quiet

Do you ever have those days
where you think you want to listen
to something, anything, to distract;
music, movie, podcast,
but can't pick one?
This in itself makes me feel restless
until I realize I just want quiet.
I turn everything off and immediately
feel better. I can hear the sprinklers outside,
and the traffic going by.
When its early enough, I can also hear the
little birdies chatting away.
That is enough noise to calm.
I wonder when we became a
society that has to have constant
outside entertainment to distract?
or to keep us feeling busy. What is so bad
about just turning off all the manufactured
noise and just sitting and listening to
what is happening naturally, or beyond
our control....taking a moment or 10 to
be still, be calm, be happy.
Even my ever processing, creating mind
is more at ease with the quiet.

Suzanne McCann

To do it or not to do it....that is the question...I DID IT!!!

Flashback to fall 2017, and a friend sends me a link to a video that talks about the Brooklyn Art Library. It is a place that collects sketchbooks from people and groups all over the world and catalogues them. They are an actual library where people can go in and check out the sketchbooks everyone has created.

At first I totally ignored the idea, but then came across the video again and thought, what the heck, lets try something different.

So, I ordered my sketchbook, and then tried to decide what I should do.... I wanted it to be a story of sorts, but what kind?  The poor sketchbook sat for a couple of months just looking at me. I went through idea after idea sketching them onto scraps of paper, until finally I just sat down one day and said to myself, Ok, what do you want to do at this moment.......and started meditatively drawing lines.
It all started with that and I continued in that fashion..sitting down and repeating to myself...what do you want to do at this moment....and finally near the end I worked on the story that would connect it all. Yeah!!! Definitely some stressful moments, but most of all it was just FUN, FUN, FUN!! I feel the sketchbook represents me in my whimsicallness and love of colour.

And then I finished it and sent it away. I think the most exciting thing was the email I received saying they had received my sketchbook and it was catalogued....I proudly shared the news with the rest of the lovely girls I work with and did an impromptu I'm so excited over the moon dance....lol. And, here it is!! I hope you enjoy it!  Suzanne

SaveSave

when I was young and fearless vs being an old practical creative

Sooooo, deep down I kind of knew this but it came bubbling to the surface a while ago.
I was going to instagram a pic of a sweater that I had been working on out of scraps of yarn that I had inherited from various people over the years. It was sort of colour blocking, or intarsia, adding colours in here and there, making it pleasing to my eye. The caption I started to write was," tbt  to when I was fearlessly creative!!!" and then I stopped and thought, shit, when did I become fearful of creativity? I felt like I was still being a creative person, but when I really deep down thought about it, was I now behaving as a "practical creative"?

I never finished the sweater. I realized  that  I wasn't going to have near enough yarn to complete it the way I wanted to so I stopped working on it but kept it around almost like a piece of art because I had really enjoyed the process of adding colours here and there and I found it pleasing and inspiring to look at.

So, whats with  "practical creativity"? That's what I believe, after much soul searching,  is where I'm at right now in my creative life. Or, that's what I am delusion-ally terming it as. I will have an idea and instead of just excitedly going ahead and testing it out, I will run through the idea from start to finish in my wacky little brain and do a pros and cons thing. What is the usefulness of this idea? Do I have the material needed to work on it in my stash? How much will it cost to make it for reals? Will my neck/back hate me for days or longer if I obsessively work out this idea for hours and hours? and so on and so on until I wind up just sketching it out in one of my many sketchbooks and putting it aside.  I am definitely spending too much time thinking about the process instead of just doing it........Of course one of the reasons for this might be that physically I am limited by my neck and back issues and I do not have the luxury of spending hours of time in one position on testing most ideas anymore.

 Boo hiss I say, I need to just do it and keep being excited by the ideas that circle my head trying to get out!! Even if its just to draw it out, write it down. grab a scrap of this or that, REALLY, how do I actually know if the idea will work if I don't at least try it?? And most of all, its all just fun!! And inspiring and FUN to get an idea, and work it out to some extent, testing my brain, expanding my horizons........

Whats the moral of this little rant/story?? To stop being stifled by practicality and just get on with the trying, testing, playful fun of it all!!!

Hugs everyone, and happy just for fun creating!!
Suzanne