Living By Water

February 22, 2009 / still a dreamer

How lucky am I? I live 3 houses away from a river. And walking 4 very short blocks, I can walk onto the bridge that takes me to neighboring PA.

delaware-winter

Yesterday I went out walking for my exercise and decided to take my camera. Something I don’t do often enough. I was immediately drawn to the river on this sunny day – blue sky, no clouds. I headed onto the bridge, not to go to PA, but just to see the river. Even in winter, with not a leaf in sight, it was magnificent.

delaware-winter2

I am happy when living by water. I am always happy to just be near water – the ocean, a lake, a river – there is something calming, inspiring and renewing about it. I wonder if this is universal or something belonging to just some of us. Is it because my family used to go the shore throughout my childhood and my Dad taught me to swim in the ocean? Is it because in my tween and teen years we used to vacation up at Highland Lakes every summer? Or perhaps that we used to go on a Sunday to Cooper’s Pond in the neighboring town and feed the ducks? I took some of my very first photos with my new Brownie camera there. Maybe it’s because I’m a water sign. Maybe I was once a mermaid. Maybe I am just forever enchanted by nature.

Our creativity, in whatever way we express ourselves, is influenced by all of who we are and who we have been. I believe when we reach inside ourselves and touch upon the good things, the meaningful things, in our pasts – or even find them for the first time – we are enriched in every way. Yet we make so little time for these things … to let ourselves be with our own enchantment … to just let ourselves be. Today, for this, I thank the river.

Remembering Who We Are

January 21, 2009January 21, 2009 / still a dreamer

It really can be difficult to find the time to write, draw, dummy, or be creative when there is just too much to do. I do journal faithfully, nearly every day without fail, and on days when I want to blog, allow myself the luxury of that being my journaling for the day. But there are days when my journal entry looks like raging chicken scratch and a desperate plea for someone to toss out a life-preserver. We all have those days, sometimes too many of them.

wolfcandle

It’s these days in particular which remind us that it pays to have something REALLY simple we can do daily to help us get centered or calm regardless of what life has in store for us on any given day. For me, that’s lighting a candle. I realized some time ago that candles are not a luxury, but a necessity. So I always have a nice variety on hand, scents that I love and make me happy, and nice things to burn them in.

I don’t think it really matters what it is that we do, but just something small that grounds us. My morning coffee – also a necessity – does that, too, but the candle is different. Choosing the scent I want to smell, what holder I’d most enjoy and where to put it takes just moments, but starts my day well. Or better. A small ritual that sets the tone.

We all can benefit from starting our day, or even a task. with something easy and small, whatever it is, that clears us a bit, lights our way, and helps us remember who we are. Do you have some small daily ritual that gets your day off on the right foot and centers you?

Outfoxing Your Reluctant Artist

January 6, 2009January 6, 2009 / still a dreamer

bluefootedbooby Actually, this is a follow-up to the earlier post, with a bit of success to report. Sunday was another day that I had time available to work on my children’s book dummy. Once going, I love working on this. Getting myself to sit down and start? Another story. Procrastinating, avoidance, outright fear … whatever you want to call it, it’s all the same in the end. Years ago, someone very close to me said, “You know, we could really talk about this forever, but sometimes you just have to nail your ass in the chair and do it.” Well said. Couldn’t agree more.

Ergo, the plan outlined in the earlier post. This has been working rather successfully in the few short days that I began. You’d think, since we’re all in the same person, that we couldn’t outfox ourselves, but clearly, it’s possible. Above is Sunday’s drawing. Clearly, I had a bit more time than Monday, whose sketch, made at 9:30 p.m., is nothing I will post. Having applied my butt to my drafting chair on Sunday, I drew the rather endearing Blue-Footed Booby you see here. I was helpless to walk away from the dummy which I’d just happened to leave lying on my desk. Quite crafty. So I worked on it.

For the weekend, I got two sketches done, but also figured out where the remaining two page spreads would go in my PB, roughed them out, and did a fairly good sketch of one of them. That was my plan! Even I am surprised that this works.

Are you someone who paces, distracts yourself, and otherwise has discovered 50 things that all need to be done N-O-W when you finally have time to devote to your creative work? You might try this – you, too, can be outfoxed.

Jump-starting Creativity after the Holidays-Equine Sketch

January 4, 2009January 4, 2009 / still a dreamer

penink-colt2 The holidays take up a lot of time one way or another, and it’s easy to lose our creative drive as holiday demands drive us in 15 different directions. Speaking for myself, I need to get back into my drawing and was looking for a way to jump-start my drawing efforts again. I’m quite sure a variation of this will work just fine with writing as well.

I wanted to make it fun, something I wanted to do, AND relatively painless. So I gave myself a challenge. I gathered up all my calendars from 2008 and a couple for 2009 I’d been mailed as fundraisers and stacked them on my drawing desk. My challenge is to draw one animal – yes, all my calendars are animals – every day AT my drawing desk. That’s an important part.

My drawing desk is in the room with all my art supplies, so if I’m feeling I might not do justice to a wolf in pen and ink, I can always grab my pastels. That’s the obvious. The secondary gain is that once I’m at my drawing desk, where my other current projects lie, it makes it much easier for me to park my butt there and settle into some of the more time-consuming projects I have to do.

I’m no stranger to procrastination, so while I may be wanting to pace the room awhile before settling down to work on some serious illustrations, or finding the opportune time to clear out and dust an entire bookcase shelf by shelf, I’ll already be sitting there in work mode. Tricky, eh?

That’s my plan anyway. Maybe it’ll work for you, too! My own challenge is on, and here’s my first sketch.

Inspiration

October 6, 2008May 16, 2012 / still a dreamer

Where do we get our inspiration? How is it affected by our moods? Though not the case today, once was a time when the sadder and more tragic my life was, the more I wrote. To this day, I’d say some of my best poetry came from a sad place.

But why not joy? Why not both? Why not the endless mysteries of life? I find my inspiration to write and draw comes from such a myriad of places … searching for a fall image in my clip art or on iStock, I find myself momentarily lost in the soft, misty photos of autumn trees and roads, and I know down that road lies a story. And I can tell you it’s a wistful one.

Looking at a wmv file of dolphins creating their own rings underwater and then playing with and bursting them with their noses, I see a tale of wonder. I know there’s a story of swimming with them, to really be among them, and share moments of our intertwined lives and ancient histories. It might first be a tale of wonder, then of empathy and joy and lightness. In shimmering, watery blues.

While I work at the computer, I listen to the radio through iTunes. I’ve rediscovered one of my very favorite music genres on FolkAlley.com. I’m once again entranced by the simplicity of folk music, and struck by the endless stories complemented by six and twelve string guitar. The music takes me back to another time when feelings were alternately bright and shiny, rich and deep, overwhelming and frightening – living away from home for the first time and in New York City. I’m at home with folk music. While connecting me to the past, it remains contemporary. The stories it tells bring me images for illustrations and I’m dreaming in rhythm.

Some days I feel myself a portal for infinite possibilities … inspiration everywhere. How about you?