Choosing a Wabi Sabi Life

The moon lay on her back in the sky, her thin ivory rim tipped up. Cupped gently in her hollow was the indigo sky, dotted with stars. Two straight lines stitched past the horns of the moon. They were contrails, side-lit by the bright, reflected light. Next to the contrails is the constellation Orion. I always look for it when I walk at night. Often I can just see the belt. Tonight I could see the entire constellation: the powerful Hunter standing next to the river Eridanus with his two hunting dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor, fighting Taurus, the bull.

I was walking at night. The sidewalks were deserted. In the distance, I could hear a train whistle calling as it crossed the street grade and raced into the blank and mountainous desert. Who is on the train? Where are they going at night, where will they wake up?

In the next block the intense smell of orange blossom washed over the block walls that provide privacy. I could just see the blossoms on an orange tree. I know the smell from perfumes, but no perfume has such a rich, deep green smell that carries the hope of next summer’s glowing ember oranges. I touched one of the polished, shiny dark leaves. I pulled one of the blossom branches to me, and, making careful that there were no bees in the bunch, touched the flowers to my tongue. The neroli oil washed over my tongue in a sweet and bitter wave. It is as if I had bitten into a perfumed orange. The branch sprang away from me.

The houses have their curtains drawn. I could hear faint sounds from the TVs. Someone was watching explosions and laughing. In the next house someone was not making it on American Idol. I kept walking through the shining night air. This was my gift alone.

I have chosen this life–right now it is lonely and hard. But walking through the night with all five senses is a feast I find indescribably life affirming. I feel alive and aware. I am in one moment at a time. It is an enormous gift to see all this, to taste it, touch it, to hear the sounds of the desert at night. I am grateful. The people who are in front of the TV will never know this, but they are satisfied, too. They don’t want to be walking outside in the dark. I’m glad for their comfort and glad for my own experience.

And in that second of peace, I know the heart of wabi-sabi.

Images: Orion: space.about.com  Moon: www.andrill.org

–Quinn McDonald is a writer and certified creativity coach. See her work at QuinnCreative.com

Control and Change

Most people hate change. It makes them rethink their lives, their choices and maybe even start off in a whole new direction. Some change is bigger than others, of course, but all change creates a reaction. We can’t control change, but we can choose our reaction. The important part of change is that it is inevitable. We can’t control it, the more we struggle, the more we notice our own futility. I’ve seen people fight change as if it were a mugger. Change usually wins.

This morning I saw a great example of the inevitability of change. It helped a lot as a way of seeing how change works and what to look for.

On my morning walk, I noticed a house with a big blue agave surrounded by flowers. I don’t know the local flowers yet, but they look a lot like Greek Windflowers, or anemones. Because it was early morning, the yellow and orange flowers were closed like a fist. The area around the agave looked polka dotted.

Time passed, shadows shifted and change came. I drove by again at noon, and the flowers glowed from a block away. Fully open, they made the agave look smaller. The flowers opening is change, and inevitable. I could have yelled at them, but they would have still opened. I could have threatened them, could have said I’d bang my head on the sidewalk, blamed them for opening, but they would have opened anyway. They are plants and obey their nature.

The gift of change is that we can see things from a new perspective. The cost of change is that it demands attention, and maybe more change. If we see the grass is too high, it has changed, and we may decide to mow the lawn, another change.

Change is a link in a chain of events. We may not control the links or the length, but we control the materials the links are made of. Choose your materials well.

–Images/Story: Quinn McDonald (c) 2008 All rights reserved. Quinn McDonald is a writer and trainer in communication topics. She is also a certified creativity coach.

Collage Background 3

Backgrounds for your collages are all around. Train your eyes to see backgrounds, and the world will fill up with them.

Take photographs to save the idea, and then print them on a variety of papers–photographic papers will give you a stiff, glossy surface.

Printing them on copy paper will give you a softer look, but be careful–ink jet ink will run with glue. Spray it with several light layers of fixative first.

Print them on Lazertran or transparency paper. Print them on heavier paper and paint ink over them.

Or just leave them alone and use them as the beautiful backgrounds they are.

