Your Nature

Nature Evolving ;)

2011-08-25T22:27:00.000-07:00

Unknown

As some of you may or may not know already, I maintain/write three blogs and a website along with keeping myself busy utilizing other sources of social media and networking like Facebook, Twitter, and my MeetUp group (Let Nature Be Your Muse)--just a few of the sites I touch base with on a daily basis in order to maintain an online presence for the work I love to do.

I soon found myself muddled down in a quagmire, a need for transition. I have been wanting to streamline my efforts for a more focused presence. I wanted to create more time for keeping up with and pursuing important creative goals I've set for myself. In order to do this more productively, it's time I've combined my efforts and said good-bye to certain "hats."

Taking this step has been difficult for me. It was energy and time tempered with fear-based and insecurity-based procrastination. I kept feeling like I wasn't handling things or failing at my work. It was a long nap in limbo and overwhelm. But after ohhhhh, say nearly a YEAR of letting this paralyze me from taking the leap, I'm ready. Let's face it, I get annoyed with inaction and now opportunities are presenting themselves.

Turns out it's not such a huge leap so much as a little hop now.

That's where exciting changes come in to play! Along with a revamped website to highlight my creativity workshops (re-launching in 3 weeks), I will be breathing life into my Mouse House ART blog by integrating all of these wonderful creativity exercises and insights inspired by nature that I share here. I will eventually be phasing out this blog altogether. I find it quite appropriate to combine the two resources because these are ideas and expressions that inspire me and turn up in my own work that I share already--and will continue to do so.

I will continue to keep things personal, definitely continue to share my art, along with creativity exercises to get each of our creative juices flowing. You'll also get a variety of prompts to add to your creative stash plus updates on my upcoming workshops! My goal is to make Mouse House ART a valuable resource to you, and with more interaction through these changes.

So...I hope you will embrace this change with me and enjoy what I share with you, and hopefully we will get to know each other a little better too :) And if you’ve enjoyed the information and exercises I’ve presented on this blog, PLEASE be sure to take a moment and follow Mouse House ART to continue to receive nature-inspired morsels designed to keep your creative energy flowing!

Thank you for your continued support, I hope to hear from you over at Mouse House.

“There is no set path, just follow your heart.” ~Unknown

Pop-Up Poetry

2011-07-20T21:02:00.000-07:00

I recently led a Pop-Up Poetry workshop at one of my favorite nature spots, the Whitewater Preserve. Planted in a lush canyon, surrounded on both sides by a high-walled canyon we fine-tuned our observation skills and enjoyed a word gathering walk, writing poetry, and applying alternative sources of inspiration for writing poetry--just through paying attention to our surroundings in nature and allowing poety to "pop up" around us.

Even if you think you don’t have a poetic bone in your body, opening up to these creativity exercises just may surprise you when your inner poet emerges in response. Grab a notebook and a pen and give these ideas a try:

Poetry Path. Take a walk in a natural area with a particular theme in mind, like sounds, blue, textures, patterns etc. Write poem notes (phrases) that describe your chosen prompt which you can use in a complete poem or other writing later. For example, using the prompt “sounds:”

Describing the sound of wind in the trees interrupted by squirrels chattering: I heard an animated conversation above me, the voices of the leaves chattering with the wind about the squirrels.
Hearing a stream before I saw it: Somewhere beyond the moss the muffled voice of a stream tells old stories to wide-eyed boulders and fallen trees. From this phrase, I tried a version of haiku (5-7-5 poem about nature):

Beyond the soft moss

A stream tells old stories to

hushed, wide-eyed boulders.

Word Gathering. One of the exercises we did as a group was a word gathering walk. For about 15 minutes we walked around the preserve collecting words in our journals directly inspired by everything we encountered. Just words. I suggested participants write any phrases on a separate page. Keep only words on your page. As a group we then exchanged our lists, using someone else’s words to write a poem (returning original lists when done). (Sources: Creating a Word List from Your Nature blog; Word list exchange idea from Liz Lamoreux’s book "Inner Excavation: Explore Your Self Through Photography, Poetry, and Mixed Media")

But if you’re going solo, a great alternative is to cut up your individual words and choose ten of them to arrange directly into a 10-word poem or randomly pick five of your words to use as inspiration in a poem. (Random 5 from Bowl of Random Words at The Odd Inkwell blog)

Here’s a partial list from a word gathering walk by someone who does not think they are a poet; a reluctant poet: hot, green, soft, crunchy, bark, tree, leaves, water, wet, summer, season, chirping, wings, flight, laughter, blank, falling. See below for their Fallen Poem.

Sensory Overload. Still think you don’t have it in you? Embrace your descriptive words! Take any object and write down at least 5 words or phrases to describe it in detail. Try descriptive words that address your senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) as a guideline. For example, "nest"--downy shelter, wet feathers, warm scent, peppery insects, tiny, hungry calls.

NEST

newly hatched, wet feathers

shifting with anticipation

stretching, reaching

tiny, hungry calls

the warm scent of peppery insects
lands softly
within the downy shelter
feeding time.

Wishy-Washy and Fallen Poems. Creating ephemeral poems can be a great incentive for putting anything down “on paper,” even those poems you think are…well not so great. Just as long as you keep working your poetry muscle. From mistakes come creative masterpieces…

Wishy (rain) Washy: how about Molly Anderson-Childers & Chris Dunmire’s suggestion of chalking a bad poem on the sidewalk and praying for rain! (from Jellybeans for Breakfast: A Guided Imagery on Play)

Fallen Poems: collect a few fallen leaves (not too crunchy) and write bad haiku on them followed by adding them to your garden as mulch—veggies and flowers eat up poetry! Or better yet, leave a lucky stranger your spontaneous prose or a poem note written directly on a leaf inspired by fall leaves, the surrounding scenery, or the tree your leaf came from, leave it on their windshield as an unexpected word gift. (Adapted from "leaf tweets" from my article, Let Nature Be Your Muse--9 Activities to Boost Your Creativity)

The “reluctant poet’s” Fallen Poem:

Chirping and soft wings. Laughter in flight.

World Turtle Day

2011-06-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

Hello creatives! Today is World Turtle Day. Please share something you've written or created that celebrates these beautiful creatures...

I'd like to share with you a poem I wrote inspired by these sea turtle images (and their fellow endangered cousins, the desert tortoise). I hope they inspire something in you.

Click here for free wallpaper image.

Free wallpaper image.

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I watched a tortoise investigating dried indigo upon the flat,
varnished cobbles of desert pavement.
It was not as easy for me on the other side of this shimmering lens of heat, baking off the ancient patina.
I wiped my neck and brow.

This endangered creature, in her element, began nibbling the dried,
crunchy indigo bits that littered the parched ground at the base of the plant.
Like a mirage, I watched her easily cut through old, white stems
as she moved her snacking onto the plant itself somewhere within my wavy vision.

I finished off my water. The heat continued to radiate, relentless and heavy.
The tortoise started to glide, effortless, weightless.
Quietly she pushed forward in an unexpectedly fluid movement, rising above me.
She became sleeker. I noticed a glittery cloud of mica dust slowly billow off her carapace.

I stood up to watch her dance a slow, liquid ballet in an endless cerulean sky.
The sun sparkled down in distorted waves creating a halo around her graceful silhouette.
She dove slowly, circling me, investigating me. Both of us floating in mutual curiosity.
I felt a tiny current of movement, the faint tip of a claw brushing my shoulder.

I turned to see her flat plastron arcing into a graceful twist away from me.
I reached for her, wanting to follow in her world of ancient survival--
but she settled out of reach onto the dark floor, resting between veils of dual existence.
I felt a salty droplet fall to my lips.
I wiped my forehead.

~M. Hedgecock

Free wallpaper image.

Floating Mandalas

2011-06-13T00:47:00.000-07:00

Fuchsia bougainvilla bracts, aloe

vera seed pods, and honeysuckle

leaves.

This weekend I offered an ongoing workshop for the Whitewater Preserve's 2nd Annul Water Celebration, where participants created beautiful floating mandalas made with natural items. Using stems, sticks, leaves, petals, and blossoms visitors arranged these colorful plant elements in a variety of patterns and designs to create their own, wonderful floating mandalas. Mandala creators of all ages enjoyed this relaxing activity throughout the day.

A traditional mandala is an ancient circular design which typically represents the universe. It can also be a symbolic expression to connect with the self. For our mandalas, we were hoping participants would connect with their creative self through nature.

Definitely try this at home! All you need is a bowl of water, small dish towel for clean up, plant clippers or scissors, and some plant material from your yard like: flowers (to keep whole or for petals), leaves, sticks, seed pods, lightweight bark, etc. Experiment with different ways to use your materials, some of our participants ripped up petals into tiny pieces of "floral confetti" that added a delicate touch to their designs. Sticks were used in many different ways to add visual lines, accents, floral rafts, bridges, barriers and more in many designs.

Here are the mandalas created by my family and myself, plus some other favorites from the 40+ participants throughout the day (to see all the beautiful mandalas created visit this album):

I love my husband's traditional spoke 'n wheel style

mandala using whole roses and stems.

A beautiful huge lily is the center of the universe in

in this participant's dramatic design.

I love the layering in this delicate mandala and

how its creator used color, texture, and tiny

flowers resting on floating petals in this personal

expression.

My son (4 yrs. old) created this and three other rather

lovely mandalas!

I decided to use sticks and stems as a raft which

made it easier for me to keep flowers in place, plus...

I really loved the simplistic look that resulted!

Another beautiful creation by a workshop participant,

I really like the way the bright yellow ray flowers

(petals) pop around a huge orange rose, on a bed of

red petals, accented with those bright green leaves.

What one word describes the way I feel after

creating a floating mandala? Peace.

For more images please visit this album.

Creativity Sit-Spot

2011-05-28T01:37:00.000-07:00

Create a unique sit-spot in your yard this weekend for mental decompression or as an “action spot” for creative inspiration. Be sure to include elements that truly inspire you through fragrance, sounds, textures, sight, light, framing, comfort.

Think of different ways to honor your secret spot and creative spirit. Are you inspired by the moon? How about creating something that comes alive for you under the light of the moon, with night blooming plants, intoxicating scents, or by using white paint for designs that will luminesce under its full strength.

Use an old window frame to frame out a favorite view from your yard, an everchanging photograph. How about a rocky hide-away with a poetry journal stashed in a hidden a crevice? Lose yourself in a small winding path to your favorite hammock. Keep a can of chalk handy on a designated garden wall or a large boulder for bouts of spontaneous art or journaling. Find inspiration in a bottle garden with glass in different colors, textures, reflections.

Keep it playful or relaxing, sensationally secretive or accessible and inviting, full of suprises or simple and clean. Create a creativity sit-spot that you can't wait to get to because it feels inspiring!

Stained Glass Window Exercise

2011-05-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

Try this! Take a photo and a thick black felt pen (Sharpies® work great) and outline the main shapes. Your goal is to get down to a minimum number of shapes. Try to integrate shapes by overlooking small details. This exercise will raise your awareness of different shapes (size, orientation) and the way they interlock. (from Benoit Philippe's Creative Exericises for Artists and Everyone Else)

You can easily complete a number of these in just a few minutes. Use this exercise to experiment with and transform your favorite nature photograph into a fun, embellished mixed media piece.

