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Why do we need someone to remind us that our view of the world is unique? Why is it so difficult to understand that each and every life on this planet has had a different trajectory? Siblings can grow up in the same household and have extraordinarily different lives. We can stand side by side seeing the same view and appreciate very different aspects.
Maybe it is scary to think that others are different to us, even though we know that for the most part we are the same. We have the same motivations, though they modify with the individual. We have the same emotions, again, greater or lesser, from person to person. But it’s that teeny tiny little fraction of difference that we either focus on, and fear, or forget to celebrate…or find it necessary to express creatively.
Over a year ago I started listening to podcasts. I imagine most of you have been doing that for a while and I’m a lagger in this pursuit, but timing is everything in life. We discover when it is our time to discover. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear, as the wisdom goes. In podcasts I have found a great resource for inspiration at a time when I wanted to make some changes in my creative practices. One of the best quotes, among many excellent ones I’ve heard is…
breathe in experience, breathe out poetry –Muriel Rukeyser
A friend of mine says to me that the art I make is as a result of ‘having a life’. The first time she said it I knew it was true, the way you recognise truth by feeling it in your heart, rather than thinking it in your head. But this recent quotation was a beautiful reminder. And so if we breathe in our experiences, and we wish to be creative with them, we can breathe out whatever art we want to make. And it will be unique. No one else can replicate it. We can strive to be the very best version of ourselves because no one else can do that.
As a result of my creative quest and podcast listening, I began a new drawing practice. I can only say to you that the previous way I had of drawing seemed to impede my self expression. Perhaps I had not practiced enough, but I was bored with trying it that way. And so I thought I would begin again, as much as that is possible.
I want to draw more childlike, I have decided–from my imagination, playful, and relaxed.
Picasso said…
It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but the rest of my life to paint like a child.
Having actually seen a painting by a teenage Picasso, I can vouch for the fact that he was a classical painter at a very young age. Most people don’t think of his work in that way at all.
So for the year 2018, I wish you the ability to breathe in life and its experiences, and breathe out whatever creative expression you choose. It may not be easy, but it will be your unique legacy. I leave you with wisdom from poet ee cummings, who fought all his life to be recognised as himself…
A poet is somebody who feels, and who expresses his feelings through words.
This may sound easy. It isn’t.
A lot of people think or believe or know they feel — but that’s thinking or believing or knowing; not feeling. And poetry is feeling — not knowing or believing or thinking.
Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught to feel. Why? Because whenever you think or you believe or you know, you’re a lot of other people: but the moment you feel, you’re nobody-but-yourself.
To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
Thank you my lovely friend you are an inspiration xxx
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Awe, thank you so much Julie, the feeling is mutual. x
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Beautiful drawings Ardys. I admire your creative spirit. Must get into podcasts too- a late developer in that context.
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Thank you Francesca. The podcasts are so diverse, it’s another world to explore. You might like to start with the BBC Food program–very interesting and well done.
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A very contented and healthy year to you, Ardys! What an inspired post to read after arising late, late, late this morning . . . I seem to have been inordinately fortunate in that a very wise father taught me when I was barely out of nappies that I was ‘me’ and there was no other one just like ‘me’ alive . . . I have cherished that individuality all my life . . . *smile* To be honest I have never listened to a podcast and, sorry to say, as I am a curious person, time limits probably will make me say the same ‘this time, next year’ . . . 🙂 !
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Thank you Eha, for that very good wish for the new year. So far, so good, eh? You were fortunate indeed that your father imparted that message of individuality to you, and that you were able to retain it. Oddly, I think my own father, by example, taught me the same thing, but later regretted that my own initiative took me half way around the world to live! He never understood or forgave me for it, though we never fell out over it. Sending you very best thoughts for your own year, though I think you won’t need them! xx
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Happy New Year Ardys. I’m a big podcast fan, have you discovered TED talks? Truly inspirational stuff. I enthusiastically embraced a long overdue return to drawing regularly in 2017. Big sheets of paper and a broad medium are wonderfully freeing…
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Yes, have been watching TED talks for a few years. What I like about podcasts is I can listen while doing other things, tho I’m trying to do fewer multitasking activities these days. Good for you with the drawing! Happy New Year Sandra!
