Word of the Week - 145

From Austin Kleon's STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST.

Word(s) of the Week:  MAKE THINGS

My sister, brother and I grew up following the model of a mother who made things.  She was a fine arts major and everything, including the elementary school newsletter, became art in her hands.  I have a faint but I believe accurate memory of one of her newsletters, featuring patterns for Three Little Pigs finger puppets.  She launched us each on a lifetime path of creating, each according to our specific muses.  Music, sports cars, carpentry, cooking, building, sewing, retail display, vintage fashion and accessories, drawing, coloring, paper craft, writing, my siblings and I continue to expand and explore the places our minds and hands can take us.

When fully immersed in the doing, I find it impossible to think other thoughts.  Existence in the moment shrinks to the point of a pencil, the heft of the scissors, the accuracy of glue placement.  It is another world, the realm of alchemy.  We are transformed, returned eventually to ordinary life, perhaps with the ability to see it through new eyes.

In a Facebook post a few days ago, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, sharing a video of extravagant, traditional tulip-pattern cookies, said this: "I often think of this in our fast food world, and HAIL! to the cooks and bakers. I find you to be HOLY people who bless others with your daily works. Thank you!!"

All that remains for you to do is GO.  Go to you studio, your garage, your kitchen, your garden, your shop, your factory and make stuff.  It is never too early, it is never too late.  Go.  Now.

From GO TO YOUR STUDIO AND MAKE STUFF: THE FRED BABB POSTER BOOK