this morning the sun was so bright and so happy, i grabbed my camera and went outside to take some pictures. as i looked around though, i didn't feel very inspired. everything was so bare and brown and drab. so instead, i went back inside to make myself a cup of tea to go with that leftover brownie. as i waited for the water to boil, i looked out the window and had some thinking time. i'm an artist, i thought. shouldn't i be able to find inspiration even when there seemingly isn't any? i thought, maybe i just need to look at things a bit differently. there must be something of beauty out there on such a sunshiny day.
so, i stepped out onto the back deck, where the sun was making nice shadows over the old worn wood.
i noticed a few stubborn flowers on a summer plant. reaching towards the sun it seemed.
i decided to walk out into the yard a bit. our backyard is like this. a nice clear area with some grass and then a really leafy area (because i can my husband can only rake so much) with some cool big rocks and then the forest. when we first moved into this house we had about 6 inches of backyard and then the jungle forest. but my husband has single-handedly (meaning, i didn't help at all) cleared a much larger yard area over the last 7 years. so every year, our yard gets a little bigger, but we'll always have some forest back there. anyway, as i was saying, i ventured past the grassy area. normally, i would never do this because of large forest bugs and spiders and ticks and who knows what else. but, it's been chilly, so i was feeling safe from small creatures. and i had my boots on.
i found some rocks with some really green moss. i love moss, don't you? it always reminds me of fairies. and i do believe in fairies. that inspired me to keep going. down a leafy hill, whoops-a-daisy, grabbing hold of some branches on the way to keep myself upright. all the way to the water.
which doesn't look like much really, a small, rocky stream, maybe 2 feet deep in some spots. but it runs through all the backyards, under some streets... a few miles, i think.
without the leaves, the sun shined down in a beautiful, warming kind of way. i basked for a little while. feeling the sun on my face. listening to the water trickle over the rocks. i stayed there until my fingers got cold.
and then i headed back up the mossy, leafy hill. back to my warm little studio to do some work. but something was different. i was feeling refreshed from my little trek into the unknown. i was feeling calmer. and yes. i was feeling inspired. sometimes, you just gotta look a little harder.
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