Bex Hall

Bex Hall > creative life

creative life

A young writer observes and reports and brings me to tears

Ellie’s story

Ellie, at almost-eight, informs me of her need for a notebook, for school. We rifle through Pawpaw’s stash with intense consideration. This one, the paper is too slick. That one, the paper doesn’t feel right. She tests the lead from my Zebra M301 mechanical pencil on each page with careful penmanship and declares the steno pad the perfect match between graphite and paper.

She takes her new tools with her as we run errands around the property in the Gator™️. We drive through the yard. The grass is green. Dappled light filters through the trees. The sun is yellow. The sky is blue. She turns to me with an astonished look as she points at the fluffy cumulus and writes, the clouds are white.

We finish and head home. The house is brown.

Inside, in our pajamas, she continues to write with an occasional spelling request. After some time, she asks me to read her three new sentences out loud. Because they are short, I can get through all the words but the last one, before my voice cracks.

The heart is red. The family is love. Inside my heart.

Nature has its own time table

I let September slide by without creating in my nature journal

Yellowstone photo by Bex Hall

Here it is, one week into October and I didn’t draw or paint anything in my nature journal for September. I kept up with the daily temps and weather on the phenology wheel, but paint never touched the page.

September 2021 Phenology Wheel

I made note of a few things I noticed during the previous month. The box turtle Ellie found, the woolly worms, and the occasional colorful leaf on the ground.

But I had zero desire or interest in drawing or painting any of it.

I’ve been creating in the journal for eight consecutive months. I’ve enjoyed it and am pleased with the results. So why this month? Why now? Where and what is this resistance?

When I was a kid, school started after Labor Day, in September. Retailers bombarded the airwaves and newspapers with ads full of fall fashions. Sweaters, boots, scarves, hats. And in August, we would buy these things.

And on the first day of school, we would show up in our new cool weather clothing, only to shed most of it by noon and wear our disappointment the rest of the day instead.

Summer was over, the pools closed, stuck indoors without air conditioning, yet the heat remained, taunting us with memories of loose clothing, bare feet, and being outdoors. September seemed to be the longest month. Waiting for everything. The bell to ring, the leaves to turn, the cooler weather.

When I finished August’s journal and narrative on the 30th, I think I reverted to that place of expectancy I carried in my youth. 

Days passed and everything still looked the same as August. The trees all still green. The air still muggy. Gnats and flies and mosquitos, still bugging me. Grass still growing tall.

Why was I letting this disappointment derail me from the joy I feel when I draw and paint and write? I expected things to change so September wouldn’t be a twin to August on the page. And they didn’t. So I didn’t.

Last month was a reminder to keep expectations real and to look for the little things that ARE different. That HAVE changed. To notice and to create without expectation. To enjoy the process and appreciate the transition.

It’ll get done when it gets done. 😊

Gretal Erlich’s Solace quote

Discover your unique imprint for work

Work that makes you come alive

Sparked by Jonathan Fields

Last week on the Creative Pep Talk podcast, I listened as Andy J. Pizza interviewed Jonathan Fields about his new book Sparked, which helps you discover your unique imprint for work that makes you come alive.

Which caught my attention.

There’s free quiz you can take online and the results will determine your primary, shadow, and anti Sparketypes. The book does a deep dive into You. In a Nutshell.

I’m a Maven (I live to learn) and a Maker (I make ideas manifest) which is no surprise to those of you who know me. What WAS a surprise though was the depth and understanding given in the book which has me lifted and thinking in new directions.

The Maven.
The Maker.

I’m only partway through the book and have arrived at the “Now what?” section. Putting your Sparketype to work. I’ll post updates as I learn more. (How Maven of me…!)

Sparked.

I hope you’ll check out the quiz at Sparketype dot com. It’s fun and free and who knows what you may discover?!

Click HERE buy the book through Amazon.

My love affair with words and art

Today’s Squareathon prompt brings back a childhood memory

3x3 watercolor moonscape

Vacation starts today and in that spirit, I embrace time off by chasing rabbits down holes. One of the Squareathon prompts is cerulean, and as I’m wont to do, I googled the word.

It’s a pure blue pigment discovered in 1789 by Swiss chemist Albrecht Höpfner.

It’s particularly valuable for artistic painting because of its hue, permanence, and opaqueness. Artist Berthe Morisot painted the blue coat of the woman in her Summer’s Day, 1879 in cerulean blue.

Berthe Morisot’s Summer’s Day, 1879

In its inaugural year, Pantone kicked the COTY (Color Of The Year) selection off with Cerulean, which they actually called the “color of the millennium.” They felt consumers would be seeking inner peace and fulfillment in a time of uncertainty, while also reflecting on the past and looking toward the future. Thus, they chose this calming blue shade that’s reminiscent of the sky.

Pantone’s Color of the Year, 2000

All interesting facts, but then I read one and it ushered in a significant childhood memory. A defining moment in my love affair with words and art.

Ceruleun Blue on the wrapper of one of my blue Crayola crayons. It was one of the first words I ever noticed. How was it pronounced? What did it mean, exactly?

cerulean Crayola

I remember swatching colors, even though I didn’t know what it was called, with all 64 crayons from the box with the fold top lid and built-in sharpener on the back.

From CrayonCollecting.com

There’s a site called Crayon Collecting, and that was my rabbit hole. I felt like Alice in Wonderland, swirling and twirling and grabbing memories from a mist of dreamy colors.

And with that, I give you two of today’s prompts, cerulean and moon, in a 3”x3” watercolor.

3x3 watercolor moonscape