The Creative Mind at Work

Artists and writers are complicated people, albeit strange. They see and hear things that others sometimes miss; hence they enlighten and uplift society in countless ways.

Being both a writer and an artist makes me a little weird, I guess. I can see the darn'dest things from almost nothing. Take this morning. I was thinking while staring at a shag carpet, and bingo--the head of a fox emerged through the shag; the loops turned into wildflowers. A fox sniffing flowers--now that would make a great illustration!

When my tile floor gets all smudgie, reminding me it's time to mop, I see all kinds of freakish characters, both man and beast. I tell myself I'm going to draw these elusive characters before they melt away, but I never do. Some of these figures are nothing more than illusion. If you take your eyes off of them for a second, they vanish or are replaced by other shadowy characters.

If this makes you nervous, don't worry; When the imaginary critters start talking to me, I'll let you know. Until then, what I've described is a perfectly normal occurrence in creative minds. It's also a result of changing light patterns and shifting shadows.

Cloud formations are another means of creation. I can see things that most people ignore. And yes, as a child I spent hours looking for dragons and sea monsters in the billowing sky above me.

A towering pine tree in my front yard also caught my attention. The branches spread out over a sea of dead grass I wondered who might inhabit its dark recesses. How did they live? What did they look like, and especially, were they evil or friendly?

The cartoon illustrations on my web site are a good example of my most recent "flights of fancy."