ATTRACTION

"Fall in, Fall in!"  life shouts.

In this mad chase after the muse, life attracts me in its endless variation.  Color, sound, sensation, touch, fragrance...the thrill of it all moves me toward MORE.  Promised joy lingers in the twitter of small wrens just outside in the trees.  It titillates in the irridescent throat of the hummingbird.  It shimmers in the dancing light on the sea.  It seduces in the sweet smell of jasmine.  In all its infinite pleasures, I am attracted by life to the very center of things.

THE NATURAL WORLD

Wall Art

For me, there is nothing quite like time in nature to waken the stirrings of the muse.  These sunny days, with dappled brilliance on the ocean and cool breezes wafting across my skin, are just the best and I cannot get enough of it.  Even while I know that there is much to be done in the studio, it is difficult not to be outside gathering the delights of nature.  These wonders will be stored as images in my mind for future use.

FLEETING

Spring is always poignant because nothing stays.  It must be caught and appreciated on the wing, for soon it will be gone. (May Sarton) 

It seems really a shame that the glory that is spring is so fleeting.  The weekend was sunny and warm, with birds singing in loud chorus extolling the virtues of just being alive.  Today dawns gray and cool and I find myself already missing what I know will return soon.  So I took my camera and went hunting for the things that will remind me.  Such fun!  And now I can settle in again for a while.

A DAY OF PLAY AT LAST

Proving art can be fun...by a student in one of
our Mixed Media Playtime workshops.

How glorious!  A full day in the studio yesterday.  Very productive, but the big surprise was not with any attachment to outcome, but rather to attachment to the progress already attained.  Perhaps this is just a strange twist on the evil attachment to outcome that I don't quite recognize.  All I know is it creates pause in the flow.  Still, if this is the only 'downer' to a day...well, Hallelujah!!!

Thrive

May Sarton writes of "the long ripple that opens out beyond the duck as he swims down the tranquil pond" in On Being Given Time.  That is what happens to me when caught up in the act of creating.  It is an endless process with an abundance of rewards that do not always have anything to do with success or failure.  It is a place where time has no beginning and no end, like the ripple behind the duck simply going on and on or clouds moving across the sky.  It is to be lost and to be found.  I am grateful.

SOFT SPRING SOUNDS

Mixed Media Collage
"In the Dead Of Night"

Last night the soft hooting of the two owls in the tall eucalyptus trees caught my attention.  This morning the beckoning rattle of a crow just outside called to me.  Then, as the twitterings and cheeps of other birds joined in, I heard one of my favorite sounds--the soft cooing of mourning doves.  Another day, another week, begins.  My own call--not quite so soft--is woo-hoo!  Another Sunday Studio Workshop is now in the past and I see a stretch of possibility for my own work.  Double woo-hoo! I can hardly wait to see what beckons to me on this wild chase after my own muse.