Friday, May 18, 2012

ten minutes for me.

ten minutes - that's all. 
This past Sunday, our minister spoke of the word "abide" and how in the gospel, Jesus tells us to "abide in him" -  he took the time to speak of the word: abide means wait, stay, with a hint of stillness, if only inner stillness... also patience, and consistency, be-ness. Then he related that to a simple period of quiet at the beginning of the day - like a short meditation, but he didn't use that word so to not muddy his meaning with other religious viewpoints. Personally, I lean toward Pantheism - the omnipresent "god" - the universe or the creative force in the universe is god - so to me, abiding with "god" really means just being still with myself with no intent... letting everything "in." I mean, I'm often still when pondering colors or next steps or zoning out to let the point of what I'm creating come back to me... but just to be, that's different. 
Here's the first page in my handmade paper blank book. Loose and
fast - this came together very quickly. I did find, however, that I need
better quality brushes to go with my little half-pan set. Next time...
May 14, 2012
So, it being the first day of the rest of my life, and a Monday, which is just a good time to start new things, I took those ten minutes. I just sat in the front window on the cedar chest - which has a cushion on it for just that, but I don't sit there and just look out very often - and opened up to the colors: the yellow greens of May, the fog over the hilltops across the lake, I watched the birds - crows, chickadees - I didn't try to stop thinking or focus or edit, I just drifted.  I also didn't time myself - just allowed it end organically... And at the end, I remembered something I've been wanting to do for months that I just never remember to do. At Christmas I was given this lovely handmade paper book  - beautiful, blank, textured square pages - and I've been wanting to be more instantaneous with my art, so I have this travel watercolor kit and I brought it upstairs months ago and put it all together and placed it underneath my coffee table just awaiting my inspiration - and there it has sat since January! So I picked it up and sat right there and painted the green/grays of a foggy May day. Just for me.