Three Yellow Feathers

Creativity, Friendship and Color

                                                               

 I hope the winter weather in your area is being shoveled aside by the energy and beauty of spring. How lovely the gardens are this year in Santa Fe is the main topic of conversation in the restaurants, grocery store and before yoga class.

By now you know how sacred silence and solitude are to me. I also sometimes delight in sharing creativity through friendship. Yesterday I spent some creativity time with a friend in Santa Fe photographing the lilacs and wisteria blossoms. The time was filled with laughter, sharing and expressions of awe of the beauty of the season.

                               

The day was a celebration for the senses. The reds looked like they were on fire in the sunlight. There were shades of green I don’t ever remember having seen. All of the shades of purple and pink I could ever imagine seemed to be everywhere.

                               

We enjoyed trying to describe the color of pink in the blossoms of a lovely fruit tree. I suggested cotton candy or bubble gum. She offered that the color was like already chewed bubble gum or maybe strawberry ice cream. She was right. The colors looked like the colors of strawberry ice cream. We laughed to learn we both always chose strawberry ice cream as a childhood treat.

                                

Our sense of smell was rewarded with the fragrances of the full blossoms of lilac and wisteria. It was so wonderful to stand still and be in the moment and be embraced by the soothing aromas. Taking a deep breath now I can recall the richness and sweetness of those fragrances. I think I just discovered another tool to help me to be in the now of the moment. All I need to do is to breathe and remember the soothing aromas of the lilacs and wisteria.

                                              

What a great day to share with a friend. There was no competition. Instead, we shared ideas about the angle and the light and the composition of our shots. There was no pressure to get a great shot or the best shot.

It was simply a delightful spring day filled with creativity, friendship and color. Thank you PZ.

 

Okay. So Go Ahead and Get Your Feet Wet

 

                                                       

Sunday morning is often a time of quiet reflection in our home. It is especially nice and quiet this morning after the past two days of tornadoes and storms in the area. Everything in the yard is wet and clean and mostly green.

While walking to get the Sunday morning newspaper, I saw a really strange, very tall mushroom growing in the ivy. I knew my husband would be excited about the strangeness of it and would know just what it was. I thought about taking a photograph of it for him but hesitated. “I’ll get my feet wet.”

My next thought was, “Okay. So go on and get your feet wet. It is not that big of a deal.”

When I showed him the image, he dropped his Sunday newspaper and went outside to see and measure it. He didn’t seem to hesitate at all about getting his feet wet. “Twenty-and-one-half inches. That is the tallest one I have ever seen.” He went immediately back inside to our library to research just how tall Shaggy Mane mushrooms can grow.

                                       
Since I already had my feet wet, I decided to check on my Constance Spry rose bush to see what damage the storms had done to it. Constance Spry only blooms once a year so it is a “splurge” in the garden. To my delight, the rose looked just fine. While I was there, I took a photograph I had planned to take this year of one of her blooms still wet after a rain.

On my way back through the wet grass, a hummingbird and I surprised each other. If hummingbirds could talk, or maybe if I only knew how to listen, I am sure this little guy would have an amazing story to tell about its journey through the past two days of storms, hail and tornadoes. The least I could do was to give it some fresh sugar water.       

By the time I hung the two hummingbird feeders I was no longer even thinking about my wet feet. Without this self-imposed restriction, I walked around our property clicking images of flowers I would not have photographed or perhaps would not even have seen if I hadn’t gotten my feet wet in the first place.

                

This morning has helped me wonder.

 How often do I limit the fullness and enjoyment of my life with self-imposed restrictions?

 What unnecessary barriers have I unthinkingly built that interfere with my creativity?

 

A Morning Seasoned with Silence and Solitude

                         What is it with These Birds?

                     

     

Life gets so full sometimes that mornings of Silence and Solitude are not easily arranged.

Silence and Solitude help us stop, breathe, reflect and make more mindful choices.

This morning I am sitting outside, under our blooming wisteria arbor reconnecting with how soothing Silence and Solitude are.

                           

 Wait a minute. I just turned around and saw hundreds of blackbirds that have congregated in our yard without our two dogs or me even being aware of their presence. Now that I have seen them I can hear their cackles and chirps in the trees all around. I am not sure whether to chase them from the trees or to just sit with them in my own Silence and let them pass by. As I reach for my camera to take a photograph of them, they startle and fly back into the trees.

 I suppose they are not interfering with anything except my Silence and Solitude. They definitely are NOT approaching the garden with my garden whimsies whirling at top speed in the brisk wind.

                                      

I will just wait for them to pass on their way to wherever they are going.

