Lyrics, Gardens, and Trees

Three days have gone by and no posts.  Ah well.  So it is.  Here's an attempt to make up the deficit.

Friday:

Probably the most creative thing that was attempted was writing lyrics for a "song" that I'm trying to finish.  I put song in quotes, because I have some hangups about writing songs that I need to get past, primarily by just doing it (see Ira Glass quote again!).  Part of me finds songs so sacred that I don't feel I'm ever going to be worthy enough to complete one and send it out into the world.  Of course, the bulk of my being finds that totally silly.  But, the small part that believes it is pretty powerful and yields an undue amount of influence.  So I tend to get stuck when trying to complete one.  That internal critic rises up and short circuits the process of putting words, melody, and harmony in a creatively inspired order.  Ugh.

So I recruited my girlfriend Cyndie to help me write lyrics.  She made some good progress, and I just got lost in my critic.  I think that old Nike slogan really applies here.  Just Do It!  Eventually, after the process has been repeated many many times to the point where it's almost automatic, it'll get out of the way, and the creation will just happen.  The song will form itself.

This concept segues nicely to a book that I read a while ago about where songs come from.  It's by Dan Kimpel and it's called Electrify My Soul.  It's basically a series of interviews with prominent song writers about "where" songs come from.  I highly recommend it if you're interested in songs, or even just the creative path.  Here's his website, and here's a blurb about the book from his site:

Distinguishing the indelible line between creativity and a higher power is an undertaking with deep implications. Whether it is defined as coming from God, the universe, or some collective font of eternal knowledge, most creative individuals acknowledge that at times their inspiration seems to emanate from a mysterious metaphysical source.

Songs affect people’s lives on a profound level, and songwriters – including interviewees Melissa Etheridge, Paul Williams and Beth Nielsen Chapman -- are especially attuned to these principles. Author Dan Kimpel -- who has interviewed virtually every major songwriter in the history of American popular music -- has observed that many successful songwriters -- are often able to tap their spirituality for inspiration. Electrify My Soul: Songwriters and the Spiritual Source explains these processes as it tells their stories.

For now, it seems I need to just keep doing it.  Learn the rules so well that they disappear and then I can understand how to break them.

Saturday:

Cyndie and I went to The Huntington.  The Huntington is an incredible place in Pasadena that has amazing museum exhibits and seemingly endless gardens.  It's crowning jewel, at least for me, is the Japanese Garden.

How does going to a garden relate to creativity?  Well, without input, there is no new material for creative insight.  Also, sometimes we need to just "be".  Space is a very important component for things to "ferment" as I like to call it.  So Saturday, was largely about going to an inspiring and peaceful place and just soaking it up.  And it was great.  I highly recommend a visit if you have the time.

Sunday:

Sunday was a day of intense work.  On trees.  One of my creative outlets is Bonsai, which is something I became obsessed with nearly 12 years ago now.  

Above is a pic of my back yard.  I have about 30 trees that are nearing some level of bonsai development. I have really neglected them over the past few years as a result of massive changes in my life, the most profound for the trees being moving to a new house and back yard.  

So yesterday was a kind of catch up day.  Much of the work that was done had been put off for several months, which is really bad for bonsai.  To keep them in optimum shape they must have the appropriate work done at the right time in their growth cycle.  If they're allowed to grow too much past this schedule their whole design can be blown and many years of careful development can be lost.  

It remains to be seen how my lateness will affect the designs of the trees.  I'm hoping that the work that was done yesterday will get them back on track.  But even if it doesn't, that's ok.  I will have to renew my commitment to them going forward.  Which is a good thing for me.  Another avenue for me to practice that most challenging of things - committing.

As a sort of side note, I have to mention that Cyndie helped me a LOT with the work on the trees yesterday.  She's an absolute trooper and I'm just tickled that she's in to working on trees.  She did a great job trimming a slightly overgrown Chinese elm with a bare minimum of instruction.  I was really impressed!  And she trimmed a lot of dead branches off my large assortment of Japanese maples.  She even did some needle pulling on a black pine. Great stuff!

Here's a pic I took of one of the maples this morning after a bit of rain:

All in all it was a great weekend.  More like that please!

Now I'm looking forward to a busy week in the shop and the studio.  Lots and lots to do and many problems to be solved.  Creativity abounds.  Hopefully.

Oh, and I need to do another post here before the day is over.  Hmmmm, I wonder what the rest of the day will bring...