Heartsong Studio

“The first time I picked up a paintbrush I was a natural. It’s been uphill ever since.” But the essence is still true. Exploring creative solutions might be seen like experimentation to an adult. Children call it play.

It has been shown that a group of children given a new fangled toy, with instructions on how it works, actually discovered fewer things to do with it and played with it shorter times than another group of children who were just given the toy and told to play with it.

Why play as an adult?

Nature is not entirely visible to the eye; it also includes the inner ruminations of our souls. We have our own, quite personal and extraordinary, inner landscapes. All the arts offer different ways to access our inner landscapes or meanings.

Playing with paint is scary sometimes, possibly because it cuts close to the bone where we’re vulnerable. Lest you think I’d never be scared of painting, you’re wrong. If I haven’t done it for days, but especially if I’m feeling down about anything, a large canvas can be intimidating.

Playing can be fun too, but only if we’re willing to pay attention to what the paint — or our insides — is reflecting. This requires a more tolerant attitude than simply flinging around the paint in wild abandon. (Not to say that this isn’t fun at times.)

As evidence that I can play at painting, here’s a miniature abstract painting made on raw canvas with very wet acrylic paint, and afterwards named: “An Early Autumn Walks the Land”, the name of a nostalgic song way back when I was young.

An Early Autumn Walks the Land     8″ X 10″

Easier for me is playing with poetry, an art form I’m not so experienced with. I wrote this “abstract” poem, aiming purely at the sounds of words, their rhythms, and not their meanings.

Trying to ignore the word meanings was just as impossible as stopping an abstract painting from suggesting meanings on its own. Once I recognized this, I went along with the suggestive sounds, and the fun began. Let your mouth enjoy itself out loud.

Abstract and Back

Horror of dorkness bemoaning its snicket,
broodled in gloomy industrious norc.
Facebook, Tweet, StumbleUpon merrily thighs,
cacophonous roar-agog leprechaun’s chide.

Moxy-gong silly, a whack and three jillies,
she strode with her four fellows wide;
hefalump’s head spewed oodles of cariboo,
long-legged, tweezled and shorn.

Swashbuckled knuckles in purple beguiling
came over all loverly, smuggled in smut;
chortle quite brutal he laughs under cloak:
Unhobble your pogostick! Foible the cusp!

‘Twas foolish the brou-ha-ha spied them of late
o’er myriad vaseline wrinkles oblique,
wither fandangos jump hide-over-wheels,
commingle embroiling plump little cheek.

Inferno runs bareback, burnt trousers unzip
with beer going down grizzly swell;
big orange swath of wide bullocks astride,
perturbing all four frothy stallions. Oh well.

Another playful idea I had was to choose a familiar piece of music to set words to. I chose Beethoven’s 5th symphony. It ran away with me. I got into things I hadn’t counted on, like having to learn the entire tune so that I could find words to fit the rhythm.

I was very enthused by what this music felt like. Easy to take chances like this — play — with an art I’m not very invested in. This music moves so fast that I almost choked reading it to the music. Above all, it was fun. Here’s an MP3 of my “performance poem”:

“Beethoven’s 5th”.  Click here to hear: 002_B_001_cvarley

Years ago, when I was painting wolves and more wolves, I saved a worn old piece of plywood in the rough shape of a wolf’s head. I got it out recently and painted a portrait of my last living Shetland sheepdog, Cheyenne. To match her new personality, a couple of years ago, her name was changed to Shiny.

Shiny makes a very difficult portrait sitter, so painting her capricious nature required a lot of play on my part. She is much cuter in person than she is in my painting, or even her photo. Trust me. Here is:
Shiny – the portrait impression… and

Shiny – the photo.     Woof!

Although Nicola Temple was already a painter when she took part in some of my classes, she embodies the spirit of creative play in her artwork.  She also passes on this playful chance to her remarkable 3 year old son.  He’s a natural too.  Here’s where you can see her latest painting and his version of the same subject.  http://seasquirt.org