Doing my Beauty Duty

I go away for five days. Not Big Away, but just out of town to a pretty place. I feel fortunate for a glimmer of space away from responsibilities. I soak up the sights and sounds of serenity and serious rain.
If I get on my high horse, I can say, well, it’s my Beauty Duty. After all, I support the creative well-being of others. I need to walk the talk.

Julia Cameron calls it ‘filling the well‘.

So it’s my duty to top up my beauty quotient; to pay attention to sensory delight.
That’s my rationale and I’m sticking to it!

Away at the watery boaty pretty place, I choose to make art.

First up, I slap down pre-painted papers: magazine pages, sheet music, fragments of the paper they wrapped around the seafood. Don’t worry – this wrapping didn’t make direct fish contact. Otherwise – ugh – odiferous collage.

I pull some window

envelopes out of my grab bag. I’ve been saving envelopes to incorporate into pictures, yet have no idea how I might use them.

I wish to creatively transform my discontent at the arrival of endless bills. If you saw my post ‘Senior Venus‘, you’ll know I’ve been using art to consciously tackle difficulties. OK. A bunch of gas, phone and electricity bills doesn’t rate as world-shattering disturbance on a global level, but it’s an annoyance to explore nevertheless.

And the grit in the oyster

makes the pearl.

I rip up envelopes. Satisfying. I notice the word ‘Enjoy’ on the fish paper. I shorten it to Joy.

I mull. I free associate, lightly, in that pleasurable arty way.

Window envelopes. Joy.

Window envelopes. Joy.

That’s it! I’ll place the word Joy behind the windows.

Play…

play…

play…

What appears? Five Windows to Joy.

‘Why five?’ I wonder.
‘The five senses’, I reply.

How perfect! I’ve cleared the space for a Beauty Duty sojourn in a place where I can feed each of my five senses.

I add watercolour and oil pastel. I’m not sure if this artwork is complete, but the process has been a joy and has tuned me further towards my senses.

And in this way, it all makes

sensory, sensual sense.

Would you like to see photos of what appealed to each of my five senses over those five days?
It surely was a yummy place for seeing, smelling, tasting, hearing and touching.

And tell me…tell us…how do you nourish your senses? How do you nourish your creative self?

How might you fill the well?