Mixed media w/original Sharpie pen exercise,

embellished w/soft pastels, glass beads--and

possibly later w/some found text.

(Original photo by Alexandra J. Sheldon)

Paint Chip Inspiration

2011-03-30T03:11:00.000-07:00

If you ever need a quick muse, go straight to your nearest paint or home improvement store and peruse the paint chips. With endless hues offering such descriptive names like Rocky Slope, Deep Cavern, Lightening, Painted Desert, and Monarch Wing, you can find yourself inspired by nature while standing in the middle of the paint aisle.

A random handful of paint chips can

get the imagination flowing. Try con-

necting a bunch of paint color names

in stream-of-thought story or poem:

I was beachcombing upon our Mother

Earth during the solstice. I noticed a

shimmering seashell and at the same

moment I saw lightening out across

the ocean deep. I ran toward the

seashell just inside the mouth of a

deep cavern, protected now from a

thunderous downpour. I watched my

seashell, as it lay on the sand, alight

into a calcite butterfly with each

pulse of lightening.

Pick a few paint chips that grab you and use those to write a few lines of poetry, or a detailed setting for a fictional piece, write a song, or use them to inspire your next painting or altered art piece. Recently we used paint chips during our Photo Safari creativity workshop by randomly chosing a paint chip color and then matching that color to something found in nature.

You can reverse these prompts by blending your own colors, creating a nice palette on your paper then coming up with descriptive “paint chip” names of your own.

Nature and inspiration are all around you!

See how we used paint chips to inspire creative play with your family.

The paint chip color "Cottontail" was the muse for this

little acrylic/pen & ink ATC.

I Heart Nature

2011-03-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

Two hearts, almost a triple heart if you were to turn it on its side.

I love this doube heart rock my mom brought back from a trip up the northern Californian coast. I am always looking for hearts in nature, along with other common shapes, faces too, and letters--little serendipitus gifts from Nature that seem like offerings to connect to my world when I am always seeking to connect to hers.

Whether it's the search or the actual treasured finds that delight, it is always a treat to make these discoveries of the "familiar" in a sometimes less than familiar environment. I like to believe these discoveries, along with feeling a secret connection with something special just for you, is one of those magical ways in which Nature can appear as a most unexpected muse.

Go outside and look for your secret gift. It may be waiting for you at night or during the day, in the rain, on a beach, or desert path. Enjoy the mini-journey :)

Native Palettes

2011-03-14T01:51:00.000-07:00

I recently led a “native palette” wildlfower walk where we created natural palettes from native plants along the trail by smearing and rubbing petals, leaves, and stems on paper.

It was a relaxing gathering of creatives on a wildflower wander, learning a little about some favorite desert flowers while exploring the Santa Rosa San Jacinto Mountains National Monument visitor center trails for a variety of shapes, colors, and fragrances to help our creativity blossom. We had a great time with the exercise, each making our own native palette and revealing some unexpected and surprising colors!

An example palette made

from plants & other natur-

al substances in my yard.

This is a great exercise to try, easy too. Grab some paper (water color, card stock, printer paper, pretty much anything goes), I recommend cutting an 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet in half for easier handling. Press and smear or rub a variety of plant materials onto your paper. Experiment with different parts of the plant, try to keep pollen separate from petals, try fruits. Go beyond plants by smearing moist soil or mud, charcoal, minerals and other natural sources you find.

Want to take part in future outings that fuel your creativity? Check out Let Nature Be Your Muse meetups!

The group's collection of palettes (the first round)!

The Ancient Artist’s Garden: Beyond Pretty Flowers and Visual Landscapes

2011-02-26T20:03:00.000-08:00

Earth painted cat:

http://unboutdhumain.blogspot.com/

The wonderful thing about creativity is that it can be integrated into all parts of your life. For example, I have often commented on the creative outlet gardening offers. The physical release of tending a vegetable or flower garden alone may stimulate creative thought, however the colors, textures, fragrances, and tastes found in well-loved garden landscapes can be easily inspiring as well. But there are other ways a home garden or native landscape can be the perfect blend of art and nature in a more long term and uniquely interactive way.

I know that painting with plants is not a new concept—just ask your kindergartener—but I love the idea of creating a small garden as a nod to our creative spirit. With a little extra effort, you can create an artist’s garden far beyond pretty blossoms and visual landscapes for inspiration! One can find plants and minerals enough to yield traditional pigment, dyes and materials steeped in ancient inspiration that gives a whole new meaning to having a “green thumb.”

You can jump start your artist’s garden by incorporating certain rocks or minerals and transplanting mature plants for some, if not all species, so you can begin experimenting with native pigments and dyes, or making your own brushes, and containers right away! Check your local cultural museum or botanical garden for Native American or other cultural uses known about the plants in your area, particularly in knowing what part was used (seeds, leaves, flowers, fruit, stems, roots) and how they prepared these parts so you can recreate the process.

Proper plant I.D. is a MUST! If you’re not 110% sure—don’t mess with it.

Even though the traditional uses for these “artistic” materials may have been for more ceremonial, utilitarian, or social purposes—or otherwise—creative expression holds. Because it’s part of what I love about our desert, I’ve included a few examples and other sources that can be found in the Colorado desert (Sonoran desert).

PLANTS:

White Dalea aka “Cheeto” plant (Parosela emoryi) – crushed flowers used for saffron-yellow stain/dye

Spanish Needle (Palafoxia linearis) - yellow dye

Indigo Bush (Dalea emoryi) – traditionally used as a yellow-brown dye in baskets (steeped branches); blue dye (roots) reportedly used by Levi company as one of the sources for dying their blue jeans during 19th century.

Flower Pollen – in our area, pollen from the Desert Gold Poppy (Eschscholzia glyptosperma) and Little Gold Poppy (Eschscholzia minutiflora) provided a yellow cosmetic and/or stain used by the Cahuilla Indians. Experiment with pollen from any flower, many come off easily, staining whatever it touches.

Cucumber Plant – adhesive/binder; during a pigment making class, we were told the mashed-up spikey fruit of this vine was used as a binder, mixed with minerals to create a long lasting paint for ancient pictographs.

Pine pitch/sap – heated and applied as an adhesive

Nopale/Tuna Fig (Nopalea cochenillifera) - Cactus used as a host for the female cochineal

insect (Dactylopius coccus). A crimson dye, is processed from the body of this insect.

Coyote Melon (Cucurbita palmata) – traditionally used for making small bowls, containers, scoop style spoons, and cermonial rattles. Today, gourd artists regularly use these round gourds.

Carrizo Grass (Arundo donax) – containers, brushes. In a pigment making class we used Carrizo (Giant Reed) stems to make brush handles, by using a tidbit of racoon fur and heated pine pitch to attach the fur to the carrizo stem hollow. We also created cylindrical containers for carrying our pigments utilizing the hollow stem sections and whittling down the membrane at the end of the section a little to fit just inside as a “cap.”

Deer Grass (Muhlenbergia rigens) – locally, this plant along with Juncus spp. were both used for making baskets by the Cahuilla.

ROCKS and MINERALS:

Ochre – You might just have this already…if not a nearby source! Used by many Native American groups as body paint, also for burials, and ceremonies. Ochre is among the earliest pigments used by man, an earth pigment from naturally tinted clay containing mineral oxides, used to create reddish tint. Found virtually all over, in many shades.

Carnelian, Citrine, Amber, Garnet, Iolite, Rhodochrosite, Sodalite, Dioptase – these gemstones are used by many to enhance creativity in a variety of ways, from awakening your imagination, increasing your creative energy, to overcoming writer’s block, and stimulating the flow of ideas. Raw chunks of these are beautiful additions to any garden, or place polished stones around in secret places that benefit you.

INSECTS:

Image: "Indian Collecting

Cochineal with a Deer Tail"

by José Antonio de Alzate

y Ramírez (1777)

(Wikipedia, Cochineal)

Cochineal (Dactylopius coccus) - depending on how you feel about scale insects and the squishing of them, this may or may not be for you. If you live in the southwest and have noticed a cottony-like substance on your paddle-shaped Opuntia spp. cactus, it’s likely the cochineal insect. Smear some of those cottony fluffs (the female cochineal) and you will discover a beautiful magenta pigment. Use as is (thought not permanent to light if used for watercolor) or used the dried bodies and learn to make a dye with it by following the traditional farm-dying process of this unique source of scarlet dye regularly found in certain drinks, foods and cosmetics as carmine. Learn more about cochineal cultural history, farming and the dying process here.

Try bringing one or two of these elements into your creativity garden. I encourage you to take a quick trip on your computer, to your local botanical gardens, or cultural center to learn about the plant sources readily available in your area to reveal the ancient artist in you!

Integrate the past with the present for a garden of future inspiration by trying an intriguing ancient technique or source...see what blossoms.
* * * * *
Want to learn more? Check out this fantastic resource on Native American pigment and dye processes and tools, "Natural Pigments" by Patsy Harper.

This post was originally published as Awakening Your Ancient “Green Thumb” April 2010 “Your Nature” ezine

Creativity Break: Crayon Naming

2011-02-20T00:28:00.000-08:00

“An enterprising child set up a table at the park, selling crayons for a nickel. I gave her a dollar for Tickle Me Pink.” @WordWhispers

Let your creative nature come out and play, assign a new name for at least 8 of the color crayons you see in the image below. What story, memory or "fantastical" world will your crayon names leap from within your imagination? Alternative: pick 2-3 colors and create a name for each shade of purple or green, or blue, etc. Please feel free to share your names :)

Image: dreamstime.com

Forces of Nature

2011-02-08T01:28:00.000-08:00

Inspired by the forces of nature. A twisting canyon inspires me to transform difficult forces from my life history into wondrous and beautiful creations. Through admiring the geologic features in a weathered, shaped and twisted canyon, we are reminded to embrace the depth of our life experiences and let it flow into our art, our written word--into something beautiful, from our creative soul.

Poem Notes

2011-02-02T23:38:00.000-08:00

It is a new moon night. Irresistible.

"I cup the stars, thirsty for their silvery attention—little muses winking at me—I drink in their luminous whispers."

In Liz Lamoreux's inspiring book, "Inner Excavation: Explore Your Self Through Photography, Poetry, and Mixed Media" she shares the idea of poem notes for revealing your poet within. She explains poem notes can be: notes from a poem you hope to write some day, short lines, phrases, the beginning lines of a poem. The idea is to avoid the trap of feeling you must end up with a finished poem. As a "shy poet" myself, I found this exercise to be quite liberating, giving this tender creative outlet I secretly enjoy permission to come through in short, daring bursts and glimpses! In practicing this exercise I've actually ended up with a couple of poems ;)

Now it's your turn.

Nature Time: Making Impressions

2011-01-20T00:11:00.000-08:00

On your next nature walk or backyard exploration, bring along a stash of your child's Play-Doh, or some modeling or hardening clay--non-staining & non-toxic--to experiment with different textures and patterns in nature (or other man-made objects). Collect patterns by placing a flattened piece of clay over a portion of textured surface, gently peeling back. Try several. An afternoon of making clay impressions in my backyard is shared in the images at the bottom of this post. The crisp, contrasting grooves from a palm frond impression was one of my favorites.

