ships

Entangled between wind and water
Broadside delivered, ballast shifts
Precarious stem to stern
Into the murky depths
Hopelessly befouled
Reaching, cutting
Float, weightless
Slipping
Free
Entangled between wind and water
Broadside delivered, ballast shifts
Precarious stem to stern
Into the murky depths
Hopelessly befouled
Reaching, cutting
Float, weightless
Slipping
Free
Time, unbroken, blurs the illusion
Quells the ocean, unveils its depths
Fragments reverberating
Turbulence, dissidence
Humanity wanes
Fading imprints
Swept away
Suppress
Shroud
The woodland whispers, why do you come
Snow swirls, swallowing every word
We’re both the same, you and I
Limbs laid bare, scarred and scorched.
Cunning artifice
Into the still
Black boneyard
Emerge
Soar
Over landscape sculpted by winter
A veil cast of simplicity
Snow blanketing last fall’s leaves
Bracing wind, hunkered down
No voices ring out
Silence echoes
Tangled trees
Empty
Bench
Winter
Prairie highway
Pastel wash, lines obscured
Alpenglow glazing mountain tops
Dawn breaks
In a place where the prairie winds blow
Horizon stretching endlessly
Geological landscape
A coulee of bedrock
Prehistoric sea
In dawn’s pink light
Concretions
Spheric
Red
Hard edges, soft swirls.
Water surges just beneath-
Cold wintry winds blow.
The morning’s first light,
Forest stripped of snowy bows-
A bird soars above.
on the year.
On the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.
John Keats
I think that it’s a sign of growth when we can look at what we do and how we do it and evaluate if that still works for us. For me December is the perfect time to do that and gear up for the coming year.
For example, I am a believer that how you keep your work space is a clear indicator of your mental health. I used to feel that a work space that was cluttered and filled with ongoing, unfinished work was a sign of great creativity. Looking back at that now I realize that you can’t be working to your full potential in a messy environment and taking it one step further, if you dig deep, I think you’ll find that it is an indicator of poor mental health and unhappiness.
I look at the images that I love to create and by far the cleanest, simplest imagery is what fuels my passion the most so why would I ever think that cluttered would work for me?
I’ve spent this year simplifying my life, my gear, my studio and in the process of doing so find myself finishing off the year feeling inspired and focused.
It’s that time of year…plan some goals, clean up your work space, and start the New Year off with a clear direction and a plan of how to get there from here.
Reading a little poetry won’t hurt either, I highly recommend When I Have Fears by John Keats.