Scraps

These are a few pages, quickly done with random scraps of paper that are littering my workspace. I do these when I'm working though a particular problem or have some abstract idea in my head that wants a home. It seems to help if I can visualize just where it is that I am stuck. I work with the scraps and write these notes to myself. Here are a few examples:

MAELSTROM: "The mountain trembled to its very base, and the rock rocked... this can be nothing else than the great whirlpool of the Maelström." from Descent into the Maelstrom- Edgar Allan Poe. When you are taken down into the Maelstrom, the pieces of your world swirl violently around, but the center is empty...

THERE MIGHT BE DRAGONS A medieval map of Europe was found with the known lands drawn in detail and then, at the edge of the known world, were the words "There Might Be Dragons" a warning any who dared to venture there. Reach the limits of what you know. Look ahead into the unknown. The void is both threatening and exhilarating. Now fill that gap between what you know for sure and your wildest imagination --that’s the beginning your creative process. There might be dragons. . . go anyway . . . explore

THE VISIBLE WORLD “The visible world is the first shoreline of the invisible world.” John O’Donahue

OBSTACLES Obstacles are there for you to use to catapult you into the next adventure--to the next unknown. You either stop, and turn around or you take a running leap and spring from the energy the obstacle gives up to you. Obstacles are opportunities if you know how to make that leap.

DRAGON FIRE When the dragon sets the hills ablaze-- Let that fiery passion loose on your creative work

SETTLING OUT THE CLUTTER What about those blah days...nothing comes...no inspiration, no motivation. I spend the blah days clearing clutter in the studio. Creativity can be blocked by clutter--crowded out by bits of unneeded scraps that demand attention because they occupy your sight space as well as your working space. Contain chaos. Clear the visual clutter and let color, pattern, texture settle into a framework of order. It will free your mind to think of other things.

AUTUMN Autumn in the Northeast is nature's climax--clear skies, outrageous colors--an intensity that feels like the end of the race--you did the work--now enjoy the rewards. What happens when you look foward to the autumn, to reward time, when you'll be free to enjoy, explore, create, and then find another reality has taken over... cheated, frustrated, you know that you can’t get it back. You can’t win back time...so do it now, wear your colors now, don't wait.