What's it all about?

Tulip Abundance

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly,

but rarely admit the changes

it has gone through to achieve that beauty."

-- Maya Angelou

Day 3/100

Call it art. Call it hubris. 

 

This act of taking something, be it raw color, a musical note, a lump of clay, a bit of bright pixels, a seed of possibility that with the proper care might turn into a turnip, a tulip, or a new technology, this reworking of what is into something new, nurturing an essence into an expression, … this is what we do.

We call it creation, call ourselves creators, call our work creative. It’s part of each of us, perhaps the most essential aspect of this stage of development we call human. 

 

Created, we create. Evolved, we evolve the world around us. (Assuming, of course, we are fortunate enough to live in a world where our basic needs of food, water, shelter, and safety are met.)

However, the question always remains: in service of what do we create these expressions? Survival? Growth? Transformation? Beauty?

Orange Tulip from Ananda Village

Yesterday, I was filled with joy because an art piece I was working on “worked.” It pleased me.

This morning, I wonder if I added anything to the mix. Is my “Tulip Abundance" better than the actual tulip captured by my camera many mornings ago? And, is that tulip “better” than the potential residing in the bulb from whence it came? 

 

It reminds me of a song from my youth … “What’s it all about, Alfie?"

Wikipedia: "Alfie" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David to promote the 1966 film Alfie. The song was a major hit for Cilla Black (UK) and Dionne Warwick (US). 

 

 

Click here to hear Dionne Warwick sing "Alfie"

 

 

Monday Create: Are you creating your life seriously?

Tumbling

This is the first in a series of posts loosely based on Sebastian Michaels’ photo artistry program: Awake. One of the things I love about Sebastian and this program is that it’s about living the artistic life instead of just being about the techniques of art.

Life is busy. It takes a lot of time and effort to support the necessities of life, and, for many people, that means that our creativity gets put on the back burner. I didn’t recognize it then but there was a gift hidden in the chaos of my husband’s death and the coming financial crisis of 2008: TIME.

Desperate for distraction, I launched myself into a digital collage workshop focused on photography and Photoshop. What I found was the fit I had been looking for in my travels through   cooking, gardening, various musical instruments, needlepoint, quilting, drawing, painting, and mosaics. Finally, something I could actually do!

And, while I have loved making digital art and even slipped into a couple of galleries and eventually managed to say the words, “I am an artist,” without completely choking, I still never took it seriously. The great gift of the course that I’m taking with Sebastian is that he is asking … nay demanding … that we take our art and our artist selves seriously. It makes me tremble with fear and excitement.

Replace the idea of "art" with "creativity" and I think this same idea touches every single one of us.  While I am no longer a religious person, I stumbled across these words from Genesis when I was a child and have contemplated them extensively all the years since.

     Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness … 

At first what fascinated me was the plural pronoun, but then the question that became my real focus was how we were created in the likeness of God … the Creator. Surely not in the sense of a frail human body or tempestuous emotional likeness. Where I wound up was that we are all creators (small c), creating our own lives, our own family and homes, our own stories, our own beauty. Creativity is the way we love the world as well as ourselves.

You are creative and you can decide to take your creativity seriously. Even if you don’t want to practice any sort of art, writing, music or dance, you can take the process of creating your life seriously … regardless of where you are, who you are, how old you are, how smart you are, or how physically fit you are.

This week, Sebastian asked the question  “What keeps you from creating art every day?” Change it to “What keeps you from creating the life you want to live every day?” and think about how you would answer it.

Before I opened email or Facebook, I sat with that question and began to answer it. Here is the resulting conversation of my thoughts in yellow and the answers in bold.

     — Not believing that it matters; that I matter.

First of all, it matters to you. This is your life and you want to live it as an artist. If it doesn’t matter to you, it will never matter to anyone else. It is your job to live the live you want and share your joy of creation with your audience … which could mean just one other friend who likes what you’re doing.

     — Believing it’s too late to be an artist.

Ummm … Grandma Moses? You’re still breathing and all your parts are working. This is now. Now is never too late for to do or be what you want right now, even if it means just taking the first step in that direction.

     — I didn’t go to art school.

Yes you did. You’ve been in art school your whole life, assembling impressions, feelings, and insights. You’re in art school right now. If you’re learning and practicing the craft you want to master, you’re in school.

     — Yeah, but, that’s different.

Why? Because you’re not going to get a diploma or a certificate? Because some great man hasn’t given you his seal of approval? Because some museum isn’t begging you to come exhibit your wonders? Who the frog cares? If you want to make art, make art, and love it like it’s your first born child.     

