Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Casting for creativity

I heard an interesting story on NPR this morning. It was about how most creative people don't have genius leaps of intuition and performance after all. Most successful people take small risks over and over and over. They are the ones (like Steve Jobs, Frank Gehry, and Chris Rock) who eventually create substantial works, make names for themselves, and generally are perceived to be big successes.

I've spent too many decades waiting for a thunderbolt of inspiration.
So, once again, I am vowing to do something (perhaps anything) on a DAILY basis. I've tried before. Persistence and/or repetition are not my forte. Doesn't mean I have to give up, though.

Three P's is what I'm thinking: Painting, Piano or Poem

You may have noticed the proliferation of Daily Paint blogs and websites. I've noticed that not all the painters actually do a painting a day, but they come close. And THEY certainly have painted and learned more than me. Even drawing a pair of pears 365 days in a row would force you to learn a lot about pears as well as painting! And anyone who has tried to do anything with a muscle-memory comoponent knows that multiple small rehearsals is more effective than one big over-blown effort. (Think of strength training, or swimming or mastering a concerto. Can't lift 200# the first time! Gotta work up to it and maintain the ability, then try #250.)

Plus, I've run into two authors this week who mentioned about how writing daily (poems as it turns out) kept them well during a difficult time in their life. Jane Yolen , who accurately calls herself a worker bee, wrote Sonnets when her husband was undergoing chemotherapy. And then there's James Nave who was featured on New Hampshire Public Radio when poetry saved him from despair when diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Fortunately, I am (6 years!!) cancer free.
I didn't paint today (long story), but I've accumulated some haikus about image making.
So while I won't necessarily post daily (how do you post practicing a Beethoven sonata movement?), occasionally you'll see some paintings and batches of words.

Minutes twirl in time.
My brush waltzes hues
on my heart's canvas.

Your fragile pale soul
refracts stark explosive shadows.
Delights and danger.

Swoops and swirls vying
for gravitas and love.
Patrons slurp sugar.

Primary trio.
Blue, red and yellow create
every vision in the world.

And I can illustrate the poems!

1 comment:

Holly said...

Love this post. Three cheers for 6 years C free and for batches of words!