Musings of the Day
The Power of Words
Hear me read this aloud
“His words not only touch deeply into my soul, but resonate with the truth that I seek to embody. I had forgotten to read, to fill myself lately, and this is a gentle reminder of how someone else's words can do just that.”
"Ecstasy by Moonlight"
I wrote this today in response to a post I saw on social media about one of my favorite poets. As I did, it occurred to me that I rarely take the time to just sit and read with the sole purpose of filling myself up. Words have tremendous power, one reason I choose to write as well as paint. There are times when an image says all that I want to say and more, so much so that I can’t find adequate words to accompany it. But there are also times when the written or spoken word articulates my feelings and thoughts more succinctly than I can paint. They add a power to the message at times, a crispness that surpasses the unknowable that I convey in my paintings.
This year I decided to add another medium to my creative work, my voice. It’s time for me to speak, to bring the vibration of my voice to the words that I write. It’s not that I have the most beautiful or resonant voice, but it is mine and the words are mine. The two together will convey what I want to convey more fully. I will become a part of the creation in a way I haven’t before, bringing myself out from behind the scenes. You will hear me reading my journal posts and speaking about all of my work. You will see me on video showing you how incredibly luxurious my fabric creations are.
All because I know the value of the word as well as the power of images.
This is one reason I have created in fabrics for the last few years. Feeling art, experiencing art, whether it is a painting, a sculpture, or a piece of writing, has to be experienced with as many of your senses as possible to be fully appreciated. To feel the lushness of the fabrics on your skin, to experience the comforting weight of a blanket or the “hug” of that pillow, brings my art home to you in a way that simply seeing it with your eyes can’t do. My work, even my paintings, have to be seen and felt to fully appreciate them. Now I have recognized that hearing and seeing me will help to add more of that to your experience of my work.
I am not an artist in the traditional sense of the word. My life is my greatest work of art. Creating it has been a lifelong journey, like a series of paintings speaking my truth at every turn. In creating my life, I listen to the whispers of guidance that come my way and follow what they tell me to do, to let go of, and to embody. My life is about living truth and inspiring others to find and live their own. I must bring every bit of me to this journey and to the purpose I’ve set for myself. This year is all about embodiment, about rebuilding my sacred temple. Honoring the physical aspect of who I am. My art is a large part of this process, leading me to a greater expression of who I am embodying. It is time now to take the constraints of the past off and come out from behind the scenes of my life and my work, to add my SELF to the palette of colors I use to create with.
