I am greeted by the garlic drying on the hoosier cabinet in the entry way, as I slipped out to get lemon balm and mint for my tea.
The gray light tells me it is early but also that the days are noticeably shortening. Wind chimes play with a light breeze coming up the valley.
An image of last nights daisies by the sea are caught between the sounds.
view and purchase full resolution image here.
I have a painting started… actually I have two. They are “resting.”
May you recognize your blessing today and everyday.
Sprout Question: When do you feel most satisfied and content in your creativity?
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Creative Potager 
Interesting question Terrill!
I guess I feel most satisfied and content in my creativity both when I am in the midst of the process of creating/painting and when I’ve set a painting aside for awhile and then turn to look at it one day and fall in love. 🙂
It’s like a part of me has to make peace with my creation before I can totally open my heart to it.
Hope all is well with you Dear Creative Lady!
Yes all is well Itaya… we have been on a wedding spree with two of our children getting married this summer but that is lovingly behind us. Great sprout response.
Dear readers I do so love hearing from you. It keeps my world broad, deep and rich.
Terrill – Your post today was well received by my heart that responded with, Ahhhhhhh.
Sprout Question: When do you feel most satisfied and content in your creativity?
Yesterday was a prime example. My editor threw down a gauntlet with a literary challenge I’m sure she thought I wouldn’t or couldn’t meet.
Not so. It took me 6.5 hours to work two pages, but I did it. They’re extraordinary (if I do say so myself). I cried when I read them to Len. He didn’t cry, but I definitely had his rapt attention.
I’m glad that Christine pushed me (really, it was more of a shove). This was good for me and it will be yet another point of connection with readers.
Laurie, I read your blog regularly but I seldom make the connection to your published articles. I am wondering when this piece you have worked so hard on will be out and if you could leave us a link when it is distributed? Congratulations on pushing through a new learning curve. What fun! From here anyway;
Daisies are such cheerful flowers… and even better with the background of the blue ocean.
I always feel satisfied and content just be doing something creative. One of my favorite projects is building rock walls, or as I am doing now, a curved set of rock stairs. It has been about a month since I mixed mortar and put sandstone rocks together, but this past weekend I resumed the project, which is nearing completion. It usually takes me a day to make one stair. Just two more steps will complete the stairway and then I will connect it with a walkway.
Sherwin I am looking forward to seeing a post of your stone curved staircase on your blog in the future… at least I hope you plan on sharing. I am getting a sense that along with painting and photography you like big projects like renovations and rock walls.
When it is unrelated to satisfaction in any sense and is simply a sharing of a joyful and energetic moment.
Elisa… I like that distinction you make between satisfaction and “simply a sharing of a joyful energetic moment.” Children are often good at this… digging in the sand or stacking blocks for the joy of it. Thank you for you sprout contribution:)
Terrill – in this particular case, it was a piece from my book manuscript as it relates to our physical senses (taste, touch, see, hear, smell, and equilibrium). Christine (my editor from UW-Madison, Writer’s Institute) basically said, you’re merely telling the readers what they already know. Take this up a notch:
How are these things related to your book’s point?
Any tips under each sense for living more fully?
What type of relationship can the senses possibly have to life’s baggage?
Trust me, when this book is published, I’ll shout it from the roof tops – they’ll be no doubt in anyone’s mind.
Ah yes Laurie, I too am glad Christine challenged you because I know you have the answers to those fine questions and we the lucky readers of your book will be receiving your unique truths. I am personally waiting for that might shout with anticipation!
When do you feel most satisfied and content in your creativity?
As long as i am learning i am satisfied in my creativity. The bigger question for me is what that satisfaction feels like. Sometimes its a sense of accomplishment other times just being glad something has been finished or i have gotten through another day. Often i am just delighted and surprised with what i have come up with.
Good to see your sprout shooting up here Jerry:)
“As long as i am learning i am satisfied in my creativity.” Such an excellent response. I don’t ever want to stop learning, trying out new things and discovering from others and from experimenting.
“An image of last nights daisies by the sea are caught between the sounds.”
And a lovely image it is, amidst some of the most tranquil sounds nature can yield. And garlic, as well as minted tea informs of a very healthy diet, though I am hardly surprised considering the purity that defines the lifestyle here on Mayne Island.
I find it interesting that you are noticing that the days are getting shorter now, but the late June peak is indeed in recession now, though many of us would never know it.
Like most people, I always experience deep satisfaction when my work is acknowledge by my peers, though one must harness such feedback in the proper perspective. Compliments should never lull one into a state of relaxation, but rather should provide the impetus for scaling new heights.
And Terrill, I want to thank you exceedingly for the fantastic commentary you provided this week at WitD on the great Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, and Jacques Demy’s glorious musical THE UMBRELLAS AT CHERBOURG.
You are welcome Sam and I don’t always eat healthy. In fact, I am munching on red twizzlers as I write… from the big package with 30 % more – yes, unfortunately a person can purchase twizzlers on Mayne Island but it is a least a few blocks from Danielle’s locally hand harvested Singing Hearts medicinal herb tea that I so love:)
As for the shortening of the days… I’m an early riser and mornings I think are the best time to notice the change. I now need to turn a light on in the gray dawn at 5:00 am if I am going to read anything.
May you recognize your blessing today and every day, as well, Terrill! I love the simplicity of the garlic and the mention of lemon balm and mint tea.
When am I the most satisfied in my creativity? When it flows effortlessly…when it surprises me…when others enjoy it as much as I did.
Thank you Kathy. Love your sprout response. It is what I experience most often on your beautiful blog.