     — Okay. Okay. I get it. Stop whining and make art. Right?

Right! Go forth and prosper, Grasshopper.

       — eye roll, grinning

I would love to hear your thoughts about how you would answer that question.

"It’s time to claim your place in this world.

Go create something extraordinary that shows that."

— Sebastian Michaels

About “Tumbling"

Sebastian Michaels suggests that we do what he calls “finger exercises,” … simple quick digital sketches … warm-ups, like doing scales on an instrument. “Tumbling” was inspired by a painting I saw in a hair salon. I wanted to play with spheres so this started out as a simple exercise. Then, it got serious. You never know where play will wind up. How could you “play” with creating your life?

The Teaspoon and the Ocean

www.saranasgift.com

Metaphor #1: This week I poured my teaspoon of creativity into the ocean of the world of commerce and judgment.

Metaphor #2: It’s the first morning without training wheels, and my beautiful child is wobbling down the road headed for skyscrapers and calculators.

Can I … should I … go for three? No. Enough already. I sent my first work of fiction off to be judged by an impartial panel. It was time, but now I want to call it back, enfold it in my arms and protect it from the harsh glare of day. (damn metaphors anyway … they just won’t stay away … actually, that one fell into the cliche abyss.)

The story of Sarana’s Gift is a new one for me. Two years ago, while trying to write something rational, a different something else, unknown and completely irrational, took over. I tried to put it away but it kept tapping me on the shoulder so I decided to play.

It started with someone … a young girl … riding a silver-white horse through the forest and then running … running … running … trying to get into a house she found … a house with no doors. Why was she running? I had no idea.

Then she found herself in a long, dark tunnel with no way to get out. It was impossible. The next morning, the story demanded its due again and offered me a way out of the tunnel. So, on I wrote until she wound up in another pickle with no way out. It was another impossible situation.

Next morning, another solution and another impossible task. This went on for awhile until it wound up being about 20,000 words of adventures in a fantasy world. Then, she woke up from a dream, looked around and apologized to her mom for being a jerk. What?

I didn’t know what to do with this strange bit of story so I thought maybe it was a fairy tale that I was writing for my granddaughters. Since they were going to spend a few days with me, I polished it up a bit and caught the girls in a quiet moment and started reading it to them. The silver-white horse fascinated the younger one for a few moments before her eyes glazed over. Then, they were both off to other things.

“Well, that was a nice try that didn’t work,” I thought to myself as I packed it away. Life had changed and I was packing everything away, moving on to a new life in a new place.

About a year later I was definitely in a new life in a new place … just not the one I had planned. During the unpacking, I found the story. In the midst of a tower of boxes, I sat down and read it thinking I deserved a break and I could just read it once more before packing it away forever.

Somehow, the story clung to me, calling me to give it time and space to grow. I had time so I sat down and began once more to write, again following more than leading. I never knew where it was going … or why.

Eventually, a structure formed and I started reading bits and pieces in a writer’s group. A trusted colleague read it and seemed to understand what was trying to be said. During the major rewrite that followed, I started to finally understand what was developing.

So, now, here it is out in the world. I can call it my child but it feels more like life struggling up through the concrete, reaching for sunlight, on its own path. It sounds almost too woo-woo but I feel more like the channel than the creator. I just hope my pipes weren’t too rusty, that they were clean enough to let the story be what it wanted to be.

***

Free advanced reading copies are available until 1/29/2016. Go to www.saranasgift.com to request yours.

The Question at the Bottom of the Rabbit Hole

For the past several days, I've been exploring next steps … whether to go this way or that, while sitting in my comfortable home enjoying my comfortable life.

This morning I read about a life not so comfortable … a land where the per capita income is $4000 per year, where life expectancy for men is 48 and for women 52, where infant mortality is 300% higher than the US average, where unemployment is 85%, where only 30% of students graduate from high school and the teen suicide rate is 150 times greater than the US average.

And which third-world country is this?  

The heart-breaking fact is that it's a neglected corner of our own country and probably not the only place where poverty, disease and hopelessness run rampant in this golden land of opportunity.  In this time when we are spending six BILLION dollars trying to decide who will lead arguably the world's most powerful country, we seem powerless to help our least fortunate.

Every year, energy, ideas and venture capital flow like a river toward new products and services, new video games, new technologies … and what a beautiful, productive river it is as it irrigates the fields of commerce that provide us with the stuff we need (and want), jobs and ever new opportunities.  

The question is … how might we use this powerful cycle of commerce to bring new life, new energy, new hope to the places within our own borders that have become life destroying deserts of poverty?  

