Pop-Up Poetry

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.

 

  

Creativity Sit-Spot

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!

Paint Chip Inspiration

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



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 :)



Nature Time: Making Impressions

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!

What’s Your Story?

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?

Inspiration Fest

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...

Your Creative Voice: Teachings From The Scorpion

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

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: Snap To It!

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.

Ten Fascinating Nature Phenomena to Inspire You

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

Moved By Water / World Water Day

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?

Creative By Nature: Sound Chamber Sings in the Wind

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

“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)?

String Spin

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...

Megacrystals

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?