Creativity Conquers the Monster
So much art to do, so little time.
I want to share some art with you. I’ll start with one piece that is in progress.
Here’s the story:
A year or two ago, I despaired of doing art the way I dreamed of — big strokes, splashes of color, passion, projects that could lay out on a table and not be put away for dinner, projects that took time… Yes, I would stick to small things I could stick in my purse and take with me wherever I went. Journaling with both words and pictures and coloring with pencils, pens, and watercolors would need to be enough. Enough to sustain me. I thought I could be okay with that. I thought about giving away most of my art supplies. Instead, I dumped bins of rocks, shells, glass, tile, broken ceramics, etc. out into my landscape making a colorful river that sparkled in the sunlight. It was beautiful — for a short period of time. Fall came. Leaves and pine cones fell and soon the beautiful, shiny things were buried. No one would even have a clue what lay beneath the debris.
Then the day came that I had dreamed of and given up. My parents gave me room in one of their farm buildings to do art and teach classes. July 1, 2016 saw the opening of Denny’s Workshop. I quit my full-time teaching job. In the fall I’ll be substitute teaching but as my workshop picks up, I hope to cut back on subbing.
Back to the story. Several days ago, I went back out to my landscaping and scooped aside the fallen debris. My sparkly treasures were now dull, stained, mossy, embedded in dirt. I started digging them out. I brought them up to my workshop and began to wash them. Then I started to arrange them… A monster emerged.
The monster looked a bit too friendly however so the hat had to go, it gained horns, eyebrows, and more. All the pieces came from my recovered stash. Then I started organizing some of the beautiful, sparkly pieces. It’s far from done and, I’m sure, will be rearranged many times.
The piece is already speaking to me. This monster tried to kill my creativity. To eat it all. To render my life dark and unappealing. But even the monster and his friends (eventually you’ll see eyes shining in the darkness behind the monster) could not control creativity. It is a force to bright, too powerful, too full of life and meaning to be snuffed out.
Stay tuned for updates as I begin fine tuning the piece.
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