Mary Oliver is one of America’s most prolific and successful living poets. In 2006 she produced a 71-page book of poetry that changed my life. Thirst, like many of her previous works celebrates nature, but the poems also give voice to her love and loss of her partner, Mary Malone Cook. When I first read Thirst, it did not inspire me artistically; i’m not sure that I was in a space to be inspired. Instead, the words brought me calm during an aggressively reflective time in my life. The poems were spare of word and rich with imagery. They made me pause. Even in the middle of a busy book store, reading her words felt like sitting beneath a tree watching a river flow past. And in the quiet that was created, I began to acknowledge, for the first time perhaps, how grief need not be a burden but it does need to be acknowledged.
Archive for the ‘Inspiration’ Category
Finding Calm: Mary Oliver’s Thirst
Posted in Books I Love, Inspiration, Nature Notes on April 7, 2009| 1 Comment »
Southern Comfort: The Art of Jonathan Green
Posted in Inspiration on April 6, 2009| Leave a Comment »
I did not discover the bright images of southern artist Jonathan Green until I moved to Boston. I was walking through Bob Slate’s in Harvard Square. The images spoke to me in a deep and familiar way, depicting southern people in all their varied hues and body shapes, adorned in big broad hats and voluminous skirts.
I have such skirts and hats. When I see a Green image I remember the heat that beats down in the deep south and surrounds you. For now I purchase his postcards and notecards to send to friends. One day I hope to see his actual paintings in a gallery. To learn more about the artist, you can visit his website here: http://www.jonathangreenstudios.com/
The Blue Frog
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes on March 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Last night I dreamed of a blue frog. A tiny fingertipped size creature of the brightest hue, and splotched with darkest black. It stuck to my finger and wouldn’t let go no matter how hard I tried to fling it away. Finally, all I could do was accept that it was there on my finger — the brightest most beautiful thing in the world.
I like to assume it was not a poison dart frog.
Signs of Spring Around Town
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes on March 23, 2009| 1 Comment »
Glass and Water Reflections
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes on March 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »
An Unexpected Find – Illustrator Katherine Milhous
Posted in Books I Love, Inspiration on March 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »
The book was rather unassuming yet lovely in its simplicity. A maroon red book cover emblazoned in gold with the figure of a young boy leaping, and beneath him the words, also in gold, “Patrick and the Golden Slippers.” I don’t remember how much it cost in the antique store. A couple of bucks, no more. A first edition 1951 book by Pennsylvania children’s book author and illustrator, Katherine Milhous.
Turns out that Ms. Milhouse created Pennsylvania posters for the Works Progress Administration during the 1940’s. 
Self-Portraits
Posted in Inspiration on March 16, 2009| Leave a Comment »
I admire Frida Kahlo for two things, her bold use of vibrant colors and her ability to make her physical self the center of so many of her paintings. She is quoted as saying: “I paint myself because I am often alone and I am the subject I know best.” It’s one thing as a writer, photographer, painter, etc. to create a work based on one’s perception of the world. It’s different and harder, I think, to place one’s self at the center of the creative work. For me, when I try my hand at self-portraiture in writing or photography, I feel both empowered and very vulnerable. The vulnerability stems from “putting myself out there” and … (gasp!) what if people don’t like me and don’t like what I do? What if the image I present is different than the one currently held by friends and family? In short, the vulnerability stems from fear. The empowerment emerges from a more solid and powerful place.
For me, self-portraits are like a shout-out to the world that I exist and here I am at this given point in time. If I do a self-portrait tomorrow, then that will be me at that point in time. Maybe happy, maybe not. Maybe beautiful, maybe not. In pain. In love. Celebrating life.
The Color Kittens
Posted in Books I Love, Inspiration on March 16, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Red plus yellow equals orange. Yellow plus blue equals green. Red plus blue equals purple. And so on and so forth. I can’t remember when I first learned the various recipes for creating colors but I do remember the childlike joy I experienced last week when I cracked open “The Color Kittens,” a 1940’s Golden Books Classic. Most of the Golden Books I buy I share with the young children of close friends, but “The Color Kittens” I purchased and sent to my adult friends. Why? Because that book which is so well-written by Margaret Wise Brown and beautifully illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen reminds the reader of what it means to be a child and to look upon the world with complete openness to discovery.
Culinary Inspiration
Posted in Inspiration on March 1, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Food has been an inspiration of late. More can be found in the Arts and Crafts/Food Gallery here: http://photosbycynthia.smugmug.com
Mondays
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes on February 16, 2009| Leave a Comment »
It is Monday. The sun is shining. The air is (relatively) warm. I sit at my desk committed to writing. Yes, committed. To write. Not draw. Not photograph. Not dream the day away. To write. To put pen to paper. Or finger to key. Yes. Write. It’s not easy. Because I could just take a short walk in the sun with my camera or even just a notebook and a pen and then come back to my desk and write something sustained with a beginning and an end. Really, I could. But I know myself. If I walk out the door right now, into the sun, hours will pass. A few words may get jotted down on paper. A picture or two or one hundred may get taken. But I will have reneged on my promise to myself to write a sustained piece with a beginning and an end. And so I sit. I am lucky that I have windows all around me. Through one window I see an oak tree with its branches bare. Perhaps a bird will visit soon to keep me company. As I write.
