Sunday, April 14, 2019

Joyful Abundance

Do you have a magic twanger? I do. Something in my brain that just lights up under certain stimuli. It sounds like I'm talking about a sex thing, but I'm not - my magic twanger responds to aesthetic cues. Like, making these minis! Like a lot of artists, I spend some time thinking about why I make what I make. Not why I make stuff - the inherent satisfaction explains that well enough - but why I make the specific things I make, in the specific way. The magic twanger provides a clue.

The minis give me a feeling of abundance, a sense of thriving. There are so many, all different, all the same! A healthy lilac in bloom will give me the same feeling: so much, so much bounty! Actually lots of the metaphors that come to mind are garden-related: a tomato plant heavy with fruit, bees trundling over blossoms. Teeming life.

Reading that, the word that comes to mind is "fecundity," so maybe it is a sex thing after all. 😄

2 comments:

Kathie said...

Your title "Joyful abundance" says it all. I’ve been watching Marie Kondo's Netflix shows and the term she often uses is "sparks joy" which I dentify with an actual physical feeling from the middle of my body when I encounter something wonderful. The tiny buds on my flowering quince bushes just starting to show a bit of color. The sun slanting across my newly green lawn. The very smooth paint finish on a 160 year old window frame that, just a week ago, had many layers of cracked and peeling paint.

Thank you for sharing things that spark joy in you.

KathieB

Lori Watts said...

This is lovely, Kathie! You describe the feeling well, it starts in your body. It's why I watch every year for the first green tips of crocuses. Clean laundry, the cats all in a pile together, my truck all shiny just after I wash it. Little things.