What changed a big part of my life began as chatting. A simple chat between my sister-in-law Maret on the way to a store where she consigned her glass art. "Have you seen the new exhibit at SMOCA" (Scottsdale Museum of Art)? " "No. What is it?" "Buttons! Buttons used to cover and create sculpture." "Really!! I've always loved buttons but I've never thought of them as a basis of sculpture."
We chatted some more about buttons as it turned out Maret collects them. Except for books, I'm not much of a collector however our talk reminded me I had two tins of buttons at my ex-husband's house that were from my grandmother and my mother. The following week I went over to his house and got the tins. Opening them I was amazed at the variety and a germ of an idea began to form: what if I made simple bracelets from these buttons that had belonged to Gramsy and Mom and gave them to my sisters as Christmas presents? I had never considered myself particularly 'crafty' nor an artist {except with words which do not require gluing or sewing!} but I thought that even if the bracelets turned out not particularly wearable, they would be an heirloom keepsake attached to both Gramsy and Mom.
I'll now make a long story short: the bracelets turned out far better than anything I had conceived. I showed them to Maret, she proclaimed them 'art' and suggested I make more and enter them into a juried art show. The bracelets were accepted to be sold at the show. I spent six weeks working 12 to 16 hours a day - everyday - creating bracelets and pins. The show was extremely successful as I received many affirmations of the concept and creation and also made a little money. A small cottage business of creating and selling bracelets made of vintage, that is buttons made from the 1960's and before {my favorites are from the 1940's} was born.
What, however was this little business born from?
Again, to make a long story very short, the bracelet creation and then sales of the bracelets was born from a willingness to pay attention to and then respond to, the promptings I felt within myself as a result of an innocent chat .If I had not answered the prompt to get the tins from Steve's house the germ of the idea to create bracelets for my sisters would not have been evoked: that is, stirred up from within myself. If I had responded to the idea of creating with the buttons I found in the tins, with a quite logical pooh-poohing; 'I'm not an artist' for I did not think of myself at the time as an artist, I would not have pondered how to create the bracelets. If I had given into the anxiety and fear I initially felt when Maret proposed that I enter a juried art show which meant I could face rejection, I would not have discovered either the variety of bracelets that could be made nor the fact that I could earn money from this irrational idea. I would also not have discovered that a big part of the truth of who I am, is an artist.
It's really simple: life is created from 'yes.' Life is most often created from tiny yeses we barely pay attention to but are in fact, tiny steps taking us to bigger yeses. Looking backwards to what I had been doing before the chat with Maret, I realized that for about four months I had been coloring mandalas as part of my morning meditation. I didn't think of my coloring as an action that would make me an artist but what I am aware of now, is from my regular coloring, my investing in different types of colored pencils, I slowly - oh so very slowly - was learning and discovering the joy of how to use the pencils for creation, and was also, slowly and very, very unconsciously, bringing to life a part of myself I had rejected quite young: the artist.
Okay, another long story made very short: when I began doing this particular blog I committed myself to writing shorter than I had in my previous blog and therefore, I have now just about used up my personally alloted words. I have also not written what I intended to write about buttons. But here's what I know about creativity: it is saying 'yes' that is essential and the 'yes' is not a yes in our head: it is a response to inner urges given form by action. Sometimes - actually in creative living it's more like 'almost always' - the action being stirred in our heart may seem completely irrational and take us where we had not intended. I learned that particular truth when I said yes to writing which became an adventure developing courage for venturing into the unknown: I never really know where I will end up on the 'paper' when I begin to write and after two decades I am finally, more or less - depending upon the day, comfortable with this fact.
Creative response which is the willingness to bring the new: that which has not been seen before, into the Light of Living - like the artist hidden within my self - almost always appears irrational. I'll end this with one of my very favorite quotes from the writer Madeline L'Engle about Advent - the wonderful season we are now in as we head toward Christmas: This is the irrational season; where love blooms bright and wild. Had Mary been full of reason, there'd have been no room for the child.
Maybe tomorrow I'll write what I intended today ... or maybe something new is being born! May you be blessed with awareness of promptings - stirrings - of irrational love.
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