CREATIVE INSPIRATION
Among the Trees
Last weekend I attended the Florida State Poets’ Association fall conference in Lake Wales. My poem “The Easel,” was published in Florida’s Cadence Anthology. You can read it in my May 26, 2025 Substack post. There was a beautiful botanic garden—Bok Tower Gardens—at the conference site, which we walked both to inspire and to relieve the many hours of workshops and writing.
Rather than document with photos, I chose to do a series of small sketches to record my observations. A kind of travel diary, but without writing.
I’ve been visually documenting my travels in color and ink since 2016. Since then, I’ve completed dozens of journals filled with drawings and small paintings from places all over the U.S. and abroad. When I look back at them, I’m transported in memory to the place and sensations I experienced. So much more powerful than a photograph.
A few pages from the Florida travel journal I began in 2020.
Writing poetry and sketching last weekend prompted me to reflect on the ways in which making visual art and writing are similar. I’ve been studying for years how artists and writers approach their ideas, how they think about themselves in relation to their art, what they struggle with.
The question most creative people ask is “What shall I make from the experience of my body, my soul, my mind?” Because it isn’t enough to sense, feel, or remember. For the creative, experience must be given form in the world. What form and how to make it are constants that drive the questions, decisions, and solutions of creative acts.
And when their whole heart is in it, what artists (writers, musicians, dancers, videographers, chefs, sculptors, etc.) make contains their life force.
While I work on revising the poem I wrote about my exploration of Bok Tower Gardens last weekend, today I’ll share this favorite, written by Mary Oliver. It reminds me of being among trees anywhere, especially grateful for the enduring evergreens of Florida’s landscape.
I am in my studio this week in front of a 4 ft x 5 ft piece of gessoed watercolor paper on the easel. It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever started.
Wishing you the joys of outdoor autumn: the colors, the feel of frosty air, the smells, the crunch of leaves underfoot. Thanks for reading all the way to the end! Please subscribe—although Creative Inspiration will always be free, subscribing lets me know you find value here.
One more thing to think about:
