Going back to India

Some of you may recall that I spent a couple of weeks in India - eleven days in fact - at the start of this year for a wedding. It was an amazing, crazy, stressful, overwhelming, exciting visit. India is one of those places that doesn't do well in short visits. You spend a lot of time sitting in traffic, looking at your watch, or at the airport waiting for a delayed internal flight. Not to mention that trying to understand such a new and different place as India in less than two weeks isn't very realistic. I saw some amazing things, but I also felt bewildered a lot of the time.

The upshot of it all is, that after taking a break from my studies after one hectic semester of textile design, I have decided to go back to India. It has been more an impulse than a carefully considered plan. I feel like I need to go somewhere that is completely not like Melbourne, that will take me out of my comfort zone and throw me into some challenging and unexpected situations. And I like the idea of going somewhere that values introspection and meditation as a new (for me, anyway) way of approaching life.

India is also an amazing place to see textiles. The birthplace of paisley and so many other motifs that are part of our everyday attire these days, last time I was there I saw so much colour, and pattern, and cloth, everywhere I went. If this doesn't inspire me to return to textiles, I don't know what will!

I'm heading off on my big adventure in just a few days time. I'll try to post blogs when I get a chance, and in the meantime I wish you all success and enjoyment in your creative endeavours! I'll be back in December.