The sound is getting louder and louder.  It now sounds like there are at least a thousand blackbirds in the trees. I have never heard anything quite like this cacophony of chirps and cheeps and cackles, all in surround sound. And to think I came outside to connect with Silence and Solitude as my goal. Instead, I am experiencing this amazing natural occurrence that I would have totally missed had I not come to the arbor.

 I wonder why there are so many of them.

I wonder if this happens often and I just don’t know about it.

I wonder if I am on the set of a movie being made about “The Birds”.

I wonder how long they will be here.

I wonder where they will go from here.

I wonder why are they here now.

 This is not at all what I thought I was going to be writing about.  Life is like that, I guess. I set out to write about Silence and Solitude and nature is playing an incredibly LOUD joke on me.

  I wonder what I am supposed to be learning from all of this. I am sitting and waiting but they aren’t going away. If anything, they are getting even LOUDER. I can be patient for a little while longer before I try to reconnect with my Silence and Solitude.

 Okay. I have been patient with this joke of nature but now I have had enough. Can I get a little PEACE AND QUIET around here?

I know exactly what to do to chase these thousands of blackbirds away. All I need to do is to stand up, walk out from under the wisteria arbor and begin clapping my hands. Blackbirds frighten and fly when they hear a popping sound, like the sound of the crack of a gun. So what if the neighbor is watching and waving to me. He probably came outside to see what all of the racket was about anyway. I know I am going to look at least a little odd but here goes.

 That did it. After walking all around our acreage clapping my hands and herding the blackbirds into the trees to the north, they are gone. Now what I hear is the breeze swishing through the leaves and the cardinals chirping their song of spring.

 Wait another minute. They are coming back. This time I recognize their initial cheeps, as they are moving back into our trees.  I have decided my Silence and Solitude are worth protecting, even if it makes me appear really odd to the neighbors.

 After a much shorter session of hand clapping, they are gone again. I do hear the caws of a crow in the distance but only one crow. You don’t suppose that crow has anything to do with the dramatic appearance of all of the blackbirds, do you? Just a thought.

 What a strange opportunity for me to decide to defend my Silence and Solitude. I will be more mindful in the future when the “chirps of the blackbirds” are returning to interrupt my Silence and Solitude. I will be more mindful of taking positive actions more quickly to intentionally chase distractions away rather than allowing them to steal what is so precious to me.

Although this is a surprising and bit bizarre example, I doubt I am the only one dealing with the “chirping blackbirds” of distraction. Does any of this sound familiar to you?

What works for you to run interference for your time of Silence and Solitude?

 

Creativity in the Garden

Gardening is a wonderfully easy way to express our creativity. In an informal vegetable and flower garden, there is no limit to what you can decide to put in and what you leave out. It is your garden and you do it anyway you want to. Of course, there are guidelines about companion planting regarding which plants will be happiest planted with other companion plants and guidelines about when to plant which plants to give them the best chance of survival. But those are just guidelines. There is no garden police that comes by and gives you a ticket for mis-planting your garden.

I love my garden. Every year I am digging in the dirt as early in the season as the weather will permit. This year I am especially excited because we have new dirt. We brought in new dirty stuff to enrich the soil so the excitement of what this year’s garden holds is extra fresh.

Two weeks ago we planted the snow peas and spinach. Though none of them have sprouted, I just know they are in the ground mysteriously unlocking their potential for self-expression.

The next addition to the garden has been the Brassica family plants. This is where the story gets interesting.

There is nothing that tastes better than cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts fresh from the garden. We planted dozens of small transplants last Sunday morning, carefully placing small wooden skewers around each plant so the cutworms couldn’t cut them off at the ground. The following morning, I strolled to the garden and was sad and surprised to find most of the young plants stripped of their leaves or snipped in half. After looking at the damage and destruction, it didn’t take long to realize crows were the culprits.

Okay, then, GAME ON CROWS.

Monday afternoon we replaced each plant and surrounded them with last year’s tomato cages, being careful to replace each of the wooden skewers. This should help make the little plants harder to get to. Then to be extra protective, we resurrected the Scare Owl we had used a few years ago. A Scare Owl is a hard plastic owl-like form with bright orange-yellow eyes. When placed on a pole, the head becomes an owl bobble head designed to scare unwanted creatures away from the garden.

Tuesday morning I returned to the garden with my morning cup of Irish Breakfast Tea ready to enjoy success in our efforts only to find the plants had been ransacked again despite our sincere efforts.

