UNCONDITIONAL LOVE AND BOUNDLESS JOY.(art by Hallelujah Truth)
Hallelujah for new beginnings! Hallelujah for the evolution of an idea, one that is loved and nurtured! Dear Pilgrims, let me tell you about how Jenifer Hilburn, a Georgia coast ornithologist, and I have agreed to manage our collaboration of writing and illustrating a book about American oystercatchers as a way to engage both children and adults in their roles as environmental stewards. We promised to co-parent, to raise our book-child up with unconditional love and boundless joy. And, yes, we agreed to repeat my mantra--Not good. Not Bad.Just is.--as many times as we need to during the early stages of our collaboration. This pledge for our collaboration took place through Skype with Jen speaking from St. Catherine's Island, Georgia, and me from my dining room table in Decatur, Georgia. We are the SCIENTIST and the ARTIST. For us, the big question was how to finally begin our book-child, after years of enthusiastically bouncing the idea back and forth.
HOW TO BEGIN? What a marvelous question! Asking "how to begin" when diving into a new creative project is not uncommon. And, for Jen and me, we decided what we needed most was to trust one another and to have fun separately and collaboratively. Hence our pledge to support each others efforts with unconditional love and boundless joy.
The image you see above is my first step into my collaboration with Jen although it might not be obvious to you. It is the third day that I have drawn BABY NEW SOUL, the second day I have included HALLELUJAH TRUTH and an alligator in the image, and it is the first day that I have invited book related animals into the image--a raccoon and American oystercatchers. The resulting image is my SOUL OFFERING to myself, to Jen, and to the greater universe. Not Good. Not Bad. Just is. And I had fun drawing it. This unconditional love for myself and my drawing is my way into co-creating a story with Jen. There is magic and power in this kind of love and joy! That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me. Tell me about how you start your own creative projects. Have you collaborated with someone before? How did you make that collaboration successful?
COLLABORATION IS ONE OF THE GREATEST GIFTS! Here I am with my Chiboogamoo and Paleontologist Barbie on the Georgia Coast! The three of us COLLABORATED on exploring important scientific topics in the PALEONTOLOGIST BARBIE INTERVIEWS.
#REVERB12 (Day 22) PROMPT:What was the greatest gift you received in 2012? What was the greatest gift you gave? What do you intend to give yourself in 2013?
Hallelujah for the GIFT of COLLABORATION! My life has been gifted with talented people who share and toss ideas around playfully like joyful children!
COLLABORATION IMPROV ESL. In 2012, Lesly Fredman gave me the bestest GIFT ever in collaborating on the creation of the IMPROV ESL class at the Georgia Tech Language Institute! (see the blog I started)
COLLABORATING WITH STUDENTS. Creating this IMPROV ESL class established a way to interact with my students in new and exciting ways. They collaborated in the teaching and learning by bringing themselves to class and actively participating in making things up, taking risks, and saying YES!
As 2012 comes to a close and the beginning of 2013 looms, I will continue to cherish the GIFTS of COLLABORATION. Before I say good-bye for today, I want to thank Ron Shaklee and Sandy Voegeli for the COLLABORATIVE work we did to make the publishing of The Misadventures of Maria the Hutia happen this past July!
HOME AT LAST! Maria the Hutia returns home after a tumultuous journey at sea and being LOST. During the period of being separated from her home and all that is familiar, she makes new friends and engages their help to find her home--a pristine island where animals can live without intervention from humans. (art by Hallelujah Truth)
Hallelujah for the JOURNEY OF THE SOUL! The SOUL of Hallelujah Truth has pilgrimaged along with her Chiboogamoo's in the past 11 years and in doing so has grown volumes--up and down and sideways! As an artist befriending a scientist, I wanted to learn how to be with Chiboogamoo in his ichnological endeavors and still be HALLELUJAH. Becoming an illustrator for a children's story about an endangered animal in a threatened environment was one of the GREAT CHALLENGES I confronted along my way! Let me explain!
IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE FINGER PAINTER! When Sandy Voegeli asked me to illustrate Ron Shaklee's story about the young lost hutia, I was a finger painting, acrylic wielding visionary artist painting from my gut. This was the first image/painting I produced about Maria the Hutia's journey. It was done so that the children of San Salvador, Bahamas, who were participating in the first science field camp on the Gerace Research Centre could have t-shirts celebrating the story!