I know that we are a generous, caring people.  If there were a hungry child sitting on our front porch, almost any of us would take that child in and comfort and feed it.  The problem is that we don't actually see the hungry children, and when we hear about them, in spite of our best intentions, we don't know what to do.  The problems seem too overwhelming to be solved.

Maybe this is where creativity comes in, and maybe the question should be: "What am I willing to do?"

Stealing Second

“Progress always involves risks. You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first base.”

- Frederick B. Wilcox

Yesterday, I took my foot off first base; now I'm in the danger zone between first and second, not knowing what will come next.  

It all started with fear.

 

A couple of days ago I made a silly decision to go see "A Dark Knight Rises" as a minuscule act of resistance against fear.  What I received for this act was 2 hours and 44 minutes of non-stop violence and a disturbing view of an apocalyptic world.  I can't recommend this movie … take that precious 2 hours and 44 minutes and make life with it.

However, this thinking about fear prompted my current leap into the void.  Last December I was thrilled to be accepted into the Gallery at Marina Square in Morro Bay.  It is a beautiful space filled with the art work of almost 70 artists run by an inspired and very patient leader, Jane Siragusa.  It has been a great experience … I've learned a lot, met inspiring artists and was stretched to a new level when I was given the privilege of being a featured artist and had to fill 22' of wall space with my art.  

Acceptance into the Gallery was a major factor in my decision to move to the Central Coast … a decision I'm grateful for every day.  However, yesterday I resigned as an artist in the Gallery … turned loose of my safe, accepting, friendly and supportive place and decided to steal second.  The Gallery sits in the primary tourist area in Morro Bay so it gets a lot of traffic but most of its sales are jewelry and small pieces of art, often related to Morro Bay and its signature rock.  

In the past several weeks, I've spent a lot of time trying to find a strategy for making my art fit this market so that it would be financially more viable.  The problem is that I want to do bigger pieces, not smaller, and I want to do the work that calls me rather than what I think might sell.  

I believe in art.  I think the act of creativity heals our Universe … any act of creativity whether it's art, poetry, gardening, raising a child, teaching or dancing.  Creativity is not about the end result, it's about the process of pulling a piece of ourselves into the "real" world.  Focusing on the end result affects the creative process.  

The Gallery fits some artists perfectly … what they are called to create happens to be what the visitors to the gallery want to buy.  For me, it was a mis-match.  The safe route would have been to adapt to the market.  I'm choosing a more risky path leading to somewhere I can't see.  

Only tomorrow knows where we're headed.

About this image:  Into the Abyss

Harmony is a small art community here on the Central Coast, population 18, with a glass blowing and other art studios.  One day i was visiting there and, as I was walking toward the glass studio, something in the weed-filled area in back of it caught my eye.  It was just a wooden wall, burnt and weathered but it called to me and from it came this image.

The Dancing Light

The Dancing Light

If you can touch it, it's real ... or is it?

If you cannot see, hear, feel, taste or smell it,

      it's not real ... or is it?

Science tells us that most of what we are ... 

     most of what everything is ...

     is empty space ... 

     at least, right now,
     we think it's empty.

Mystics tell us that we are all connected ... 

     that everything is connected ...

     perhaps what links us all together is that space ...

     and, perhaps, it's not so empty.

Recent experiments in quantum physics revealed ... light ...

     light emitted from all cells ...

     perhaps that empty space is actually filled with light.

We know that each of us, everything in our world,

      is made up of the dust that came from stars ...

     We are stardust that became living, breathing creators of "reality" ...

     perhaps that empty space ... that space that is really light ...

     is the life force we call creativity.

If everything is connected ... 

     from the light bulb above your head ...

     to the dog walking by on the street.

If everything is filled with hidden light ...

     then your light dances with my light 

     and both of us dance in the light of trees.

If that hidden light is the creative force that surges through all of us ...

     And, if each of us is connected in the great web of life,

     then the artwork you see around you is as much a part of you 

     as it is the artist who birthed it ... your viewing it, enjoying it ...

     is one moment in the link that connects us all.

Please enjoy YOUR art  ...

     and the river of creativity that flows through each of us.

(c) Joyce Wycoff, 2012

Dandelion Addiction

This post is dedicated to Suzanne, my partner in addiction.  

Over the past 15 years of our friendship, we have recognized our common addiction with its adrenalin highs and burn out lows. Fortunately, we live on different sides of the country, for when we get together, even by phone, the embers burst into flames, fed by the oxygen of our mutual addiction.  While our connections always inspire and energize us, sometimes they also leave us in a drug-induced state of depletion and exhaustion trying to sort out the plethora of possibilities.

