I have just come in from our porch.

It is wondrously cool. The sun has not quite arrived yet. There is some fog. This simple place draws me to it each morning, to see the same tree and sky I see each day. What is inside me there finds its way of expression in words.

Later this morning I hope to be in my studio. Surrounded by the stuff of making, I will dig into ideas I have cooking. What comes to me there will find itself expressed visually.

Writing poetry and creating
visual artwork are just
two different ways of thinking
things through.

It makes sense to me to put then side by side.

For several years I have been gathering words that I have written and visual art that I have created with the thought to put them side-by-side in a book. I have completed it. I am pleased to see it and to hold it in my hand and turn the pages. I am – with all the fear and trepidation that artists experience in sharing what we have created – pleased to let people take a look.

“It was there I believed…” is the book title. The complete phrase is “It was there I believed I could fly.” That poem describes my fervent childhood longing to fly, standing atop the footstool, arms outstretched, dreaming of being over the rooftops and looking down at my own neighborhood.

When I present workshops to groups of artmakers about developing content for their work, one of my directives is “Be thoughtful.” Have thoughts. Dig into them. We are all quite different. We will think about and be interested in completely different things. And we will record them in different ways. For some the process of keeping a journal is a door into creativity they never knew was there. For some it just scares the living poop out of them. No journals! OK. Scraps of paper in a box if that works.

But all artists need to develop both what their hands know how to do and what dwells in their mind and heart.

You would never be moved by a blues singer who had not actually experienced some pain and hurt before giving voice to life in song.

I hope that taking a look at some of my art and words side-by-side speaks to you, as a creator or a lover of art and creativity.

Thanks for taking a look. I’m grateful for all I’ve learned from this project. If you would like more details, or would like to purchase a book, they are on my website HERE

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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