Saturday, June 4, 2011

Small steps....

How many years have I stared at this blog page and wondered when the first small steps, the first entry would take its place here? We simply have to be ready, and that can take time. But, I have decided I'm ready for that first small step. This blog was named for me, not by me. At first I wondered if it suited me and then I realized that dangerous liaisons occur for us more often than we realize. Sometimes they are daunting and sometimes delicious. They are rarely dull. So I have embraced this name and I plan to go back and recall the dangerous liaisons of my life as they color and capsize it in good ways and bad.

Today, a glorious Saturday in early summer, I am joining a very creative group of women to art-storm. We came together as the result of a virtual course with a magnificent mutual mentor: Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy a/k/a SARK. I remember first stumbling across the beginning of SARK's influence back in the early 90's. I saw a beautiful poster she had named "How to be an Artist". I had always wondered if there was an instruction manual for drawing out your creativity and channeling it into concrete works of art, of writing, even of just thought. Suddenly, here was the answer blooming out in crazy crayon-drawn bits of spontaneity across the page. It was dotted with SARK-ian scrolls and doodles and flowers and clouds in her inimitable, colorful way. SARK truly sees the world through rainbow glasses. Amazingly, the words on the page had nothing to do with rules to follow, courses to take, societies to join or events to attend that would support an artist. Instead it was all about being a wild child, running free, smelling flowers, taking naps, lying in green fields under puffy clouds.....simply becoming a creative child again like we all were once. It was a license to just play and to really play at being creative. Sadly many of us forgot those lessons until the last year or so. Coming together in SARK's first "Dream Boogie" online session were wannabe (or even, already were) creatives reaching out hands all around the world through the magic of the internet. For one hour each week we were inspired and even spent 15 mins.  in a small group that might have included someone from Seattle, another from Australia, another from Brazil and someone (like me) from Boston. Those groups talked about challenges, blocks, hopes and dreams and we gave each other endless permission to go out and create. Suddenly the world was not even remotely what it was the week before. We were all flying enthusiastically in a sky of creativity.

From that beginning point, a group in New England was founded to gather every couple of months to share our art, our writing, our mental and spiritual pursuits, our progress, our stumbling blocks, the pressure we feel, the hopes and successes we have had. It has created a circle of support that is unbreakable and has exposed each of us to other amazing creatives in fields we might not even know about. I feel so honored to share with these women of the New England Dream Circle. Today we are meeting at seaside in Gloucester, one of the loveliest places on the coast of Massachusetts, with a grand history as a seaport. There is simply nothing like the ocean for drawing out energy and lapping you with waves of artistic sensibility. When I would write by the sea, my words would flow out just like the waves crashing before me. I expect to experience that same ebb and flow today.

Knowing I would bring dreams to the table today with the Dream Circle, I decided to materialize this particular dream. Here it is.....upon the page. Words. Beautiful words. The inspiration always has been there, but the first step has been a long time coming. Let's see what next dangerous liaison lies ahead.