Tag Archives: creative life

Art is Life is Art: Do your surroundings make a difference?

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“Stop counting crayons, just draw pictures.”  ~Mark Scharenbroich

pockets of order

The new wild thyme studio space is slowly coming together.  I’m combining what used to be three different small work spaces into one large one, which is simultaneously exciting and overwhelming.  I know how I worked in the old spaces, but I find myself just staring at things and trying to decide how I’ll work in the new space.   One thing is certain, I like my space to be more than just functional.  I like {actually, need} for it to be inspirational too.

worktable mess

It’s not that things have to be pristine, but sometimes the creative explosions get out of hand and I can’t dig through the resulting clutter to create the next thing.  I’ve come to realize that, as I recently told a friend,

I create chaos, but require order.

Thus, I find myself in a constant dance between keeping the space tidy and actually using it to make art.  One of the ways that I keep my balance is to create vignettes.  I dedicate specific areas that stay “fixed up”.  Whether it’s a magnetic poetry board or a pretty stack of books, these little pockets of beauty give me peace -  a place to put my eyes.

Because ultimately, the work has to get done. Period.   I have also figured out that one of my avoidance behaviors is to stay in tidy mode for too long.  So, in order to shift from overwhelmed-by-clutter to get-in-there-and-DO-IT.  I practice the following short sequence:

1.  put my eyes on the pretty thing, vignette or board

2.  take a deep breathe

3.  then turn into the chaos and DO the THING.

pull yourself together

On the way home, on purpose, with chocolate this time

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Meticulous planning will enable everything a man does to appear spontaneous.
Mark Caine

Stopped at the park, on the way home from dinner last night to take some photos of The Girl.  While this sounds terribly spontaneous, it was only sort of spontaneous.  I actually took some 100% spontaneous shots the other day after lunch.  The flavor was strawberry with chocolate sprinkles, and the sun was a little too bright.  We were going from voice lessons to Economics lecture and we were all {including the ice cream cone} a little melty.  It was a one of those moments where I grabbed my camera and shot quickly, but didn’t really get what I wanted.  Except that I loved the idea of The Girl and an ice cream cone.

strawberry w snappy eyes & chocolate sprinkles

The concept of planning is quite the mixed bag for me.  On many fronts, I am a planner.  I like to understand, not only what I’m up against, but how I’m going to handle the situation.  I make lists, print out maps, ask questions & do research, all in an attempt to predict the details in any given scenario.  This basic approach is almost impossible for me to separate from my artistic life and endeavors.

But in many ways, I am a Romantic with expectations that inspiration and opportunity will fall into place and I’ll just happen to be there to catch it.  I am deeply aware that sometimes art is a response to a moment.  In a Romantic’s world, the sun shines just the right way;  words fall in just the right order; and a wandering blob of paint inspires.   However, this romantic ideal sits in a place of tension with Ideas-From-The-Planning-Girl-That-Likes-to-Know.

I believe that both approaches are full of possibility.  My Romantic Self is no longer offended when I plan the details of a shoot.  And, as I reign in the all-or-nothing-ness and perfectionism of the other end of the spectrum, I more often see spontaneous opportunities.

darkness-citydetails-full

The chocolate photos were a bit more planned.  I chose the time of day when the light would be golden.  {And let me take this opportunity to sing the praises of the iPhone app Darkness - great if you want to pinpoint Magic Hour.}

I also asked The Girl to put her hair in pigtails and went to a park where I knew I could get the background I wanted.    It’s hard to imagine that I used to think that attending to those details was “cheating”, but thus run the lies of perfectionism and the strange expectations of Romanticism.

When I shot the Strawberry, I was envisioning the Chocolate.   So, we shot with ice cream again.  {It was an easy sell to the model and I was glad to be shooting with a plan and inspiration all at the same time.}

" Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos." ~Don Kardong

Art is Life is Art: It’s all about space.

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If you’ve ever been in one of my classes/workshops there are three things you know right away.

*  I talk with my hands.

*  I rabbit trail in very quirky ways, but {almost always} come back around to the main point.

*  I have a deep belief that art principles are life principles.

Conversations with me usually involve “word pictures” and/or a sketch or two.   When talking about any given topic over coffee, I usually have to pull out a napkin or my journal and draw, or describe a scenario that illustrates the point.

So, last week when Aussie Brilliant #1 called with some time management challenges, we ended up in a conversation about “margin”, which launched me into an art lesson about positive and negative space – that, was really not an art lesson at all.

Because after all, you can form something by shaping it or by leaving room for it.

In my son’s world, this means showing up to several things that are in the Form-of-Self.  Things like classes, job and his volunteer work.  There are a million things that “shape” us.   From the people that we meet, to the discoveries we make, to our preferences & adventures.  They come to us from the outside in and add shape to our lives.

The SHAPE of YOU

In addition to what shapes us, we are formed by other things.  These things, while just as important, are more ethereal. They are those things that we leave space for; and they are also in the Form-of-Self.  Things like writing songs, making art, reading books, thinking/processing time.  Personally, I think you have to fight a little harder for these things.  It is tougher to make space than to be formed.  But that is another conversation…

The SPACE of YOU

Imagine my delight this morning, when I received the following email.  The subject line read simply:  Mom!

Dude!

I just got out of a fancy pen shoppe! :) . The lady gave me an impromptu handwriting lesson!  And you know what she said??!!?

“It’s all about space.” She then pointed to the jar of ink.  “the letters are all there, waiting for the spaces”

dude!  She kept talking about pens but i I fumbled to write down what she said.


Private Reserve Ink - Avacado

Ah, thank you pen shoppe lady for the beautiful word picture.   I hope I get to meet you someday.  When you, in the middle of your fancy pen shoppe in Sydney, took the the time to show a college student the beauty of lettering, you not only sold a pen, you unwittingly reinforced one of the powerful life lessons that show up in art.  {The same message coming from home in Georgia…”It’s all about space.”}  I hope that your Generous Heart  and Love of Beauty circle back around to bless you in large ways. {And that would be REPETITION & UNITY...}

P.S.  We’re sending that young man back to you to buy a pen, because every songwriter/scribe should have a beautiful instrument.