How Your Daily Life Can Inspire Creative Vision
Journal October 2019 @Musée D’ Orsay ©beth vendryes williams
I discovered that in my life.
Here I sit, with my laptop on a crisp autumn Saturday morning watching the sun warm the trees as the leaves begin to turn. It is a glorious moment to savor and drink in the fresh air! My thoughts go to the blessings of being creative.
Every day, I practice the process of making art out of my life.
Do you want to know why?
I discovered this way of working while I was teaching art to 600 students a week over 20 years.
As you can well imagine, not all of them cared about painting and drawing. But every student loved discovering a new experience, recognizing beauty, making a difference by making a mark that could be seen, and communicate with others.
So, I focused on reading about the creative process in tandem with raising our three sons, painting & drawing. Through that research of writings by scientists, researchers, dancers, yogis, philosophers, and writers, I learned more about the process of creating, no matter what the materials.
I began to observe the ways I used my creativity in my daily life. Imagination is needed in every part of the day, which extends way beyond merely making a product marketed as art. In fact, the process of creative thinking can result in making your life itself into a work of art!
My biggest challenge was finding time and space to work.
Check back with me next Thursday to find out what I did!
Four blank canvases evoke the heart to respond.
seeking refuge/ process sketches watercolor & ink/ rag paper beth vendryes williams
Where do I begin?
The sun gently awakens me this morning as I begin my work in earnest on compiling my solo exhibit! There will be an opening reception on September 23, 2018. The show will be a collection of work done in recent years. In my newest work I have chosen to deepen my exploration of the refuge theme and am using multiple mediums in the development of this series.
I began by looking at four blank canvases I have in my studio. My head, heart, and hands were in agreement.
I realized I needed to work larger than before and change the medium. I decided to use oil paint for its gestural possibilities, rich depth of color and sensuous qualities.
Seeking Refuge is what I am calling the exhibit, and it operates on a couple of levels.
The current work underway references the 65 million people worldwide fleeing their homes in the world today, trying to find a place where they can live safely.
All of my art references the personal refuge that the process of creating brings to me.
I just want to begin to share my process with you, as I struggle through the daily work of pulling the ideas and images together. It is soul searching and sometimes difficult to see the next step.
I find your support invaluable. Walk with me if you dare, and follow my progress as the series takes form.
The audacity of daring to create authentic art
Invite creativity into your life!
I used to make artwork… and then store it under my bed!
I didn’t know how to get it out of my house and had no room then to store it. I was also shy about showing it to people.
Then when my dear sweet husband challenged me to get all that art out from “under the bed” and share it..
...I started to give it away as a gift and then sell it. I learned a lot from comments and reflections from the recipients.
I began to realize that my work is not only a personal reflection but operates a singular communication of my worldview to the one who gazes upon it. The viewer completes the idea from his unique perspective.
I consciously create work as an investigation of what I am seeing and feeling.
Then the process of creating takes on a life of its own, revealing more than I consciously knew. I share the art with others who complete it, each employing one's unique vision.
What matters to me in making art is the integrity of my marks.
“I like to say that, " the artistic impulse travels from the head to my eyes to my heart to my hand to the paper.”
What I make, matters. What I communicate needs to be honestly consistent with my overarching beliefs and actions.
I notice that when I do that, the work surprises me with its open-heartedness lying so close to the surface of the image.
“I consciously create work as an investigation of what I am seeing and feeling.”
— beth vendryes williams
"Am I revealing too much?", I ask myself?
“No”, is the answer I inevitably hear. “This is why you are an artist!”
“As an artist, you make the inner search visible, opening yourself and viewers, to truth and beauty found in surprisingly ordinary places!”
And I wonder...
Do you suspect that you have a unique perspective of the world?
Where have you seen beauty or truth today?
Do you feel an impulse to connect with your creative spirit and share it as I did when I pulled my work out from under my bed?
Share your thoughts in comments, Facebook,&Instagram
hours/ daily lauds This is a process view of the first of my hours 2018 pieces. I I paint about the opportunities to meditate on the beauty that we see as we journey through each day. This is early in the morning , before rising with the sun.