I’m on an art kick these days. Can you tell? Various artists out in WordPress Land have been relating to my blogs in the last couple of days about our Ennis Arts Festival and the 50+ artists who exhibited their talents there.
I am not a person who identifies myself as an artist. An art supporter, yes. But an artist, wellllll … that’s questionable. But, music is an art – and I play the accordion and clarinet and I love to sing. My love of and pursuit of music makes me an artist, right?
Also, I love to cook. Culinary arts count, right?
How about writing? Is it an art? You know I love to write.
In addition to writing, I do love to doodle. I just discovered a new term: Deep Doodle!!
What is a deep doodle?
Well, it is a sketch or drawing that comes from your unconscious mind without your conscious mind interfering. Think of it as what doodles usually are but in an extended way and coming from a deeper place.
How about you? Are you a deep doodler?
A useful comparison is the idea of automatic writing where writers just start scribbling down ideas in a kind of flow state without thinking intentionally about what they are writing. Deep doodling is the artist’s version, allowing for a spontaneous flow of art free of organization and forethought. Does that sound weird or fun to you? Perhaps both!
Have fun expressing your artistic inclinations in whatever way that makes you feel creative! You know we all are formed as creative beings, endowed with talents we have not begun to explore. Do you have a latent talent? What is it?
You are born to be creative. Where does your untapped creativity lie?
Maybe it is Deep Doodling! Release it! Embrace it!
Listen to this Ted Talk about the “Hidden Path to Creativity.”
When you can look with fresh eyes at old data, the creativity occurs. Surrender your old preconceptions!
Deep Doodling allows you to look with fresh eyes – pushing forward into heretofore uncharted territory!
Deep Doodling connects you to Ah-Hah moments – Let the scales fall from your eyes. Develop the ability to hold focused awareness!
Let what is unclear become clear as you let that still small voice emerge in your doodling! Explicate & replicate!
You can create powerful change! Create something that produces wellness!
Invoke and pull out the insights that allow you to make choices that prepare you for a better future.
Unleash your creativity! Unleash deep doodling and let it draw you in to uncharted waters!
The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.
― Neil Gaiman
More than 500 people came to enjoy the display of art at the Madison Valley Arts Festival yesterday.
Sue Kinn-Brown created something new with pottery. I love her poppy motif.
Another artist created unique purses with beautiful fabric. I love this elegant belt as its closure.
Joe Gillispie used old wood to create a unique table (Thanks, Joe! )
This artist used her photography skills to capture unique images. Then she enlarged and framed them. Aren’t these fox kits adorable?
As a seamstress, “Joy” creates personalized gifts.
You can capture meaningful phrases and create unique wall hangings.
This is personalized fishing gear. Those rod cases and fishing nets include etched names – personalized for your favorite fisherman!
Start your children young – enjoying art festivals and creating their own art… Who says giraffes can’t have red eyes?
This children’s art area also gave kids a chance to paint rocks. Why not?
Always good to have a spot where young artists can create their own unique items that weren’t there before.
Let your photography enhance other folks’ homes! Do you have a wall that needs something that wasn’t there before?
Thanks, Margie Reck, for ordering our 25th anniversary cake. Baking and cake decorating is another way to create what’s not there. And within a half an hour it’s not there again! Festival customers enjoyed this dessert – celebrating with us!
Before these artists created their cakes, photo images, colored giraffes and painted rocks, rod cases and wall hangings, stockings and tables, purses and pottery, those items obviously were not there.
Use your God-given talents and unique inspirations to create what’s not there yet.
The world would be a very different place, a much less interesting place, an environment with much less beauty if we didn’t have artists. Thank God for our artists!
Today I read a story that so inspired me that I borrowed it. I hope Alicia Bruxvoort doesn’t mind!
I posted a link to it on my FB page and I am embedding it here for your enjoyment and inspiration.
Do take time to read it. You will be glad you did… and then put on your Jesus glasses and see the world, your life, and others through the eyes of love and grace!
Thank you, Alicia, for sharing your writing talent and your faith with us. God bless you!
Picking up on that theme of “Jesus, I Wanna See What You See,” I decided to check out You.Tube for “Seeing Through God’s Eyes.”
Look at what I found… this is an amazing video – Guaranteed to help you apply the ideas Alicia shared in her story!
Yes, as Alicia concluded, “We can just see better when we borrow our Father’s eyes.”
As you embrace borrowing, what have you read or seen or heard lately that you can pass along to inspire others? Hope you’re having a beautiful Thursday. See ya tomorrow…
No one told me that my scribbles might lead to a creative talent that would be appreciated by others!
But, I was encouraged to sing as a child. That was a talent that did not go unnoticed. How could you ignore it when I was a 3-year-old singing “Appo-Tee, Appo-Tee, AppoTee” all the way through the hymns at church. Singing loudly and joyfully!
