Tag: creativity

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Prizes? Prizes!

My painting, “Frolic”

This past weekend a local art show was held at the bank downtown where I won Third Place in painting last year. I always enter and I did so again this year. I had intended to write this letter about prizes in art and what they mean, since I was not expecting to win again this year. I was going to write about the roller coaster ride of prizes, shows, acceptance, rejection, and sales.

Well, this year I got First Place in Painting! WOW. I heard the news from a friend. Gobsmacked. Stunned. Very very happy. Told many people the happy news. Right as I was going to bed last night I worried that my friend may have gotten it wrong. Maybe it was Third Place or Honorable Mention and I’d already told all those people I got First. But no. It was true. Wow.

The thing is, a few weeks earlier another of my paintings had been rejected from a show put on by this same arts group. But I am no stranger to rejection, as anyone who’s done art shows will also say. I once met a guy who helped found the Plaza Art Fair in Kansas City and after the first couple of years, he was rejected! Another artist I know had his work used on the brochure for a show for which he was rejected. It is not uncommon to win a prize one year and be rejected the next.

So, prizes in art–what do they even mean? Generally, they mean that a particular judge or set of judges really likes your work. It’s great to win, of course. It feels wonderful and I am thrilled. I love my painting and somebody else out there loves it, too! Validation is always welcome when you’re putting yourself out into the world through art or writing or anything creative. I mean, many of us would say that when we show our art, we are essentially saying, “See me. Look at what I did! Love me.” This is why I appreciate those people who take the time to really look at my work as much as I do those who buy it. I feel seen.

Had I not won a prize, my day still would have included something like this. Win!

I will, of course, continue to let people know about this prize. Of course! My painting and ribbon were even shown on the news! Wahoo!! More people to see me, look at what I did, love me. By the time you read this, I will have received my prize in front of everyone gathered there. I will have felt seen and celebrated. As long as I don’t let not winning or being rejected rule me, I’m good.

Prizes encourage me to keep painting, even when the painting is ugly at some point in the middle. Ugh. Prizes help me remember that I have managed to pull other paintings through to the other side. They remind me that I can do it again, even if I have to struggle (as I often do). But they are not everything, by any means. I don’t paint for prizes. I do it because I love doing it. It’s fun and it takes me back to being a kid, playing, getting messy. It is just so much JOY. How lucky am I? Sheesh!

“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

“It is deeply satisfying to win a prize in front of a lot of people.” ― E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

“Art must be an expression of love or it is nothing.” Marc Chagall

If you’re looking for my cards or art, you’ll find all of that on my website. If you enjoy these letters, feel free to forward this one to anyone you think might like it. And if someone forwarded this one to you, you can sign up here to receive the letters right in your Inbox. Finally, you’ll find past letters and poems here.

Thanks for listening,
Kay

P.S. MerryThoughts is the name of my first book, out of print at the moment. The word is a British one, referring both to a wishbone and to the ritual of breaking the wishbone with the intention of either having a wish granted or being the one who marries first, thus the “merry thoughts.”

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Creative Block

“I don’t know how to paint,” I recently told both my son and a good friend. The friend responded, “No painter ever in the history of art has ever thought that, right?” That’s right. Not Van Gogh or any of those others. No one.

So I’ve been struggling with three paintings I’m been working on. Each new thing I try seems to go badly. Or I’ll be happy with one and a few hours later, I think it’s absolutely terrible. A dog’s breakfast, I’d say if I was British. Rubbish. Deserves to be thrown into the bin. Or tossed on the fire. I don’t even have a fire. What then?

And then there are other things. The heat and other things. It’s been a general miasma over here the last little while.

As a result, I’ve been pulling out the old standbys I use to lift my mood. Went to the gym, finally. On the track, I listened to a Gratitude Walk, which turned out to be more like Interval Training with just a hint of gratitude. Kicked my butt but I liked it. Slipped back into the funk after a couple of hours, though. Later concluded I do not know how to paint. Went to the gym the following day, with music on the iPod. Nice but then I required an Epsom salts bath, a nap, and chocolate. Gave my paintings the stink eye.

