So glad you enjoyed reading Jo's guest letter Susan! I love seeing people's sketchbooks too - mainly because I don't do sketchbooks and I always envious of others!!
Goodness! What an absolute delight to read both of you here together Emily and Jo, Thank you fr sharing these so important thoughts.
To read that I am not as bonkers as I believe in finding most of the joy in the gathering of ideas rather than creating them into something else, something I always wonder, which may or may not be loved as much by others...
Jo where you said "The collecting. The noticing. The quiet moments where something catches my attention and I let it linger, without needing to turn it into anything." I almost cried with relief!
And then a little further on, Emily you say this "It can live in colour palettes saved for later, in scrappy notes, in the simple act of paying attention." The scrappy notes, the colour palettes, which for me are my photos, and the paying attention... this, all these, are where I find the most joy and from those the creativity arrives, it may be months later, it may be immediate (rarely) but the reforming of those moments into poem, prose and photo, when it finally feels like I imagined... then I sigh!
You've both made my day, I am now going off to gather, to pay attention in the fog! 💛xx
Thank you so much for reading Susie and for always sharing such lovely words in the comments. I think we are all a little bonkers, and I think that is fine! I have learned that there’s a lot to love in just letting the ideas alight where they will. Enjoy the fog and the holidays dear Susie x
I think Jo is living every creative person's dream!
A beautiful piece of writing from both our wonderful Emily ,and Jo - on the life of the creative person.
I have no words that can sum it up better than Emily and Jo have already. Just a couple of quotes that come to mind:
"The object isn’t to make art, its to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable". Robert Henri.
"We thought of life by analogy with a journey, a pilgrimage, which had a serious purpose at the end, and the thing was to get to that end…
But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing or dance while the music was being played." Alan Watts
Many thanks for collating this Emily. Wonderful to see your process Jo. 💛
😝😝😝😝 Oh my goodness Emily! I have never done that before. I have just edited my comment and changed the name. I am so sorry. I had Chloe's email in my inbox this morning too and had just read her post. And you are both English and wonderful writers! Sorry again. My comment was totally directed to you and remains the same heart felt sentiment! xx
No apologies necessary Jo! Chloe’s letters are breathtaking and so this is a great compliment. You are very kind and generous with your attention and your comments and it is a joy to exchange words with you from the other side of the world 🥰
I absolutely LOVE seeing inside sketchbooks. Thank you for sharing, Jo!
So glad you enjoyed reading Jo's guest letter Susan! I love seeing people's sketchbooks too - mainly because I don't do sketchbooks and I always envious of others!!
Don’t do Sketchbooks!?! In a Lady Bracknell voice 😆
Always learning new things about you Emily! 💛
🤣 I do scappy paper sketches rather than using a sketchbook
I totally thought you'd be a sketchbook gal!
Thanks Susan, it’s one of my favourite things too!
I'm a former art teacher so that definitely part of it. But loved it before that too!
Goodness! What an absolute delight to read both of you here together Emily and Jo, Thank you fr sharing these so important thoughts.
To read that I am not as bonkers as I believe in finding most of the joy in the gathering of ideas rather than creating them into something else, something I always wonder, which may or may not be loved as much by others...
Jo where you said "The collecting. The noticing. The quiet moments where something catches my attention and I let it linger, without needing to turn it into anything." I almost cried with relief!
And then a little further on, Emily you say this "It can live in colour palettes saved for later, in scrappy notes, in the simple act of paying attention." The scrappy notes, the colour palettes, which for me are my photos, and the paying attention... this, all these, are where I find the most joy and from those the creativity arrives, it may be months later, it may be immediate (rarely) but the reforming of those moments into poem, prose and photo, when it finally feels like I imagined... then I sigh!
You've both made my day, I am now going off to gather, to pay attention in the fog! 💛xx
Thank you so much for reading Susie and for always sharing such lovely words in the comments. I think we are all a little bonkers, and I think that is fine! I have learned that there’s a lot to love in just letting the ideas alight where they will. Enjoy the fog and the holidays dear Susie x
Thank you lovely, I hope your Monday is a calm one! 💛xx
I think Jo is living every creative person's dream!
A beautiful piece of writing from both our wonderful Emily ,and Jo - on the life of the creative person.
I have no words that can sum it up better than Emily and Jo have already. Just a couple of quotes that come to mind:
"The object isn’t to make art, its to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable". Robert Henri.
"We thought of life by analogy with a journey, a pilgrimage, which had a serious purpose at the end, and the thing was to get to that end…
But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing or dance while the music was being played." Alan Watts
Many thanks for collating this Emily. Wonderful to see your process Jo. 💛
Thank you Jo, what a beautiful comment, I love those quotes and couldn’t agree more about Emily’s beautiful writing! ✍️
😘💛
Thank you so much Jo, what wonderful quotes, and how wonderful to be mixed up with Chloe too, honestly what a divine compliment 💛
😝😝😝😝 Oh my goodness Emily! I have never done that before. I have just edited my comment and changed the name. I am so sorry. I had Chloe's email in my inbox this morning too and had just read her post. And you are both English and wonderful writers! Sorry again. My comment was totally directed to you and remains the same heart felt sentiment! xx
No apologies necessary Jo! Chloe’s letters are breathtaking and so this is a great compliment. You are very kind and generous with your attention and your comments and it is a joy to exchange words with you from the other side of the world 🥰
💛🙏