Friday, January 2, 2015

creativity

The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.

- Pablo Picasso -


Every day in my work and in my personal life, I find that creativity gives me freedom to explore new ideas, manipulate old, tried and true concepts and rework everything for my own self-expression or to put a twist on my work.

I love music. It is a language I have understood for as long as I can remember. I can express myself through music. I use music to help my students learn and recall facts. I love making music even more than I enjoy listening to music, but I can be inspired by other artists, especially singer-songwriters like me.

I love visual arts. I love photography in particular because it is accessible to me. I have a intuition about subjects and composition. Photography is quick and can be very spur of the moment. Miss the opportunity, the light, the subject and it's gone. Photography can be tinkered with back at home on a computer. I am moved and inspired by other people's expression through photography. I use photography only in my personal life as a mode of expression. I cannot remember using it for work.

I love writing. I have always loved reading and have been reading probably as long as I've been talking. I love the written word. I love language. I love the meaning of words and their combination like I love melodies and rich 7th and 9th chords in music. I write for pleasure every day in my journal. I also use my talent for writing in my work. Words flow easily in both English and French even though I prefer English. Writing really opened up for me when I attended Linda Rief's conferences in the Laurentians. Poetry and creative non-fiction opened up writing as expression for me like the blues opened up my guitar playing and 7th and 9th chords opened up my attempts at the piano.

I also find that moving my body also liberates my mind: swimming, cycling, skiing, snowshoeing, even gardening. My body is busy and working and my mind is free chew on its bones or to wander free.

How do you wash off your daily dust?