I like the shadowing of this impression

from this rock's weathered and etched

sides. The shadowing would make a

great reference for creating realistic

shadows in paintings and drawings.

Adding to your creativity toolbox. This creativity exercise is a great way to inspire sense of touch and enhance your awareness in the subtle ways nature utilizes texture and pattern. Impressions can be a great source of inspiration in a variety of ways like experimenting with new surfaces or textures for sculpting, for creating molds, embossing hand-made paper, as a shading reference for painting, for stamping, etc. What are your ideas?

Applying this to your creative work. How important is texture and patterning in your creative expression? Think about taking your creative expression to another level by incorporating this focus of texture, directly or indirectly, into your work.

I was drawn to the insect burrow marks and holes in this old tree

trunk in our tortoise yard.

I love the look & resulting impression

of this woody skeleton from a cholla

cactus.

The weathered and cracked pattern of this old citrus

trunk, definitely inspired the desire to doodle something

organic/galactic!

Let nature be your muse!

Creativity Hike

2011-01-17T22:47:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago I spent the morning with a group of creatives on a La Quinta preserve, exploring sources of inspiration as found in nature. I guided the group through a sampling of creativity exercises designed to get the creative process flowing. The group shared in the experience so openly, and I found their creative expressions and spirit so inspiring!

At the end of the hike, we gathered once more as "non-writers" to create a folding poem--a favorite exercise I like to include in any creativity outing and a great way to end a morning spent in such a profoundly beautiful environment.

Here are the two amazing group poems participants created on the spot--nature truly inspires:

Untitled

A fresh breeze brushing the winter desert.

A palette of natural color.
Calming colors –
desert seems still, but signs of motion everywhere
footprints, erosion, growth.

I saw life from all the holes in the ground.
Hundreds, maybe thousands of animals are burrowed there.
I enjoyed different perspectives of the palo verde tree –
up close it is large and grand,
from a distance, small and solitary.

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I wonder about the many forms of life has passed where we are –
Going into Nature today is going into the best art gallery in the world.
Nature is so glorious, I can’t describe it well.
Lizard watching me watching him. Peace.
Sun moving, revealing new crevices, homes to local residents.
And then rubble piles that look like ancient ruins that completes the cycle.

The Nature Coach as Featured in Insights Magazine!

2011-01-14T18:29:00.000-08:00

I'm thrilled to be a part of the January 2011 issue of Insights magazine. The magazine features my interview with BlogTalkRadio host, Stacey Chadwell, discussing my two favorite topics: nature + creativity! Find out how I believe nature can help keep us on track, what I think is the most empowering thing nature does for us, and in what ways nature fuels our creative drive. Click for interview!

Nature Time: Creating A Word List

2011-01-09T02:10:00.000-08:00

Come along for a little nature time. Your task is to generate a word list to keep as a source of nature-inspired word prompts to engage your creative spirit. Bring along a sketch pad and a pencil, find an area where you can take in the pace of nature and let the flow of words begin. Notice which words are common in your daily vocabulary and how your response to them might change once they're associated with a natural environment. For example the word surface. What images come to mind during your morning commute with the word "surface?" How about if you scuba dive? Or take a walk in the desert? What about reading a topographic map? Think about the many "identities" of words as you do this exercise, you'll greatly expand your word-list and your opportunity for creative interpretations. Watch the video below to get started.

In this short video, my 45-word list was compiled during a 20-minute desert walk. I can refer to this list as a source of ongoing prompts for a variety of creative outlets. For starters, I decided to choose the 2^nd, 4^th, 8^th, 16^th, and 32^nd words off my list as random prompts for a poetry exercise (shared at the end of the video): velvety, patina, gravel, sky, surface.

How will nature inspire you today?

Happy Creative New Year

2011-01-02T14:59:00.000-08:00

Realize that every time you make space in your life for creativity—even if it’s just a sliver of space—you’re making yourself a better person and the world a better place. ~Sandy Ackers "10 Resolutions For A Creative Year"

It's that time of year when we dig deep and shift focus toward new ways to fulfill the desires of our inner creative. Make this year the year of creativity! Resolve to honor your gift of expression through unique and inspired creative outlets. Explore, dig, excavate, unearth, rediscover, dust off your creative impulses and give them light and life!

In numerology circles, "11" is the most intuitive of all numbers, representing illumination and deep insight as well as being very sensitive and inspirational. Sounds like '11 is an opportune year to follow your creative intuition, and let your expression run wild to gain deep insight. As I am always saying, make your creative time a priority. If you take the numerology fun a step further and add up 2011 (2+0+1+1), you're good to go! As the number "4" typically signifies the grounded nature of all things...think the four seasons, four directions, four elements--very powerful natural elements providing a balanced, stable home-base for your creative exploration! Protect and keep your creative time a priority as a way to get back to your creative roots, to maintain balance and center yourself--again each of these representing the symbolic meaning of "4."

It's all intriguing fun, but even if you're not into the numbers game, the point is to recognize the conditions are always primed for your creative journey. Start by making mistakes (release your perfectionist tendencies), try techniques or materials you've never worked before, make messes. Read Sandy's link at the top of this post for motivating ideas that will get your creative juices flowing. Then lose control, creatively speaking, be wreckless and wild and raw. Transform. Always remember to be kind to and love your creative self. Exhale magical poetry, brush strokes, images...

When you're ready to grow creatively, then your moment has arrived to begin a new journey. Seek and you shall find inspiration everywhere. It will even begin to find you.

Image/artwork: M. Hedgecock, "Seastar Grow" mandala
Numerology source: spiritual-numerology.com

Found Faces

2010-12-27T01:49:00.000-08:00

Found faces. Sometimes they just "pop out" at us with their smiley innocence, their surprised expressions or their sweet flat-mouthed, resignation. There are Flickr groups dedicated to them, and many who document their whimsical presence. Try this yourself by documenting any naturally occurring found faces in appliances, faucets, architecture, puddles, rocks...the opportunities are endless. Look for a variety of facial expressions in man made or naturally occurring objects. Look up, look down, look upside-down. Enjoy your encounters and feel free to share and post what you find!

Photo: M. Hedgecock

100 Tiny Muses

2010-12-01T01:18:00.000-08:00

So many because they are tiny—with big possibilities! Each of the random entries below is centered around a simple moment, or a small element of nature, and presented as a muse to inspire you. (For five ideas, please see bottom of the list.)

1. the feel of natural clay
2. butterfly’s flight
3. the smell of rosemary
4. beach combing
5. pounding surf
6. watching deer
7. blue ice
8. bird calls
9. wind caves
10. velvety rose petals
11. thunder
12. the octopus
13. sand dunes
14. meteor showers
15. smell of rain
16. icicles
17. texture of driftwood
18. redwoods
19. rainforest
20. the milky way

21. wolf howls
22. pine cones
23. desert expanses
24. beach sand
25. river stone
26. meadow
27. oasis
28. inside a volcano tube
29. tide pool
30. coyote yips and barks
31. summer monsoons
32. a rainbow
33. the sound of raven wings
34. shark
35. spider web
36. finding a tooth
37. whale song
38. the moon
39. watching sunsets
40. crunchy snow

41. powdery snow
42. animal tracks
43. campfire
44. dry falls
45. tree bark
46. pine smell
47. thunderous waterfalls
48. fog
49. lightning
50. starry sky
51. wind in the pines
52. soft rain
53. thorns
54. spirals
55. water
56. acorn
57. echo
58. boulder
59. feathers
60. natural hot springs

61. limestone
62. reef
63. descending a steep trail
64. flying fish
65. clouds
66. forest
67. deep holes
68. fossils
69. moutains
70. cicadas
71. bone
72. leaves
73. lush ferns
74. desert wash
75. roots
76. bloom
77. caverns
78. currents
79. lady bug
80. sea stars

81. dandelion wishes
82. wildflowers
83. highlands
84. native ochre
85. following a mossy path
86. spongy
87. sting
88. stalagtites
89. fur
90. lichen
91. quartz
92. nest
93. aurora
94. ocean
95. summit
96. canopy
97. marsh
98. owl
99. shelter
100. wilderness

Ideas:

• Grab your camera and pick an entry from the list, then head out to capture at least 5-10 interpretations of your chosen word(s).

• Chose a word/phrase and write an inspiring or informative tweet (140 characters or less), then tweet it!

• Pick a number (1 – 100) at random and doodle that entry for 5 minutes.

• Randomly pick 5 of these words and connect them (any order) through a 5-line poem.

• Choose a word as inspiration for creating a mini painting, illustration, sculpture, etc. Go at least 50% smaller than you are used to working.

Please add to this list by sharing your entries in the comments! Especially any creative works or posts any of these may have inspired :)

Push It!

2010-10-20T00:08:00.000-07:00

My, my it's been a busy month. I cannot believe I've let this much time slip by since my last post--tsk, tsk. I have found myself to be wonderfully busy with many outlets of creative energy--which as you can relate, one must ride that wave as long as it travels! One thing I hope you'll notice in this post is that I am pushing myself beyond my boundaries, I'm moving past my comfort zones. This is a big deal in my relationships with clients--a willingness to stretch beyond our comfort zones--it is essential for our creative growth. Doing so makes me a better creativity coach, a better artist, a better teacher, writer, wife, mom, friend...a connected being with the inner confidence and motivation needed to follow my dreams. Here are 5 ways in which I'm pushing my comfort zones to keep me moving forward and growing in my creative spirit:

For starters, I did something I was very uncomfortable about doing. For weeks, my anxiety and inner critic had their way with me until the big day came...and went. With no casualties. I'm talking about a radio show interview. My first radio show interview. It was for a blog radio show going out to the masses in the coaching industry. The show topic was connecting with nature for creative inspiration and I was very happy to be asked to speak about this. The 30-minute show will actually air in the spring, April 2011. Along with the air date, my interview will also be featured in Insights Magazine, an industry mag. Now, other than the moment it was happening, I have no idea how I came across. I will find out right along with you! I know I didn't crash and burn, but still a bit nerve-wracking not being able to hear it first, hehe. It was me in the exhilirating moment of living outside my comfort zone (yikes) and I ended up having a great experience! I'll keep you posted, be sure to tune in :)

I've had the chance to participate in a show inspired by Dia de los Muertos (one of my favorite themes/celebrations) with a piece called "Spirit Messengers." I didn't know if my piece would be accepted, but I loved the theme of the show (called DEAD, Awaken), and I really like the gallery and the gracious encouragement of the gallery owner so I decided to make a call to find out. Turned out to be a great step forward as I'm thrilled to be part of the show. If you'd like to hear more about the exhibit, please check out where you can see it here.

I am also very excited about the countdown to the release of a new item I will be offering--only 2 days from now--a way to connect you with nature through a hands-on exercise designed to stimulate your mental focus and expand your creativity. This product is a fun, easy creativity booster based upon one of my most popular creative awareness exercises! Can't wait to go public with it on Oct. 22, 2010!

