Creative Action Slience...

I have had a very busy and important few days.  I will have to find some time tomorrow or the next day to update all my doings.  I am simply posting this to keep myself honest and in the flow.  Now for a nice deep sleep!

Creative Action: Days 13 and 14...

It is late and I've had a very busy and fulfilling weekend!  I will update on my doings tomorrow when I have more time.

Creative Action: Day 12 - Pictures from Yesterday and a New Song

 Here are the photos I promised yesterday.  I was busy all day at my sister's house, so I didn't have time to do anything very creative with these pictures, or any thing creative at all really.  So, When I got home, I made a small effort to go online and look up a song in my new book (mentioned yesterday) and sing along with it.  I'm not sure I'm going to pursue the song further.  I'll have to give it a listen a few more times.  Then, perhaps I'll record it and put it on here.  It's called, The Two Magicians and can be heard here.

Lacamas Lake, one of the few redeeming things about where I am currently living.

This is the trail that boarders the South side of the lake.

It is very near a road, but the air is sweet enough to ignore the sound.

Creavtive Action: Day 11 - Inspiration Gathering

Today I took some photos of the lake near my house on a short walk I took this afternoon.  It was a good day for a walk, cool and mostly dry accept for a very brief sprinkle that left a faint rainbow amidst the grey clouds.  I'll post the pictures tomorrow, with witty captions and all! 

I also went to Prasad, one of my favorite (though a little over-priced) restaurants in Portland.  I thoroughly enjoyed a matcha late and a dragon bowl (quiona, beans, kale, red cabbage, seaweed, and avocado with jalapeno "cheese" made from cashews or something).  It felt so nourishing and healthy and inspired me to make similar dishes more often for myself. 

After dinner, I went to one of my favorite Portland haunts, Powell's Books.  I can spend hours and hours there because I'm a dork and I LOVE books.  I got a really cool book which had been mentioned by someone on the Silver Branch Bardic Network.  I was randomly looking at a collection of books and I just popped out at me, as if to say, You need me!  You want me!  At this point, I hadn't even read the title, I just grabbed the thing and realized that it was the book mentioned.  It is entitled, Make Merry in Step and Song: A Seasonal Treasury of Music, Mummer's Plays & Celebrations in the English Folk Tradition by Bronwen Forbes.  Wow!  That's a long title!  Anyway, it's contents are perfect inspiration and material for some of the things I've been longing to do for a very long time.  So, though it's not direct creative action in terms of producing something, it's a micro-movement (as SARK calls them) in the direction of a creative dream that I have been growing. 

Once I made my coveted purchases at Powell's, I joined some friends at a showing of a documentary called, Miss Representation.  It explored the media's influence and impact on women and in particular, how it has managed to maintain inequality in political and social arenas between men and women.  It was very well done, with a lot of well known public figures having been interviewed and a lot of eye opening statistics.  If you can find a way to see this documentary, I highly recommend it.  Check out their webpage for more info at http://www.missrepresentation.org/.

After the movie, I gave my friend, who is a singer, a copy of my vision for the women's vocal ensemble I want to create.  That was the most solid creative action I took today, in terms of actually doing something.  I asked her to look it over and think it over and then we could see if it's something we want to do together!  Very exciting!

Whew!  That's a lot of inspiration gathering for one day!  Now I have some work to do!

Creative Action: Day 10 - Substance of Stars

Resist!
     .... sleep at night...
yet reluctantly creep from my cozy nest
at dawn's breaking light

(I want to sleep all day)

Then I won't have to go to bed...
I'll already be there
Jumping from dream to dream
hugged by subconscious projections

wandering through aether
the substance of stars
underworld elevators to
otherworld angels
secret messages of deeply buried longings
and fears walking like pale perpetrators

I can't touch it
or take it with me

It's warmer there
It's easier, like I was built for it
I shadow dance
owl see
crow fly
through the dreams and the wakes

The solid people...
they forget the nighttime masqurades
me...
well, I am always there
stepping to the beats
with one foot on the ground
and one in the sky

Creative Action: Day 9 - Just Dance!

Today, I danced.  It was like meeting up with a wonderful old friend, but a little less comfortable - I realized how stiff I am!  I love dancing.  I can get high from dancing.  It's one of the best highs around, cause it's all natural and the side effects are all good!  Woohoo!  Maybe Sunday I'll make it to ecstatic dance... I've been missing it!

Creative Action: Day 8 - Singing "Rise Up, O Flame"

Monday, January 23rd

I had fun recording this.  It's a little rushed... I followed the round pattern for this song as written in Rise Up Singing, but then heard a pattern where the second and third voices come in after the word "flame" instead of "O" (which makes it less rushed and I actually like a little better).  I didn't redo it that way because I had already done a number of takes the original way and it's getting late.  Maybe when I get my little vocal ensemble together we can play around with this piece a little more.  I think it's sweet.  Enjoy.

