Not a Plan in Sight by Joylene M Bailey

 

Portrait painters captivate me. Maybe it's because I'm not a portrait artist, but I could watch them do their thing for hours. With some artists, the image they're creating is recognizable almost immediately. That's definitely the sitter's eye, her chin, her hair. The plan is clear, the method ... well, methodical. Deliberate.

Then there are other artists who seem to slop their canvases with a mash of bright or monochromatic colours. Completely unrecognizable as a portrait. When asked at this point in the project, I've heard some of these artists say they hope a discernible resemblance eventually materializes. Indeed, as they work, pushing the paint around in sweeps and flourishes and straight lines, a likeness does begin to emerge, rising from the depths to amaze me every time. One tiny brush stroke can change a painting completely. Was that the plan all along? Or did it surprise the artist too?

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What writing projects make my heart sing?

I had to think about this question for a long time. I love to write all kinds of things: children's songs and stories, adult fiction, poetry and rhymes, vignettes and scenes for a novel, my blog posts. Sometimes the project makes my heart sing and sometimes it doesn't. And it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the genre. What is it about each of these writing ventures that brings a thrill. And what makes it feel offkey? 

As I dug deeper I slowly came to realize that my heart sings when I write with no plan. When I let myself go, tap into that je ne sais quoi, and let the story materialize through my fingers somehow. That's it. That's when my heart soars.

One of my favourite stories came out of a prompt given at our writers' group meeting. The prompt was simply: Hello. What grew from there was a whimsical children's story that still makes me giggle every time I read it. Maybe it's only fit to read to the grandchildren, but what a delight it was to write it. And I imagine God delighting in my delight, like I take joy in the joy of my grandchildren.

A keynote speaker and author I once heard at a writing conference called himself an intuitive writer. He related how, during the writing of one of his novels, an essential character decided to get up and leave the book three-quarters of the way in. It completely changed the trajectory of the story.

I LOVE THAT!!

I love the unpredictability and the surprise. Just when you think you're going one way, something happens to make the story change. It's unexpected, and brilliant as a firework. Like the one tiny brush stroke that completely changes a portrait.

Maybe you are a planner. You enjoy the outlines and the method. Like the methodical painter, your portraits are beautiful and full of wonderful details that delight your Creator.

Or maybe your heart sings when you have no plan and no boundaries. You too delight your Creator with your unique, surprising, and beautiful portraits. 

I think we are all one-of-a-kind creations of our Creator, created to create works of art for His glory, His delight, His purpose. And how wonderful to be able to do it in a way that makes our hearts sing.    

~~~~~

Photo by Pixabay

Today Joy writes from her home in Edmonton, where she will be living for nine more days before moving with The Cowboy to their new home in the country. You can find her Joy-infused view of the world at Scraps of Joy. 

Passing On the Legacy - Tracy Krauss

My mother was a very vibrant and eccentric individual. She was known for her whimsical ways and inspired a family phrase that perfectly described the way she lived her life. ‘The Doreen Method’ is our way of saying ‘make it up as you go along’. This applied to recipes, sewing, carpentry… just about anything. Mom wasn’t afraid to tackle tasks if she had no previous experience or skill, but the outcome might not be the norm. As an artist she loved to paint on any surface from canvas to rocks to whole buildings. When my sister and her husband moved into Mom’s old house they were faced with a dilemma.  There were lots of funny little murals she had painted in obscure nooks and crannies. How could one paint over them?

Mom was also a storyteller, and some of my favourite childhood memories include listening to bedtime stories and songs. We were well acquainted with Thornton W. Burgess’ Adventures of Reddy Fox, for instance. In fact, foxes and mice were the favourite characters in her repertoire of stories and songs. She shared them with her children and nieces and nephews, and the tradition was carried forward to her grandchildren and even her great-grandchildren.

Mom passed away in 2007 at the age of 80. Unfortunately, we lost her seven years earlier to dementia. It was so difficult to see such a formerly vibrant individual reduced to the shell that she became. I had the privilege of sitting with her during the hours before she passed away. Somewhere around four o’clock in the morning on January 17, 2007, she slipped away to be with Jesus, free from the mental constraints that had kept her trapped for those seven years.

While I sat with her, holding her hand, I sang some of those old songs. One particularly special song was an old Haven Gillespie tune written in the 1930s called ‘The Sleepytown Express’. (listen here!) This is the song that ushered her into the presence of the Lord.  Strangely, my sisters and my two female cousins all woke at around four o’clock, dreaming about the Sleepytown Express...

I decided soon afterward that I would like to publish a book illustrating the song as a tribute to my mother. It took several years to do the paintings and quite a bit of  research to obtain permission to use the lyrics, but finally, in February of 2014, seven years after Mom passed, The Sleepytown Express was published.

Evangeline and Oma (me)

For me this project was so much more than another book under my belt. It was about sharing Mom’s legacy with the extended family and passing it on to the next generation. Here is a picture of my own granddaughter reading her favourite book. As you can see from the shape of the cover, it is well used. This is not a book to be kept in pristine or precious condition; it is a book to be sung and celebrated as we pass the memorial torch on to the next generation.

Tracy Krauss comes from a long line of creative people - artists, musicians, writers, and teachers go back generations. She currently teaches Art, Drama, and English - all things she is passionate about, while living in Tumbler Ridge with her husband. She also writes books and plays in her 'spare' time. Here is a link to an article called 'Artistic Generations'. You can also visit her website to see all of her published work: 7 novels, 7 stage plays, 3 anthologies, one devotional, and one illustrated children's book... and counting!