This is the painting my son wants for Christmas.

Today, however, we had a lovely, breezy, cool morning. I took Miles to Stephens Park and we walked around the lake, which was absolutely lovely. And then I went back out on my own, through the neighborhood, with Ceasar Happily aka Ceasar F. Barajas, a meditation/yoga teacher, narrating “Walk and Chill” on my phone. Oh my Lord! Lovely. Wonderful voice, amazing energy, beautifully encouraging words. And then it started raining. I love being out in the rain and so this was an added bonus. And then Ceasar says, “Now imagine the miracle that is currently happening. You are a walking universe, filled with energetic channels of light and love and electricity, currently walking on an earth that is in the midst of an even bigger universe.” Whoa. And more where that came from.

Okay, you tell me how a person can remain in a funk while hearing those and many other words during a walk in the rain at the end of a very hot week during which that person mistakenly concluded that she does not know how to paint. At all. Pish-posh. I am a walking universe! And I think painting is included in my universe. Funk lifted.

And then my son calls and says he wants for Christmas TWO of my recent paintings. This makes me very, very happy.

“When I have a creative block, I take walks. I like to see what shapes stick out – so many legs rushing by at once, it can seem abstract. I don’t need to see great art to get stirred up. Music does that for me more easily.” — Caio Fonseca

“If you hear a voice within you saying, ‘You are not a painter,’ then by all means paint, boy, and that voice will be silenced.” — Vincent van Gogh

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou

If you’re looking for my cards or art, you’ll find all of that on my website. If you enjoy these letters, feel free to forward this one to anyone you think might like it. And if someone forwarded this one to you, you can sign up here to receive the letters right in your Inbox. Finally, you’ll find past letters and poems here.

Thanks for listening,
Kay

P.S. MerryThoughts is the name of my first book, out of print at the moment. The word is a British one, referring both to a wishbone and to the ritual of breaking the wishbone with the intention of either having a wish granted or being the one who marries first, thus the “merry thoughts.”

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Seeing

Hairy Vetch

Last summer I was out on my bike a lot, with my oldest son, home from New York City. We rode on the MKT trail a lot. Apparently, on many of those rides we rode past loads of this flower, Hairy Vetch, but I never noticed it. I say “apparently” because this year I’ve seen masses of it growing along that same trail. And I really doubt that it all just sprang up this year, out of nowhere. It is a lovely purple flower, too, quite eye catching.

I pride myself on noticing things, especially things in nature. And I started learning about wildflowers several years ago–observing, taking photos, looking them up in Missouri Wildflowers, posting photos on social media, etc. They are a particular love of mine. And yet this one, the great lovely banks of it, had eluded me.

This made me think about what other things I may be missing. What ideas, things, people, and places am I failing to notice? I’m sure there are quite a few. But I am also sure I’m not alone in this.

This little guy eluded me, too, until he was pointed out by a passing hiker.

I was lucky to hear Jon Kabat-Zinn give a talk some years ago, here in town. There were maybe a thousand people in the audience, as I recall. He showed a video, and asked us to count how many times the people in white clothing passed a basketball. There were people in black in the video, too, all of them moving around in front of an elevator. I concentrated very hard on counting. After the video stopped, he asked how many passes we counted. Then he asked if anyone had seen anything unusual. Maybe 3 or 4 people raised their hands. He played the video again, instructing us NOT to count, but just to watch. Unbelievably, about two thirds of the way through, the elevator door opened, revealing someone in a gorilla suit who stood there beating his chest. This was what only 3 or 4 among us had noticed?! This was stunning to me. How had I not seen that? Well, I was busy with a task that involved paying attention to only one thing. Even so, I found it hard to believe that I had missed that.

