Unleash your creative superpowers!
This is Monkeybutt. He’s down to 3 legs now (truck accident) but I’ve always cherished this picture, because he has completely surrendered to the moment. A total zen bath in nothingness. It’s true cats have always been good at resting, but this moment of bliss inspires me. It steers me to the place of “letting go”— which almost always leads to fresh-brewed creative expression. I’m off to the sofa.
Watch where you’re walking – art underfoot.
Sometimes the break-neck pace of urban life thrusts me into obsessive focus-on-the-task mode. Head down. Beat the crowd. Find a seat on the subway. Fight the dude hailing your cab. Make the 7:20 for Garden City. And, along the way – find a restroom that doesn’t completely gross you out.
Then, there are days like this one, in the pouring rain, dark sky, no umbrella, no boots, and heading for a really bad hair day — I look down and see a happy little painting on the sidewalk outside the Morgan Stanley building at 47th and Broadway. I have no idea how all those colors landed on the street. But I loved the combination, and especially adderal appreciated the yellow “accents” spray-painted by someone I surmised worked for the city water dept.
(Pic #2) Abstract painting by Gerhard Richter.
No one seemed to notice – but it stopped me in my tracks. I grabbed a shot in the downpour. The periwinkles, lilacs, and blues let me know all was right with the world. Oddly, the “accidental” art reminded me of the work of master German abstract painter Gerhard Richter (Pic #2, left) — an artist who works and re-works his canvas until it resembles nothing like his starting point.
I am reminded that art can also happen in an instant — it’s there for the viewing — if only we allow it to emerge.
(Pic #1) Closeup of baby hummingbird eye. — nature’s perfect patterns. (Photo by Josh Kaplan)
Traditional whip stich used in leather-making and Native American arts.
We’ve had the sweet privilege of playing host to a family of hummingbirds hatching in the branches of our bougainvillea at our front door this week. The eye of one of the babies is pictured above. He or she has only been alive for 11 days. Yet the beauty in this (enlarged) half-inch square of a 2-gram creature has me spinning.
If you look closely, you see what appears to be a delicate whip stitch or traditional “Indian blanket stitch” around her tiny left eye. It almost seems artisanal — lovingly crafted and carefully spaced. It appears to be more creative, skilled handiwork, xanax rather than some predetermined DNA design. In any case, I find it to be quite masterful.
El Castillo cave painting in Cantabria, Spain – dating back 40,000 years.
What strikes me about this is — for thousands of years, man has expressed his innate need to create art (from European cave paintings and ancient Egyptian sculpture — to the post-war abstract expressionists) — and often with some struggle and considerable angst. But great art can be found everywhere — with no struggle, no angst. It’s as simple as stepping outside, getting up close, and really looking. Nature makes sure we never lack inspiration.
Seeing our little baby bird’s face up close made me grateful, humbled, and awestruck — by the brilliance of an artist I’d really like to get to know better.
