I spent most of yesterday morning painting by the lakeshore and, yes, it was as calming as it sounds.
It was mindful creativity; it was non-judgmental art.
I’m doing that this month: art.
It is, pretty much all I’m doing this month.
Art.
I’ve got several projects on the go and none of them with a specific deadline. I’ve taken artful adventures with and without my camera (I think of them as field trips) and I’m also mindful of random, spontaneous artistic thought.
The painting session was as spontaneous as a painting session could be. I had intended on writing, but painting on a picnic table by the lake sounded more beneficial.
I’d gone to this same spot two weeks earlier and painted, essentially the same scene. But it looked different yesterday, and not only because it was hazy. I know two weeks ago, as I had undertaken this August art immersion, I was thinking more as I was painting. My paints had sat in the wooden box too long, and I was refreshing myself on technique and considering composition and all sorts of things that can clutter the mind.
Yesterday I just painted; seven small sheets of paper, one scene, and several different versions of the same scene.
All created without rushing.
And all created without judgment.
Sometimes you just have to paint.
Sometimes you have to just be.
Sometimes there are mindful thoughts in watching paint dry.

Would you like a small post-card sized painting from the Toronto lakeshore?
If you send me a postcard from where you live, telling me something about your corner of the planet, I’ll send you a handcrafted postcard from my city.
During the month of October, on this website, soultalk will will be celebrating Homecoming Month. In addition to writers I have invited into this space, postcards will be used to help make this world a little smaller. I’ve already received cards from around the world, but I’d like more.
If you’d like to be involved, send a email soultalk@mythosandmarginalia.com and I’ll send you details and my address.

peace
-j-