“And if we are wise, we will listen. We will move as the current moves and rest when the waves tell us to sit still.
If we are wise, we will grow into this unknowing journey, into a deep trust in that current."
-Kaitlin Curtice, Slow and Steady Surrender
SUSIE WILSON
My Tuesdays Reviews stopped one year ago. Life was shifting for us, out of our farmhouse, after 22 years, into a temporary rental, and finally into our Beverly Farms home, from where I am writing today. Throughout the moves, a steady group of ladies arrived, on Tuesdays, at my changing doors, and yet, gathered around the table, our familiar routine was changeless. We listened, and sitting together we offered pieces of ourelves, sharing amd creatively connecting through our stories and art, and as always, when we said our good-byes our hearts felt fuller.
Our last Tuesdays gathering was on March 10th. We are now in the middle of a shifting world, encapsulated by uncertainty. Hopefully, we are growing into this “unknowing journey”. We’ve coordinated a couple of zooms, and we’ve walked up over Sagamore Hill, keeping our distance, but things just aren’t the same. Looking through my old reviews I dicovered Susie’s painting of the ocean waves. “We will move as the curent moves and rest when the waves tell us to sit still.”
We have all been sharing poetry and podcasts, chain letters with recipes and books, television series and movies and online classes. Early on I was inspired by everything. I bought a ball of tweed wool to knit socks, I pondered themes and titles for my children’s book, I pulled out my beads to design new necklaces, and I even bought flour, while it was still available, to bake bread, but I struggled to follow through. I felt so distracted. I was reminded of the women in this British skit, Age-activated attention deficit disorder. Walks have become my daily triumph, as for so many of us. Earlier on Elizabeth West wrote a beautiful reflection:
The pearl earring
Long ago, at the beginning of the pandemic, I donned my rain gear
and eagerly walked down walnut road in what seemed an adventure.
It was a new routine and energizing.
During the walk my rain hat must have knocked off one of my pearl earrings.
It bothered me as I hate to lose things - so I kept an eye out for it on the many walks that ensued, day after day.
Last night, I was feeling a bit beaten up by the severity of the situation
and was drawn out onto our lawn to view the moon in its iridescence-
it was an amazing super moon in silvery shimmers
that blended into a pure white orb.
It reminded me of a pearl.
I had the overwhelming sense - and here I beg your creativity -
that our deceased parents - were up there -
happily pulling us through this hard time.
Today I was definitely in a defeated mood
as I donned my rain outfit and headed out onto walnut.
So down that I didn’t raise my eyes from the ground.
But I realized that lifting my eyes and looking around
was a part of feeling better and seeing nature.
I did and saw the most beautiful white leaved tree-
in the midst of the gray rain -
then I looked down
and there was my pearl earring.
We’re going to get through this my friends!
-Elizabeth West
Suggested prompts:
What is your silver lining during these uncertain times?
How has art factored into your coping strategy? (Remember that art has many forms!)
I rediscovered one of Austin Kleon’s older blogs on blind contour drawings, and decided to give it a try. I wasn’t thrilled with studying the contours of my actual self, but it was meditative, and anything that allows me to feel fluid in a moment of time is high on my priority list..
blind contour portraits
"Our brains are designed to simplify — to reduce the tumult of the world into order. Blind drawing trains us to stare at the chaos, to honor it. It is an act of meditation, as much as it is an artistic practice — a gateway to pure being. It forces us to study the world as it actually is.”
Pam’s Creative space
My wish for everyone is that you have a comfortable space for yourselves, whether in a designated studio, the kitchen, curled up in a favorite chair with a book, in the woods, or on Walnut Road… a place to “lift our eyes and look around.”
Please share your drawing, writing, thoughts, and any links with me and I will post them in my next review.
Below is a poem, by Carl Sandburg, to leave with you on this rainy day:
Monotone
The monotone of the rain is beautiful,
And the sudden rise and slow relapse
Of the long multitudinous rain.
The sun on the hills is beautiful,
Or a captured sunset sea-flung,
Bannered with fire and gold.
A face I know is beautiful—
With fire and gold of sky and sea,
And the peace of long warm rain.
-Carl Sandburg
Keep Writing and Drawing
in Your Journals
xo Barb
Austin Kleon is known for his black out poems.
Suggested prompts:
A series of blind contour self-portraits
Create a black out poem. In a stream of consciousness, write down your worries onto a piece of paper, and then begin blackening out, most of what you have written, leaving only a select group of words, ones with a message of hope.
Henry Matisse on How to be an Artist
Master the basics and then be expressive
Make up your own rules
Surround yourself with things you love-they will inspire you
Don’t let anything keep you from making art
I have been spending alot of time going through some old journals, and desktop notes. Wendell Berry keeps resurfacing.
Wendell Berry asked, “If we can't find peace, what do we do?”
If I can’t find peace I am feeling suspended and vulnerable. Triggered by limiting beliefs, I can feel stuck, like I’m frozen in place with an accelerated energy swirling around me. I may linger there until an unconscious thought triggers a spontaneous reaction from my body, urging me to pay attention. That’s when I close my eyes and focus on my breathing. These voluntary pauses give me an opportunity to slow down and reflect. Transitions of time whisper to me, and in the stillness, I begin to feel calm. When I open my eyes, peace resurfaces with the simplicity of a chickadee that lands on a branch outside my window, and I realize that everything will be alright.