THE BLOG ...exploring the inner/outer landscape through writing & creativity…
This week I’m hunkered down to the tasks at hand. So, I’m keeping this blog post very short.
But here are a few samples from the past couple week’s landscape painting sessions. I found more surprises in the book manuscript this week, too; some require hefty editing while others are (thankfully) ready to go. Today marks eighty-two days in a row of painting and book writing.
mindful practices to nourish you throughout the day and week
Outside your home, approach a rooted one you see every day. Speak aloud to them some words of greeting, appreciation, and gratitude.
My sister sent an image of Jupiter to me from the Hubble. She mentioned something about how it might look good as a collage. So, I secretly took on the task and created this artwork for her a few weeks ago. She received the surprise collage just in time for her special day.
Happy Birthday, Melis!
(Update: #The100DayProject is moving along well. Today marks 75 consecutive days working on my current book manuscript and creating oil pastel paintings of little photo-inspired landscapes.)
mindful practices to nourish you throughout the day and week
Focus your quiet attention on a flower for a few minutes, then quickly sketch the shape that most captured you.
With all of this “every day-ness” of the #The100DayProject, I’m surprised there is juice within for much more in the way of creative output.
But I'm finding a new shift, a new sway, a new rhythm, a new capacity for creating as a way of life. For now, anyway. And so alongside this 100-day journey of landscapes and manuscript work, I have created a few new collage pieces (including what I shared on last week’s Friday blog post), finished a couple of creative projects (a map, a handmade book), started a new journal project, and am collaborating on two new bodies of work with others.
How can being creative nourish more creative output?
I guess I used to be drained by creative pursuit. I had a limit to how much I could do before wearying of a project. But these days, my passion and energy for creating is increasing. The more I do, the more I’m fed by it – which then fills my well so that I can create more.
Do you ever feel this way?
Here are a few samples from this week’s landscape painting sessions. And I found some goodies in the manuscript that I’d forgotten about, too; that’s always exciting.
mindful practices to nourish you throughout the day and week
Recall a time when you felt a bit awkward. Write down three gifts of support or insight that you received from that situation; re-gift one of those to someone today.
Fellow interfaith practitioner, island neighbor, spiritual poet extraordinaire, and – best of all – friend, Emily decided last spring to write a few poems that she paired with my visual creative work. We’re thrilled to be collaborating in this way, and we’ve continued into 2024. We want to share our work with you again.
This is our fifth pairing. What’s different about this one is that I based my creative piece on Emily’s poem. (Last year’s collaborations began with Emily selecting my collages and using them as inspiration for herpoetry.)
Wonderfully, our pairing will be shown as part of “Ars Poetica” 2024. This annual, regional juried art show hosts selected poets whose pieces are then “visually interpreted” by local artists. The resultant poems and art pieces are hung in local galleries with which the artists are affiliated. I chose Emily’s poem.
This is my first time having a creative work hung in a show. (I think my artist mama would’ve been proud.) The opening is on April 5th (4:30-6:00 PM) and our particular collaboration will be hung at Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network (BARN) where I am a longtime member, and once- or twice-yearly instructor in two of their studios: Writing and Book Arts.
If you're local, please join us at the opening next week. We'd love to see you there.
And… by the way, I’m still going strong on the #the100dayproject; today marks Day 61. I’ve worked hard this week with daily edits on my manuscript as well as continued to draft an oil pastel landscape every day.
By EmilyJane Mockett
Who paints the edges of green
Licked with mornings
Marine layer misty white
Who colors the edges of green
Dipped with mornings
Forest penetrating first light
Who washes the centers of green
Cleaned with Summer evenings
Chilled crisp condensing
Who strokes the centers of green
Soaked with Winter evenings
Deepening understanding
With morning tints or evening inks
Who paints the edges of our days?
Who colors the centers of our nights?
With evening hues or morning glaze?
Not for whitewashing,
Who paints for truth & clarity?
Not for greenwashing,
Who colors for the Earth & equanimity?
Please color me clean,
Each day a new start
Please paint my dreams—
Everywhere Life is Art!
Here is the collage I created, inspired by Emily’s poem.
mindful practices to nourish you throughout the day and week
Let your pen flow as you describe in detail three springtime nature beings for whom you're grateful.
