Gathering Inspiration in my Creative Practice

I can explain….

As part of ​my Flora Creativity Practice​ (my model for having a creative mindset and leading a creative life), gathering inspiration is an important exercise.

Which leads me to explaining why I am reading the last issue of Faire- Crafting A Creative Life, Issue 14, here -surrounded by many chickens, two geese, three running ducks and two goats (in a paddock just out of this picture).

I was on Salt Spring Island – the place where I spent every weekend with my family when I was growing up.

Because my Dad was a reluctant pharmacist who spent all day everyday talking on the phone, when my parents built their dream house – no telephone was installed. On purpose.

This place was meant to be a place to be together, just our family, with no interruptions and time to be creative in whatever that meant to each of us.

So when I go into the bustling little town of Ganges, I always glance down at the ground just outside the hardware store ( where I always find an excuse to go into…they sell everything…) and I see the square mark on the cement where the telephone booth sat. We would drive down on a Saturday night to call our neighbours here because they were like grandparents to us.

For this trip, when we looked for a place to stay (it’s been over 30 years since my parents sold their place- it wasn’t the kind of place to have after my Dad’s major stroke) – none of the places we’ve enjoyed staying at before were available.

Now this is a somewhat controversial point of view, and I understand the downsides for many communities, but we have had excellent experiences with Airbnb.

For example last year at this time, when we stayed in Paris and had to find the key in a lock box hidden in a bicycle just inside the courtyard, or the family home in Denmark that came decorated for Christmas and we agreed to feed the rabbits in the hutch as part of the experience…and many more… so when I saw this place- I thought here is a place that feels creative visually.

It didn’t matter that it didn’t have running water or the toilet was outside the uninsulated studio space. Well actually there was cold running water and a sink outside the front door.

I realize that leaving your car outside the front gate and carrying your things to the very back of the acre and half property isn’t for everyone. But it didn’t matter, it was adventurous enough for our 3 night stay.

It was beautiful.

The light in this huge room was fabulous, and around the all white painted room with the exceptionally high ceilings were placed, as if on a stage, symbols of a creative life: a spinning wheel, a beautiful drafting table in the middle of the room with a special chair, a typewriter, and on the top shelf supplies for silk screening.

The antique furniture was painted the same green and the white dishes and all one would need were in one cabinet and the other cabinet held extra white pillows and blankets, tourist brochures and books. Only white placed on green, beautifully edited (plus those mandatory tourist brochures and books the only colours)

Leaning against the wall in the middle of the room facing the big windows sat a huge mirror playing with the light.

And the wood stove was a joy to sit in front of in the evenings to enjoy the sound and to just watch the play of the flames through the glass…something I miss.

There is something about the rustic nature of things that forces one to be more in the present moment.

One wall was shared with two milking goats and if I would peek through the window to see them, they would look back curiously, tilting their heads to one side. They are getting their winter coat in and that made them feel itchy and so that was the sound of them rubbing against something– oddly cosy to share a wall with a goat. I on one side tucked in under my eiderdown and they on the other tucked in on a fresh bed of hay.

Everything was clean and immaculate. Thoughtful and deliberate.

Makes sense because the owner is a filmmaker and shares about her life on this small holding at ​Appleturnover Farm​.

I always say that I am not an animal person, but the truth is I didn’t really express an interest as a child in animals and I haven’t really spent that much time with them. ( Other than my small Dutch rabbit growing up) and of course the two golden retrievers I have had as an adult for our family dogs ( I miss Lilly so much- we lost her in June and it was a wonderful 10 1/2 years together).

But chickens and ducks and geese – all together following us up from the car each time we would return.

Well, there’s something about that.

They chatted to me and I to them- does it matter we didn’t really understand each other?

I didn’t open my present bag full of fun projects and I didn’t paint on the huge canvases I brought either. I was busy. Sitting in a chair watching these birds.

Oh I did finish a book I had started ages ago. I was in tears at the end – it was so beautifully crafted…The Corespondent by Virginia Evans. I’ve never read for an afternoon in a chair surrounded by napping chickens- such a cosy atmosphere….

It certainly turned out to be a weekend of gathering inspiration- I came home with so many ideas for this creativity community….