Inspiration from Unexpected places
I’ve been very busy over the last couple of months getting my YouTube channel up and running, and here’s a rundown of what else I’ve been up to. I’ve been guiding classes in a wonderful array of topics from Nature Journaling (always), to mandalas to window art to paper lotuses to Japanese art and poetry (Haiga) as well as offering traveling watercolor workshops. I love to guide classes and enjoy it when my students let go and begin to experience what happens when they allow their inner artist to emerge! It’s a beautiful thing.
I’ve been experimenting with inspiration from unusual places. For example, I’ve found some great inspiration from a Geology textbook, Visualizing Geology by Murck and Skinner that I got free at a planetarium show. I love geology and this textbook spoke to me with its beautiful photos of rock formations and explanations of volcanoes and other awesome phenomena. I ended up tracing a mountain and getting intrigued by the lines and shapes. I offered this invitation to my students and they absolutely loved the practice of tracing natural objects and forms from books. They have taken this in all different directions. I also love library books of all kinds, especially big coffee table books about nature. This summer I’ve been really into rivers, perhaps because it’s been hot and it has been cooling to think of water and rivers. I also got some books about the ocean. I traced some beautiful diatoms out of one of the ocean books. The forms in nature are so amazing and inspiring, and they are great for getting lost in the form of things. When we focus on form, we can move beyond what we think we see. I just love that this geology textbook has been such an inspiration to all of my students. I wonder if the authors ever thought that their book would inspire art. This is the ideal cross disciplinary exploration. There is so much we can learn from each other. I often tell my nature journaling students that looking closely and deeply can help us discover things we could miss if we just look at a photograph. I don’t remember where I learned this, but I remember reading that scientists were able to make a discovery after looking at a scientific illustration of a fish rather than a photograph, because the illustration brought their attention to a detail that they missed in photos. Isn’t that fascinating? Deep looking has so much value on so many levels. If we look deeply into a flower, as my teacher Thich Nhat Hanh would say, we can see the whole cosmos. What a wonderful thing to contemplate. I’ve asked my nature journaling students the question, “what is in a flower?” and they wrote the most wonderful responses. Try it out sometime.
So, see if you can find inspiration in unexpected places…textbooks, diagrams, dandelions…
What I’m reading: Anything by Andrea Gibson. Listening to them reading from their book “You better be lightning” (what a great name! Even the name gives me goosebumps, and they have an amazing poem about goosebumps in this collection. Not to be missed). What an inspiration and example of a beautiful continuation.
What I’m watching: Boho Beautiful Yoga yin yoga
What I’m listening to: mgk Cliche, and I’ve been doing the dance too. What a great song of the summer.
