Our creative journeys are journeys shared with other creative human-beings. Even if we tend to be reclusive, their presence is with us in our homes, in our everyday objects. A sensual blue image combined with a thought-provoking article Epreuve 05 :: Epreuve d’Artiste :: Altered States by Ian Talbot of London UK, inspired my still life sketch this morning of an everyday object. Thank you Ian.
8″x11″ graphite quick sketch
As I was standing at the counter doing my “awakener” sketch of our medium-sized Bialetti stovetop (Yes it has the little man on it but it is on the other side – I’m left handed. Handles are always on the opposite side of what one usually expects.) I started thinking more about Ian’s article and how I often overlook the creativity and artistic qualities of my favoured everyday objects. Yet, aesthetics and wabi-sabi charm generally influences my choice in the first instance when acquiring the object. Why is it that the creative care embodied in the stovetop coffee maker doesn’t leap out at me before my fingers can grip its black handle? I adore my coffee ritual with a zest that not much else can compete – particularly at 6:00 am. I can see its every detail with my eyes half closed. Well, that is mostly how I see it so that isn’t much of a revelation. However, I think you get the idea….
Though living is often a messy process, simplicity and functionality attract my sense of a world-as-should-be. This simplicity can be in everyday object or in everyday nature as in the image below.
View and purchase full resolution image of “amazement” here.
Sprout Question: When was the last time you recognized the creativity in everyday objects?
p.s. I was interviewed this past week by Stephan Weidner COO of Noomii for coaching blog article “Dealing with your Spouse’s Stroke: Terrill Welch’s Coaching Journey” The interview provides a concise account of how Creative Potager came to be.
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Terrill – First of all, I enjoyed reading the interview and just retweeted it!
Sprout Question: When was the last time you recognized the creativity in everyday objects?
Like you, I am attracted by simplicity and functionality. As a result, I have very few objects (some would say I’m a minimalist). The few that I do have, I acquired because their inherent creativity spoke to me.
Laurie… I’m a want-a-be minimalist with a bulge. I take one room at a time minimize – clear, sort, regift, recycle, compost… and while I’m not looking, another room has attracted “things” while I wasn’t looking. I never had this frightful situation until my sweetie and I combined households. His 3,000 square foot 100 year old Victorian home was chalk-a-block full of excellent “things.” My 610 square foot home was also filled with a few well-handled treasured items. Because of its small size, I had a house rule – before anything else can come in – I must be willing to take something out. Well, we now live in just one – 1,000 square foot open-concept work of art. This year, we am determined room-by-room to minimize to a wabi-sabi state of refinement you can recognize. Thanks as always Laurie for sprouting:)
That’s an interesting story, Terrill.
Len and I are on opposite ends of the “stuff” spectrum. He can’t bear to part with anything; a definite pack rat. I prefer sweet, empty space. It’s certainly made for an interesting 30-year marriage!
I’m smiling Laurie as I think of the two of you figure out a way to squirrel things away while maintaining simplicity.
gah! i had no idea who you are Terrill (women’s leader, book writer, wife helping husband with recent stroke recovery)!
Tobin, sorry to surprise you. These are just three of the bits that make up what I understand to be “me.”
I’ve also stacked green railroad ties in a small sawmill, served burgers, rode horses, and raised two children as a single parent. These are all experiences that denote accomplishments, are fun to talk about and makings for interesting stories. But I’ve not been terribly interested in making trinkets out of my accomplishments because I’m engaged (obsessed) with learning all the things I can about where I am now and where I might like to be going. Over time, we do get to know a bit about others and we can sometimes see glimmers of how their experiences shape their current expressions. Mostly – the person who we personally experience is the part of that person that matters to us… and is the one that we remember.
What an interesting life story, and how nice you can be there for him. To nurture, no matter what, surely taps some people, some make it work, some flee.
To go through it with an open mind/heart is an amazing experience.
I’ve been getting all my sons pictures/photos etc in a few boxes ready to send (28 yesterday) and find ridding myself of “stuff” is easier now than ever.
I once read, while in SF, maybe by Alan Watts, to drive through traffic like a dance, makes the commute so much easier to get through (not exact) and have always remembered that.
Good for you and Cheers 2 U both!
Thanks coffee messiah – so many great stories of “stuff” and “things.” Glad you stopped in:)
We really all are so much more.
I agree:)
Thanks for linking the Talbot article-insightful.
You are welcome slamdunk – glad you liked it.
the Talbot articles are just wonderful i read all of them an think he is very insightful.
Sprout Question: When was the last time you recognized the creativity in everyday objects?
in would like to think i do every day. I try not bring objects into my life/environment that do not stand on there own aesthetically.
i got a piece of advise from a painter once that i thought about everyday for years and i think it applies to how i feel about everyday objects more than it dose to painting for me.
“never put a color on a canvas that is not beautiful on it’s own”
jerry
Jerry thanks for the feedback re the Talbot articles. I haven’t had a chance to read the rest so welcome your recommendation.
Thanks for your sprout and for sharing your advice from a painter – that I’m filing away for future reference!