Monday 6 July 2009

A walk to the beach.

What goes on in our creative mind? Do we always know about it, or do our everyday thoughts and actions often cloak our creative instincts? And why does this creativity emerge in people in different ways? Why do some of us express ourselves in words, others in paint, others in music - there are so many different ways.
I have done my second collage today (I don't want to become a bore with this, so shall not post it every day!) and - in line with the suggestions on the course - I sat and thought and allowed my mind to wander. And I thought of a picture I saw fifteen years ago, for sale in a hotel called Le Chanticleer in a lovely little village called St. Adele in Canada. It was for sale for fifty dollars and I thought about buying it for too long 'til I persuaded myself not to have it! I have always regretted not buying it - and think of it often. Here is the progression of my thoughts on it - by no means meant to be a poem - just a wander through the mind:-

A Walk on the Beach.

It hung on the wall,
a small, simple picture -
two children -
hand in hand -
walking to the beach.

He in trousers as blue
as the sea;
she with a red
bucket and spade.

I didn't buy it, but it
hangs in my mind,
that image from St. Adele
fifteen years ago.

Did they enjoy their day?
Did they build fine castles?
Do they remember that day
now that they
are no longer children?

Was the day
as important to them
as it has been to me
who still can see
that moment of a
walk to the beach?

Try it. Try sitting and letting your mind walk where it wishes to go. Have you got a memory to share?

18 comments:

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Your memory reminded me of the Rosamund Pilcher book, The Shell Seekers. I think there was a similar painting featured there.

I can still see the copy of Memoirs of a Highland Lady that I passed up in a wonderful little bookshop in Wigtown. Like you, I have regretted not buying it! So much.

steven said...

oh weaver what a fine question!!! how many times have i been somewhere and seen something and thought my way out of it and then wondered why i let myself rationalize my way out of it!!
the big question about creativity - my own understanding is that creativity is all around us and that we make ourselves available to it - or not. however it passes through us and however it emerges, the key is to get yourself out of the way as much as possible and let it pass through you. have a peaceful day. steven

Leslie said...

What a great inspiration!

Cloudia said...

Excellent advice
wonderful poem!
You truly acquired the picture thought you didn't take physical possession of it. Now you have shared it with us. Thank you!!

Aloha from a beach

Comfort Spiral

Tess Kincaid said...

Oh, I've been there, too. Something I'm drawn to, unique and one of a kind, I'm meant to have, and I talk myself out of it, only to regret it.

Leenie said...

Oh yes, the artwork not purchased. There are several. Two prints stand out--Robert Bateman's "Barn Owl" and John Clymer's "Sacajawea Meets the Big Water." Both of them were in my hand but I talked myself out of the "extravagance." Alas!

Heather said...

Delightful poem Weaver. Isn't it annoying when we have heeded sound advice not to be spendthrifts, only to spend the rest of our lives regretting it? As for creativity - I suppose it finds it's outlet in whatever talent we may have, whether it be inherited or learned.

Totalfeckineejit said...

One (good) poem can mean a million different things to a million people.I think of missed opprtunity, a word left unsaid, a hand ungrasped.I also think I gotta go now cos everytime i see'Chanticleer' i think of Chaucer and I get very, very, frightened.Adios amigo, but I'll be back when it's all clear. :)

Hildred said...

No time to walk the memories, Weaver, - when you mentioned St. Adele a picture of Charles skiing there while on a Commander Course immediately sprang to mind.

When I mentioned your post to him he immediately had a picture in his mind of the young pilot who was shot beside him while they crawled through snow and logs under a rain of bullets.

Some vagaries of war and training found a group of pilots taking a Commando Course prior to embarkation to England in the lovely Laurentians at a confiscated luxury resort.....

It seems that you and Charles have walked the same streets at different times.

Delwyn said...

Hello Weaver

I too thought of the Shell Seekers,
but it seems as if you have treasured that image even though you did not buy the painting so it has left its mark on you indelibly.

I too am a collage aficionado and find it best not to think about the process too much at all - just let the unconscious have free reign... then it truly is a creative act. And afterwards you can take a good look at your projections and bring the left brain back into doing what it does best...

Happy days

Babette Fraser Hale said...

If I could have painted anything decent (to my eye) I'd be doing that still. I write because it's what I do best (or did). I do take photographs, but again, not good enough. If I understood what made a good poem, I'd write them or try (I have written bad ones; hasn't everyone?). I do have a bit better understanding of sentences and stories and long fiction and so that's what I struggle with. And it is a struggle, a life-long commitment. The thing I wish I'd bought is a small photograph I saw at the Round Top Antique Show last fall. It was a mulatto woman (so called in the period) circa 1890, dressed in a white dress, with such a sad, wise look on her face.

Pondside said...

That was a very thought-provoking post. I don't think I've ever thought about that kind of missed opportunity - most of the time those things whiz by, in and out of my head. When I stopped though, to think, I remembered a visit long ago with a great-aunt who offered me some family treasures. I was too shy to say 'yes please' and because she was a nun the treasures moved out of the family. I was too young to realize what would happen and I regret that silly shyness.

Penny said...

What a wonderful memory, even if you didnt buy the painting. I have always regretted not buying a quite large terracotta cat in Florence when we were there almost backpacking,(we were actually skiing having left the children with friends on this our first overseas trip) in the early 70's. I just wasnt confident I would get it home in one piece.

alaine@éclectique said...

I also remember a picture I procrastinated about, didn't buy and I can still see it in my mind's eye. A very large, framed, sepia print of a little blond boy, just his back view, walking down a country lane. It was in a second-hand shop so somebody had loved it once.

Thanks for sharing your poem.

Jeannette StG said...

When it's about creativity, I don't scrimp. The poem is lovely, but... I love the collage in your header - it's a breath of fresh air to me!

Acornmoon said...

I like your poem, I think it is a poem and a good one at that.

The Weaver of Grass said...

It seems that most of us have a "not buy" decision we now regret - what is it in us that forces us to hesitate like that - the items are not necessarily expensive are they?
I like steven's take on creativity.
It is such a big subject and I think we all agree that we have to find our own metier.
Bdogs - I think sometimes we can be too critical of our own work - perhaps we should adopt steven's philosophy.
Hildred - I wonder if Charles and I have ever passed each other without knowing it - we certainly seem to have frequented the same places don't we?

Reader Wil said...

Lovely that you remember that painting and wrote this delightful poem about it! Thanks for your visit and comment! Yes those were the days.