with no materials, no expectations, and no idea what I was getting myself into. I had in mind my project for London Decompression, a jellyfish/octopus mythical creature called Cephadaria.

Easier drawn than built...

To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing. When I sat down and actually started planning out the construction of the creature, the more I thought about it the more impossible it seemed. What had I gotten myself into? Why had I volunteered for all this stress? There were moments when I really considered giving up.

The most intimidating thing is a blank canvas or a blank sheet of paper. The sheer vastness of possibilities can overwhelm you. But here at Growing Nowhere, I am surrounded by creative people who take all different approaches. Once I actually got my hands dirty, it started to take shape. I made important discoveries about what worked and what didn’t, and adjusted the plan accordingly. Once I had some clarity, I also found support from the community here and people stepped up to take on specific aspects of the project they were drawn to.

Now I feel incredibly optimistic. The project has morphed somewhat from what I originally conceived, but I think it’s for the better. Trial and error forced me to figure out what aspects were essential to the concept for me, and what could be adjusted.The essence is still there, and in the current form is even more pure.

We did an interesting exercise today plotting our creative flow and mindset over the course of the week on a graph. Mine went down, down, down until the breakthrough moment when I hit a very low place, then shot up to a euphoric high. It occurred to me that the space between those highs and lows is potent potential energy for creativity, and I need to embrace the cycle as part of the creative process, not be afraid of it. I needed to dive in to come out the other side. And once I did, I looked around and found wonderful piles of materials, ideas, and sunshine, and everything seems possible.