The photographs in this little video are all taken by me.

Creative Action: Day 7 - Imbolc Celebration

Sunday, January 22nd

Today, I gathered with some lovely ladies to celebrate Imbolc.  My creative action was small, but satisfying.  I read my Meditation on Brighid, shared a song and worked on a drawing.  Most importantly, I shared time with others in an uplifting and loving way.  Having such connections with others in my life fuels my fires.  I feel more alive, supported and validated and rest assured knowing that as much as I receive these feelings, I give back by being present and supportive for those I share this time with.  I am grateful for the community of people I have in my life.  They make life worth living!

Creative Action: Day 6 -- Smaller Baby Hat

Saturday, January 21st

I finished the smaller baby hat!  I had a busy day running errands, so when I finally got home, I was ready to plop into a chair and finish this project.  As you can see in the picture, there are some real inconsistencies with the tension in the yarn.  I suppose this is something that will improve with practice.  Despite that, it serves it's function and is a much better size than the other one for a newborn.  I look forward to seeing it on my baby when he/she arrives!

Creative Action: Day 5 - Brighid Poem and Baby Hat

Friday, January 20th

I made more progress on the smaller baby hat today, but not enough to bother posting a picture of.  That was all fine and good, but my proudest achievement of the day (aside from scoring a grip of books on my wish list at the thrift store) is my Brighid inspired poem/invocation/blessing.  You can read it in the entry below!  I will be sharing this and a round at an Imbolc gathering this Sunday.  I'm very happy with it and I look forward to getting some feedback on it soon!  I also took the picture of the fire (it's from the gas fireplace here at my house) and altered it ever so slightly in iPhoto.  I rather like the effect that I achieved.

Meditation on Brighid (Breed)

Oh, burn!

You eternal Flame of my Heart,

and whisper in your crackling warmth 

--- oh, Light of my Life, returning ---

of the dormant truths lying in wait...

under the blanket of this soft, loamy skin.

Your emerging heat melts the crust of ice

(which has stilled my breath)

that my expirations may again bellow forth

to feed your fire.

Take me to your forge,

Oh, Flame, oh Heart!

to reenforce my delicately renewed form

with iron will and steely resolve.

Burn the cold of this Winter out of me

and heal these wounds

which begin to weep in the thaw.

Oh, gentle Flame,

teach me the song of my Heart,

that I may forever cradle this Light 

of my Life Eternal.

*Blessed Be to Brighid*

*She of the Ever Burning Flame*

Creative Action: Day 4 - Another Baby Hat

Thursday, January 19th

I thought and thought about what I should do today and waited til the last minute.  I decided to make another, smaller baby hat, because the other one I made was a little larger than I was going for.  I am also lacking patterns and yarn for any other project at the moment, so this was an easy choice.

This is an hour and a half worth of work (with multiple distractions and interruptions).

Creative Action: Day 3 - Sound and Video

Wednesday, January 18th

This morning I wondered for a while what I should do for my creative action.  I considered putting up my new cork board and adding inspiring things to it and I thought, that would be very practical.  However, practical turned out to be far too boring for this cold, snow-sloppy day.  I sat in front of the TV (a new vice since I moved back in with my mom and stad) and watched some mind numbing dross for awhile.  Finally, I managed to extract a thought after rather a lot of effort, which seemed like an excellent and very exciting prospect!  I watch so much TV here, I thought, but I should be making my own screen-based entertainment instead!  At least my brain won't be so drained in the end.  I remembered that I had a small collection of 30 second video clips that I had taken on my phone's camera and that I had made an experimental audio track not long ago that might go with it.  So I set out on an adventure.  I had never worked with video before, but with iMovie, any dufus can make a movie, so I set about my work. 

This my friends, is the result.  There are a few areas where I attempted to put in some crossfades, but for some reason, the stupid program wouldn't let me do it... either that or it looks easier to apply than it really is.  These iLife programs are so dumbed down that they're kinda dumb and strangely user unfriendly.  Ah, well... perhaps someday I'll be rockin Final Cut Pro (unlikely).  Anyway, I digress.  Enjoy my experiment, if you dare!