Hah! It was during the time of WWII and a popular song was “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree (with Anyone Else But Me).”
You’re probably not old enough to remember it!! Go ahead, click on it here. You’ll love it!!
So how did my “Appo Tee” singing graduate into a full-blown creative talent? Like any talent, it takes involvement, participation, practice.
I have been a member of a choir for as long as I can remember… … always in school, then in church, and eventually our community choir. I am not a soloist, but I love singing in a duet or trio or with a large group. Recently our church choir was able to start up again… it is such a joy!
Once I even got to sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during one of their dress rehearsals for their Christmas concert!
The rendition below of “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” was sung by the University of the Pacific Choir at Bob’s and my wedding 2/11/62. Here is the Mormon Tabernacle singing it. I love it so much!
If your talent is not singing or painting, maybe you developed a talent in another area – like cooking or woodworking or metal sculpture.
Of course, one major talent I forgot mention Is instrumental music … the piano or a woodwind or string or brass instrument… Such talent brings so much joy to the player as well to a world of listeners.
I played the accordion and the clarinet as a child and continued to do so until just recently. My accordion is not functioning, there’s a hole in the bellows.
Perhaps I will find another small accordion that I can handle… and will resume that creative endeavor. The children at the day care center and the residents at our local Nursing Home enjoyed it!
Here’s just a small clip – (it’s only 10 seconds!!) of me playing for the residents at my sister’s place in PA a couple of years ago. (I won’t burden you with too much of this!) Hah!
My cousin always used to send me comic strips about the accordion. One was a guy entering heaven and the angel said, “Welcome to Heaven, here’s your harp.” The other was a gal entering Hades. The angel greeted her and said, “Welcome to Hell, here’s your accordion.”
Hah! I miss Cliff and those jokes!!
The question remains: What are your God-given talents? Have you developed an area of creativity?
I forgot to mention writing!! Us bloggers imagine ourselves to have that talent or else we wouldn’t be posting here on WordPress, right?
But, even this writing talent doesn’t improve without practice, right? Never stop learning and trying to improve – regardless of the area of creativity… gardening & photography (Derrick) – poetry (Dwight, Richard, Pat, Rahul, etc.) cooking (Andre’ & Caralyn) You know who you are… and what you need to do!
Our library was having a book sale last week. For a dollar, I was able to buy this wonderful book. Copyrighted 20 years ago, it’s never outdated, and I can never stop learning how to be a better writer. Like any talent, it takes practice, study, and more practice. And feedback always helps!
Roses are red. Violets are pink. I’m an emerging poet. Man, don’t I stink?
No, don’t badmouth yourself!! Keep workin’ at it…
Embrace Creativity! Tell me about yours…
Thanks for sharing! See ya tomorrow (God willing) Love, JanBeek
Just as people try to create Wonders strange and unique , Look at what our Creator did – Come and take a peak!
No one should begin to suggest These were formed accidentally. No, it took a God with humor – To do this so creatively!
What do you think this is? Look at its funny beard:
Weird, huh? It’s an ant’s face magnified at least 500 times!
And while we are admiring our Creator’s sense of humor, take a look at this split-colored lobster!!
Our Creator’s imagination is beyond imagination! Have you ever seen a curly-haired horse?
Well, now you have! The coat on a poodle is a lot like this, don’t you think?
When I was a kid, Halloween was one of my favorite holidays. We planned for months what our costumes would be. One year I was two things… from the front I was a princess and when I turned around, I was a cave man. How my mom created that, I have no idea. Halloween used to be safe and fun and creative. People made popcorn/caramel balls and cupcakes and candied apples – and no one was afraid to eat what you received. No one was afraid to go alone as a bunch of kids after dark!
Yes, we are necessary to one another! If we are going to return to the safety of connection and wholeness, we need to seek to return to the people God made us to be.
We are more unique than an ant, a lobster, or a transparent fish! We are more intelligent and exceptional than a curly-haired horse. Our memories are better than theirs, too.
We need to remember what it felt like before COVID-19. Remember our connectivity. Remember when the world was a safe place for kids to Trick-or-Treat alone after dark. Remember when people knew all their neighbors by name – and people relied on one another.
Remember how creative our Creator is. If He can make an ant with that kind of face, a lobster with those characteristics, and a fish that’s transparent and that exists as an individual and as part of a larger organism, He can help us to emerge a better people when this pandemic passes. Pray for that! Trust in His creative powers.
I need you! We need one another! Thanks for visiting JanBeek. Have a safe and creative October.
