The Artistic Playground

"Writing is very much a playground--an artistic playground. It's the most fun thing I do." 

                                                                                                                                                                                                      --Shania Twain

We headed for a playground a day this last week with the little ones. Clear skies, cool breezes, slower pace, children's laughter. Perfect for recharging a writer's battery!

As always, I kept the camera close. The above image that I captured will be my inspiration this upcoming week when I head off to play with words. I plan to have fun. How about you?

And the photo begs a caption. If you were to write one, what would it be?

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Photo-A-Day Challenge Revisited

"For this is the artist's great responsibility, to listen, see, feel, smell, taste. To experience everything as intensely as possible, and then report our findings." --Silas House

I took time the other day to revisit my photo-a-day challenge, the project I undertook last year where I set a goal to take a photo a day. On this "revisit," I wanted to see if I could narrow a year's worth of pictures to a handful of favorites. Not an easy task, but here are the ones that made the final cut--a picture for each month with a few extras thrown in.

I remember how I started the project with a shake and a quiver, fearing I had set out on an impossible task. How could I ever expect to be able to snap a picture a day? Would it be too much to ask? What if I failed to stick with it, how would I feel?

Yet, over a year later, the results are in along with fun memories, fond images and an awareness of what an extraordinary experience it was. And I like this quote by Diane Mariechild that I ran across: "Trust that still, small voice that says, 'This might work, and I'll try it.'" 

I'm sure glad I did.

I'd love to hear from you on which of the above in the final grouping is your favorite, and why. Each one speaks a different word to me. I wonder what they might speak to you.

And, any daunting tasks you've ever set out to explore in which you questioned if you could stick it out, only to step back when it was all over to say, how in the world did I do that!?

Isn't it a wonder when we stop to listen to that still, small voice--and follow through?

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Photo-A-Day: April

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."--Scott Adams

April has come to an end, and with it another month of taking a photo each day. The project continues to be an exercise in creativity, and I continue to learn as I go. This month along with exploring color, light and emotion--and stumbling on a few unexpected surprises--I found myself thinking about the concept of  focal point.

Focal point: a.) a center of activity, attraction, or attention; b.) a point of concentration. "Why is the focal point important?" the people at N-sane Art ask. "Without a focal point, a spectator will lose interest quickly because he does not know where to look or what part is most interesting."

"A focal point," Zahid Javali, Wordstart, says, "is important because when you look at an image, your eye generally needs a 'resting place' or something of interest to hold it. Without a focal point, people will just glance at your pictures before moving on to the next one without paying any attention to them."

These thoughts reference the subject of visual arts--but what about the importance of a focal point in the art of the written word? Interestingly, Richard Ridley, at CreateSpaceBlogger, writes on what he considers is his focal point: the crucial scene. He says, "I'm working on a new book at the moment that clued me in on how I approach story...In writing this new book, I realized that one of the first things I do after completing the early pages is map out the most crucial scene of the book. Everything I've written to that point is the foundation for the scene that will define the story. It is the flashpoint of my centralized theme...If I should get off track while writing the book, I can right myself by keeping that scene as my focal point."

Ah, different branches of art dovetail together in this idea of focal point. I've learned something this month, all because I'm carrying my camera with me.

On to May...let's see what develops in the new month ahead!

Here's my April gallery. Hope you enjoy...

Previous Galleries:

January

February

March

Writers as Sculpture Artists

Illustration of Rodin's The Thinker
courtesy of Microsoft Office clipart

"Writing is not like painting where you add. It is not what you put on the canvas that the reader sees.

Writing is more like a sculpture where you remove,

you eliminate in order to make the work visible.

Even those pages you remove somehow remain."

                                                                          --Elie Wiesel

Thought to ponder: keep chipping a way at those words!

Have a great rest of the weekend...

*p.s. my signed books giveaway is still open.Check here for details on how you can win :-)

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