This image is a watercolour painting of a collection of wonderfully-patinated vintage spoons on beautifully dense 300gsm cotton paper.
Have you heard about the spoon theory? I love it as it illustrates well the concept of personal energy being finite.
It was a personal story by Christine Miserando, who used the Spoon Theory to illustrate the reality of living with a chronic illness. Explained in a cafe, Christine gathered a pile of spoons to represent the energy you have for a day. How many spoons you may start with depend on many factors including your health, sleep, pain, stress levels etc. Then each element of the normal day takes away a spoon. When the spoons run out, they can’t be replenished for the rest of the day. If you don’t start with many, you may well run out before the end of the day or at least before you manage to do all you need to do.
People with chronic illness start with less spoons, but all of us have a daily quota. Extra stress in particular, can take a lot of spoons away quickly. My friend and I have the concept ingrained in our regular conversations eg. “The kids took half my spoons before they even got to school”
As I worked on this painting I thought about how I could make sure I can start the day with a maximum number of spoons, how I can make them a better quality, what I can do to deal them out more slowly and how to respect them as an object.
May your day be gifted with many spoons 🥄 In fact, this painting can ensure you have a few on hand. Painting regularly gives me the gift of more spoons.
