Creative Process: Doodle-Learning
1.20.2013. I've been in a groove, working on my "Zuzu's Notebook" pages. But grooves never last -- they become ruts or you're thrown off the path altogether, wondering what happened to all that energy. So... in case I need a map to help me find my groove place again, I doodled this out, then rendered it into Adobe Illustrator, which is always good for practice and (grrrr) problem-solving.
If you care to follow my meandering path, you'll notice that I have my content sources (aka "my life") and my skill development. This seems like the perfect yin-yang for me -- you can't make a beautiful stew without a pot and some heat, but if all you have are your fine pot and your warm fire, you will go hungry.
I also need to acknowledge some mystery, as my mind and heart process the material. Today I'm calling that the "mysterious jewel box of the soul." Box is sort of a static term -- maybe it's more like a compost heap, except that those are kind of stinky.
After I have my little "eureka" moment, when the blob crystallizes into a clear task, I still face the early development process, in which my monkey mind screams at me for being so dim-witted as to set up an assignment for myself way beyond my abilities. I'm used to that voice and can usually ignore it these days, because I know in most cases there comes a moment when everything "clicks" and I'm in the groove. What is this moment called? I had a discussion about this once -- I wound up thinking of it as "the quickening." It's alive! The product may just be able to stand independently outside of my brain-womb, outside of my cloister.
