Blog ~  Dec. 18, 2016           Cindy Taylor Clark

Every day is a New Canvas of Life ~

Today in our Red Thread Café, Shiloh shared about remembering her Mother’s part in developing her heart as an artist when she was a small child. And in her dream she saw how her mother drew images of woman in fashion illustrations and then gave Shiloh a copy to color. She shared that this piece of her legacy was never placed as an important aspect in the story she has been telling today. She credited Caron with teaching her about the importance of writing, but had forgotten the early year’s importance of those childhood days of coloring her mother’s drawings.

As I read her journal entry tears welled up within me.  My tears of joy were in remembering how I connected with my twin daughters when they were 3 ½ by giving them their very own small table, paper and crayons, and watching the wonders that came through them. Their journeys were magical to observe as they created worlds out of paper, clay, cloth, paint and pen.

After that sweet moment in time, my heart jumped to my own mother’s creative acts. Her hidden sketch book from the 1940’s that I rescued from the attic when I was in high school. She had wanted to become a fashion designer but there was no extra money in her family of 8 brothers and sisters for her to pursue her dream, and then the war came and she enlisted and worked in Washington D. C. When I was in first grade, I remember her taking a drawing and pastel painting class. But her depression overwhelmed her, and she was prescribed drugs that prevented her from becoming and believing in her talent. She did put her creativity into lovely flower gardens in the yard, and decorating the house when she felt well enough. She also had that creative talent of sewing her own clothes.  When I think of all that now, it is truly amazing that she did all that in the shadow of depression and drugs. Thank you Shiloh for bring this part of my story to light.

How did that affect my story? In so many ways, she encouraged me and let me be in quiet playtime where I created with paper, cloth, paint and pen. I remember sketching outside in my yard with my own sketchbook and pen and ink. I also remember the feeling of just lying or sitting in the grass connecting to the earth. I loved feeling the pulse of the breeze through the trees and the warm sun on the grass. I felt a deep trust in being myself there. It was not easy to show up in the world I would have to walk through.

 My creativity was my anchor in all the confusion. My choices were always to be connected with art and nature. And so I too give thanks to my mother for her gifts that encouraged me. Even the hard ones.”

As parents we honor this creativity through our children as just a small part of the growing cycle, like tying shoes and learning to walk. Our “refrigerator art” gets glowing review from Mom and Dad and then it fades away, gets torn or dirty, and the next one gets its kitchen review again. What happens to the child who has the talent and desire to

do more, when the importance is shifted to the left brain only? Is there anything to help bring back that sense of discovery within the child of creativity?  We can hold on to it as we become adults. Many of us do. Many more say, “I could never paint or draw” and even speak that too common phrase, “Why I can’t even draw a straight line.” Of course that is not a requirement to do art. The ruler was invented for that purpose!

Where do we get this old story that we carry around, that we are just not meant to be creative? Yes we have heard it so many times as our families respond to our knitting, quilting, cooking, writing or painting. “Oh, that doesn’t run in my side of the family.”

Are we just denying our true creative self?  Maybe you are the one who does all the organizing and keeping things straight. That is also a creative task. Every aspect of our lives is a task of creative movement. Even when we sit and meditate, we are creating.

What in our lives was not created by someone’s imagined idea, from telephones to cell phones.

Then why do we dismiss the quality and beauty and importance that creativity plays in our lives? On what level do we live in the presence of acknowledging our very own creativity?  Each day you have a new canvas of life. You chose how you are creating that day by your choices and awareness. Question what you want to create by observing your thoughts and feelings. It is OK to honor what does not feel good by really feeling it, and then questioning it. What am I creating with this thought? A good exercise is to write it out or say it out loud. Then reframe it, if you want to change it. Ask your creative muse to help you. Sometimes all we need is to sit and make a mark or color a page while we listen to our inner wisdom. It wants to whisper, “You have all the creativity you will ever need right now. Explore it! Honor it! Feed it!”  Expect that little child to flourish when you allow her (him) to take a space and time to just “Become who you already are” in a way that awakens your heart and soul!

 “Every Bone in your body is a creative bone” Shiloh Sophia

The journey continues with the red thread connections!

My next event is Jan 16^th 

  Painting the Muse of Winter ~

 Dreaming the New Seeds