Creativity thrives on adventure!

We only know little of what we will love.....how deeply we will care and what expanding adventures await. Human nature is adventurous and our imagination triggers a lust for exploring. This requires an open mind. The soul thrives on adventure.....it is a nutrient that we cannot ignore. I grew up with messages that repeated, "Be careful....don't go too far!" Thank God, my imagination was bigger than the messages and the curiosity larger than my instilled fears. Adventure courts, woos and romances our creative selves. Whatever feeds your sense of adventure....a trip to the florist shop, a hike in the desert, scuba diving, climbing a mountain trail or photographing wild horses......let exploring entice you into playing with your desires. One adventure leads to another....and another and soon your scenic journey leads to an optimistic anticipation of each day.

Even the trees see!

Even the trees see the beauty of nature....I took this photo in the Colorado mountains and was surprised when the aspen tree didn't say, "I see you!" Seeing things through the eyes of an aspen tree took hold of my imagination. Their quaking leaves were dancing in the sun and wildflowers bloomed at their base....there were no arguments about who was the prettiest....no jealously between the pine trees and the aspen. The grasses tickled my leg and made me giggle, the snapping of a dead limb told the deer that I was coming....they watched me with a wary alertness. The summer clouds floated lazily by....blue sky supporting their feather weight. I was not alone.....but accompanied by the best friends.

"I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the dek of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now." Henry David Thoreau

There are no creative emergencies!

Except for deadlines! Letting our creativity unfold easily and leisurely is the ideal, but the reality is often a push for exhibit deadlines and our own expectations of how long things should take. Watercolors are quick to dry, spontaneous and surprising and they were my painting medium, until I picked up oils this last two years. They have slowed me down and given me lessons in waiting for things to dry. Pushing them to fast is "haste makes waste".....or I would say haste makes mud. There is a vast spiritual wisdom in slowing down and enjoying the process and easing into a painting with passion. No creative process benefits from a harried pushing forward....kind of like life perhaps.

"They do not know that ideas come slowly, and that the more clear, tranquil and unstimulated you are, the slower the ideas come, but the better they are." Brenda Ueland

The soul's story is at the end of your creative fingertips!

Angel unaware is the title of this watercolor donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation auction in Lexington, Kentucky once upon a time. It came from a deep soul place within that believes we are all connected to one another and one soul story affects another. Creating is soul work.....it speaks to the hearts of others regardless of the barrier of language, time, gender, political leanings or social standing. From the ancient pottery shards to petroglyphs painted on stony cliffs.....to Calder's modern mobile's and Pollack's paintings.....we are connected by our creative souls. Dipping into our well of creativity is personal...we cannot tell another's story....only our own. Drawing up those stories, our traits, experience and personal perspective is our creative journey.....flawed, but authentic.....skewed by our upbringing perhaps, but perfectly legitimate. Embracing our sacred story and that of one another is the open door to expressing our creativity perhaps.

Walking through your creative day!

Whether we are walking on the edge of a canyon, a walk to the mailbox, or simply observing on the porch, you will never run out of ideas for your creative work if you pay the least attention. That's not only about what you're seeing, but what you are feeling inside. Openness is essential to having a creative day. Everything in this day is in vivid color and I want to notice and descirbe all the colors, what they did, how they shaped my response and what they meant to me. Everything in this day makes a noise, takes a shape, has a fragrance, a texture and a taste....I want to notice. The emotional landscape is worthy of walking through with awareness as well. And when you step up to your easel, you bring it all with you....the prayers, the laughter, the tears, the responses to your creative day.

Art snobbery is not my favorite thing!

Whether our work hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, a small town cooperative gallery, or on our own wall, our creative efforts are valid expressions. Perhaps a creative saboteur might be the art critics or the collectors and art investors that look for your pedigree.....where did you study? It's like only wearing designer clothes or eating gourmet meals or collecting rare wine..... art snobbery is interested in the prestige and image making value. Dead artists may fare better than the living....and at auction....bring many more dollars. Mere enjoyment and appreciation is secondary. Surviving an art snob or a creative saboteur is getting your insecurities under control and validating the joy you feel when you are creating. And when the delicate sensitivity of your creative nerve endings are hurt.....put some distance between you and the critic. Buck up baby! Cowgirl up honey! A creative injury is a spiritual issue and an excellent opportunity to dance with your dragons. It is after all, the act of creating and making art that heals and nurtures....not whether or not our expressions hang in a prestigious gallery or end up on a collector's wall.

Keep your sense of humor!

I know this isn't a painting and will not add to your cultured amazing self....but I love signs that make me giggle. I must admit that giggling has become as important as painting. If I put off doing either one.....I get grumpy and a pain in the neck. Artistic anorexia is a term Julia Cameron uses...the avoidance of the pleasure of the creative process. Instead of making art, we make trouble. Showing up at the easel and going full steam ahead makes me happy and it keeps me from raising hell in other parts of my life. It is the place where the ego-ridden grip is put aside...no fear exists.....nothing but a sense of scale and balance.....perspective. I have finally broken the code of avoidance.....stopped conning myself into distracting relationships and events, wrapping myself around other's lives. I have sharpened my focus and channeled all that creative juice into scratching my creative itch. What a relief! Ta dah!

Gathering images!

There is ecstasy in noticing and paying attention! Although my drive home from Boise had many such moments....it doesn't make for highway safety. Still, the wheat fields of Pendleton with the golden grains about to be harvested, the lavender and yellow lupine blooming along the mountain roadsides, and the desert ridges covered with silvery green sage, gave me a head full of images. I get into a Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thoreau state of mind with an openness to the world when I travel....and still cannot take it all in. Everything says to me, "You are a compassionate witness to the essence of natures sacredness.....a sign that God is implicit in all of creation." So many images to collect....so little time!