In yesterday's post, I mentioned that I have begun to sketch again. This seems to be the result of my reintegrating my dancer self into my creative life's matrix, if you will.
As soon as I started to dance again, other things were immediately popping up, including this desire to sketch -- and the disappearance of my angst about it, which is the larger gift, I think.
All of a sudden this very Wild Woman is living in a way that her younger self would recognize.
This makes me very happy.
I have had, for a long time, a sneaking suspicion that various forms of my younger self would be disappointed in how limited my creativity had become, how, well, controlled and tamed.
(Remember, if you want to challenge your Wild Woman, one way to do so is to submit a poster to the Eccentricity Revolution Poster Contest. For details, go here.)
But just as this sketching thing is happening (and it's happening for others as well), Marcy and I have the opportunity to accompany our dear and delightful friend Miss Kitty to Cleveland tomorrow to go to the Museum of Art, which has recently expanded.
Viewing art in person is a major way that I refill my creative well. It totally gets the juices flowing. I will have to take a decent sized bag so that I might have my camera along and a notebook because the ideas are sure to come.
One of the first times I realized that visual art was this important to me was through reading a magazine. I turned the page and there she was. This Brancusi literally took my breath away. I gasped. (And I have now seen her in person -- a few times.)
This gasping was a hint, actually.
Years later, I gasped in the same way when I entered the pottery studio of St. John's University in Minnesota. My pulse raced.
I still have not taken a pottery class, but now that I am giving into my Wild Woman, perhaps it is next on the list.
How about you?
What do you do to honor your Wild Woman?
What do you do to refill your creative well when it is dangerously low?
(Photo & Text Credit: Christine C. Reed, blisschick.net, 2009, Lily Cluster)
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16 comments:
Three things really. Nature, yoga and visual beauty.
Like you, I'm very visual. Whether its art, nature or... y'know, pretty things. That definitely a topper upperer!!
Being quiet. Writing. Music. Especially live music.
The ocean and the mountains too. :)
i think your posts are amazing blisschick. i love your blog. its the best. you inspire me so much. im actually going to email you in a minute about something.... x
Oh, live/in person visual absorption almost always does it. I've always told friends/family who just don't understand why it is that I MUST go to quilt shows if/when they happen anywhere in the proximity that it's like church for my creative soul. Right now I'm longing for it to be possible to go to a big show in Long Beach later this month - need a miracle in cash and transportation, though.
Yeah, I'm big on visual beauty. And the same goes for audio beauty. When I go to a good concert or play, I almost always come home inspired to write poems.
I took a couple of pottery courses years ago and I LOVED it. I definitely want to do it again some time.
Reading this I burst into tears. Well, not really a burst, more like a splatter!
First, because I've been feeling so, so, so homesick for Cleveland lately. Just last night I was crying before I went to bed because I said I miss my friends and I miss the Cleveland Museum of Art so bad. I used to spend a lot of time there, not only when I worked there, but on my own free time. That place is full of so much magic--enjoy, enjoy, enjoy--and please if you run into the Anselm Kiefer painting called Lots Wife (it was my favorite) please tell her I said hello!
"I have had, for a long time, a sneaking suspicion that various forms of my younger self would be disappointed in how limited my creativity had become, how, well, controlled and tamed." This is where the tears went from a splatter to more of a burst! Finally I feel the same way..something is changing within me also..and I finally feel connected to the Wild Woman that has always existed--who used to dance and paint freely back in my 20's. She's coming back completely...and even better and more wilder then ever. This time I plan to overfeed her with life, instead of keep her in a box for special occasions!!!
Dance Miss Christine! Sketch, paint, pull out a lump of clay and dig right in!!! I'll join you!
Peace & Love.
Ah! This post! Connie's response! Have a glorious time at the CMA today and please let me know how it is...
I too love absorbing art in person to refill that well. I think that may be a big player in my new burst of creative energy as I absorbed SO much art while in France. I had the opportunity to see 3 amazing exhibitions: Kandinsky (eek!!!), Picasso and Cezanne, and the new Magritte museum in Brussels. Talk about inspiration overload!
And yeah, I know my younger self would be ready to kick my butt for the tameness of recent years. So kick it she did (with combat boots!) and I'm ready to join you wild ladies!
(btw Connie, hey come visit if you get a chance, ohio misses you too!)
Svasti -- Yes. The water. Of course! :) And even just our heavenly back yard. The lilies are amazing right now.
Holly -- Thank you. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sheila -- Sending good cash and transportation vibes your way! :)
Heather -- Music! Yep. We ADORE live concerts. I always have a pad and pen on my lap because it is inevitable that some sort of visual leading to a poem or something will pop into my head. And good theatre -- ahh, late this summer, I am going to the Stratford festival for a couple of days. YUM.
Connie -- The lake misses you!!!!! I will look for that painting. Also, I wonder what is the best care and feeding of these wild women? :)
Jennifer -- Oh, god, when I was in Paris, I felt like I was swimming, literally swimming, in ideas and inspiration. Just sitting on a bench made me want to WRITE WRITE WRITE. :)
let me try to post this again . . .
for me it's bellydancing (doing, watching, the music, the costumes, everything), silence, colors, cottage gardens, inpsiring stories, a new yoga pose flow, the ocean.
I love Connie's remark about overfeeding her wild woman with life!
The other day I saw the work (is work the right word for something as playful as art?) of young people from our local college. A huge and unexpected display in the middle of our shopping centre. And it was AMAZING! Paintings, sculpture, videos and everything else you can think of, in every medium you can think of. I hope they don't lose what they have at the moment.
And yes, for me too it's visual creativity, music, fresh air, space. Everything. There's a great song you probably know that Mary Chapin Carpenter sings, Passionate Kisses, in which she asks:
"Is it too much to demand
I want a full house and a rock and roll band
Pens that won't run out of ink
And cool quiet and time to think"
It's on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltC1IutBG-g
Me back again to say that if anyone reading this needs any creative well filling, go and watch/listen to the videos in this post I read immediately after coming here. Amazing musical meditation and visual brilliance. I won't describe what they are, just visit:
http://intothehermitage.blogspot.com/2009/07/one-two-bird-and-half-horse.html
Tess -- thank you for that. She is one of my FAVORITE artists and I think I found her through you originally. So double thanks.
It's wonderful that you're sketching! I hope to see some of your drawings sometime. :)
Things that fill my creative well include:
*Looking at things made carefully by hand. This could be a painting or a carved wooden spoon.
*Time to be quiet and time amongst plants. This stuff goes on every list I make of things that are good for me.
*Hearing music performed live. Very often when I hear music performed live, my eyes fill with tears. The ways we create music never stops thrilling me.
nature ~ walks outside ... particularly in the rain.
photography ~ pictures of flowers and nature stuff.
the ocean ~ going to english bay and just taking in the sound of the tide.
i am also frequently inspired by the work of artist~photographer~writer friends and fellow bloggers.
Hi Christine! I'm a writer by trade but I take dance classes to keep me active, shapely and happy! Nothing like making a fool of yourself in front of 20 others who look way goofier than you anyway ;)))
What an inspiration you are.
I adore gardening.
I also love to play with my grandson.
Reading blogs like this, reading art magazines, and just getting out the supplies and playing aroudn with them.
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