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Food for thought… I’ve been trying to understand where my time goes, and how I can make time for different types of creativity. During a crossed-wires conversation recently I was asked if I threw clay pots. If only, I did once, I’d love to, I don’t need another hobby, I don’t have time for the ones I have… was my response.
I’m an off and on podcast listener. As with pastimes, there are so many out there I’d like to listen to which often leads me to others… I get overwhelmed for choice. I think this is what I’m grappling with overall… so many choices, too much multitasking. I have to remind myself to focus on one -as you’ve done with the new drawing practice- there will be time for other things later.
I like the subject matter of your drawings, life! And the confidence that simple black lines on a generous amount of white space conveys enough of the subject matter to allow the viewer to understand it in our own way.
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Oh how I’ve struggled with exactly what you describe! So much choice, so little time. However. I am, little by little, making inroads. I have half a dozen podcasts to which I subscribe and I pick and choose which episodes I will listen to. I have quiet time before my morning walks so when I walk I do listen to podcasts. They help me keep at the walking every single day, which I need to do because of a hip issue. It is hard to do something like that every single day and the podcasts keep me interested. It is one of the few multitasking things I still do. I also listen to classical music when I draw. It helps me get in the zone. I read recently that is the case, and so I’m vindicated! Thank you for the compliment on the drawings. They are a work in progress and I’m intrigued with the simple, wobbly lines on plain white paper. Thank you, as always, for your thoughtful comments Dale. x
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I love this post, thank you so much, it speaks to me at a perfect moment in time, when I need inner reassurance! And I recognise so well Dale’s dilemma – so many things to see, feel, learn, experience, try … and where is the second lifetime I need? I wish you a happy and healthy and satisfying new year. Oh – and I really like your drawings too 🙂
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I’m so pleased this post spoke to you, Mary. I suppose it is one of life’s happy dilemmas to be spoiled for choice! Most of us need inner reassurance from time to time, so I’m glad you found some by reading this. Thank you for the complement about the drawings too. As you know, the post is not really about me showing off my drawings, it is about a process. I felt they were needed to illustrate the process. I intend writing about it a bit more in future. ‘A healthy and satisfying year ahead’, what good goals, thank you!
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I am glad we ‘met’ 🙂 and look forward to more reports of the process.
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It’s taken me a long time to be comfortable with who I am. I have always felt a bit of an oddball with different views and thoughts. In the past I tried to fit in and go along with other’s expectations, but it just didn’t work for me. Doing my own thing has always brought me joy. Writing is my thing. Educating myself now, about subjects I did not learn in school or was not interested in at the time, are fascinating and exciting at this point in my life. Mostly, immersing myself in nature is my true niche. I think I’d be happy in a little tent out in the woods, connecting with the land and the wildlife… just breathing in and breathing out.
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I’m so glad you have grown into expressing your true self through writing and nature. You write a beautiful blog which is a testament to your talent. All last year I gave a lot of thought to this idea of expressing our true selves. Most of us have to grow into it slowly, I think. Thank you for reading and commenting Lori, and Happy New Year.
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This is such a beautiful post Ardys, and lovely to be reminded of ee cummings… a long-time favourite, especially those last words of his you quoted.
I always enjoy following your thought processes, and this time, your meditation on being unique and trusting our creative intuition, is so very affirming… in that I’ve been surprised at how much courage it has taken to write my blogs on my life… feeling both exposed, and wondering if it is even interesting to readers…but feeling also that since this is my truth, it has some validity…
So thank you for your sensitive thoughtful words… your blog has a particular sensibility which makes it one of my favourites, and your comments on other blogs also reflect that quality…
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I’m nearly overwhelmed by the generosity of your comment. Thank you so much Valerie. In recent years I’ve discovered how much I love reading memoire and autobiographical writing and your blog just hits the sweet spot for me. Last year when I was reevaluating my own reason for writing there seemed none better than to write my own truth, as you have done. What a wonderfully accessible medium blog writing has become. xx
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