This summer has been a very rough one for me, and I’m trying to find ways to keep my spirit strong. In the past, I’ve done this by being in nature. I am very fortunate because I have the summers to travel with my husband and go to beautiful places. We love both the ocean and forests and take time to explore the Eastern Coast from Maine to Florida. This country is truly America the beautiful. Experiencing pelicans and dolphins in the South and seals and eagles in the Northeast has definitely lifted my spirits this summer. I want to be able to take these natural images and keep them with me all year through. I have been taking photographs for about three decades now alongside my husband. I have had my photography exhibited in galleries and published in magazines. Now, I’m looking for a way to play with my photos. I love the images I capture, but I want to distort them, change them, and create a new mood with them.
Art often takes my mind off my troubles and helps me figure out a new path forward. When I’m taking photos or drawing or making collages, I’m in a state of flow. Everything falls away and I’m in the moment, just me and the image. This also happens when I write poetry. It is just me and the images I’m painting with words. I am very used to manipulating words, adjusting rhyme, rhythm, and meter. Art is a little less familiar to me. When I take a photo, I compose in the moment and then it is finished almost instantaneously. I want to see if I can play with photographic images much the way I play with words when I compose poetry. I want to make sure I keep that playful, childlike mindset. I hope this artful adventure will teach me something new about the creative process. As I age, I want the world to stay fresh. I want to keep my curiosity.and youthful perspective.
One of my favorite summer places is the coast of Maine. I love the whole 3,478 miles of its beautiful shoreline from York to Bar Harbor and beyond. We travel to Maine once or twice every summer and always experience something new and wondrous. Today, I took my first fairly non-blurry photo of an eagle flying over a pod of seals. I was so excited and proud! Several years ago, my husband shot the most spectacular photo of an eagle with a fish in its talons. I was jealous! My photo at that time turned out to my a gray swirl and brown smudge. I figured I did not have the skill to get those fast images, so I stuck to flowers. Flowers are much more cooperative!
As I took time out today to play, I found some old photos that I took a few years ago on one of our Maine excursions. I took three images: one of zinnias in a window box, one of a sparrow perched on a birdhouse, and one of a yellow waterlily,. I put manipulated the photos using a photo editing program to see how I could play with color, line, and form. I wondered how I could change the photo back into a painting, drawing, or collage. I’m still thinking through this process, but I wanted to make sure that I freed myself up to play. In playing, I feel like I will get my mind to rest, relax, and create. I need this for my spirit, to develop a powerful way to face the changes aging brings. As the iconic actress, Mae West, so eloquently stated, “Getting old isn’t for the faint of heart.” I hope developing my artistic side will help me better understand how to age gracefully, how to appreciate the beauty around me, and how to keep my mind young.
Here are the results of my art play for this week:
Word Dancer: Literature, the Arts, & Education 
Joanne, I love everything about this. I, too, love to take pictures everywhere I go. I think it’s a reason I love travel so much- – because I see things with new eyes I can capture through a lens. Like you, I find the things that work. When we traveled Route 66, the theme came right away: brothers on benches. My husband and his brother would often sit and chat while the wives strolled, and I got some amazing candids of them that are moving to me. In San Antonio, it was porchscapes. Sitting areas in places with plants and small tables. In Rockport, Massachusetts it was window boxes. In Alaska, the one excursion I thought I’d not like much – the hovercraft – took us to feed eagles, and I got that same shot as your husband and ended up having it blown up onto a canvas from canvasonthecheap.com, and I do this with my favorite shots. I am so right there with you in every single sentence of your post today. I’m wishing I were there – I love Maine!! You are in a moment today where the tiny details of life are there for the picture taking, and I hope that you will do a full post of all the pictures that you take. I’m praying now that you get a shot you never expected, you never planned for, but somehow you see it and you get it. That’s a prayer going up, friend.
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Thanks for the lovely words and the “canvasonthe cheap” information. I was thinking of putting images on canvas and then painting and collaging over portions. These reasonable rates will allow me to do that. Thanks, Kim!
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Yay! It posted. Anyway, what I wanted to say was I admire your creative endeavors with photography. I was a photographer in high school, but I havenāt kept up my skills. I love how you played with these images to make something new, something unique. I hope you continue to find solace in creative work.
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Joanne, that was lovely reading about your process and WHY and then to see the three things you tried this week. I must say the zinnias are my favorite–the new image is so unique and lovely, like a sculpture.
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What beautiful photos! Art is such a wonderful way to get into flow, like you said, and be present in the moment with your surroundings. I can’t get over the photo of the eagle soaring over the seals. Incredible work, and I’m glad it’s bringing you happiness!
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Joanne, I love everything about this including your process and acceptance of a new art-format. I ONCE tried a drawing class at a “spa” experience and LOVED it. I want to do in again in a “risk free” way! You are inspiring me!
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What I appreciate the most in this lovely, reflective post, is how you describe how you are a comfortable artist already, in different genres. But as you look into aging and keeping life and creativity fresh, you are looking at what you can do with true ābeginnerās mind.ā Very wise. Keep playing! And I appreciate the reminder.
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I’ve enjoyed reading your recounting of lovely days… I so enjoy the “ocean and the forest” and add to that snow-capped mountains… I’m in the northwest. Your art is lovely! I always want to do some sketching or painting… maybe a nature journal, but I never seem to have time to do so. Thanks for reminding me that I need to take that time. I identify with your words: “I need this for my spirit, to develop a powerful way to face the changes aging brings.”
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Joanne, this is such a beautiful, reflective post. I admire how you’re stretching yourself in new ways to address new challenges. Your photos and your creative alterations are wonderful. I love what you’ve done with each one and I can’t pick a favorite. I hope that creative flow brings you joy and perspective. Also, if you’re ever in the mid-coast area and want to meet up for coffee, let me know!
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