Visual Music

I am so happy to get reacquainted with this stairway today. This lovely spot is in Cascais, Portugal, a little coast town that is a 30 minute train ride from Lisbon. This stairway takes you from the sea up to the town. I loved the texture of the peeling paint and the exposure to the sea air. Looking at this photo today, I am reminded of music. A treble clef to start the line, and notes ascending. A beautiful melody of line and color and texture to see and hear. In my mind, the percussion of the sea is in the background, to support and tie it all together.

I have been thinking of the creative process this morning, as I am reading The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women by Gail McMeekin. My creative process is a combination of regular practice, along with some little rituals. When I work at the computer, either writing or with photos, I love to have my cup of tea. That signals my brain, "It's time to create." When I'm writing or have something I need to really focus on, I also turn on classical music. I love classical music, but I save it for my personal creative time. The cup of tea and the music help me move quickly into a state of flow. It's amazing what happens from there.

Do you have any rituals that help you get into the creative zone? What is your creative process?

Miracles

"There are only two ways to live your life.

One as though nothing is a miracle. The other as though everything is a miracle."

- Albert Einstein

This quote has popped up in more than one place for me lately, so it gave me pause as I read it again this morning. I like the idea of the second way - that everything is a miracle. Look at the beauty that is around us, all day, every day, when we stop to look. The beauty that can be found in a rotting door, peeling paint, corroding metal. I love it.

I think that artists in particular must live in this way - that everything is miracle. How else would you be able to create, if you could not first see the world around us with a sense of amazement? That each thing is a gift - the bird's song, the turn of phrase, the peeling paint, the situations we find ourselves in. How can we choose to use that gift? Easier to think about when it's taking a photo of a door like this in Murano, harder when we find ourselves in a difficult situation with another person. 

I don't know the answer to that yet, but I like the idea of miracles much better than the alternative.