More great news...I've decided to move forward with writing an e-book. As of now, it will include personal connections I've experienced with nature and how those encounters have guided my (creative) life. Along with themed chapters (possibly along the classic elements: earth, water, fire, air/wind, space), there will be related, nature-inspired exercises to do, each structured to open up our creative flow and expand our creative growth. Much material is gathered/written, but there is plenty to be done like the task of blending segments together, still plenty of re-writing to be done, and re-working of chapters! I've never written a book before, e-book or otherwise, so this will be a steep learning process for me. Writing evolves as you write; code for these are the basic elements to my e-book, it will be interesting to see how it truly evolves!

I continue to experiment with new ways of creative expression and though I am often inspired by the mandala in work and play I have found another way to bring them into my art. I enjoy photography but only very casually. I have found an alternate way to integrate my favorite nature photos into my found art by taking images and creating digital mandalas. I've created some as prints, but I've also prepared others for unique found art frames or embellishments of which I'm really getting into these designs! Here is a mandala created from a picture I took of a flat of rainbow cactus for sale while at one of our Let Nature Be Your Muse meet-ups (this one from our latest, Moorten Botanical Garden "Sketch & Shoot"):

Nature continues to inspire...

International Observe the Moon Night

2010-09-17T21:51:00.000-07:00

Hello creatives! Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010 is International Observe the Moon Night. Here in the Coachella Valley, the moon will rise at 4:17 p.m. and set by 2:17 a.m. Sounds like a great night for lunar-inspired creativity. Get your creative juices flowing with activities like sky watching, moon watching through a telescope or binoculars, moon haiku, even going on a moonlit walk! Here are a couple of other ideas you may want to try...

Visit the IOMN site:

http://observethemoonnight.org/

Sketch or write under the light of the moon, or come do it with fellow creatives:

http://www.meetup.com/Let-Nature-Be-Your-Muse/calendar/13347047/

Get to know this ancient and historical muse with this moon map:

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/moon_guide-1.html

Write a folding poem (requires a buddy) about the moon, after spending time with it: http://restoreyournature.blogspot.com/2009/12/night-sky.html

Moon Meditations that inspire you to live fully, creatively:

http://thenaturecoach.blogspot.com/2010/04/happy-full-moon-moon-meditations.html

Enjoy the moon! Share you experience...

Spore Prints

2010-09-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

I recently came across an easy, artistic family activity of creating mushroom spore prints. It's certainly not new, and I'm sure some of you are familiar with this technique if not already have tried your own prints. The simplicity of the process truly makes it a great opportunity for combining art and nature with your children. Artists and other creatives would surely find it irresistable and take inspiration from these simple spore prints, creating unique, altered expressions (like nature-inspired artist Chris Drury's Destroying Angel – Trinity).

Creating a few delicate looking prints begins with finding good mushrooms (please KNOW WHAT YOU ARE HARVESTING, SOME MUSHROOM SPECIES CAN BE DEADLY, always wash your face and hands thoroughly during and after handling mushrooms and do not inhale spores). Gilled mushrooms seem to be the easiest to get nice prints. You might get different colors per mushroom, depending on the species in your area. One source shares that very young or very old mushrooms do not produce spores, so try to collect growing, healthy looking mushrooms.

Slice off stems and place caps (reproductive) side down on paper. Some spores are light, some are dark; experimenting with light/dark colored paper helps, or do a little homework. One source below mentions you might be able to tell by looking at the gills (if they're light or dark spores). Place a glass or bowl over mushroom caps to protect spores from floating off by preventing air flow--even the slightest, and maintaining moisture. Let sit, undisturbed for 6 to 24 hours. Remove glass, remove mushrooms and admire your creations.

For additional examples and how-to, for preserving tips, guidelines, poisonous mushroom warnings and proper handling, please visit either of these links:

http://crafts.newarchaeology.com/spore_print_art.php and

http://resurrectionfern.typepad.com/resurrection_fern/2009/08/not-all-mushrooms-are-alike.html

I cannot wait to try this one! Now, where to find mushrooms in the desert...

Images: “blue spore prints” Craftzine and “spore print” Nova Scotia Canada Conservation

What’s Your Story?

2010-08-24T00:08:00.000-07:00

Last night my son (4 yrs. old) asked me to draw one of his stuffed animals. I asked him what details I should include in the picture, “what makes him Baby Fox, what parts of him do I make sure I have in the picture?” He immediately answered, “His ears are tall and pointy, his face is cute, his nose is cute too mommy, and his tail likes to be wiggly like this, and his tummy likes to see things.” I tried my best to replicate such a carefully detailed description, but it was difficult to draw—I was a mom fully captivated by the spell of her son’s cuteness—and I missed the mark. When I showed Jeffery my drawing he said simply, “oh, no you drew Baby Fox’s mommy.”

I loved that he looked at “Baby Fox” in such a way that included field marks like big pointy ears; and that he saw emotion, personality and behavior in his “cute face” and “wiggly tail.” He also found a way to let me know you could see Baby Fox’s tummy behind his legs. Jeffery decided to draw Baby Fox himself (I wasn’t getting it quite right), he also added Baby Fox’s family and home (a hole in the African savannah—wow)!

What a good little naturalist and artist, I thought proudly! Such attention to detail and imagination involved in this little stuffed animal’s extended history. How wonderful that he looked at his little fox in such a way that would bring the critter to life in a drawing as well, like an actor who develops an entire background story and personal history about a character they’re portraying. Ten minutes later, when my son moved on to one of his dinosaurs to draw, I heard him say, “Tell me a story about your family, triceratops.” He proceeded to draw some circles with horns.

It made me think about the creative process. I think this is natural for many artists to carry a deeply personal connection to their work through a message, an experience, or a desire that needs to be transformed or expressed in some way. It is something that has a way of coming through when we go beyond our intention and explore a kind of backstory, or origin of our piece. To be fully aware of where the inspiration comes from and the reason for our subject. Circles with horns.

Fifty percent of the time the material, for me, “has the story” and dictates the direction of the work. Other times I have something quite specific in mind and mentally store it until the perfect element is in my hands, or it’s simply “ready to be created.” Still, other times I am inspired by a moment from an experience or feeling from a situation that I try to replicate. And, of course there will always be that unaccounted for percentage that I leave wild for the sake of creative exploration. Aha moments.

I try to make people smile, or escape into world of whimsy, or ultimately connect with some insight or knowledge discovered within a piece. I have not spent much time on the backstory that led me to want to create art that evokes these particular responses. I have my reasons, but the story behind each piece? Hmmm. I understand that what I am trying to create is something I want to maintain in my own world. I want to laugh, not be so serious about every little thing. I like the magical moments and whimsy of unexplainable things—which I want my son to embrace as long as possible. I want to be environmentally responsible in the way I live and create. I like to get people thinking. But I know there is much more to my story.

Each time I share a part of my story through my art, I find I am able to create something more meaningful. Yet, finding a way to make that happen for every piece is an indefinable part of my creative process. How far do I go to get to my cirlces with horns?

What’s your story?

Calling All Artist! 350.org Needs YOU!

2010-08-19T21:49:00.000-07:00

"Calling artists to sketch a climate change design that will be created using thousands of people in an iconic place threatened by climate change.” Invitation to join 350 EARTH: A global satellite art project

In November 2010, 350.org will organize 20 simultaneous public art pieces that are massive enough to be seen from space and located on the front-lines of the climate crisis – our sinking coastlines, endangered forests, melting glaciers, and polluted cities. We’re looking to recruit top and up-and-coming artists to design these images. For more information about how to submit your design ideas to 350.org's EARTH, please download the guidelines here: http://www.350.org/earth

Curiosity...What Extravagant Respite!

2010-08-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

Laguna Beach, CA. As you're walking downtown, there's a little path that takes off from the sidewalk, if you follow the sculpture and plants, you will discover this little deck and the endless ocean view with a beautifully crafted fence that reads: "In this fleeting moment what extravagant respite as booming surf speaks its mystical passage across the undreamed depths." Surrounding the quote, are bits of stained glass treats and the tiny print framing the quote is the word "sound" repeated along the top and bottom.

My friend and I came across this little offshoot after an already long day on our feet--which were killing us, my shoes were starting to rub uncomfortably too. We were both ready to sit the next couple of hours out on the beach (shoes off), and dive into the glorious depths of girl talk, while the end of day approached. But curiousity got the best of us and we wanted to see what was down this short path.

I'm happy we did, I loved this quote fence, its shadow on the deck, and the sound of breaking--yes booming--surf below! We were there less than 10 minutes (the beach was calling), yet I was revitalized by our discovery and temporarily forgot about my sore feet. Respite indeed.

Yes! Pursue your curious side. Answer its call when it beckons you, no matter how tired you feel. Curiousity energizes. Curiosity is your escape from routine, it is the trail less traveled that invites you to explore.

Explored curiosity fuels our creativity.

Inspiration Fest

2010-08-16T00:54:00.000-07:00

One way I find inspiration is by going to art festivals. I love outdoor events that pulse with art, music, and dance. It's a plus when you're surrounded by nature and plenty of working artists or performers who are bringing their talents to life right in front of you! I'm heading to the Sawdust Festival this week in Laguna Beach, one of my favorite art festivals. The environment is so inviting. It's funky, established, and filled with plenty of nooks and crannies bursting with inspiration. The art and the artists are amazing in their talent, creative in their displays, and happy; with personalities as colorful as you can imagine.

For me, a day spent at an art fest or a powwow, and the surrounding environment that inspired its beginnings is complete "inspiration immersion!" I come home so full of the creative spirit that I cannot wait to get knee-deep into a project. The heart of the experience--all of that artistic expression and sensory mojo--pulses through my veins and into my project.

Go enjoy a nearby festival, there are plenty to be found year-round, some quite famous, some obscure, yet all with high potential to inspire you. You can search for festivals by region on-line. You might be surprised by what people are willing to celebrate. I encourage you to feed your creative side by absorbing the inspiration that awaits you at a soul-thumping powwow, or the next jazz, art, hot air balloon, or whale festival!

Perhaps I'll see you at Sawdust...

Cultivating Creativity

2010-08-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

As an artist, my creations may not be something you see everyday. I like to incorporate humor, death, birth, the unexpected, whimsy, nature, critters, into the things I create. I like weird and mysterious. I think my son is starting to pick up on that; he is one week shy of his 4th birthday, and developing an eye for the strange.

For example, I have a Dia de los Muertos piece where I shaped and painted skeletal dinosaurs. He digs them, "I rweally like your trisohatops mommy, they're rweally good dinosohs!" Most recently, I placed one of my creations front and center on our car dashboard for him to discover on our way to his swim lesson. I jokingly told my mom (the original lover of morbid art) I might be scarring the little guy with my work. In the meantime, I wondered how he would react to this macabre little hitchhiker:

His first reaction was, "Mommy, what is that?" Said in the tone of, what the hell is that thing? Fifteen minutes down the road he was trying to get me to agree that he should have him. "I like that spidohr's face, mommy. He's funny." He promptly named him Skele-Spider by the way, but he apparently goes by Spider Bones too.

