The creative impulse

Somehow our visit to New Orleans triggered an itch to create an icon.  Well, some sort of cross between an icon and Kalle's art, which I enjoyed so much.  Last week, while waiting for a late coffee date, I found myself doodling on the brown paper that covered my table with the crayons provided; clearly some part of me was still wrestling with that itch.

But I was visualizing it on some sort of long, thin board; where would I find such a thing?  The very next day, while walking the dog, I found a piece in exactly the shape I had drawn, washed up in my neighbor's front yard.  (It's that time of year, when the high tides bring us lots of presents; sometimes right to our door!)

Clearly the universe was conspiring with me, so yesterday I sat down to paint, using ancient tubes of acrylic left over from some high school art project of my daughter's. Here's the result, photographed against my dining room table.  It's definitely not perfect (although I did discover the incredible gift of primitive art: it doesn't HAVE to be perfect!) but it was great fun to create, and it was pure joy to play with paint after avoiding it for so many years.

... so now, of course, I'm thinking of doing another one; just waiting to see what else the tide brings in!  So important, to honor those creative impulses...