Nature and the Creative Life

Living in the country has been such a welcome surprise. I was raised in the city and loved living there. After marrying and 6 years of living in the city, we decided to try country life and have lived in the country in a home my husband and I designed for 24 years.

I have been inspired by art and have created art since I was a child. My parents thankfully encouraged the arts in our home. We all played instruments, sang, danced, loved plays/production work, and created art.

Over the years mixed media became my primary form of expressing myself with art. The beautiful layering of papers, cloth, paints, and gesso reflects the process of how nature itself is layered. There is a natural magic to natures' unfolding process. I might have noticed this in the city, yet I became keenly aware of it in the country observing nature.

Our home sits on a hill and no matter what the weather, sunrise to sunset nature provides a 360-degree show every day. If it is raining the leaves sparkle or sway, their vernal green changing shades as they absorb water. If it's sunny they lighten and birds appear from their nests to hop from tree to tree in their busy bird communities. Rabbits in the spring show up at the edges of the fields. Deer graze during the winter in the front pasture.

Imagination can be sparked by nature as well. The forest and woods remind me of old fairy stories that I can create anew. Passing clouds can become floating angles and the sound of the creek can become a lullaby. The farm across the road has a pasture that when the wind blows looks like a moving ocean. The elements in nature are such a living expression of our beautiful planet!

I have several studio areas set up in the house now so that I can grab scissors, paints, papers, or canvas and begin the next creative project. My sewing area is set near a large table so I can also quilt and stitch if that is what the creative project calls for. Sometimes when I am painting, I remember my father painting in our formal dining room at home. As a child and I would sit and watch. My mother gladly relinquished the room as she supported the development of his artistic side.

The process begins simply most of the time. Something beautiful in nature inspires me to create. It could be a bird, a flower, a color, a sound, the quiet, or stillness. These are sometimes layered as that is natural in nature. A sense of inner quiet adds to my awareness and the wellbeing that comes from inner peace adds to ease of creativity.

Over the years we have hiked various areas of the woods here and sat quietly. We would place blankets in the yard and just watch nature or build fairy villages with moss, rocks, and sticks. Then we would venture indoors with ideas for various art projects. Soon the brushes, scissors, paints, and papers were pulled out for creating.

Some art creations took only hours, some days or months. There were a few that took years and some even more as they are still in process. The process for each can be similar, yet is also of course a little different.

As I have begun teaching others how to create art I strive to support their style and flavor of artistic expression. Sometimes students have had an experience where they did not feel they could really share their style of artistic expression. I attempt to change this, helping them to feel free in expressing beauty authentically.

Art has become such a source of connection and expression for my soul. One of the things I love about art is that art can be beautiful and multi-dimensional. Because of this, there might be several stories that the art shares, depending on the glance and ideas of the viewer. It's always wise I feel to have a vision that is my own and know it. Knowing this, when others share their views on my art, I am free to stand surely in my vision while welcoming other perspectives.

As I continue to create art I notice it is becoming more natural. The tools I have work more easily, the pieces I have in mind have more of my own style. My soul speaks more easily or perhaps I just listen to it more often as I get older and appreciate it more! Most of all I feel a level of gratitude toward nature and our beautiful planet that inspires creating!