Natural Tapestries
There are times on a creative journey when we feel famished – when we develop a voracious appetite for connecting to the world and for expressing our art. It is spring and we are lucky. This is the season when even the most passionate appetite can be satisfied.
It is that time of year when a lush banquet is set out before us. It is all so delectable – this profusion of beauty that is running amok. It is in the colors, the flowers, the light, the beaches, the birds – the air. It is a photographer’s dreamtime, and for this photographer, there is an intoxicating feeling when I think about the bounty of possibilities.
With so many choices, it is easy to become overwhelmed and to devour it all without really tasting. A gourmand – a sensualist, doe not hurry the process. We must remember to slow down – to take little bites – to savor the pleasure while finding ways to meet the cravings.
We are and should be craving. However, we cannot show up for beauty if we haven’t experienced it or lived it. It must come from within and be part of who you are. “I am part of all that I have met,” said Alfred Tennyson. You are part of all that you have met. Be sure to introduce yourself to beauty and make it an essential part of your daily ritual. Allow yourself experiences that will add to your life and will create in you, the person who knows how to appreciate and embrace beauty.
As creative souls, we are alive and wanting. When I am hungry, I search for that which will feed me. While everyone has different tastes, I am fed with the beauty that is found in poetry, music, books, flowers, rocks, water, good food, conversation and love. You must seek out and keep good company, knowing what and who will nourish you. You must pursue that which will keep you alive and sustained on a creative level.
Of course, every person has a different perspective on how to define nourishment. There is chocolate, strawberry, banana, pralines and cream. There is Beethoven, Lucinda Williams, and Louis Armstrong. There is shrimp and pasta, tofu and steak. It really doesn’t matter what the substance. It matters only that you know what feeds you and that you make sure it is part of your diet and way of living.
Give yourself permission to find the richness you need for your survival. It is necessary and is the absolute prerequisite for a creative life. You cannot expect to create if you aren’t living creatively.
Without provisions of beauty to feed us, we lose our passion. Without passion, we are mechanical robots, and produce art in a style that is mechanical. If we aren’t receptive to the vital energies that light our fires, we are opting to live in T.S.Eliot’s, The Waste Land, where you know only a heap of broken images. This is a dead and dark and neglected landscape – one void of beauty.
Passion is a virtue, not a self-indulgent nihilism that some might encourage you to believe. Expressing your need to live creatively is merely honoring yourself. Creativity runs in your blood – you must take care of its needs.
Feed yourself - laugh, feel, weep, dance, and create. You must feast on that which nourishes your palate and indulges your senses. Surrender to the philosophy that possible banquets are everywhere if you are open to see them and mindful to experience them. When you live with passion and embrace beauty, you awaken your poet. It is that poet’s voice who will lead you to visual poems and to your bliss.
When you are following your bliss, you are photographing and living with poetry. The more simple images, the most ordinary subjects, become extraordinary poems. Oriah Mountain Dreamer said in her wonderful poem, The Invitation, …”stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, ‘YES!’” We all need to shout yes and gratefully accept invitations for these feasts and banquets.
Wherever you go, you will be all that you have received and imbibed. You will find your heart and soul in rapturous union of perception and imagination. Your images will be filled with intimacy and sensuousness, resonating from your nourished, blossoming spirit.
So, put on your favorite music and fill your cupboards with all that you love. Don’t save the beautiful china and crystal and that rare bottle of wine. Every day can be a celebration and a party, if you invite yourself to the festival. Enjoy a world integrated with senses. Your life will be ever so delicious!
Bon appetit,
Nancy
It is that time of year when a lush banquet is set out before us. It is all so delectable – this profusion of beauty that is running amok. It is in the colors, the flowers, the light, the beaches, the birds – the air. It is a photographer’s dreamtime, and for this photographer, there is an intoxicating feeling when I think about the bounty of possibilities.
With so many choices, it is easy to become overwhelmed and to devour it all without really tasting. A gourmand – a sensualist, doe not hurry the process. We must remember to slow down – to take little bites – to savor the pleasure while finding ways to meet the cravings.
We are and should be craving. However, we cannot show up for beauty if we haven’t experienced it or lived it. It must come from within and be part of who you are. “I am part of all that I have met,” said Alfred Tennyson. You are part of all that you have met. Be sure to introduce yourself to beauty and make it an essential part of your daily ritual. Allow yourself experiences that will add to your life and will create in you, the person who knows how to appreciate and embrace beauty.
As creative souls, we are alive and wanting. When I am hungry, I search for that which will feed me. While everyone has different tastes, I am fed with the beauty that is found in poetry, music, books, flowers, rocks, water, good food, conversation and love. You must seek out and keep good company, knowing what and who will nourish you. You must pursue that which will keep you alive and sustained on a creative level.
Of course, every person has a different perspective on how to define nourishment. There is chocolate, strawberry, banana, pralines and cream. There is Beethoven, Lucinda Williams, and Louis Armstrong. There is shrimp and pasta, tofu and steak. It really doesn’t matter what the substance. It matters only that you know what feeds you and that you make sure it is part of your diet and way of living.
Give yourself permission to find the richness you need for your survival. It is necessary and is the absolute prerequisite for a creative life. You cannot expect to create if you aren’t living creatively.
Without provisions of beauty to feed us, we lose our passion. Without passion, we are mechanical robots, and produce art in a style that is mechanical. If we aren’t receptive to the vital energies that light our fires, we are opting to live in T.S.Eliot’s, The Waste Land, where you know only a heap of broken images. This is a dead and dark and neglected landscape – one void of beauty.
Passion is a virtue, not a self-indulgent nihilism that some might encourage you to believe. Expressing your need to live creatively is merely honoring yourself. Creativity runs in your blood – you must take care of its needs.
Feed yourself - laugh, feel, weep, dance, and create. You must feast on that which nourishes your palate and indulges your senses. Surrender to the philosophy that possible banquets are everywhere if you are open to see them and mindful to experience them. When you live with passion and embrace beauty, you awaken your poet. It is that poet’s voice who will lead you to visual poems and to your bliss.
When you are following your bliss, you are photographing and living with poetry. The more simple images, the most ordinary subjects, become extraordinary poems. Oriah Mountain Dreamer said in her wonderful poem, The Invitation, …”stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, ‘YES!’” We all need to shout yes and gratefully accept invitations for these feasts and banquets.
Wherever you go, you will be all that you have received and imbibed. You will find your heart and soul in rapturous union of perception and imagination. Your images will be filled with intimacy and sensuousness, resonating from your nourished, blossoming spirit.
So, put on your favorite music and fill your cupboards with all that you love. Don’t save the beautiful china and crystal and that rare bottle of wine. Every day can be a celebration and a party, if you invite yourself to the festival. Enjoy a world integrated with senses. Your life will be ever so delicious!
Bon appetit,
Nancy
