CREATIVITY
Clay, painting, and creativity
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Emergence – Back to Life
It’s been a long year. Our world has been dragged into the depths of hybernation and soul searching. I feel that it’s time to come back to life. This past week I experienced a healing of my soul and an emergence. Cycles and Changes Every living thing experiences cycles and changes. There is the ebb and flow of the tides, the hibernation of plants and animals in the winter, the rebirth of these beings in the spring. It’s a part of life that we cannot ignore. Everyone has been affected by the quarantine and the economy and politics! Yet we all have choices when it comes to how we recover…
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Sixty and Free to Just Be!
The Year of Turning Sixty I’m officially a Crone! I can now say that I have reached the phase of life where I can be considered a crone or wise woman. And it is amazing! After my 60th birthday, I was too busy to realize that I was actually sixty!!! Six months later, I am realizing what this means. It’s a huge deal! It’s the beginning of a sort of ‘freedom’. I am free to just be! My kids are grown and my work life is winding down. I find it very exciting but at the same time I didn’t think it would feel different. It definitely does! Focusing on…
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STILLNESS
Here we go again! I sought out this post from last year so that I could be reminded that there is light at the end of the tunnel. There is stillness at the end of the madness! My Commencement planning starts in November but it builds like a snowball rolling down a mountain. I will soon be in the midst of the madness and I love it. I wouldn’t change a thing. But I need to remember to take care of myself in these upcoming weeks. The Reward It’s so rewarding when I watch our students walk down the aisle to receive their diplomas. Even if there are glitches, we…
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The Potter’s Wheel and Creativity
I wrote a blog awhile back on missing my creativity and my clay work. I have gotten my tools back, I have purchased the clay and I have the longing to get back to my work. But I have no space to do this. I tried creating a little corner in the basement but it’s a basement! Okay, Shannon, use your creativity to imagine how this could work! Paint the walls a bright color, hang magazine photos that inspire! Open the box of clay and breathe in it’s earthy scent! DO IT! Today I watched a post on Facebook of an artist who was working on his wheel and an…
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The Creative Spark
The creative spark inside me is growing. It’s been 9 years since my divorce. Nine years since I’ve stepped into the art studio that I shared with my ex. I need my creative space! I need a studio where I can go to put my hands in clay or to paint. Here is my checklist that I have already started following in order to create this space for myself: Get my tools back from the old studio – (My ex husband was very sweet and saved all of my tools for me. He knew I would be there to get them one day) Purchase clay so that I am…
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Art in Nature
If we take the time to be still and open our eyes to everything around us, it’s amazing what we will find. I was on Samana Cay in the Bahamas and I was upset because it had been cloudy all day and we were unable to snorkel. It’s crazy how we humans can be in paradise and still allow ugly feelings to start rising up in us because the day isn’t going as planned. I remember being mad at the world as we landed on the island. I left my snorkel gear in the boat and stomped out of the water grumbling under my breath. Stop and Breathe My friend,…
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My Art Background
I come by art naturally. I have a family history of artistic, creative relatives. My maternal grandparents were both very good artists. Our Grandfather, Robert G. Wathen, was a commercial artist even before I was born. He had a comic strip in the local newspaper and then began painting watercolor scenes of Louisville landmarks. My Grandmother was also an incredible artist but because this was the era where the husband worked and the wife stayed in his shadows, she hid these drawings and paintings and none of us knew how incredibly talented she was until she was gone. I found her paintings stuffed away in the attic of her home…