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| "Para Sailing Spoonbill" |
Ideas
are fragile. They come and go. If you don’t lock them down, they can disappear
forever.
I used to keep a small notebook in my car for jotting
down ideas driving to and from work. The only problem was, I could only write
while I was sitting at a stoplight. So I thought I’d get a recorder and
verbalize my thoughts, but I’m not a verbal person. I have to digest ideas and
chew on them before I write them down in order to give them expression.
Fleeting thoughts are sometimes incoherent, nonsensical
gibberish, but the gems within may grow and multiply whereas the losers fester
for awhile and then dead-end into Never Never Land.
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| "Flamenco Flamingo" |
When I lived alone, I burned candles in the bath, in my
bedroom, and anywhere else I needed a glimmer of hope and light. Even with
dinner, I’d fix myself something special and light a candle to make the dining
experience last. Then one day, I became dangerous. I struck a match in the
bathroom and the tip of it broke off landing on my nightgown. The flames were
frightening. Luckily the sink was near enough to douse myself with water and
put the flames out.
I decided that either I was getting flighty or the matches
were being manufactured differently from before. A few days later, I struck a
match in the bedroom to light my bedtime candle, and again the match tip broke
off landing on my dresser scarf. The flames ignited instantly, swallowing up
everything in sight before I could smother it with a wet towel.
From that point on, I eliminated candles and matches from
my bath and boudoir routine. Whether it was the cheapness of the match sticks
or my own clumsiness made no difference. I couldn’t afford to burn myself up
over anything as silly as a candle.
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| Poster created from the book: "Inez Ibis Flies Again" |
That experience has come back to haunt me again and
again. How powerful and unpredictable that tiny light became once it was
ignited. Ideas are like that. They shine but for a moment and then like
gossamer wings they fly away unless we kindle the flames that brought them in
the first place.
Where do my ideas come from? Some are inspired by past
experiences. Others by books I’ve read or movies I’ve seen, or simply by the
way light shines on a certain object in a new way.
Nature also inspires me. I
have a vivid imagination and always think I see something different in my
ordinary surroundings: an ugly face created by the stub of a limb or the bark
of a tree, a small bush that looks like a huge spider; I’m weird, I know.
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| (The following illustrations are also from the book: "Inez Ibis Flies Again") |
Artists do see things differently. We see shapes and
color and because of this, the ordinary turns into the grotesque, the scary, or
the fantastic in a blink.
Some of my ideas are so clear I can see them come to life
in my mind. Others are mere hints or suggestions that require coaxing and fuel
to keep them going. Like the end of a lighted match, I never know where my
ideas will end up.
The cartoon illustrations in this blog came from seeing
the humor in the way certain creatures move or behave. (Note, this is a repeat of a blog in 2010.)
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