There are some days.

You know, those days when every word is a struggle, the light fades before you can change lenses, and the brush and canvas are not even on speaking terms.

Those days.

On those days I can get to wondering what the point is.

So I thought I’d share this quote with you because it really resonated with me. It is going up on my studio wall where it will remind me to keep perspective when I’m having one of those days. Maybe you’ll find it a bit inspiring too, or at least interesting.

I think this is something we grasp intuitively, but perhaps rarely think about.  And I think it is really beautifully put.

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“…if someone asks ‘To what purpose should we help one another, make life easier for each other, make beautiful music or have inspired thoughts?’ he would have to be told: ‘If you don’t feel it, no-one can explain it to you.’ Without this primary feeling we are nothing…”

Albert Einstein 1919

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Wishing you an inspired and beautiful day

tags: art, Einstein, inspiration, quote

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As some of you know, I’ve been pretty invisible here on The Pedestrian Crossing for the past 6 - 9 months.

Some of you told me you figured that was because I’d become enamored with Twitter and had decided to spend all my on-line time there.

While I indeed find Twitter an excellent place to write, read, and connect - Twitter isn’t why I haven’t been here.

I am fortunate to have a lovely creek bordering one side of my property. In 2008 I was delighted to learn that the creek was to be part of a 2009 project to remove barriers to migrating salmon. All I needed to do was give permission for the work to proceed.

There were of course many discussions with the Natural Resource Department about what land areas would be impacted and how the work would get done.

In the course of these discussions the opportunity arose for me to photograph the project at all 17 of its sites, which I most wholeheartedly pursued.

Over the next weeks & months I’ll do a series of posts about different aspects of this wonderful project.

I’ll share some of my project photos with you, I’ll include some of the things I’ve learned, and I’ll tell you a bit about the wonderful people I met. It would be great if you would let me know any questions you have, or if you are interested in any aspect of the work that I don’t seem to be covering. I’ll do my best to find & pass on the info you’re after.

For today, I’d like to share a video with you. It is about 11 minutes long, and was done by a local documentary film company to help the natural resource folks continue to obtain funding for this important work.

Speaking of funding, I want to tell you something I think is very important.

This work was funded almost entirely by grants from various organizations and by reparation monies from utility companies that placed hydroelectric dams on the big rivers in this area of Washington state.

The lion’s share of the $$ did not come out of taxpayer pockets, and it did not come from loans that must be repaid.

To my way of thinking, in these times of astronomical deficits and taxpayer funded bailouts it is important to highlight and encourage projects that benefit the planet, provide plentiful good-wage jobs, and do not increase our burden of debt. I believe this kind of watershed and habitat restoration work is important for the planet, the people on it, and our economies. I will continue to seek opportunities to contribute in any ways that I can.

Enjoy the video, I think it makes a nice introduction to the topic.

Oh, and I should mention that I appear in this video in a couple of places, in case you’re interested

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Chelan County Salmon Restoration from Howell at the Moon Productions on Vimeo.

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Sometimes one goes looking for inspiration.

For me, whether that search is out the window, through my lens, in the stroke of a brush, or into my interior it is almost always fruitful. From my perspective, we are surrounded by an infinity that is constantly evolving. A place where everything is always imbued with renewal.

No two moments in the universe are ever the same, and in this reality lies magic beyond that which any incantation might evoke.

This kind of creative searching has its place; is essential even, but it isn’t the topic of this post.

Today I want to write a bit about that other kind of inspiration. The kind of inspiration that comes calling of its own accord.

Like a first snowflake settling on the still green grass, it can herald an oncoming wave, or simply one fleeting drop. Regardless its form or duration, it is unfailingly a delightful rush.

I absolutely love getting caught up in the flow of something new.

Recently I was accosted by a poem written by a friend and it sparked the immediate need for me to draw.

I was stunned to find that what I was drawing was a mandala.

I haven’t created a mandala of any kind in more than a decade. And if I had thought about why not, I might have said that my work had evolved—had moved in new directions.

Which just goes to show how wrong a person can be.

Below you’ll find my first new visual piece of 2010. It was inspired by this wonderful poem by Marianna Paulson:

Living. Breathing.

Breathing. Living.

Inspiritus -
inspiration -
spirit.

Awaken. Breathe. Live.

Now.

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You can find Marianna at her website, blog, and on twitter.

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Here is the image inspired by Marianna’s wise, beautiful, mantra-like poem.

I hope you will enjoy the viewing as much as I enjoyed the creating.