Jeffery quickly adopted Skele-Spider and insisted that his new friend wanted to learn how to play his video game and wished to be added to his bed with his stuffed animals... "Mommy, I prawmise 'kay? I heard you, he's not a toy, I will be carefoh mommy, pleeeeease." I agreed that Skele-Spider would probably love to learn how to play MarioKart but I didn't think he should be with his toys. After much negotiating, Jeffery agreed to show him the games then return Skele-Spider to the car to go on trips with us instead.

For a child who is terrified of all things Halloween, he always has something nice to say about my art. Sometimes he’s wanted to play with some of my materials. I wish he could hang out with me more while I'm working on garage pieces, but currently it’s something that doesn’t really happen because,

1) I work with dangerous, sharp, and crusty metal objects

2) he's usually asleep anyway, and

3) there's just not a lot of room for him to do his own creative thing while I'm doing mine.

One of my sooner-than-later dreams is to create a better space in our garage that is safe, with more room, and more inviting for both of us to be out there together. I want him to witness a variety of creative outlets while freely developing his own...just like I was able to do when I was young.

Growing up, I watched my parents create a variety of wonderful work and joint projects. I was always encourged to create my own things and I always had plenty of space and materials to do so. I want to provide a similar experience for my little one...surrounded by skull beads, humanized bugs, and creepy creatures made of found junk, complete with skeleton spider friends.

If you want to be creative, cultivate that desire by surrounding yourself with all things creative. Things that stimulate your creative process like color, photos, idea journals, books, materials, good light, natural light, unique inspirations, other’s art. Not just in your studio or work space, go beyond and keep it a part of your daily routine. Like writers who write every day, your physical mantra must be to create every day. Work your creative muscle.

I also believe it’s important not to get caught up in creative habits or projects that no longer represent you. When a favorite medium or theme begins to leave you feeling uninspired, it’s time to switch it up! Honor this sign that you are creatively growing and evolving! Don’t freeze up or get bored—try stretching your creative spirit. Incorporate new concepts, new methods or materials or processes—I did this just last weekend and it was a creative shot in the arm for me (and a future post)! You never know when or where inspiration will hit you.

Whether you wish to foster creativity in your child or yourself, make sure you have the space and the materials you need to create. Keep a fresh approach by trying something new, and have fun with what you do create! Then inspire others by sharing your wonderful work…

Nature Time: Photo Finish

2010-08-09T15:43:00.000-07:00

My mom’s clever “game” she created for my aunt and uncle inspired this exercise! Before leaving their mountain cabin of which my mom spent the weekend, she took extreme close-ups of various items and locations throughout the cabin. She sent them to my aunt and uncle as a kind of scavenger hunt of the unique photographic perspectives she created. Try this one as a fun “thank you” for your host as my mom did, or for a twist on family game night! It would make a interesting artistic theme. Teachers could have great fun with this as a way to get new students familiar with classrooms while exercising their observational skills. Many possible applications…let your inner shutterbug fly!

Nature's Palette: Web

2010-08-03T13:28:00.000-07:00

[click palette for larger image]

I love this image (Dreamstime.com) of a spider's web hanging among these twiggy fall branches. How will you be inspired by this creative "spin" found in nature?

Creative Intentions

2010-08-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

My mom treated me to an amazing prayer flag making workshop up at the Idyllwild Arts campus, taught by visiting artist Karen Michele. It was a beautiful July day of creating under the pines—a deer even stopped by for a visit (too bad I missed her)!

The theme was Tibetan inspired with the thought being that the wind will carry the intentions of the writings or imagery on the flags out into the world to benefit all living beings. In Tibetan culture, there are 5 flags, each with its own color and associated element. The word in parenthesis are my own wishes/intentions inspired by the element:

RED = FIRE (transformation)

YELLOW = EARTH (grounded/our roots)

BLUE = SPACE (happiness)

WHITE = AIR (silliness)

GREEN = WATER (compassion/peace)

If you are looking for a fulfilling creative project, I found this to be a wonderful exercise for finding the words and imagery to represent my personal wishes for myself and all others, and put it into something to be carried in the wind. It was something I’d never done before and that alone jumpstarted my creative process and ended up being the shot in the arm I needed to get back into other projects I’ve left incomplete! I’m working on those now, giving them new life inspired by a day of creative fun, new techniques and ideas.

If this appeals to you, let the elements inspire you or simply think of qualities you wish to maintain or wish for yourself and others to live by in the world. With materials at hand or your “theme” in your head, gather embellishments and imagery that signify your words. Use an 8” X 12” panel of material for each flag (I cut up a pair of old jeans) as your canvas and bring your intentions to life in that space! Leave about 3” to 4” at the top for folding over ribbon, cord or rope for hanging.

My whole strand is about 4 1/2 ft. long. Each panel is made from a recyled pair of jeans (flag panels) and acrylic, slightly smaller than 8”X12”. Embellished with: embroidery, can lids, glass beads, leaves, material, buttons, wire, scrap metal pieces, post cards, copper wire, metal tags, Sharpie...

I am a little attached to them right now, but I have every intention of placing these outside when the weather cools off a little. I am in search of a special place, maybe our front door(!), to hang these so they can fulfill their true purpose! I think it would be fun to document their "lifespan" of prayer releasing :) I’ll be sure to keep you posted!

Here are each of my flags, click images if you’d like larger view:

RED = FIRE = transformation

YELLOW = EARTH = grounded; our roots

BLUE = SPACE = happiness; plenty of space for all to be happy :)

WHITE = AIR = silliness; sometimes the element is referred to as wind or cloud.

GREEN = WATER (life) = compassion, peace. Let compassion flow for all...the script repeats, "compassion for all sentient beings"

While photographing the flags, a breeze released a batch of my intentions for you! Maybe you felt it...

Nature Time: Create A Maze

2010-07-31T02:04:00.000-07:00

Last week you were asked to create a maze inspired by the Your Nature article “aMAZingly You!” and the wonderful metaphor mazes can offer. Here's your exercise up for comment:

Make it simple or deviously complex. I spent about 10 minutes creating this maze on the large leaf I left in a Double Tree hotel lobby--at an information kiosk--for someone to find! Maze-making can be as relaxing as doodling or free-writing, allowing your brain to unwind while focusing on something repetitive, yet engaging.

It’s easiest to draw your “answer” or home path first, then filling the rest in around it. If it’s your first maze, I highly recommend using a pencil so you can go back and open up your false routes! Or just remember to leave gaps on both sides of your path for adding the phony routes and dead ends in later. Have fun with this one! Create them in or on unusual places for extra fun, like a leaf, a bookmark, a flat rock, or on the envelope of a letter to a friend. Let us know what happens. My leaf maze with, “Have an aMAZing day!” on the back, was gone by the time we left to meet friends for dinner, about 40 minutes!

Nature's Palette: Clinging Feather

2010-07-26T21:21:00.000-07:00

Photo (feather) by Dries Knapen

Color is a powerful visual. A specific color or color combination in nature may be used as a warning, as camouflage, in mating, to attract pollinators, and more. Either way, it's purpose is to evoke a response. What colors do you respond to in the things you collect or the art you create?

The nature's palette series is a color prompt from nature itself, how will nature inspire you today?

aMAZingly You!

2010-07-20T23:46:00.000-07:00

When I was a teen I was big into mazes. I loved trying to find my way out of hedge mazes, hay mazes, and even a huge corn maze once. In fact, the seasonal “Maize Maze” staff warned us to plan a couple of hours for navigating our way through the huge maze, complete with look-out towers. They also gave us an emergency “help” flag mounted on a tall pole so we could be found and rescued, along with a quick lesson on how to signal for help! It was great fun! We prided ourselves on finding the right clues along with our sense of direction for getting out on our own.

Intermingled and prior to that, as a pre-teen, I made tedious, complex mazes that filled up entire notebook pages and then asked my parents to make Xerox® copies of them so I could do them later. It was a fun thing for me, I would spend hours drawing out the home path, then filling in elaborate dead-ends and fake routes.

Now that I’m *ahem* older I love the metaphor a maze presents for the unique paths we take along our journey. When you think about it, there is one true, deeply intuitive path we are each following. Many times we stray from it, we get lost, or we might get fooled or lured into taking false paths that lead us away from our core values, or our natural instincts. Sometimes we get stuck (cue rescue flag pole). Some of us simply choose to meander—whether we’re unfocused on our goal, or enjoying some extended opportunities while accomplishing our goals. Now and then these alternative paths lead us back to our original destination, sometimes they just end and we have to go back and figure out where we went off track. No biggie. Because, in the end, if we were to turn around and trace our steps, we would see this amazing journey that brought us to our end goal. We might gaze across a series of repeating patterns, mistakes, and doubling back; but we could surely appreciate the beautiful design it created. One that is so purely our own blueprint embedded beneath our creative decisions, growth, and actions at that moment of our life.

Life invites us to be amazing! Don't retreat into creative non-action because you are worrying about choosing the wrong path (or project), if it turns out to be a dead end or takes you away from your values, turn around. Create your own path, create your personal maze, YOU know the best route to your creative success. Make it fun, make it happen!

Nature Time: Moon Meditation & Thesaurus of the Senses

2010-07-15T01:07:00.000-07:00

Below are the last two Nature Time exercises moved over for any comments you'd like to share! IWe would love to hear how these exercises opened up a creative flow (or not) and how you decided to use the exercise!

Thesaurus of the Senses

Create a thesaurus of the senses (Strangling My Muse). This week’s exercise is taken directly from one of my fave creative beings and online inspirations, Sandy Ackers. I could only add, in keeping with the Nature Time element, that this is a great challenge to create a nature-themed thesaurus too! Enjoy this creative challenge from Sandy’s blog:

“How many words or phrases can you come up with to describe the color of the sky? See how many words or phrases you can produce for each of these: the color of the sky; the taste of sugar; the smell of rain; the feel of air; the sound of laughter; the shape of eyes. This is a great exercise when you don’t have much time. And if you keep thinking up words to describe the sight, sound, taste, feel and smell of various items, you can compile your own thesaurus of the senses—a wonderful reference when you need interesting words for your fiction, essays, poems or other projects.”

Moon Meditation

The moon is a great mentor in living your life to its fullest. Find a comfortable spot in the moonlight and try this moon meditation: Our silvery moon has long been the source of inspiration for artists, philosophers, and poets. Both science and art continue to seek ways to study and interpret its profound affect on our lives. Think about the people in your life, and how they inspire you; awaken those same inspiring qualities in your self. Meditate on your ability to express yourself as passionately as those who inspire you and others will not be able to resist supporting you in achieving your creative calling.

Your Creative Voice: Teachings From The Scorpion

2010-06-29T16:06:00.000-07:00

When we feel a connection with the natural world, we begin to appreciate its value and every species’ right to share our world. We wish to protect its future as our own, and we will find a creative way to share this passion with the world. What we learn from nature gives us insight into ourselves.

Like some art, the scorpion is a creature often misunderstood and reviled. But once we learn to appreciate its value and its rightful place in our world, we feel connected and can learn much about ourselves. Like the scorpion, you are a truly amazing being and key to your environment. Everyone and everything you share your creative “habitat” with may have an impact on how you express yourself and vice versa.

