At the beginning of the year, I made a commitment to myself to get busy and discover outlets to fire up my long-disused creativity. I got sidetracked by Life, allowing an annoying health challenge to keep me from signing up for that pottery class I want to take. Excuses! I don’ need no steenkin’ pottery class to get me started!
I did actually pick up a paintbrush. Painting the downstairs bathroom and freshening the household doors and woodwork with Behr’s white semi-gloss was satisfying, but hardly what I had in mind to scratch my creative itch.
One of the happy benefits of living where I do is that it’s a 5-minute drive from my house to West Meadow Beach. Because of an odd little geological configuration here on the north shore, it faces west, which means that you can watch the sunset over the water. It is also, in common with most of the Long Island Sound waterfront, very rocky. Gigantic rock jetties. Rocks of all shapes, colors and sizes, necessitating that I wear water shoes if I want to go wading or swimming. Flat rocks, suitable for skipping (my husband’s prowess at this is only one of the reasons I love him).
On a recent walk there, I found myself choosing some of the smoothest, whitest stones and filling the pockets of my windbreaker with them. I gave them a bath with dishwasher soap, lovingly dried them off and have begun doodling on them with a fine-point Sharpie. Doodling on rocks with a Sharpie is a creative outlet? Well, yeah. The resultant works of art will look great in the bowl I’m going to make on a potter’s wheel. Baby steps.
Now that Spring is here, it’s possible to sit on our deck and enjoy being outdoors. Yesterday we were out there and Bob gave me the best idea for my next undertaking. Look at the shed at the back of our yard. It’s been great for storing garden tools and the lawn mower and whatever else we have been able to cram in there…but isn’t it just screaming for a little barn art? I knew you’d agree. And if we don’t like it? Paint it over!
Stay tuned, folks!
AnnieRiskingIt 