Live life as if creating a work of art!

You can look at life as if you are an artist working at creating…at making visible your ideas!

I find that humdrum and repetitive tasks such as morning ablutions, folding the laundry , setting the table, making and eating breakfast, reading the paper and driving to work, provide a pattern and structure on which to build dreams for the day.  In the midst of the structure I can find time to  balance the elements of my day, notice and choose color and tone and find the lines that connect events and places. Although I feel that my life as a  “work” of art in process, it was further articulated and richly defined in “the everyday work of art” by Eric Booth.

nurture by beth vendryes williamsc

I will be exploring the idea that the work of creating art is not limited to paint, canvas and clay about once a week on this blog, simply because I find  such a freedom and inspiration to think of my own life this way! I will also s feasibility of each person to develop a way of thinking to create art from the stuff of his life.

I then begin to notice when other people are treating there lives with the creativity and discipline usually associated with the creative process. I see the creative “work” of art in small acts such as setting a table or huge, highly visible efforts such as Barack Obama’s journey by train to Washington!

So I wonder, where do you find that you exercise your creativity  in your daily life?

Vacations work on “kairos” time!

on the road

It felt like a week away, but it was only two days!

“Kairos” time is determined not by the amount of time you spend, but by your presence and focus. Sometimes when I am painting, a lot can happen in a half an hour and it seems like a couple of hours: or I can paint for two hours and it can feel like 10 minutes! So the quantity of time according to the clock means nothing!  I first heard about this kairos time in one of Madeleine L’Engle’s books.  I believe it was in “A Wrinkle in Time”.

In good company, I traveled with my dear sister on the ferry on a beautiful day! The distant mist, bright sunshine and constant breeze created an atmosphere of relaxed kairos time. I gathered my pencils to draw and paint in my journal.

The tree and the roadway are both memory journal sketches. You will see a drawing from a young artist friend here also!

Reading “the power of NOW” by Eckardt Tolle, inspires and reminds me to draw  and be fully present in the now moment as well.  Try it…. Whether you paint or cook or plant flowers or enjoy he sun and breeze!