The drug of choice for both of us is ideas ... bright, shiny, fragile, squirrely, slippery, incredibly beautiful new ways of looking at the world.  In that moment of birth of a new idea, some chemical is released that makes us feel powerful, brilliant and connected to the grand scheme of the Universe.  The infant idea is flawless with nothing but pure potential radiating out from its innocent self.  It is a perfect, uncut gem pulsing with possibility ... until, of course, it hits the chill wind of reality.

Like any high, the euphoria of a new idea cannot last.  Suzanne and I are like dandelions whose fragile puffs produce hundreds of seeds that blow into the wind in an ecstatic dance of creativity.  The dance ends the dandelion's job; it has done its work well once it stands naked with its seeds all drifting on the wind.  

But our job doesn't end with the dance.  We have to pick a seed, plant it, tend it, watch it grow ... and realize that in spite of the fact that we thought the idea might be a giant oak or a prolific protea, it really has a nature all its own and all we can do is help it be the best dandelion it can be.  Our job is to bring forth the reality that exists in each idea.  It may not be the adrenalin rush of creation, but it is the day-by-day, satisfaction of parenting an idea to its best self.

Both of us have parented ideas to adulthood but both of us still crave the roller-coaster ride of birthing new ideas.  Thank god they aren't fattening!

Art Is Within Everyone

In the current western culture, we tend to think of art and beauty as decoration, a nice to have luxury.  Our schools, when faced with a choice between math and art (or music or dance or theater), drop art and focus on tangible, measurable skills.  Since only a few students will become "artists," why waste precious resources that do not produce doctors, lawyers, scientists, engineers, the backbone of growth and productivity?  


It's the cement-mixer school of thought:  pour a bunch of math, science, language and computer skills into an empty drum, revolve it for 12 years and pour out the building mix of progress.

What's missing from this logical looking formula?  The soul, the creativity that exists within each of us, the new ideas that will pull energy out of tides, teach the body to harness its own healing power, enable us to find ways to live with creeping climate change.

Art, creativity, beauty ... this is the light contained in each of us ... but it needs to flow out into the world, to be seen, touched, tasted, smelled, heard.  Bottled up, it creates despair, anger, cancer, (figuratively and sometimes literally); encouraged, supported and set free, it creates joy, ideas, solutions to old problems and inspiration for new worlds.

The video that launched this train of thought on this glorious morning on the central coast features Ricky Lee Gordon, award-winning South African street artist and art activist. He states: 

Color creates energy, energy creates inspiration and inspiration creates change. It is our responsibility to inspire ourselves to inspire others to inspire the change. Art is the remedy for this.  ... Removing the grayness from the soul of the city is the job of artists, poets, and musicians.

His motto is:  Inspiration and love through art to make a difference in South Africa.  Use art to change perceptions.


I highly recommend this video and hope you'll take time to sit down, watch the video, and then actively let your own creative light flow free.  Perhaps you can find a way to use your art (whether it's cooking, painting, gardening, dancing, sewing, writing, teaching, sculpting ... however you express your self) to change the perceptions of the people who make decisions about our schools, our communities and our country.

Creativity Heals

This week I met a young woman who told me a story ... a sad story that happens all too often.

Her dad died when he was only 52, leaving his wife and five grown and almost grown children.  Her mom had been a talented creative giver ... one of those women who could make anything and was constantly giving it all away.  When her husband died, it took the spirit out of her and she stopped.  For almost twenty years now she has withered, losing precious time with her children and grandchildren, losing her health ... losing her self.  

Grief can do that; it is a powerful force that drains our life energy.  When a loved one dies, it's like a door closes on the life that was.  Sometimes we sit in a chair facing that doorway, wishing it would open again, yearning for what was.  However, behind us, if we could only turn around, are new doorways opening  to new lives and new joy.  Sometimes a sense of guilt keeps us glued to that chair faced toward the lost past.  We are afraid of dishonoring the dead by turning toward a new life.  In some cultures, the wife is expected to throw herself on the funeral pyre.  We don't do that literally but sometimes people do it slowly, metaphorically, letting their life energy fade away like embers in an untended fire.

After my husband died, I read countless stories of tragedy and grief, and it seemed like everywhere I looked, there was one common thread leading toward new joy:  creativity.  People who were able to go forward and build new lives found a creative outlet:  for some it was creating a living memorial for their lost loved one such as  Candy LIghtner who started Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) after her daughter was killed by a repeated drunk driver or Cindy Sheehan who began to protest war after her son was killed in Iraq.  For others it was finding or renewing a passion for gardening, sewing, family, community, or art.  