CROWS TWO         HUMANS ZERO

With new determination, I engaged my right brain and my left brain and came up with the idea of long strands of ribbons (water-proof of course) tied, no, not just tied, tied and duct taped to 8 foot posts stuck at various places throughout the garden. (I didn’t use any red ribbons because the crows attacked the red ribbons on the Christmas Wreaths I hung on the house this year.) These ribbons will rustle in the always-present breeze and scare away crows by day and bunnies by night. Maybe a new cottage industry is being born with this peaceful way to scare off unwanted creatures.

As I installed the weapons of protection, I had to laugh at myself. The ribbons wafting in the breeze were really quite lovely and the sound of the ribbons dancing on the breeze was somehow soothing.

Now, back to the challenge by the crows.

With hope and confidence that this just might work, I replanted the Brassica family for a third time on Wednesday afternoon.

First thing Thursday morning, hearing the sound of the cawing coming from the east, I hurried out to the garden to find about half of the third set of transplants stripped of their leaves or whacked in half. I guess we can call that a TIE since we didn’t lose everything this time.

CROWS THREE                  HUMANS ONE

It is hard to admit being out-witted by crows but I have heard they are quite intelligent birds. I understand they even have the capacity to learn to speak. Okay, that does sound a little weak, I know.

Replanting for a forth time seems probably not worth the time and effort, not to mention just how much these tasty vegetable morsels are beginning to cost. Because we left Saturday morning for several days on our Mayan Mystery Cruise, I am not going to be around each morning and evening to go to the garden to yell, “Get OUT of HERE CROWS.” I am a bit stumped and have had to begin to focus my creative efforts on what to pack for the cruise besides 6 hats and my camera gear.

Driving to the Airport yesterday morning, I remembered the Scarecrows we had used as fall decorations at the office. I called and left a message on the office answering machine asking the office staff to please take as many of those scarecrows as they could find and stick them around in the garden.

The game is not over yet, CROWS. I will keep you posted.

I really do hope these ribbon-dangles work as crow deterrents but if not, I think I will leave them up for the enjoyment and whimsy they are adding to the garden. Don’t tell the crows. Maybe a new cottage industry is being born after all, one of making garden whimsies.

Oh my goodness. As I am writing this in Miami, Florida waiting to board our Mayan Mystery Cruise ship, I just heard a crow cawing. I have to admit that the cawing sounded a little like laughter.

 

Sharing as a Part of Creativity

A few months ago I entered this photograph in a juried contest. I was surprised and delighted when it was awarded Honorable Mention. The competition in the "Professional Black and White" category is always stiff. More than that, I am always a little nervous when I put my images out there for judging. That just seems to be my nature.

There are other people I have met who can't wait to ehibit their phtographs in the next contest or show.  Hats off to you for your enthusiasm in sharing what you have created.

Risk-taking comes in different forms and shapes for each of us. For me, entering a juried show feels like a significant risk. I will continue to enter my images in contests and exhibits because I believe sharing what I create and taking risks that encourage me forward are both important components of creativity.

On the other hand, taking High School Senior Photographs of my two nieces is an absolutely delightful chance for me to enjoy sharing the creative process with them. After the long-awaited rain we had last week, we had our first of many photoshoots for their Graduation Announcement collage. We had so much fun sharing our ideas and laughter in the creative process that I can already tell a collage of images is going to be too small of a space for us to tell their stories.

I hear mpix.com prints lovely photobooks. Any other ideas?

                                               

Gratitude is a Friend to Creativity

    

 

Well, my Creativity 360 Project is still underway. Above are some of the photos I have taken in the past few days with my i-phone.  I have received some really wonderful comments from several of you. Thanks for that. It feels great to know that there is a connection for you with what I write about even if we have different perspectives at times.

As this new year has started, I am realizing once again that it is very difficult for me to feel creative or even have an interest in creativity when I am feeling overwhelmed with life and its chaos.

I am also realizing again that when I allow gratitude or appreciation to be my primary perspective, I use less of my mind and energy feeling overwhelmed and sorry for myself. A focus of gratitude or appreciation frees up so much more of my space and time and energy for the creative energy to bubble back to the surface and flow more freely.

From a focus of gratitude and appreciation, I am not only more connected with creativity but I am also less critical of what I do create.

How powerful our minds are to either support our creative efforts or to undermine and sabotage them.

Today, I choose gratitude. Today, I choose appreciation.

 

Creativity 360

 

 

 

                                                  

 

You are cordially invited to join me in the inaugural session of Creativity 360.  To attend, all you do is to choose a project for the next year or so. I suggest you start with something very doable. It may include daily writing, journaling, sketching, cooking, taking photographs, or anything else that presents itself to you. You are welcome to change the direction of the project at any time. In fact, you are welcome to set up your personal Creativity 360 anyway you want.