From top to bottom, the images are:

1. Rock wall with a dried vine, taken at the Washington Arboretum in Washington, D.C.

2. Close up of a letter stained with tea and printed on Lazertran.

3. Close up of a sidewalk stained by grass fertilizer and very hard water, Mesa, AZ.

4. Close up of salt-stained staircase in Washington, D.C.

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Images and background instructions (c) Quinn McDonald, 2008. All rights reserved.

Quinn McDonald is a collage artist and a certified creativity coach who teaches collage art and visual journaling. See her work at QuinnCreative.com

Two Wolves in Us

This story is not mine. I received it as an email the other day, from my friend Allan, a freelance financial writer in Vermont. Generally, email stories get spiked before I open them, but this one is worth another read. So here it is:

Two Wolves
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside all people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

–Quinn McDonald is a writer and certified creativity coach. See her work at QuinnCreative.com

Wabi Sabi Dessert

When I saw this dessert in the Los Angeles Times, I couldn’t believe it would work. When I tried it, it was a great surprise and delight–it works perfectly. The dessert is Meyer Lemon Posset and the recipe, while ancient, appeared in a modern version in the L.A. Times courtesy of Regina Schramblings.

A posset was originally a drink developed the Middle Ages. It was made with cream, sugar, spices, and some sort of spirit, often ale. The alcohol would thicken the drink. Over time, recipe got more complicated, with eggs and flavorings added. Now it’s come back to its original simple creation, and we can be thankful for it.

It’s the perfect dessert for Valentine’s Day–it’s worth the calorie splurge. It has a heavenly tart, fragrant, and sweet taste, and an exquisite texture. And it’s not hard to make. Three ingredients combine to create the perfect meaning of the word ’synergy.’ Cream, sugar and Meyer lemons. Together they taste so much better than each ingredient on its own.

Why wabi sabi? Because as a recipe, it has all the elements of wabi sabi–it honors the old, the simple, and is the joy of its creation. It doesn’t take long to make, but there are no shortcuts, and each step has a special joy. It requires waiting and the wait is worthwhile. Meyer Lemon Posset is a perfect wabi sabi dessert.

Meyer lemons are also called Key Limes, and they are the same citrus fruit that goes into Key Lime Pie. If you live within easy reach of a Hispanc market, they are also called Colada Limon. A Meyer lemon looks like a small lime–it’s round, not oval, and green, with a finer textured skin than a standard Persian lime. When left on the tree, they will become yellow, but they are most often picked, packed and shipped while mostly green. They have a softer flavor than Persian limes, intensely tropical limey and tart, rather than sour.

The recipe
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup superfine sugar
1/4 cup Meyer lemon juice

Method
Combine cream and sugar and heat over low heat, stirring, till it simmers and sugar is dissolved. No need to boil.
Cool the mixture to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
While the mixture is cooling, juice enough Meyer lemons (about 5) to create 1/4 cup juice. Use the pulp, but remove the seeds.
Combine the juice into the cooled cream mixture, stir thoroughly and immediately pour into small bowls for individual serving. Chill for at least 4 hours to allow the mixture to set up. It will have the consistency of sour cream, and will be a lovely ivory color.

Serving suggestion: you can certainly eat it the way it is. You can top it with fresh or frozen fruit. Blueberries add a nice color contrast, mangoes create a taste explosion. If you can’t bear the calories, you can also serve it in smaller portions by putting together some perfect berries and putting a generous dollop of posset over the fruit.

No matter how you serve it, eat it slowly, breathing fully between bites to get the fragrance into your head for maximum enjoyment.

–Images: Key limes: thaifood.about.com Posset: Quinn McDonald
–Quinn McDonald is a writer and creativity coach. She lives in Arizona and wishes her house in Virginia would sell. While she’s waiting for her chef husband to sell the house, she’s rediscovering her own cooking skills, including this dessert recipe. See her work at QuinnCreative.com (c) 2008 All rights reserved.

Tutorial: Monochromatic Collage

Working with just one color is a study in shifts and changes, a challenge in training your eye. But the work is rich, and the rewards many. One of the most amazing parts of this work is to see the effect in a changing light. Shadows, highlights and shading creates a display you can watch as the sun moves through your day. Try viewing your work under different lights and at different distances from the light source. You’ll be delighted at the different look you can achieve from one card, just by changing the light source.

