Distractions

I’ve been distracted lately.  Tonight was the first time that I returned to my studio and relaxed. I have been working in my garden like a fiend.  I have an art demonstration this week at the local artist gallery. My presentation is partially completed but my heart is not in. I want to be in the garden pulling weeds and planting seedlings.  Gardening is my creative distraction.  I have learned to embrace it and not beat myself up for not spending more time in my studio.

I read somewhere recently that ” interruptions are worth having  if they create a space for something to work in the fertile unconscious.”   I like that thought. It affirms what I already knew that distractions are valuable.  I drift and I dream while I garden. It is where I find my muse to create art.

One of my favorite books is In Search of My Mother’s Garden by Alice Walker. In this book, Alice Walker in a series of essays talks about how she was able to find her own creativity by seeing her mother’s creativity at work in the garden her mother created.

“…so brilliant with colors, so original in its design, so magnificent with life and creativity, that to this day people drive by our house in Georgia-perfect strangers and imperfect strangers-and ask to stand of walk among my mother’s art”.

My ma mere (grandmother) planted flower and vegetables gardens which were so beautiful that strangers also stopped and admired them.  Ma mere taught me to save the coffee grounds to put around the plants. She taught me to layer the planting holes with egg shells before I put the seedlings in the soil. When I asked her how will I know when it is time to plant?  She said to watch the birds and the trees.  She said the the weatherman does not know anything.  Trust the birds and trees.

She also taught me about sweat equity. Gardening is not for the faint of heart. You have to be willing to work hard.  So when I garden, sweating, huffing and puffing like a leaky faucet I feel my ma mere teasing me and saying, “You young people do not know what hard work is”.   I remember the pride in her voice when she boasted that she could out hoe most men.  She definitely could out hoe me and she was well in her eighties at the time.

When I draw a flower from my garden or paint a watercolor I feel my ma mere near me.  Sometimes I cry because I miss her so much. When I garden it is my gift to my ma mere. It connects me to her and to the earth.

It is true that many people spent their time being  negatively distracted. They may drink too much or eat too much or even  work too hard desperately seeking financial security. The key is to be able to distinguish between creative distractions and destructive distractions.

For example, I have encountered times when I am unable to finish a painting. I will stop and make tea and while I am waiting for the water to boil an idea comes to me on how to finish it.  Or I am in the garden admiring the colorful irises and become inspired to paint them.  One of my dear friends purchased one of my iris paintings recently.  Thank you Akilah.

Merci, ma mere for providing me with the love of gardening.  Nothing is in bloom at the moment.  However I would like to share with you a few images from my garden.

Do you have a creative distraction?  Remember there will be times when to follow a creative distraction there may be anxiety in not completing something  or fear that your muse has abandoned you.  Take heart and make a pot of tea. Creative distractions can be inspiring.

P.S.  I made the trellis and potting bench.