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title - breathe life - by Kayt Hoch

I suspect mandalas may be making a new visitation to my creative life, time will tell on that.

Truth is, I still feeling like drawing. And the energy buzzing my fingers feels a lot more like a wave beginning to roll, than one lonely drop from an otherwise pale blue sky.

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tech stuff - in case you care

The drawing was created from blank screen using Photoshop CS3 software. All elements of the piece were hand-drawn, (using a Wacom Intuos3 tablet) combined with two gradients (created by me), and integrated using various blending modes and transparency levels.

~~~

tags: art, image, inspiration, mandala, spiritual, visual art

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I had some best laid plans for a blog post tonight, and you know how that goes.

I’ve done a new image inspired by a friend’s poem and I was going to post both. But, of course, my WP file uploader is having a lie down and won’t upload my image file.

So, I thought I’d share this instead - in some inexplicable way, it fits my mood tonight.  I hope to be back soon with the fore mentioned post.

’till then -

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I need to tell you in all sincerity that picking two favorites out of your tweets was difficult beyond description. I truly enjoyed all of the writing that came out of the poetwist200 list. Applause to all

Fave pick #1

gather the cracked and brittle shards /…

therer2doors - aka - Angie Werren

I really liked how this poem juxtaposed opening sharpness with the softness of a new day dawning, and how beautifully it balances an underlying hope against the realism and angst of doubt. Poetically, I really like the spareness of the piece and that each and every word is critical to the poem. Overall I get the sense of trying to recover something that has broken, which is powerfully impacting and effective (for me).

Thanks for the wonderful contribution Angie.

Fave pick #2

frothing stacked goblets/…

Kate_TW - aka Kate Temple-West

This poem really got me with its vivid visual imagery that is paired perfectly (for me) with the innuendo I read in the poem.

The whole piece calls to my mind the image of a wedding, guests attired to the nines about to toast the happy couple. But, there is something dark and edgy lurking around that the speaker in the poem knows about. Perhaps one of the happy couple was spied 20 minutes ago in the back seat of the limo with the others best friend? I of course don’t know what the poet had in mind, but there are myriad possibilities, and the poem ignites my imagination to try and conjure up what underlies the rich imagery of this scene. I find that very compelling and enjoyable indeed.

Thank you Kate, for your wonderful contribution.

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Rules?

Now, being that I am awfully fond of discarding most rules as I see fit, I have to tip my hat to our leading resident rule breaker Carlton Halpert for the stunning use of all 91 poetwist200 words. Sigh…I can only say, I wish I’d have thought of trying it myself.

Not that I could have rivaled in anyway, the ballad of baxter which is comprised of 12 haiku interlacing potentially autobiographical facets of the mysterious Baxter. The sense of the sureal in this is as profound, as it is enchanting.

My personal fave chapters are 3 & 12, but I find the whole greater even than the sum of its wonderful haiku-vignette components. The incomplete mosaic of the character writing is beyond intriguing. Perhaps there will be more messages home from Baxter? We can only hope…

Thanks Carlton for the inspiring, wonderful contribution - I really do hope we hear more from Baxter.

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Most Words Used

Well, wouldn’t you know - we have three-way tie for most words used.

So here they are, all tweeting in at 14 of the poetwist200 words in a single tweet. And they all achieved this feat while still saving space to include the poetwist hash tag. Very impressive.

Back just in time for the 200th prompt - jeremylewit - with:  blind as limbo/…

And a very new writter in the poetwist crowd - Kate_TW  - with:  again in limbo/…

Finally, one of our long standing poetwist regulars - tumblewords - with:  novice faith in limbo/…

Hmm, limbo limbo limbo - wonder what’s up with that…

Thanks and congratulations to everyone for making this such a wonderful celebration of the 200th poetwist prompt. Here’s hoping we’ll all be writing and reading together for another 200 at least

Cheers & ta!

tags: 140, 200th prompt, micropoetry, poem, poetry, poetwist, twitter

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Today marks the 200th writing prompt for poetwist on Twitter.  Congrats & thanks to all of you!!  To celebrate this little milestone, we’re doing something a bit different than the usual.

All the info you need is in a short PDF here:  poetwist200.pdf

For my blog buddies who don’t do the Twitter gig, I’d really love for you to participate too, so if you’re into this please go for it and leave your ‘tweet’ in the comments here. Remember, a tweet is a maximum of 140 characters long.

Wishing everyone a wonderful time with today’s write - I’m already looking forward to reading everything

tags: 140, 200th prompt, poetwist, twitter

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