CREATIVE INSPIRATION

Forward Momentum

This will be my last post for a few weeks while I am away at an artists’ retreat. Traveling and painting outdoors are wonderful sources of inspiration, always. But I also derive inspiration from the stories and revelations of people who struggle to make their way forward as wounded creatives. Wounds old and new, physical and emotional, tend to show up in our art no matter how healed (or not) those wounds are. Making things with our hands and minds can help face the wound’s truth and hasten its healing.

This week’s studio practice has included the near completion of a painting and several experimental collage pieces. These are not meant to be fine art, but to explore conversations between poetry and art: words, the shapes of words, and the colors and shapes of poetry.

In 2023 just after major surgery, I posted some reflections and a poem that became part of my healing process. I am reposting here, a reminder that where I have been doesn’t have to predict how I will go forward or where I will go next.

Mysteries, Yes 
Mary Oliver.

Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous
to be understood.

How grass can be nourishing in the
mouths of the lambs.
How rivers and stones are forever
in allegiance with gravity
while we ourselves dream of rising.
How two hands touch and the bonds 
will never be broken.
How people come, from delight or the
scars of damage,
to the comfort of a poem.

Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers.

Let me keep company always with those who say
“Look!” and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.
     *        *        *        *        *

The regal month of August empowers us to sustain forward momentum toward our dreams and goals. I am so glad you came along this week! If you want more ideas, art and poetry please subscribe—it is always free. Celeste

One more thing to think about: