Richness

 

"Self-Portrait" detail
pencil and watercolor on Arches 100% cotton hot press paper

Some years ago friends introduced the idea of selecting a new word for each year. My husband and I have done this now for many years. This year's word is "richness." Our intention for the word is to look back, at the end of each day, and discuss the richness in it. 

Today has already been rich.

I had an hour Zoom session with an ace spiritual counselor, Andy Douglas, with whom I’ve connected every other month for the past seven years. One thing that came up was my disproportionate dissatisfaction with my paintings that go awry—of which there are many. I so want to become a better painter that I get frustrated when paintings don’t work. Andy suggested simply setting an intention, before I begin painting, to accept whatever develops, without allowing disappointment. (Now why didn’t I think of that?) I added that maybe I should also just practice and play more—get back to my sketchbooks and experiment more often.

After our talk I went on to finish a really bad painting that I won’t share here, but true to my new intention, I didn’t dwell on the disappointment. Instead, I penciled in a self-portrait with a soft (#4) pencil and then added color with a triad of Quin Magenta, Phthalo Blue, and Hansa Yellow Medium. Not a masterpiece, but it felt good to play.

I was also interviewed about my book, Skipping Church: Notes from an Accidental Minister’s Wife, by a wonderful young reporter from the Mason City Globe Gazette, since there’s a chapter in the book about living in Mason City, Iowa. She’ll be writing a feature article about the book. As a freelance writer, ’ve been on her side of so many interviews; it truly was a joy to be the one answering the questions. What a gift, her great questions, and the feeling of being listened to so deeply. Thank you, Gretchen!

There’s a feeling of spring in the air this week in northern California as the temperatures have risen slightly. I even saw a magnolia tree in bloom yesterday.

The new year has just begun. What other richness is ahead?  

 

 

We Matter…and Art and Writing Matters

 

Some years ago, I took an online creativity-coaching course for writers from Eric Maisel, a creativity coach and therapist who lives in San Francisco.

Maisel asked us to do two short exercises daily. First, we were to physically write this sentence: “I matter and my writing matters.” He knew how easy it is to discount our creative instincts and pursuits when there is a living to make, families to raise, other obligations to perform.

He also asked us to pause every few hours, throughout the day/evening, to ask ourselves, “Could I write for fifteen minutes right now?” Amazing things could get done in just a few fifteen-minute sessions a day, he said.

And so I went about making myself believe that my writing mattered. And in between day-job tasks of my own teaching and commercial freelance writing, I worked on my own writing in fifteen-minute increments and, these past few years, my own art projects. Sometimes I found myself on a roll and was able to stretch those fifteen minutes into several hours at a time.

It’s been about ten years since I completed Maisel’s course. And as of last week, my book Skipping Church: Notes from an Accidental Minister’s Wife has just been published.

And it’s my artwork on the front.

Yes, we matter, all you writers and artists out there.

And so does our writing and art. 

(And oh, you can order Skipping Church from Amazon or from the publisher, Shanti Arts.)