Daily interactions shape your inner nature, the core from which you pull from each time you take action in your life. Who or what are you allowing into your environment and how are they shaping or influencing your creative process? Read on for encouragement and advice from an unexpected source, the scorpion.

TEACHINGS FROM THE SCORPION

1. Scorpions rely first on their strength for nourishment, using their strong pincers to capture and hold prey, not their venom.

Respond with your inner strength for facing challenges, do not sting with your words. As creative beings, we are usually our own harshest critic, quick to tear apart any creative effort. Be strong and do not succumb to venomous comments or thought, be honest and thoughtful with what you create, these are your most vulnerable expressions. Nourish your talents with inner confidence and by capturing and holding onto supportive critiques and trusted guidance.

2. Throughout human history scorpions have had their share of both negative and positive “press.”

Consider this when dealing with an undesirable situation or unwarranted criticism. Become aware of all perspectives, yet don’t let others take away your creative voice!

3. Scorpions molt throughout their lives as they grow. Newly molted scorpions must keep stretching while the new exoskeleton hardens to ensure that it can move when the hardening is complete.

Shed old skins as you grow. Create opportunities for multiple transformations that inspire you. Stretch your creative boundaries. Allow yourself room to grow as you fulfill your creative calling.

4. Burrows are a very important aspect of the ecology of desert scorpions, offering shelter and protection while molting and from predators.

How often do you allow yourself time for a little “burrowing?” What can you do to ensure those quality, restorative moments vital for maintainining your creative energy and focus? Creative beings tend to be emotionally sensitive—protect this treasured way of directly experiencing the world around you, this is part of your personal inspiration—retreat and “burrow” when you need to regroup or reclarify your creative voice.

5. Scorpions tend to change their habits rather than their form in order to adapt to a new habitat.

This is a great reminder to stay flexible while pursuing your creative goals, rarely do things go as planned. Expanding your comfort zones and growing as an artist means adapting and navigating new territory! Find new inspiration akin to a new habitat in order to punch up your creative survival. Shake it up a little, avoid those habits that drain your creativity. Don’t change the positive, Über-cool YOU, adapt by changing the habits or your studio’s appearance/workability that is stifling your creativity.

Adapted from: “Teachings From the Scorpion” M. Hedgecock, 2009
Scorpion photo: M. Hedgecock

Creativity Tool: Spirals

2010-06-25T01:24:00.000-07:00

Spirals have inspired artists for ages, first appearing in megalithic art in the form of petroglyphs. Spirals have symbolized the sun, growth, evolution, hypnosis, and the universe. In nature, spirals can be found everywhere—perhaps the source of ancient inspiration—and are usually described as whorls when found in plants and animals. In mathematics, “a spiral is a curve which emanates from a central point, getting progressively farther away as it revolves around the point.” (wikipedia.org)

What does a creative spiral signify for you?

How could you use spirals in your art or writing?

How would spirals appear in your work as a chef, or a dancer, as a sculpture?

SOMETHING TO TRY: seek out spirals, any size, shape, or form for 3 days. Take notes, photographs, sketch, or mentally list your finds for possible jumping off points for future projects. Where do you notice spirals most, in nature or man made environments and structures? Do you find more while you’re purposefully looking for spirals, or when you’re occupied with other tasks? What do your answers tell you about your creative process?

Full article here.

Nature Time Exercise: Nature Journaling

2010-06-25T01:04:00.000-07:00

Last week's Nature Time exercise moves over for discussion. Let us know how you took time to break out your inner nature journaler....

If you’ve never kept a nature journal, consider it a great way to build your writing tool box! It can be as simple as documenting a quick note of the first time you notice your favorite wild blossom, or migrating bird in your yard, or the first rutting calls of elk.

Nancy S.M. Waldman (The Practically Creative Quarter) found she did it for two reasons, one having to do with creative writing. She writes, “When writing, it’s often useful to have at your fingertips real notations of when the Indian Hawthorne blooms in Texas or if it’s believable that the first snowfall of the year might be as late as January in Connecticut or if a character could be hearing the frogs at dusk in Nova Scotia in mid-April.”

This is a fantastic way to connect nature to your craft and I encourage you to start a nature journal today to see where nature inspires you…

11-year old Artist Campaigns to Save Gulf Wildlife!

2010-06-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

Fantastic, Olivia you are our hero!

Please read this wonderfully inspiring story about a passionate, budding ornithologist and artist who has helped raise over $70,000 to protect pelicans, manatees, whooping cranes and the other birds she loves-species threatened by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

LINK: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/artist-11-campaigns-to-save-gulf-birds/

Yay Olivia, what an inspiration you are for us all!

Summer Solstice

2010-06-16T00:20:00.000-07:00

June 21, 2010 begins the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. Imagine what creative projects you could accomplish with longer days! How many times have you heard yourself say, if only I had an extra hour or two in my day, I could really get into a creative zone. Well, why not let this ancient “midsummer” event get you in the zone.

Think honestly about your time today and this evening, or over the next week; how and where can you make changes that will open up minutes or hours? Every minute you save will add up to a block of time you’ve successfully managed for yourself.

I might add that it helps to have an ongoing list of creative projects you would like to do, if you had the time. It should inspire you to enjoy your time in a way that is most uplifting for you. When the moment comes that you have an extra 30 or 60 minutes, you won’t go blank and waste time in trying to come up with “something” to do that you’ve wanted to accomplish. Will it be planning a yard project or a room re-do, starting or finishing that creative project, or trying out a new recipe? Of course, never underestimate the recuperative power of free time that involves doing nothing! As a creative being, it is essential to protect your creative time for daily snippets of inspiration or productivity.

Enjoy the beginning of summer marked by the solstice. There are many ways to celebrate this seasonal marker, from ancient to modern. What will you do to maintain your personal, creative time as the days grow shorter from now?

“Summer Solstice” by Ursula Freer, please visit her beautiful gallery.

Nature Time: Snap To It!

2010-06-15T23:15:00.000-07:00

Last week's Nature Time is up for comments now that there is a new exercise (side bar). Please feel free to share you experience!

Carry your camera with you wherever you go today. Most cell phones have cameras built right into them, take advantage of the video option found on most cameras and phones today. Let your eyes explore around you throughout the day, snap photos of anything that strikes you: friends, your lunch, flowers outside your office, the sunset, colors, leaves floating in a suspended dance on a swirling current of wind. Don’t worry about the perfect shot—just get it so you can access it later.

Note what inspired you to take each shot, either at the time or when you’re finished, go through your photos/video, recall what inspired the image (liked the color, great emotion, delicate lines, etc.). Write these down as bullet points and look for a theme or pattern that may connect each photo. This will give you a sense of what inspires you.

Nature's Palette: Lavender Fields

2010-06-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, I talked about the inspiration that could be found at your local harvest festivals, like lavender festivals, cherry festivals, etc. My family and I just spent the weekend at a nearby lavender festival and had a great time! These are fun for the whole family and events like these are a fanstastic source of inspiration for all the senses! While there, all I wanted to do was sketch or try my hand at a little painting or pastels like these artists...

I kept thinking of how fun it would be to set up a mini-easel for my son and let him go with finger paints and brushes and just see what we might create--perhaps something lavender-y, perhaps he would paint his famous monkeys :) We did manage to collect some flowers and make our own "magic petal potions!"

How will this nature palette inspire you today?

For ocean-inspired nature palettes, click the links below:

Ocean <--click

Seashells <--click

Nature Time: Clay Play

2010-06-07T23:26:00.000-07:00

Clay play is up for comments now that there is a new nature time exercise (side bar). Please feel free to share you experience from last week's exercise below!

It’s all about texture and patterns. Grab some clay, Play-doh®, modeling clay—even natural clay if you are lucky enough to have a source. Roll out and pre-cut flattened, 4” x 6” pieces to take with with you into your backyard or nearby park. Find patterns and textures to start pressing your pliable, flattened pieces of clay onto. Try trees, interesting building surfaces, rocks, leaves, man-hole covers, outdoor sculpturs, sidewalk cracks. Use these pieces to stamp patterns onto your work or apply to clay works, or assemblage pieces. Or, let these impressions inspire a character or setting. Use as you creatively wish!

Lavender Festival

2010-06-07T10:57:00.000-07:00

The site of lavender fields, lavender flowers, the smell lavender can inspire many creative outlets: drawing, cooking, gardening, photography, writing, painting—I’ve read lavender oil is a great oil painting medium!

Here’s a fun way to spend Father’s Day, and/or feed your creative mojo--the 123 Farm’s 6th Annual Lavender Festival this June 12,13,19 & 20, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. If you’re interested, please visit their website for details, directions to their Cherry Valley, CA location, festival activities, schedule, and organic herbs and oils for sale (including lavender, peppermint, rosemary, and sage!).

Lavender farms can be found throughout the region, check your local area for any local harvests, find out what's available in your area. Don't worry if lavender is not a likely harvest--now's a great time to learn about the organic goodies in your region to discover a local farm that celebrates the harvest publicly for natural inspiration!

Mmm...what inspires you most about lavender? Scent, sight, taste, touch...?

About the 123 Farm: http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M14941

Inspired by Nature: Ocean Voices

2010-06-03T16:43:00.000-07:00

This is an amazing collaboration of nature, specifically our oceans, and the creative spirit it inspires. Spoken from the depths of our core, we are invited to share our thoughts on the ocean and to be a part of a deep passion and need to protect and celebrate it. From sound artist Halsey Burgund’s Ocean Voices interactive and beautifully creative website…

Sound artist Halsey Burgund and marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols joined forces to collect the voices of people around the world recounting their personal experiences with the ocean. Combined with music written by Halsey, these voices become an integral part of audio collages which listeners can create to suit their own preferences (click LISTEN below and follow the instructions). You can help them by sharing your voice and spreading the words of all participants around the globe.Article - Voices of the ocean

Tonight’s debut/tickets

I can't wait to try it...tell us what you think :)

Ten Fascinating Nature Phenomena to Inspire You

2010-06-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

It's a 'natural' kind of creative inspiration. Give a peek at these curious natural expressions. Pick one as a prompt for a poem, an article, or your next piece! The last one (I don't want to give it away) really intrigued me! But it was the huge "Penitentes" that immediately inspired a sculptured piece for me...I can't wait to bring it to life with my own interpretation in clay :) How will YOU be inspired? Ten Fascinating Natural Phenomena

Uncorking Your Creative Thinking

2010-05-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

Please check out this article, "Uncorking Your Creative Thinking" by TJ Philpottit. It makes some great points to consider, bringing to light ways in which our creativity can be stifled. As I am always encourging, the article also suggest thinking outside the box, inlcuding pushing your comfort levels in an effort to offset creative conformity (that's really where the exciting stuff starts to happen isn't it? ;))

I would encourage you to consider using nature as a stimulating platform for doing just that! Especially if you are not confortable in nature, specifically. Sit or walk through a natural setting with creative intention, actively seek out ways in which nature can inspire you on the simplest level, you don't have to go for a crazy adrenaline pumped experience!