Both of these cards are monochromatic. Made on 90-lb. recycled paper, the card background is plain white. Not the bright blue-white of sketching paper, but a simple, matte white.

Fold the paper in thirds, trimming to fit a standard envelope. Then open the paper, and place it so the back of the card is at your upper left. (If you are right handed, try it with the back of the card on your upper right).

Using an X-acto™ knife, cut in freehand waves from the top corner to about halfway across the bottom edge of the paper. In other words, the bottom edge of the paper should be the shortest part, about half as long at the top edge.

Now refold the card. It will be in an accordion fold, with the tallest part in the back.

Cut squiggles, triangles and other shapes from other shades of white paper. You will be surprised at how many shades of white you can find without using paint. Washi papers are creamy white, photocopy papers are blue-white, pages from old books are almost tan.

In monochromatic collages, you can use several shades, even if you can’t do the same thing with fully saturated colors.

Arrange them in interesting patterns. In the two cards shown, the triangles become trees, a larger circle of natural washi becomes the moon, squiggles of white paper printed with black become shadows and hills.

Once you find a pleasing arrangement, use a small brush dipped in diluted glue or liquid matte medium, paint the back of the entire squiggle and apply it, glue side down, on the card. Try not to reposition it, as the glue will leave a visible mark.

Note: Never glue on your cutting mat. It will ruin the mat. Use the back of photocopies you are going to toss out. Glue one piece and move down the sheet, so you don’t wind up with glue on the front of the piece your are gluing.

When gluing triangles or circles, be careful what side you want to glue. Sometimes you want to glue the front of a triangle onto the back of a card. You won’t need a lot of glue. When you are done, stand the card upright to let it dry. When it is completely dry, press lightly under a heavier book. Do not press in a book press, as the shorter pages will imprint on the longer pages.

–Quinn McDonald is an artist and writer. She teaches several art and journaling classes at the Mesa Art Center. See her work at QuinnCreative.com

Writing Across the Desert

Yesterday, I crossed the desert from Phoenix to Los Angeles to visit an old friend. This is a friend, who, if we haven’t seen each other in years, will sit down and begin to yak as if we had been on the phone yesterday. That’s a rare friendship, a gem of value.

The trip was amazing, in a visual sense. I-10 is the direct route, but it is not the freeway of the East Coast. There are not gas stations at every stop, and you have to plan. I started with a full tank of gas, and kept it at around half full. As the journey was new to me (aren’t they all?) the sights were incredible, and the trip an awakening to the isolation (at least for people who drive) to the cities on the West Coast. At some point, people walked this distance, and settled in a place isolated and alone. And free of the conventions they walked away from.

I left the bowl of mountains that creates The Valley of the Sun, in which Phoenix sits. It was a clear day, cool, with that big bowl of blue sky. Culturally, the color blue and blue stones, like turquoise and lapis, represent the eye of the divine. Those who grunge against the idea because it seems Western European need to stand in the desert and let the understanding seep into them–the big blue roof above you isn’t about Western European culture, it’s about nature.

[Pictures will be here shortly. I'm on someone else's computer and can't transfer pictures from my camera.]

I cross the mountains and drive through mountain ranges. Once I have gone through Quartzite and Blythe, the desert changes. The sand is dust fine. I see a line of smudge in the distance and as I get closer, it is sand blowing across the road. For about 50 feet, there is no road, just blowing sand. I follow the tracks of the car in front of me, realizing that I am suddenly grateful for the view-blocking truck that provides a track for me to follow.

Then I’m through it, and notice the different look of mountains. They are sharper here, more deeply etched, sharply defined. The mountains in Phoenix were caused by volcanoes, and the Sonoran desert was once the bottom of a deep, warm sea. These mountains were caused by shelves of earth pushing past each other, mountains pushed up out of the ground to be weathered by the wind.

The first mountains appear with snow on the top. I cross the San Bernadino range and drive through a giant wind farm. Huge, whirling turbines catch the wind through the pass and make electricity. It’s a scene from science fiction.

About an hour out of Los Angeles the traffic starts. I’m back to real life. And for today, life is good.

–Quinn McDonald is a writer, certified creativity coach, and a trainer in the communication field, which has nothing to do with phone companies and a lot to do with words and getting clarity. (c) 2007 All rights reserved.

