Tuesday Ramble

Creativity belongs to the artist in each of us. To create means to relate.

The root meaning of the word art is to fit together and we all do this

every day. . . . Each time we fit things together we are creating--whether

it is to make a loaf of bread, a child, a day.

Corita Kent and Jan Steward

It always amazed me what great talent many of my clients had and how it sadly goes to waste. Many could play instruments, sing, write, and drawing. Before my office moved, we had plenty of room to do things, and each year we would hold a talent show. That all ended when we moved into the closet space they call a program, but art therapy still continued, and many clients showed that they were true artist. I wanted to share the follow two pieces with you.

This was done entirely with chalk.  Look at the blending of the colors, the shadow effect  of the land and trees in contrast to the sun beginning to rise.  This client is so talented.  It's a shame that he is also institutionalized.  He has spent so much of his adult life incarcerated that he finds it too hard to live in the outside world so he continues to either violate parole or commit other crimes just so he can go back to prison.  At the present time, he violated his parole by not complying with curfew and is currently back behind bars.

This one is amazing.  This client has so much to offer, yet he just cannot seem to get it together.  He is very paranoid, feels everyone is talking about him.  He believes that they are saying that he 'stinks',  and he points this out to anyone who will listen. "I don't smell. Don't believe them if they tell you that." It is an obsession with him. Every day, the same thing over and over again.  He has been either homeless and traveling about the country on foot or living in a shelter his entire adult life.  At one point, he walked all the way from Florida to New York and back again.  At the present time, It is unknown where he is.  The above was created entirely with colored pencils. It took him months of painstaking work, but he finally did get it done. Just look at the fine details, the perfection.

Meanwhile, I can't honestly say that my first few days of retirement have been restful.  I've spent a lot of time decluttering.  I also headed out on Sunday to get some new kitchen curtains, something I've been wanting to do for a long time.  Next on tap will be the living room drapes. I already took a bag of clothes to the Goodwill on Saturday and more will go this week.  I plan to be ruthless, with clothing as well as all these darned knickknacks I have been collecting for years.  Nothing, but my angels, are untouchable.  

Went to my endocrinologist yesterday.  The Methimazole every other day is doing the job.  Thyroid levels are normal so we will continue as is.  Still have to have the biopsy, though.  As he said, there are two different issues with my thyroid, and neither has anything to do with the other. The other good news is that my blood pressure was 136 over 83, the lowest it has been since we discovered it was high.  I watched my sodium and took my medications religiously, but we just couldn't get it down.  I knew it was stress.  That job really was killing me.

Also on my list is spending an afternoon sorting through my cocktail jewelry.  Buying beaded necklaces has been one of my addictions for years, and I have far too many with little use for them now that I am no longer working.  Guess many of them can go to the Goodwill as well. Speaking of creativity....

I've pretty blue marbles and some colored glass butterflies hanging about in bags for awhile now.  Was about to toss them when I thought of putting the above together.  Clipped off some artificial flowers from a batch I was tossing out and added them.  Not bad, huh?  Not quite a finished product.  I plan to seat a fairy in the midst of it.

Oh, before I sign off for the day, I wanted to say that my old, obsolete flip top phone finally bit the dust and hubby got a great deal from me on a new smart phone.  It's got a great camera, meaning some better pictures. The above is the first I have taken with it.

No matter how old you get, if you can keep thedesire to be creative, you're keeping the child inside alive.

John Cassavetes