The meme at the top of this message tells us that we are not totally at the mercy of helpless anxiety. There are some things we can do to reduce our anxiety:
Go outside
Ask for help
Create something
Drink water
Write about how you feel
Take a deep breath
Listen to soothing songs
Stay present
Find a positive distraction
All those ideas are fine and dandy if all we care about is reducing our own anxiety. But what if what we care about is helping to alleviate others’ suffering? What if we want to play some role in shortening this COVID-19’s life-span?
One of those items on the list hit me as an action that can do more than just alleviate MY anxiety… and it can help others as well. Which one do you think it is?
I have a several friends who are eliminating their feelings of helplessness in the face of this virus by using their creativity – – – they are making masks and sending them to the local hospital, the nursing home, and sending them to places where masks are in short supply.
Also, other creative people are using the internet to draw people together, creating inspirational videos to lift spirits. Check this one out:
There are so many ways people are using their creativity to relieve anxiety, bring hope, and send out messages of love and faith.
We are not helpless.
We are not hopeless.
We don’t need to sit idly at home feeling anxious.
Let’s put our heads together safely, activate our creativity, find an anxiety antidote that uses our talents to help ourselves and others get through this period with love and encouragement. What we do matters!
My friend, Elaine, who has avoided poetry most of her life (after a high school experience in an English class (where diagramming sentences and picking poetry apart looking for rhythm and rhyme scheme and very hidden meaning turned her off) is discovering the poet in her soul! She sent me these Haiku. She wrote them this morning:
Our world is amiss One alone proves capable Gentle as a kiss
Choose to share kindness Chaos only seems to reign Care completes circle
Kindness in Chaos?
In this crazy world where people sometimes are behaving irrationally, it is easy to write some people off and say they are off-limits! They are adding to the earth’s problems, rather than trying to solve them. One of my followers wrote this note yesterday:
“I’m all for being positive, Jan, but some people’s behaviour is sickening … like some here who are selling paracetamol on eBay for £10 and Calpol for ,£20!”
What to Do?
What should we do about those “sickening” people? Do we write off the toilet paper hoarders and the ones buying cases of hand sanitizer, and the price gougers? Do we condemn the politicians who sold off hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stock after a preliminary briefing about the upcoming pandemic? Condemn ’em and throw all the bums out??
27 Jesus said in Luke 6:27-31 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
Kindness Rules! Kindness completes the circle of life as we want it to be.
Let your creativity reign. Give birth to your inner poet .
Be the change you wish to see in this world.
My niece, Jodie (my sister, Sally’s daughter in PA, just sent me a picture of this bouquet with a note that said, “Bill brought sunshine to our home today <3 “
What kindness can you exhibit today to add love and sunshine to your home?
This morning was the first of six community Lenten breakfasts. We held it at our church. The next five will be at five other churches in Ennis and Jeffers, Montana. Our topic today was HOPE. About 40 friends from around the community gathered to kick off this Lenten season with food and music, and a message of Hope, delivered by our Rev. Steve Hundley.
Breakfast was in our Fellowship Hall.
Our faithful friend, George and his wife, Lucy, arrived about 5:30 AM to set up the food, make the coffee and get ready for the 7:00 AM crowd.
After breakfast, in preparation for Steve’s message of HOPE, we sang this wonderful hymn. It lends direction to our hopes for this Lenten season and everyday… especially in this world of hatred, injury, doubt, despair, darkness, and sadness. Let us determine to be the peace we seek to find.
So that’s the food and friends and music. What about the feathers? Yesterday I told you about my friend, Bernie, who is in the hospital and has set up quite an artistic “mess” on his tray table. Let me show you:
He has quite a menagerie of feathers there. Look at the flies he is able to create with them:
Yes, WOW!! That’s the feathers… and their creative use for catching some mighty big trout!
But what about the mustangs? Well, our Ennis High School mascot is the Mustang. When I drove by the school this morning, I had to top and take a picture for you of these MAGNIFICENT bronze mustangs. They were created by a local artist (Ennis is an art town with 6 art galleries in a place with a population of less than 1,000).
Aren’t they something?!!
I’ll try to find out the sculptor’s name and let you know later. It’s important to give him/her credit!
But for now, I am headed to my TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) group. I hope I didn’t gain too much with those scrumptious egg casseroles this morning. I had to try a little of each!
Look for that trophy again… I want to be the biggest loser. I have 6 more pounds to take off to get back to my goal weight.
I’m off to visit my friend, Bern, in the hospital. He has a creative mess in his hospital room… feathers and wires, hooks and string, paints and brushes, easels and canvases all over the place. But, instead of sitting or lying in his bed feeling sorry for himself because an infection has rendered his legs too weak to walk steadily these days, he is using his creativity to bring joy to life while his body heals.
You and I can do that, too. We can bring joy to life by using our ingenuity creatively!
What mess do you have that is waiting for resurgent rearranging and new uses today?
