“One day she decided to plant a garden of her own … and it bloomed.”

I know that as you contemplate Marylou Falstreau’s print, a garden of your own calls to you. Not a physical garden, but something that you’d love to create, become, or do, something that’s completely of your own.

Artist Marylou Falstreau was inspired by a dream to create her Woman and the Hourglass series of prints and cards, and, being totally unique and of her own, they’ve bloomed and found their way into shops, homes, hearts, and minds.

I love the sense of surprise – ‘and it bloomed!’ How often have you planted other people’s ideas, cultivated other people’s expectations, and wondered what might have happened if you had planted your own?

A style that bloomed into what we now recognise as iconic Matisse.

I went to the Matisse Drawing Life exhibition at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) last weekend. Henri Matisse drew from life every morning, before he got down to the work of the day, and there were some 300 drawings on show for us to view. His earlier drawings were heavily influenced by the prominent artists he studied, his style shifting radically from season to season until he found himself drawing in a style completely of his own, a style that bloomed into what we now recognise as iconic Matisse.

We can’t all be Matisse – and his apparently simple style is very hard to emulate, as we discovered when we sat in The Drawing Room, an interactive part of the exhibition, a lush Matisse-like studio dotted with stools, easels, and drawing boards, contemplating the smorgasbord of still life on offer, our pencils poised, and poised, and poised. I drew a few squiggles and lines, and had fun. Fun was a rewarding outcome. I discarded the inept squiggles and kept the Matisse souvenir pencil for inspiration.

No, we can’t all be Matisse, but like Matisse, or like Marylou Falstreau, we can all create, become, or do, something that’s completely of our own.

No, we can’t all be Matisse, but like Matisse, or like Marylou Falstreau, we can all create, become, or do, something that’s completely of our own. All we have to do is simply decide, one day, to plant a garden of our own … and it will bloom!

Tip 1: If you’re not sure what you want to create, become, or do, pay attention to your dreams as they reveal the limiting beliefs – largely those built around your past and present experiences of other people’s expectations of you – that block your connection to this knowing.

Tip 2: Pick a number from 1-27, and count through Marylou’s Women and the Hourglass prints to add some synchronistic insight.

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