Latibule Blooms.

Sometimes the most exciting places to be are the ones no one else can see. The ones tucked inside of ourselves… gentle, colourful, a little bit unruly. I think I’ve always had a place like that inside me. Not an escape from life, but a return to it. A private and personal reminder of how much beauty lives in the small, unseen spaces we carry.

There’s an old word I came across some years ago “latibule.” It comes from the Latin latibulum, and it means a place of safety and comfort. A place to retreat to. But not in a heavy or lonely manner, well - not in my perception of it anyway. I like to think of it more as a kind of secret mental garden… a space that’s yours and yours alone. A space that doesn’t ask for anything from you, doesn’t judge you or require you to “be” any kind of “way”... just that you show up as who you truly are - no masks, no parades, no pretension, no shallow pleasantries.

That’s what creating art has always felt like for me. Once I manage to get over the anxiety of beginning in the first place, lol. It is not a performance. Not a task. Just a way of stepping into that private little world for a while. The real world doesn’t pause for anyone. There’s always something to chase or fix or overthink. But when I create, all of that loosens its grip a bit. I get to wander… “into myself” - no map, no rules, just colour and movement and the simple, magnificent joy of making something that didn’t exist before.

This particular piece is an older one of mine from a collection I did in 2022 called “Where the Wildflowers Grow”. I have done a few collections over the years and that one still sits close to my heart, probably largely because it was inspired by my relocation to where I am now and that move - really made me feel like I wanted to honour my late mom’s two greatest passions - art and gardening… though I think gardening had a slight upper hand on art… hehe!.

Wildflowers - well, actually… ANY flowers don’t wait for neat garden beds or perfect timing. They just show up. They bloom where they feel like it. They grow full of colour and life and don’t apologise for taking up space.

I suppose in a little bit of a roundabout way… to me, that is what the “latibule” is all about. Not hiding. Not shrinking. But rather giving yourself permission to exist outside of pressure and structure. A space where imagination still gets to run wild. Where you can be dreamy and playful and rooted at the same time.

We don’t need to earn that space, it is our birthright! Just take a quick glance at children “doing as they will” and you need no further convincing. As adults though, we just need to remember it’s there. And maybe return to it a little more often. Whether it’s in art or music or gardening or daydreaming or whatever it is that makes you feel the most alive… that’s your wildflower field. That’s your latibule.

And honestly, in a world that keeps asking us to be louder, faster, more efficient, I think there is something so powerful about choosing unconventional, colour and joy. About letting yourself retreat into something that feeds your spirit, then coming back into the world with full arms and a clear head. Because when you have spent a little bit of time in that space, when you’ve let yourself really feel it… the rest of life starts to look a little different. A little brighter. A little more your own… and in my opinion, that is a very beautiful thing to carry.

...............
Gallery Quality Prints available in my Etsy shop with worldwide shipping. Link is on my profile xxx