The only guideline is that you set up your project for the purpose of encouraging yourself to wake up your creativity. Please no criticism, guilt, negative thoughts or judgments about what you create or whether or not you create each day. 

You are encouraged to do something, see something, think something, or make something everyday of the next year (or so) that you probably wouldn’t have done if you were not participating in Creativity 360. You are welcome to join Creativity 360 at any time.

My initial idea was to take a photograph every day, usually with my i-phone since I usually have it handy.  I started this project two months ago to try and see how it went before I suggested it to you.  So far, it has been fun, challenging, eye opening and encouraging. I have noticed sunsets, reflections, patterns, shadows, objects, and moments I probably would have not seen without this invitation to myself to stop, breathe, look, and see at various times in my day.  My goal of encouraging myself to take photographs more regularly is actually working. I am finding myself more likely to create in the middle of things by looking for opportunities to take a photograph. I don't think I would have taken this "Little Cowboy" photograph at the National Finals Rodeo roping practice area if I hadn't already started my Creativity 360 project. I am also helping myself understand that not everything created has to be a masterpiece.

 Creativity 360 encourages each of us to cultivate time and space in our lives to open our eyes and mind to a new, more creative perspective.

Please let us know how this goes for you.

 

What Gives Me Meaning and Pleasure?

                                             

Okay, I have not totally cracked up. These are not my fingernails. Rather, they are the joyful, expressive fingernails of a teenage mom I recently met. Please let me explain.

According to Positive Psychology Harvard Professor, Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, there are three crucial questions that people can ask themselves to bring more Happiness to a task, challenge or even their job.  

These questions are:

What gives me meaning?

What gives me pleasure?

What are my strengths?

After spending some time searching for honest answers to each of these questions and writing down your answers, explore where your answers overlap.

Use the answers that overlap to identify projects or tasks that will bring you satisfaction and even happiness.

I was recently asked to spend time with teenage moms in their life-skills class to focus on Creativity and the Camera. Our first hour was spent getting to know the classroom cameras by taking photos of items in their classroom. What they found to photograph was delightful. They even allowed me to take photographs of their self-expressive fingernails.

Our second hour was spent in the nursery with each mom taking photographs of her baby. The energy and the laughter in the nursery were palpable and spontaneous.

Spending time with these moms and using some of my strengths allowed the interactions to bring meaning and pleasure into my life and hopefully theirs.

What project might you participate in that could bring you satisfaction and happiness?

For more information about using meaning, pleasure and strengths in your life, I recommend Dr. Ben-Shahar's book, Happier.

Creativity and Photography

Why do we talk about “Creativity” in photography?

Aren’t great images based on the rules of such things as exposure, depth of field and composition? What does any of that have to do with Creativity?

These questions were part of a discussion during a recent photography workshop I attended. As I listened and participated in the discussion, I was struck by the similarities in this discussion and those related to the practice of medicine.

There are two components in the study of medicine. The first is the “Science” of medicine: the study and knowledge of diagnoses and treatments. The second is the “Art” of medicine: the understanding of how a particular diagnosis and its treatment apply to each patient.

There is expressed concern in the world of medicine that physicians are becoming so focused on the computerized, standardized "Science" of medicine that the “Art” of medicine is being lost. We have each been to physicians who were knowledgeable in the realm of "Science" but were not wise in the "Art" of helping us specifically make the very best choice of treatment for US.

The “Science” of photography is the knowledge of exposure, filters, software and the like. These are the variables in photography that we can attempt to control. The “Art” of photography is what makes our images come to life. Creativity is the expression of our personal way of looking at the world and sharing that view with the world through our photographs. Without Creativity, our images look as much as possible like someone else's because we have followed the same rules. With Creativity, our images tell the world how we very personally experienced a certain moment in time.

The “Science” of photography can be a stimulating study. The “Art” of photography can be thrilling.

 

Taking a Look Around

 

                                              

The two photographs in this blog were taken through the same rock window. I took the bottom image first and then thought, "I wonder how the world would appear looking through the window from the other direction". I took the second shot that appears above and liked what I saw much better.

                            

We are so conditioned to looking in front of us that we often forget to take a look around and see what we can see, looking behind us, above us, and beside us. We also are conditioned to think in straight lines instead of giving our minds a chance to move our thoughts around.

 Curiosity is a very important part of creativity. "I wonder" is a wonderful phrase that tweaks the level of interest and enjoyment while creating.

"I wonder..." Try it. I think you will really like it.