Creating something new plugs us back into life, starts the juices flowing again ... heals us. I was one of the lucky ones.  A few weeks after my husband died, in an effort to escape the pain, I wound up in a digital collage workshop in a tiny fishing village just south of Puerto Vallarta.  That workshop changed my life ... and maybe saved it.  I recently published a book about death, art and the healing power of creativity in hopes that it might help others.


Joy after the Fire, when grief, despair and loss become the seeds of new joy and growth is available from iBookstore for iPads or as a downloadable pdf that you can read on any computer ... just click the Buy Now button.  Grief and loss comes to each of us ... finding a way to create something new seems to be the only real way to heal the wound.

Joy after the Fire

What would Shana do?

One of my friends has a daughter and, like most moms, she tells remarkable and loving stories about her.  In the beginning I just nodded politely as I listened to the stories.  But, after a while, I realized there was a message weaving through them.

Shana Moulton is a video and performance artist.  Most of us don't really know what that means so I've included a snippet below that will give you a sense of it.  Shana is a successful performance artist and gets invited to places all over the planet to do her performances.

It wasn't always that way.  For awhile, she slept in a closet because she had no money but wouldn't give up her dream.  Her mom says Shana has always looked at life in her own way and insisted on following her inner guidance, regardless of other people's doubts and preconceived notions.

Now her mom and I, when we're trying to decide what to do with our lives, ask "What would Shana do?"  We always know the answer:  whatever calls her forward ... in the face of being thought foolish, in the face of possible failure, in the face of her own fears and insecurities ... she follows the path that calls her one step at a time into her own creativity and joy ... into her own authentic self which she shares with the world.

It's a good question: What would Shana do?

Fashion Go For It!!!

Why wait ... do it now!

Steampunk Art

My friend Vivian turned me onto this video about the Steampunk exhibition at the Museum of the History of Science, University of Oxford from 2010. Steampunk focuses on Victorian science, real and fantasy. The art doesn't really ring my chimes so I was hesitant to watch the video. What delighted me was the creativity and passion. It really is worth watching.

Joy after the Fire: It's a book!

It's a book!!

The past five years have been an amazing journey, even though it was not one I would have chosen.  The story of this journey is now available in my book "Joy after the Fire, when grief, despair and loss become the seeds of new joy and growth" available for iPads from iBookstore and as a downloadable pdf by clicking the BUY NOW button on the right.

Loss comes to each of us, and, in the beginning, it just feels like pain, grief and despair.  Gradually, however, the pain begins to lift and we can choose once again to live.  For me, there was no way to live my old life so I wound up in what felt like a free fall ... which landed me in an art workshop in Mexico that changed everything.

The purpose for telling this extremely personal story is to help others who may be experiencing loss.  I want people to know that there is definitely joy after the fire ... but it's not always easy.  The path to that new joy winds through a forest of self-reflection ... finding what brings you joy, stepping onto that path regardless of what the world thinks you should be doing, learning to be grateful for even the smallest things that gladden your heart.  At the end of each chapter and "interlude," there are questions to help you look at your life and your choices in new ways.

There is more about the book on the Joy after the Fire menu bar above and I would love to have you post your comments on that page.  Feel free to tell your story and tell us what has helped you.  What you say has the power to help others.

May your path to joy be filled with great friends and new insights about your own magnificence.

Happy Birthday Sid Parnes and George Washington Carver

What a day of creativity this is!  Two great creative souls were born on this day

Dr. Sidney J. Parnes (born 90 years ago today) is a retired professor at Buffalo State College (located in Buffalo, New York) and the co-founder of the International Center for Studies in Creativity. The Center is housed within [[Buffalo State College], one of the only places in the world that offers a Masters of Science degree in Creativity.  He is the gentle and guiding force behind CPSI, one of the most remarkable gatherings of creative souls on the planet and the longest-running international creativity conference in existence.

This video explains the creative problem solving process developed by Dr. Parnes and Alex Osborn.

George Washington Carver who was born on this day in 1864, perhaps into slavery, is acknowledged as one of the most creative and inventive minds of the scientific world.  His reputation is based on his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts, soybeans andsweet potatoes, which also aided nutrition for farm families. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops both as a source of their own food and as a source of other products to improve their quality of life.  In 1941, Time magazine called him a "black Leonardo."

There is a national monument dedicated to Carver at his birthplace in Diamond, Missouri.

How fortunate we are all that these men dedicated their lives to creativity.

Think Different!

This is my all-time favorite ad narrated by one of my favorite actors, Richard Dreyfuss.


"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify and vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as crazy, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."