Nature Time: Moon and Stars Poetry

2010-05-20T10:07:00.000-07:00

With a new "Nature Time" post (sidebar), it's time to move the previous exercise over for sharing and comments...

Bundle up in a comfy chair or hammock (my fave!) and read poetry or quotes about the moon and stars. Return a second night with poems of your own inspired by the night sky :)

You can tape or rubberband a layer or two of red cellophane over your flashlight (or under lens) to protect your eyes from transitioning between the bright flashlight and the star light. (Target/Wal-Mart usually carry a Rayovac swivel head AA flashlight that includes a red lens. Craft stores sell red cellophane and gels.)

Idyllwild Earth Fair

2010-05-16T17:48:00.000-07:00

Hello Creatives!

Saturday's Idyllwild Earth Fair was the best year ever! The event was overflowing with a variety of vendors, booths and friendly visitors who all love and celebrate the earth. Always one of my favorite events, this year was indeed the busiest!

The Nature Coach (me!) was there with a booth, inviting people in for a little creative break with my Tree Mandala exercise. We were busy with activity, chatting with old friends and new friends, and of course a little creative play with many participants throughout the day! I was especially happy to meet two fellow Let Nature Be Your Muse MeetUp members, Michele and Jenny (and families)! Thank you both for stopping by and introducing yourselves--it was a pleasure to meet you!

I had a great time meeting people and enjoying their personal tree mandala creations! We received wonderful feedback from everyone who took a creative break with us, including a few participants who shared some very heartfelt and kind words about creating their mandalas...it was a very inspiring day for me to be in the company of so many creative souls willing to try something a little different! Thank you all :)

A little about the Tree Mandala exercise: “Mandala” is Sanskrit for circle. Traditional meanings of mandalas vary by culture, although many share a common belief in its significance as a spiritual or ritual expression. Mandalas are also used for meditations, establishing a sacred space.

Mandalas are filled with symbolic art. They are sometimes used as a teaching tool depicting stories, events, the cosmos, even our perspective of the universe, through detailed symbols and designs. Jungian psychology view mandalas as a symbol for connecting with the self.

Participants were asked to choose a tree cookie and draw a symbolic design of their own that tells a story, perhaps their story for that day. They were to reflect on how their creative process during this exercise could shape the outcome of their own personal, creative goals. For example:

Were they easily distracted?
Did they get into a creative zone?
Was this something they'd ever done before?
Did they experience a relaxed state of mind, or something else?
Did they plan out a design first, or jump in drawing to see what emerged?
What was their agenda?

What do these questions reveal about your creative process, and ultimately reaching your goals?

Nature Doodles

2010-05-04T00:10:00.000-07:00

As a new “Nature Time” is added to the sidebar, last week’s Nature Doodling is up for comments.

Doodling seems to really be making a comeback in the art world. In addition to being recognized as a valued artistic expression, it’s a great creative warm-up, mental wind-down, meditation, or creative exercise that anyone can do! This week, look to nature for doodle-like impressions. Examples might include: beetle tracks, spider webs, water stains on canyon walls, dendrites (mineralizations), larvae scars on old logs…you get the idea. Find an example of a nature doodle & copy its original, natural form/lines onto your paper. Enhance the original nature doodle by adding your own doodle art for a unique expression of creative “nature.”

Image: Leaf miner tracks. Credit: Martin La Bar via a Creative Commons license.

Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir

2010-05-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

This is too amazing not to post. If you haven't seen it already, please watch Eric Whitacre's "Sleep" performed by Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir. It's a global connection of creative expression and passion through music and voice. 185 singers from around the world, representing 12 countries, 243 tracks. Each participant recorded their separate piece(s) as conducted by Whitacre, then their submissions via YouTube were synchronized together in a huge virtual choir. It is simply beautiful :)

Artwork Made By Insects!

2010-05-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

Graphics change by insect species, size, and changes in environment. See "their work" here - Amazing Artwork Made By Ordinary Insects

Happy Full Moon: Moon Meditations

2010-04-28T16:47:00.000-07:00

The moon is a great mentor in living your life to its fullest. Find a comfortable spot in the moonlight and try one of these moon meditations:

Live full. The full moon creates a lot of action; humans celebrate it, animals and oceans move by it. When the moon is full and bright, it sculpts the land differently. We can see things outside without the aid of artificial light. Meditate on how your experiences change when you live your life fully, illuminate your own path, celebrate your creativity.

Radiate light. Despite being the weakest reflector in our solar system, the moon shines brightly against the black backdrop of space. Meditate on how you can reflect positive qualities in your interaction with others; allow your creative self to glow as luminously as the full moon.

Infuse yourself with nature. The moon is intimately aligned with the natural world as we have witnessed through the pull of lunar tides and the variety of species that rely on its light for navigation and survival. Plant yourself in the cycles of nature to appreciate your vital role in the world we share, increase your personal awareness, and heighten your sensitivity to your attitudes and behavior as it compares to your core standards and beliefs. Meditating on this type of connection may intuitively affect the conscientious mind and accountability that guide your creative process.

Inspire others. Our silvery moon has long been the source of inspiration for artists, philosophers, and poets. Both science and art continue to seek ways to study and interpret its profound affect on our lives. Think about the people in your life, and how they inspire you; awaken those same inspiring qualities in your self. Meditate on your ability to express yourself as passionately as those who inspire you and others will not be able to resist supporting you in achieving your creative calling.

"Meditate. Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine." ~the Buddha

Tips For Photographing Wildflowers

2010-04-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

Six great wildflower tips for photographers from the National Wildlife Federation:
Six tips for photographing flowers - National Wildlife Federation

After capturing your masterpieces submit them to the LBJ Wildflower Center's Wildflower photo contest!

Poppy field image: Rob Sheppard

2010-04-22T02:51:00.000-07:00

~The Nature Coach :)

The Salton Sea

2010-04-22T02:04:00.000-07:00

Inspired by a previous prompt “crunchy.”

The Salton Sea
I shut my car door and walk back upon the
familiar feel of the salty, crunchy blend
of fish scales, bones and barnacles shifting
and crumbling beneath my desert-worn soles.

I stand at the sea surrounded by desert,
yet there is not a grain of sand
at this beach made of 'once living things.'
The sun-bleached remains are prolific.
It is a place poised in death, of desert-worn souls.

Mingling among smooth, mute bones
are coarse stones of frothy pumice,
an ancient colloidal foam of primordial creation,
solid and floating upon a parched and
bloodless beach, a dessicated, worn sol.
~M. Hedgecock

Save the Sea! <--learn about the Sea :)

Nature Time: The 5 Senses

2010-04-21T01:42:00.000-07:00

With the new "Nature Time" awareness exercise posted in the sidebar, the previous exercise comes over for any feedback:

Inspired by Leah Piken Kolidas’s April challenge (The 5 Senses: sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch). I invite you to create something that stimulates at least two senses. Whether you paint, write, cook, dance, teach—how can you integrate an additional sensory experience? If your work already connects people through more than one of their senses, challenge yourself to add another. How does this affect your creative process?

Nature's Palette: Box Canyon Geology

2010-04-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

This week’s nature palette is created with a glimpse into our past. Our geologic past. Not only does this slab from the Pleistocene show the immense buckling and pressure you can find in our local Box Canyon area of the Mecca Hills, CA, it inspires a soothing palette with a splash of blue that has an intensity that matches its ancient creation! [click image to enlarge]

Like another palette? Be sure to see this beautiful photo contributed by Laura Huff, found via TwitPic in 140 characters or less @thenaturecoach - Inspiration from the graceful sea, check out today's nature's palette! How will you be inspired? http://twitpic.com/1h4t4x

An Artist Must Possess Nature

2010-04-15T02:11:00.000-07:00

“An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language.”
~Henri Matisse

The Joy of Life, Henri Matisse, 1905-1906

Your Idea!

2010-04-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

I've been getting some great feedback about the Nature Awareness Exercises in the sidebar. Some of you have told me about your experiences and have even expressed a desire to share comments on them. It is so fun and helpful to learn how others turn these exercises into personal activities that have helped in unique and clever ways! In an effort to encourage this type of sharing, I've taken your comments to heart and will now be adding these as posts.

The sidebar tasks will stay as is, however once the new awareness exercise appears, the previous one will be posted for comments. I've included the two most recent in this post and will pull some of the more popular exercises from the past to include as occasional posts as well. I look forward to your feedback--your words just might be what someone else needs to hear!

Create A Water Mandala
The next time you water your plants, clean out your pets water dish, or cook hard-boiled eggs or pasta, pour some of the excess (cooled) water—strain through cheese cloth to remove soapy water, pasta, plant or pet bits—into a wide, shallow bowl or extra large plant saucer. Collect older flowers from your garden, along with a variety of leaves. Gently float petals and leaves in a pattern or arrangment that emerges from your inner nature. After a day or two, remove the petals and leaves and pour your mandala water over some plants.

Moon Sketching
I’m a lover of the full moon—hiking in her bright light, camping, gazing…feeling its energy and invitaion for personal reflection. Try this under the next bright moon. With a sketch pad and some chalk, find a natural place to sit comfortably, such as a campground picnic table, your backyard hammock, a boulder-strewn area to sit or lean against the stone. No flashlight allowed. Let your eyes adjust to the night and begin writing, mapping or sketching your surroundings, or draw something that you feel, or catches your moonlit eye. Placing yourself in a different setting like this (if this is different for you) can really stimulate the creative process. Let the energy of the moon pull and tug at your creative flow and see what is revealed.

(If you are having trouble adding a comment, and you wish to post one--please feel free to send your comment to me and I will post it exactly as written, on your behalf.)

Moved By Water / World Water Day

2010-03-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

As long as species have inhabitated this beautiful planet, water has given life. We are quite aware that simply put, without clean water, we would not survive. The water cycle is an ancient, continuous cycle that has kept the planet alive since the beginning of earth's time. Since man's appearance, water has blessed us with life, natural forces, and inspiration. Today is World Water Day, learn more here.

In honor of World Water Day I thought it was appropriate to revisit an older article about water in our lives.

Moved By Water

Living in a desert reminds me all too often of the precious resource water is in maintaining the delicate balance of life in a seemingly harsh environment. How often can we relate to this in our own lives? How much do we rely on our emotional resources to maintain a delicate balance during difficult times? Like every individual, water can be very powerful, it can give life, cleanse, reshape the landscape, even carve rock. It goes with the flow, so to speak, yet carves an unmistakable path...

One of my favorite pastimes is exploring the deep canyon washes leading up the many alluvial fans that form our valley edges. These canyon washes have been shaped and reshaped by 100-year floods throughout the geologic past.

A particular wash became a source of comfort for me during a very difficult time in my life, over a decade ago. I frequented this canyon wash, tempting the elements on some days by hiking deeper into the canyon with the smell of rain in the air. A narrow wash is not the place to be when it's raining somewhere in the desert-flash floods fed by cloudbursts miles away can swiftly fill these natural outlets with a powerful surge of rushing water, rocks, boulders, and trees. I guess this was my version of rebellion against the turbulence in my life at that time. But it was the scars of past floods that drew me to this particular canyon in the first place. I cried so much during that time in my life, I felt I could relate to the historical floods that were repeatedly unleashed against this beautiful canyon.

