Aesthetic Moment: Control

Featured image: Red Sun, Water media on paper, 20x60

To surrender control.  To let go of all of what we suppose creativity should be and to embrace what arises from within is a gift.  What does it mean to offer what you have to the world?  I used to feel that writing was not a service, but rather a selfish act.  “I should be feeding the hungry or saving forests.  Instead I am sitting here at my computer typing letters that blink on a screen.””  It was during a writing workshop led by Martin Prechtel that this belief dissolved.  Martin told us that a creation of beauty made with love is an offering, a prayer that, in essence, helps create a balance in this world and the next.  This shift in perception was what tipped me forward into a full embrace of living a creative life.  Every creative act – a kiss, a garden, a letter, a loaf of bread – can be an offering, an exchange for the gift of life and an act of love that has the power to shift the balance in a positive direction.”  Ann O’Shaughnessy