SCIENCE CAMP FOR THE CHILDREN OF SAN SALVADOR, BAHAMAS. Ron Shaklee's Maria the Hutia was featured on the first science camp t-shirt in the form of RuthTruth's artwork. See me (now Hallelujah Truth) on the right, third row from the front, first person (I'm clapping my hands.) Sandy Voegeli, mastermind in the creation and realization of science camp is directly behind me. Sandy, having lived on the island for a total of eight years, knew that the children of San Salvador needed an opportunity to learn about the ocean and coral reefs that surround their island. The science camp on the Gerace Research Centre allowed the San Sal children to ride on the large field station vehicles that they had grown up seeing going around their island. In addition, they used field station equipment to snorkel, studied about their precious environment in the classroom facilities, ate in the field station cafeteria, and when I was there, they painted a scene or animal from their surroundings on a canvas! In this photo, we are all proudly wearing the t-shirt with the colorful Maria the Hutia painting that is posted above. My images of Maria the Hutia evolved from there.
GENESIS OF THE ILLUSTRATOR, HALLELUJAH TRUTH
In the beginning was RUTHTRUTH, self-acclaimed Georgia visionary artist. She became the companion of a scientist who travelled the world in the company of other scientists. Initially, while much fun was to be had out in NATURE and during meals after FIELD WORK, I felt separate from the scientists. I did not possess their knowledge. Nor did I have a GOAL for being in the specified location. Therefore, I felt like an EXTRA on a movie set, drifting on the periphery, performing only when summoned, and of not much value.
FRIEND CELEBRATE OUR JOURNEY!
BUT, then it occurred to me to BE THE ARTIST amongst the scientists even when not engaged in my artmaking--to WEAR the SOUL of RUTHTRUTH proudly and loudly. I would engage anyone I spoke with in a discussion of their CREATIVE SOUL...and I would SPEAK of mine.
MAGIC HAPPENED. As it turned out, most scientists have large expansive minds; in fact, many are artists or intensive admirers of art. Geologists, paleontologists, biologists, botanists, geographers, etc. truly understand that ART informs their science and their SPIRITS (whatever spirit may be to a scientist). I STRUCK GOLD in BEING ME--my AUTHENTIC SELF!
TIME PROGRESSED and I went farther and further in my JOURNEY as an ARTIST. I determined that I needed to draw and set about drawing three images every day in micron pens. No mistakes were allowed. No erasing. I accepted every line my archival pen made. I made each drawing a success. I meditated during these drawings. I concentrated on the outer perimeter of my consciousness. I DREW and GREW. The JOURNEY of Maria the Hutia demanded it!
GREETINGS! When Maria arrives home, her parents run down to the shore to great her. Nothing like returning home. But remember Pilgrims, everything has been changed after the journey!
I LIVED on ISLAND TIME. In fact, I discovered a jacket that proclaimed this sentiment in a St. Simons Island gift shop along the Georgia coast, and every morning, I donned that jacket to create my three drawings. I was developing MY PRACTICE. It was my WAY to the DEEPER SENSE of SELF that I think is the purpose or meaning of LIFE.
LIVING ON ISLAND TIME. photo taken by Chiboogamoo on Jekyll Island 2011
The JOURNEY of drawing 27 images in micron pens and india ink has not been easy. I have suffered from doubt, quit several times, and felt inadequate. However, now "I've got peace like an ocean in my soul" (Elizabeth Mitchell, folk singer), because I allowed myself to fail and flounder but not indefinitely!
Instead, I gave birth to a new ME--HALLELUJAH TRUTH. The old ME, RuthTruth, still inhabits this new SELF. She is inside the TRUTH, just compartmentalized. The old me, like my name, RUTH TRUTH, is a little didactic and resisted the JOURNEY into not knowing. Yet, I desired a new way of BEING...something that only a multisyllabic name could honor. I tried on Arabella, Isabella, Hosanna, Hannah, and other "ah" sounding names until discovering HALLELUJAH!
My RENAMING solidified this JOURNEY of drawing, going deeper into the self, and recognizing the ME of now without restricting the ME of the FUTURE.
Listen to Elizabeth Mitchell sing, "I've Got Peace Like a River." The second stanza is "I've got peace like an ocean in my soul." We are all unique and meant to live this one life that is uniquely ours. My JOURNEY to self has been deeply informed by taking on the task of illustrating this children's story about Maria the Hutia. Thank you Ron and Sandy! How will you ALL travel along your PATH to GREATER KNOWING? Soul Blog with me at Coffee with Hallelujah!