The phenomenon is called “selective attention.” We all have it at times, sometimes to our benefit but often not. His point was that sometimes we focus on negative things, things we struggle with or are sensitive to, and by focusing on them we create more trouble for ourselves. He is one of many who say that whatever we put our attention on grows stronger in our lives.

Sam Middleton, American 1927-2015

Because I love morel mushrooms, a few times in spring I have searched for them in the woods. The most I ever found was two. But worse than that, in looking for mushrooms, I failed to enjoy everything else that I normally would have seen, loved, and photographed. Focusing on that one thing took away from my joy of wandering in the woods. I no longer hunt morels.

On the other hand, scientists put razor sharp focus on a particular area of research and make important discoveries. People who get lost in creative pursuits can lose track of time and forget to eat. But they are deep in creative “flow,” which is rewarding, energizing, and wonderful.

Maybe last summer on those bike rides I was focusing on my son, our conversations as we rode along, and the enjoyment of being with him. That little flower was going to be here again this year, anyway. So now I’ve found it.

As with most things, there are both good and bad aspects to the little oddities of being human.

If you’re looking for my cards or art, you’ll find all of that on my website. And if you enjoy these letters, feel free to forward this one to anyone you think might like it. Finally, you’ll find past letters and poems here.

Thanks for listening,
Kay

P.S. MerryThoughts is the name of my first book, out of print at the moment. The word is a British one, referring both to a wishbone and to the ritual of breaking the wishbone with the intention of either having a wish granted or being the one who marries first, thus the “merry thoughts.”

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Giant Sandbox

On my neighborhood walks I frequently make a point to walk past a particular home that is partway up a steep hill. I like the hill because when I try to keep going at my fast pace all the way up and over, it gets my heart really pumping. But the big draw for me is the lot at the bottom of the hill that is essentially an ever-changing woodland sculpture garden. The man who lives there keeps it all natural, using rocks, branches, fallen trees, and sticks to create wonderful sculptures without nails, saw, or other manmade objects. It’s just him and all he finds there. He calls it his “giant sandbox” and he says it’s relaxing and fun to putter about, building things in it.

“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein

I love that he and his wife have chosen to keep the property so charming and natural. The yard closer to the house is naturalized with native flowers and plants. This is her part. Both are just lovely. They feel no need to gather up all the sticks and branches and burn them or haul them off to the mulch site. Instead, he plays with them, creating mind-boggling balancing acts, stacks of sticks, and eye-pleasing arrangements, while she keeps the flowers going. I noticed the other day that some of the plants in the yard are labeled. Painted fern, hellebore, bluebell. Thank you.

I am certainly not alone in loving their yard and their work. Many of us walkers enjoy it. And the deer do, too.

I love it when people’s creative pursuits take them outdoors, where they’ll concoct something wonderful for all of us passersby to enjoy them. A treehouse with a rounded door. Crazy metal sculptures made from found objects. Fences dressed up with sticks and whatnot. House numbers all wonky by the front door. I love to see the unique ways people dress up their outdoor spaces. Everyone has a creative bone in their body, no matter what they say. We all just use it differently. And that’s what’s great.

“Everybody is talented because everybody who is human has something to express.” – Brenda Ueland

Unfortunately for me and all the other walkers who stop to look and maybe take photos, this property has been sold and a house will be built on the site of the Giant Sandbox. I suppose the couple who are leaving will be creating something new in a new place and other people will have the privilege of being inspired by them. For now, I’m still going by, taking photos and marveling at the ingenuity of the creative soul. And I’m thinking about what I might do in my own yard, just for fun.

“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.” – Osho

“Serious art is born from serious play.” – Julia Cameron

If you’re looking for my cards or art, you’ll find all of that on my website. And if you enjoy these letters, feel free to forward this one to anyone you think might like it. Finally, you’ll find past letters and poems here.

Thanks for listening,
Kay

P.S. MerryThoughts is the name of my first book, out of print at the moment. The word is a British one, referring both to a wishbone and to the ritual of breaking the wishbone with the intention of either having a wish granted or being the one who marries first, thus the “merry thoughts.”