Journal Prompt Cards: Now in 3 Topics

Journal Prompt Cards (TM) are 30 cards bound into a one-month journal. There are 3 sets of 10 questions. You write directly on the prompt card, so you have a record of your answers without a hassle. In addition to the prompts, there are spaces to record your emotions, the music you are listening to, and other shifts in your personal environment.

Bound on Rollabind rings, the journal is easily taken apart and rearranged any way you like. You can toss it in your bag, or keep it by your bed.

Journal Prompt Cards come in three topics:
–One-Sentence Journaling
–Journaling for Perfectionists
–Wabi-Sabi Journaling

Yes, I created them to go with my classes by the same name, but you don’t need to take the classes to use them and grow.

You can carry the individual cards with you, or you can carry the bound version as a complete one-topic journal.

There are several ways to use the Journal Prompt Cards ™ –use the same prompt for three days in a row to see how you approach life differently day to day; work through the month, getting a different prompt for the first ten days, then working through all 10 twice more. Either way, at the end of the month, you’ll have a snapshot of your inner landscape and an idea of how you show up in that landscape.

You can also use them with journaling friends or instead of a bookclub.

Each bound journal is $10– that includes first class postage in the continental US. International airmail shipping is also available.

To order, send an email to QuinnCreative [at] yahoo [dot] com. Include the topic name and contact information.

–Quinn McDonald invented the cards and Paul Lagasse designed them. They are under copyright with all rights reserved. (c) 2007.

Creativity at Play

Sure, studying creativity is important. But playing is even more important. Johnathan Feinstein does both, but you will enjoy noodling with his geometric elements to make abstract collages with your keyboard.

Read a lot? Make a multi-strand bookmark to keep track of all the parts of a book you love.

“Illustration Friday is a weekly creative outlet/participatory art exhibit for illustrators and artists of all skill levels. It was designed to challenge participants creatively. We believe that every person has a little creative bone in their body. Illustration Friday just gives a no-pressure, fun excuse to use it. It’s a chance to experiment and explore and play with visual art. So welcome, novices and pros alike” –From the website.

Love fabric art? Check out Sue Beiweiss’s blog. Her fabric folders are a great idea.

Wabi-Sabi is a fascination for me. The Japanese aesthetic of honoring the old, worn, and incomplete lead to quiet creativity and simplicity. Some resources for those who want to explore wabi-sabi. If you are as fascinated as I am by this reverence for the simple, the worn, and the unfinished,  keep an eye on my newsletter, Imagination Works. I teach a journal writing class based on the principles of wabi-sabi, and the announcements are always in the newsletter.

Remember your prom? These kids will. They went to “Stuck at the Prom” and they made their prom clothes entirely of duct tape. Dresses, tuxes, shoes, purses, wraps (pun intended) all made of duct tape. Who knew it came in so many colors? Sponsored by Duck brand duct tape.

Wish you could find a website dedicated to Photoshop techniques for artists? Get busy, you have lots to look at!

–Quinn McDonald is an artist, writer and certified creativity coach. See her work at QuinnCreative.com

Wabi-Sabi Ideas

Wabi-Sabi is a Japanese aesthetic that values the time-worn, the aged, the imperfect. It is a philosophy and a way of accepting and giving up control. Bringing wabi-sabi into your life allows you to make room for daydreams, for accepting a simpler life and for valuing the riches already in your life. Today, a few quotes to help you open your mind to Wabi-Sabi

You are the person you are when no one is looking.

Anger is only one letter short of danger.

No one can give you abilities. For example, an Olympic athlete works with a trainer to develop her abilities, but the trainer only helps manifest what was inherent all along. Likewise, no one can give you happiness. At most, others simply help manifest the joy that was always within you.

Happiness does not mean ‘absence of problems.’ There has never been a life free from problems. It is not the presence of problems, but how we tackle them that determines the quality of our lives.

Blind faith is no faith

One does not win by making others lose.

–All quotes from “Open Your Mind, Open Your Life.” edited by Taro Gold

–Image from Still in the Stream, a site reflecting on Wabi-Sabi in nature.

–Quinn McDonald is an artist, writer and certified creativity coach. See her work/contact her through QuinnCreative.com