The walls were carved and scarred from these ancient, watery flows, boulders were strewn about and out of place, pushed up against each other, and blocked narrow gaps along the wash. Palms were stripped of their native skirts or missing up to half of their trunks as they held their ground against an unstoppable granite boulder slowly moved along by a thin cushion of water during a past deluge. I felt I had experienced every one of these events personally.

As my explorations became more frequent, I noticed my favorite wash was becoming crowded and overgrown with not-so-native plant life, debris from recurrent wind storms, and rocks brought down from decades of seasonal smatterings of rainfall. Non-native species where beginning to choke out native plants, stealing precious water hidden below the surface. I was annoyed when my second attempt around some boulders was blocked by more plants and plant debris. Similarly, I was getting to a point in my life where I was wondering how much longer I was going to allow others to block my progress and steal away with my happiness, my confidence, my strength and energy-my precious resources! My core was crowded with pain, negativity, anger, fear, and feelings of failure. I needed a mind cleansing (or maybe just a machete, for the plants).

Weeks later, days of rain graced the desert landscape. I remember going outside and doing yard work as an excuse just to be out in the rain. After about 20 minutes, I was soaked and I felt the long-stoked fire of anger and self-pity within me quietly hiss and pop until the rain had washed it away. Then I cried. I felt better than I had in a long time.

I visited my beautiful canyon retreat as soon as the clouds broke. But this time it was different. It smelled good--that unmistakable scent of wet soil, creosote, and steamy rocks. Clean earth smell. The ground was still damp, both firm and spongy. There were new etchings in the soil, beautiful little riverlets everywhere creating fractal-like patterns along the wash, each watery branch, branching yet again. The canyon walls were clean and rich with desert colors of earthy minerals deepened by moisture. Instead of a scarred wall, I saw a beautifully carved, smoothly sculptured surface shaped by water. The boulders hadn't moved, but instead remained gathered around each other in timeless support wherever they touched- removed from their original source, but not alone. I secretly named each one in honor of my family and close friends who blessed me with their unwavering support throughout my ordeal.

Many plants had been removed, their bent and soggy stems clung to the strong and sturdy bases of the palms, whose enormous fronds were now incredibly green and shiny, their trunks a striking contrast of a deep brown, slightly spongy to the touch. Those soggy stems would soon dry out and blow away I thought. I noticed too, that it wasn't so crowded anymore-I had walked right around, and easily climbed up and over the family of boulders. So, the rain had also cleansed my favorite little canyon-or was it just me? Just days before, water flowed through there, taking plants with it, creating new contours along the way, cleaning away years of dirt. Debris was washed away, life became more vibrant, obstacles turned into stepping stones, everything was clean, fresh and ready for a new beginning.

The parallels struck me as I sat on top of one of the boulders and breathed in deep enough to taste the water that still lingered in the air. I realized how far I'd come and how much was still ahead, but I felt renewed by nature herself. It was incredibly empowering for me to reflect upon the connection between myself, a little rain, and my canyon refuge. I thought about the power of water that brought me to that moment. My tears, my inner storm, the desert rain, the flooding, the mud on my boots, the dampness on the rock-it all blended together to reshape my experience, my outlook.

As I sat upon my perch, the surrounding boulders wrapped a cool blanket of humidity around me and I reflected further. Water is a part of us, it is within us, a vital part of every living thing. It helps us express our own nature...we cry, sweat, breathe water in and out-each action responding to an emotional or physiological signal reflecting everything from tranquility to turbulence in our own bodies, and in our lives. How unstoppable could we be if we were to move in some ways like water-persistent, fluid, interchangeable-whether moving beyond a difficult transition in our lives, or fulfilling our deepest dreams?

This ever-flowing, ancient cycle of water penetrates our cells and gifts us its mighty power, which we must define for ourselves. How will water move us, what will it carve away...how will it sculpt our next moment?

Letting Nature Inspire!

2010-03-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share this post from blogger Sarah Walker (ArtShades), a lamp shade designer in England. She was inspired by a casual comment from an email she received about creating a shade design themed in "Fur and Feathers." After some thought, Sarah came up with this bold and beautiful design! Another example of how nature can inspire creative expression in ways you hadn't thought before :)
See her creative process here:
Three Takes .... on a feather - ArtShades

Nature's Palette: Chia

2010-03-12T13:06:00.000-08:00

Here is this week's nature inspired palette to add to your creativity toolbox. I love our native wildflowers and remembered this photo, taken by Laura Huff, of a musky-scented Chia (Salvia columbariae) field near Cottonwood Canyon, Joshua Tree National Park--a favorite wildflower destination here in southeastern California!

When I first saw this palette come up, I instantly thought of how 1, 2, or 3 of these colors used in different portions together would make a beautiful office, home, or even a blog space. Then I started thinking about how these could lead to beautiful, neutral-toned shoes...and then I thought about some found art ideas! How will these muted colors inspire you?

Please share your work or ideas inspired by these posted nature palettes, or of your own nature image-turned-palette!

Click image to enlarge.

Palette generated by BigHugeLabs.com

Creative By Nature: Sound Chamber Sings in the Wind

2010-03-10T16:19:00.000-08:00

Luke Jerram’s artistic venture, an acoustic pavilion that sings when the breeze blows by it. The project is named Aeolus after the Greek God of the wind, and it will employ hundreds of light tubes outfitted like Aeolian harps. See the picture gallery and read more about this sculptural sound chamber that sings in the wind…

How will you be inspired?

Soul Expression

2010-03-08T13:18:00.000-08:00

“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”

~Henry Ward Beecher

There are many things that might inspire...an overheard joke between siblings, the glimpse of color that flashes within a chipped crystal, a cottontail rabbit nibbling on a stem of brittlebush, or the crisp night air that pulls you home after a cozy night out with friends.

Are these the same sources of inspiration that evoke the deep and personal responses that fuel moving works of art or captivate us through beautifully written words? I have found that when I've read something honest, somewhat raw, something you can feel was written from deep within an emotional place, it stays with me. I want to absorb it in and feel it--survive it in a way--in order to experience the strength of the author--could I be that strong?

I've noticed that I've also received the most feedback when I've "therapeutically" shared some deeply personal experiences on paper. Is it that others can relate to this shared experience on some level, or are we moved by the will, the authenticity we feel in someone's written (or painted or...) expression?

Are we moved more by expressions of pain or joy, celebration or suffering?
What is it about your favorite works of art, novels, or music that truly moves you?
How does this resonate with your own creative process?
Do you need these same experiences to inspire you to create equally provocative works (shared or not)?

Pollinating Your Creative Dreams

2010-03-02T18:29:00.000-08:00

In addition to the wildflower season making its entrance here in the southern California desert, I enjoy sharing wildflower information with others through presentations around the valley. One demonstration everyone takes part in is the “petal pick.” I pass around a store-bought sunflower and ask each person to remove one petal. As it gets to the other side of the room, the flower is picked clean, often leaving about half the group without a petal to claim, and more importantly without any resemblance of a flower to enjoy. The whole flower represents a natural area, each petal represents a wildflower in that area. As you can imagine, it helps get the message across that with hundreds of visitors enjoying our wildflowers, if we each justify to ourselves, I’m just picking ONE flower, it can significantly alter the ecology by removing the resource and the beauty for future enjoyment.

It is exactly the same within each of us. Let a wildflower represent your personal ecology in the form of energy, a creative project, or a goal you are working toward. Just as you encounter positive elements each day, you also hit a few snags along the way. Some people (or situations) will come into your environment and it will seem as if someone has pulled off each of your petals for their own benefit. With what does that leave you? How will you propagate new ideas or attract positive thinkers (pollinators) now? How could you avoid this setback?

You might:

close up and plant yourself in a protected area so this can never happen—although I gaurantee it will happen eventually.
have faith that your petals aren’t the only way to appeal to supportive pollinators, so no worries! (Some flowers rely more on scent or have UV patterns on other flower parts to attract pollinators, or they propagate themselves without pollination.)
be happy that you’ve already been visited by some great pollinators of your creative ideas and you will flourish despite those bad seeds.

Or you can respond the way you were thinking deep down in your gut—which is 99% of the time always the best decision.

Wildflowers survive by enduring extended periods of less-than ideal environments, germinating only in years that offer the best opportunities for growth. They thrive by adapting to brief windows of opportunity in nature and in most years, you can’t miss it because they put on a spectacular, colorful show! Let nature inspire your interaction with positive and negative environments. Follow her lead in endurance, adaptation, and opportunity while nurturing your creative self; allow your creative efforts to enhance your nature with vibrant color, life, fragrance, a variety of creative blessings—make a big showing!

We must preserve the natural world; for without nature, there would be no beauty to inspire us.

~Hap Hagood

Nature's Palette

2010-02-26T22:41:00.000-08:00

At the site Big Huge Labs, you can upload your favorite photo and run it through their online Color Palette Generator to auto-create a palette. It’s a great tool for artists, designers, and do-it-yourselfers to play around with for color inspiration. The possibilities are endless!

I will post nature inspired palettes to add to your (mental) creativity toolbox. In this example, there was a beautiful variety of oranges and some yellows, I edited the palette down to accommodate the pops of color in the palette as well (to fall within my 12-color template). Upload your favorite nature photo for a palette designed by Mother Nature herself...

Please feel free to share your work inspired by these posted nature palettes, or of your own images-turned-palettes (nature related)!

String Spin

2010-02-24T17:44:00.000-08:00

A friend sent this to me, and then a few days later it separately appeared as a post in Sandy Ackers' blog Strangling My Muse...I figured the universe must be inviting me to a beach-inspired creative play date involving hot pink, spirals, and the Z-axis! ;)

Check out String Spin for one of those fun, quick--possibly addicting--creative breaks you deserve. Play around for an infinitely new spin on doodling...

Survey Says…

2010-02-23T00:06:00.000-08:00

Results: Have You Ever Been Inspired By Nature?

A big thank you to all of you who were able to take part in my informal survey, Have You Ever Been Inspired By Nature?

What I found encouraging was how nature played such a significant role in the creative process for those who are already comfortable in nature, and how that creativity took on many forms! Imagine the affects on individuals willing to become more aware of the presence of nature in their lives, who were open to personal experiences in nature, thus allowing this alternative source of inspiration to boost their creative practice. Nature can be a fantastic tool for self-expression!

What percentage of pollers are actually comfortable in nature? Find out what three categories the responses fell into when people think of nature. Compare how nature inspires creativity for you and others.

See the results here and tell us where you put yourself in relation to this information. Do you agree that nature can help fuel the creative process? What does nature evoke in you? How does this reflect your willingness to move beyond your comfort zone(s)?

Megacrystals

2010-02-22T20:49:00.000-08:00

Creative By Nature: Gigantic Mexican Megacrystals

It's almost hard to believe these 11 meter-long gypsum megacrystals exist in caves near Chihuahua, Mexico. These massive crystals were formed over the last 200,000 years due to climate change. See these amazing designs by nature here.

How will you be inspired?