Creative Action Plan

Ideas are easy to come by for me.  I have no deficit in the way of inspiration.  It is discipline and follow through that I lack.  And it is discipline and the action born of it that make art, not ideas.  For this reason, I have decided to complete 30 days of consecutive creative action.  Each and every day I will document my progress on this blog.  It would be nice to complete something everyday, however, I may choose to work on something a little more long ranging than that which I could do in one day.  I am not limiting myself to any one project or art form, but I will work on one thing at a time until I determine that it is complete.  This may be a song, a poem, a drawing, or some other creative endeavor that catches my whim and strikes my fancy.  I don't intend to set a regular time and place for this creative action, instead, I will do something, anything - EVERYDAY, NO MATTER WHAT.  Each day before I go to bed, I will be sure to have completed my update on here.  This serves as documentation for my creative process and, I hope, will help me remain accountable to my goal.  I have been considering this project for a few days now, and have actually begun it (but not officially until now).  So, now I will share my progress thus far and feel accomplished in already knocking a few days off of my goal!

Tuesday, January 17th

My first pen drawing of 2012!  I took a quick photo of it cause I couldn't be bothered to scan it on my picky printer, so it's a little blurry, but you get the idea.  It is untitled, like the bulk majority of my little drawings.  I so enjoy these art adventures, which are always started with a random shape and done almost exclusively in black ink.  They are complete experiments.  I never have a plan going in, only a feeling.  Once the first line is drawn, I begin seeing shapes, often faces and I help them to emerge.  Some drawings go very quickly, others I work on here and there over a long period of time.  I almost always complete them, though occasionally one goes unfinished.  If you asked me to replicate any of my drawings, I could not do it.  I simply don't have the technique, everything I do is an accident... well, a sort of intentional accident. 

 This art practice is very liberating for me, because I don't have any bit of identity wrapped around it.  I don't really consider myself a visual artist and I have no real desire to be one.  This is not the case with music, which is something I caught my identity in as a very young child.  I had a dream that one day I would be a professional singer and I pursued that dream quite fervently until I was 18.  I bound myself up in all sorts of expectations about who I was and what course my life should take due to the fact that I was a singer, and a good one at that.  Unfortunately, my life didn't follow that course and I have not yet achieved my dream.  I have had an incredibly difficult time finding my path regarding my desire to sing and I still have no answers in that direction.  I have some ideas, but nothing concrete.  I've tried to divorce myself from this self-identification and all the story that comes with it, yet there is something deep within my soul that whispers, do not give up.  It's that small voice who's call, it seems I must one day answer.

Sunday, January 15th

I just realized that I skipped Monday, but I've been quite sick, so just this once, and because I hadn't officially started this creative action project, I'm going to let myself off the hook.  I feel justified in this decision because I spent the previous four days or so reacclimating myself to the art of knitting.  My first attempt was unacceptable, so I had to start again.  The second attempt was much better, but still rather novice.  This is a hat intended for my first born, due this summer.  It was a joy to make and I hope to make some more knitted goods in the coming months.  Perhaps I'll make some more hats for other babies soon to join my immediate and extended family or maybe some toys.  I'll have to see what gems of yarn I can find at SCRAP in Portland, that should lead to some knitting inspirations!

Yay!  So here it is, two days down, 28 to go.  I'm excited to see where my little project takes me.  May it be fun, if nothing else!

The Violent Voice

Frozen ice

          parched throat

     bound in bat's wings

heat courses through

  petrifying

               with electric shock....

                                                           ....your sounds are saws....

(He holds a gaze

like Chinese stars)

I believe the black snake fable ---

                                how they bit you and left you

~ FULL OF POWER ~

I am your dream of a woman

who keeps killing you

whenever I fail to be you

                                                   ....and I always do.

I am invisible

inside your dream

your unlived self is what you see

You have me on mute

but, I hear you....

snake tongue

venom

and bites.

Powerful

               by insisting

                                          you have none

Powerful

          by placing

                         it in me

(Under the spell

of his Chinese star gaze

I stand immobile)

Broken bones healed

while your tongue

caused a hemorrhage

in my Spirit

My perception is denied

as you bite again

                   at my intruding form

....to bring back your dream

and to regain the gift of snakes

The kiss 

of POWER

Here's to a New Year!

My new years resolutions:

I take all of the time I need to discover, uncover and recover myself as an act of healing and an attempt to experience increasingly transcendental states of joy.

I broaden my creative input/output continuum by practicing, studying, observing, and experimenting with my chosen crafts.

I forge new co-creative relationships and strengthen existing ones.

I perform (singing, acting, whatever) as often as possible, whenever and wherever I can.

I deepen my practice of gratitude by adopting "Thank You" as a daily mantra and increasing acts of service for others.

I gracefully pass over the threshold from maidenhood to motherhood and find space for gentleness and nurturing in every day as I adjust to the challenges that this change brings.

So be it!  Here's to a beautiful and blessed 2012!