LIMITS TO CREATIVITY? Observe the product resulting from collaboration with my beloved ichnologist husband Chiboogamoo! Creating a work of art based on a scientific idea is tricky business especially when done with one's spouse! This triptych, Holy Trinity of Ichnology, seriously challenged my sense of creative self! (A future blog will discuss the development of our collaborative relationship!)
#REVERB11 PROMPT (December 8): LIMITS: We often learn about our limits the hard way. Were there any limits you realized this past year? Alternately, what self-imposed limits were you able to move beyond this year? (From Carolyn Rubenstein's blog: A Beautiful Ripple Effect)
Pilgrims! When Hallelujah meets limitations, boundaries, restrictions, dead ends, parameters, detours, cut-offs, she REJOICES! Yes, of course, the hallelujahs are preambled by squeaks and squeals like a delicate mouse finding herself trapped in a laboratory maze without potential rewards of moist crumbly treats. Then I summon the honey badger of CREATIVITY!
In 2011, I traveled distances on my CREATIVE PATH, becoming a co-leader for the Atlanta Artist Conference Network, collaborating with Chiboogamoo for an art exhibit at Fernbank Museum of Natural History, leading a blogging workshop for a women's writing conference, and teaching three different English courses to international visiting scholars at the Language Institute of Georgia Tech.
LIMITS TO MARIA THE HUTIA?: In the middle of two adult Bahamian hutias is Maria, the young hutia who inadvertently gets tossed out at sea and journeys far away from home. This image is the initial line drawing done in a size 5 micron pen before thickening lines with india ink and larger sized microns. Here Maria has succeeded in returning home to her parents. I feel such a parallel in my life with Maria the Hutia and Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz--both stories of leaving home and returning to it. I love journey stories. During my own journey as an artist, I have confronted my "limitations" as a drawer. So I tell myself. Is this perception of my limitations TRUTH or ILLUSION? (art by Hallelujah Truth)
In addition to these CREATIVE high roads, which clearly invited huge IMAGINATIVE energy, I completed 90 percent of the illustrations for the children's book, The Misadventures of Maria the Hutia, and took on the coordination of getting this wonderful environmental conservation story by Ronald Shaklee into book form (publication to occur in 2012).
All of the above projects were done in the LIFE of my CREATIVE MIND whiledrawing daily, teaching, blogging, and participating in the group Spiritual Art Pilgrims. Did I CONFRONT LIMITS? YESSSSSSSSSSSS! As I crashed into walls, I unwillingly dueled with my numerous saboteurs (see how I defined saboteurs in a #REVERB10 blog), which caused me to practice saying the honey badge mantra "honey badger don't care--nothing can stop the honey badger"!
As 2011 comes to a close, I cannot proclaim that I "removed" any limits. What is the opposite of STOPPING? I can own that I "did the work." I kept GOING. I kept JOURNEYING because of my fascination with the UNKNOWN. In 2012, I have a heaping desire to become even more of the honey badger of CREATIVITY.
THE LIMITS OF CONFRONTING SABOTEURS. 2011 has left me exhausted, exasperated, satisfied, tried and true, honey badger initiated, and ready to see what is next. This water color that I did in collaboration with Chiboogamoo challenged me all the way to its completion. I absolutely adored my husband's drawing of "imagined traces once sea level changes," which he enlarged so I could paint. Painting such a large piece of paper without a visual plan felt like it veered on disaster. Following my intuition over such an extended project took all of my guts. The project was humbling. But the honey badger "don't care" because there is always the next creative project looming! (photo by Chiboogamoo at Fernbank Museum of Natural History)
That's Coffee with Hallelujah! Soul Blog with me and tell me about your CREATIVE JOURNEY and the limitations you have confronted, survived, rejoiced in and removed! What are you the honey badger of?
MOVING BEYOND LIMITS. I gasped with joy when I saw children stop to look at my painting, Mother Earth, Mother Dinosaur. It was the first time I had seen children responding to my art! I love it that the little boy is scratching his head in thought! Look how one of the little girls slid to her knees to peer into my world of burrowing dinosaurs! It felt as if an old boundary had been eliminated! Children as viewers of my images! Wa Hoo!
Acknowledgments: Thank you Chiboogamoo for making the honey badger so present in my life! You are my little honey badger!
