Circles have been regarded and created as spiritually significant for several hundred years, at least. They especially are connected to Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhists create mandalas. Mandala, in Sanskrit, means circle. Zen Buddhists create ensō. Ensō, in Japanese, means “circle form.” In the first line of the foreword written by John Read more…
In the era of smartphone selfies and social media sharing, I have found myself questioning the intentions of the selfie-maker, including, on occasion, myself. Why do people fill their social feeds with photos and videos of themselves posing and puckering and exposing, and even dying to get that special, envy-inducing Read more…
From the time we’re kids, we’re taught that the rules of society serve harsh punishments for stealing, for plagiarizing, for being unoriginal. All while we’re being socially conditioned to conform and ultimately be … unoriginal. Should it be any wonder artists often are seen as non-conformists, as rebels, as different Read more…
From the #showyourwork and #creativeprocess files … In my daily visual creative practice using the Procreate app on iPad, I’ve been exploring the simplicities of abstract line drawing. A lot of portraits. With blue eyes as the essential (and most obvious) thread that ties them all together. I’m exploring something Read more…
I’ve been contemplating the value of creative practices for a while now. But I’ve been mistakenly doing so, lately, as if it was new territory for me, as if I’ve never tapped into the power of it before. And then this morning I remembered a series I wrote as creative Read more…
I feel scattered in my creative interests and actions. I create this and that, pull on this creative thread and then pull that one, and follow where they go. I am drawn to a lot of ideas and ways of visually expressing them. So my interests spread, and my skills Read more…
A year ago, I wrote something as a response, a moment of clarity, around a perpetual question that nags at me: Why am I doing this? Like many artists, the path is unclear. We’re responding to an urge that rises within us. We’re breaking norms. There is no given market Read more…
EXPLORING CREATIVITY & CREATIVE PRACTICE I’ve worked in creative fields for many years as a writer and photographer. I’ve worked in those ways a lot of creative people make their livings: by getting a tangentially creative job that provides consistency and relative security of salary and benefits — and a Read more…