But what does it mean?
Calligraphy, drawing, painting, poetry, writing Laurie Doctor Calligraphy, drawing, painting, poetry, writing Laurie Doctor

But what does it mean?

Last night we got to hear Tin Can Buddha in Frankfort, Kentucky. There were 17 musicians and perhaps one rehearsal before their performance at The Grand Theater. They played music– (and were so playful together)! The spontaneity, skill and liveliness was intoxicating. The joy from the musicians finding their way with each other in the moment infused the audience with their exuberance. We did not want it to end. To stop and ask what it all meant would have deprived us– we were in the experience (of whatever it meant) with them. We were "inside the song".

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Let the Image Find You
Calligraphy, drawing, writing Laurie Doctor Calligraphy, drawing, writing Laurie Doctor

Let the Image Find You

When I am beginning a new series of paintings, I struggle to find an image, a theme to ground me and tie the pieces together. I get impatient, and wonder at how long it takes. I feel an urgency to go out and seize an image, to make something happen. I remind myself that it works better for me to be indirect, to allow an image to alight and make itself known. This is not as esoteric as it may sound. I set an intention to be receptive, to show up each day, and begin. I pay attention to dreams, and to waking life as if it is a dream. Each detail is important. What captures my imagination? I took a walk in the woods and carried paper and a chunk of graphite. I began rubbing the bark of elm trees. There were figures in the bark. I let images suggest themselves.

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Calligraphy, drawing, painting, poetry, retreat, writing Laurie Doctor Calligraphy, drawing, painting, poetry, retreat, writing Laurie Doctor

On Time: It is better to have loafed and lost than never to have loafed at all. –James Thurber

Perhaps a more accurate title for our class in Italy would be: Sketching, Watercolor, Wine and Loafing. This photo is taken on the streets of Orvieto, as we sat and listened to these lively musicians, sipping our cappuccino. We were stopping along the way to the duomo, which has (among many other overpowering delights) a black and white zebra pattern to the marble.

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Wandering in Umbria: A workshop at La Romita School of Art
drawing, mythology, painting, poetry, retreat Laurie Doctor drawing, mythology, painting, poetry, retreat Laurie Doctor

Wandering in Umbria: A workshop at La Romita School of Art

The sense of local, of what is particular to a place, along with the absence of chains, of Starbucks, in itself is a delight In these small Umbrian towns. Back home, I am longing for my coffee to taste like it does in Italy- and to have the sense of history, art and time that is embedded in stone here.

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Drawing With Both Hands
Calligraphy, drawing Laurie Doctor Calligraphy, drawing Laurie Doctor

Drawing With Both Hands

I was looking through a book of Dale Chihuly’s glass art, which includes his drawings. As always, I am attracted to sketches and writing– even when I am in a museum or gallery. If there is a sketch next to a painting or sculpture, that is where I go. I love seeing the process that leads us to our "final project"– whether it is glass or paint or sculpture or weaving. It is often more alive and transparent than the final project. To have this quality of transparency not be lost in my paintings is something I strive for. It requires the willingness to play all the way through– having no designated outcome.

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King Minos and the Minotaur
Calligraphy, mythology, painting, poetry Laurie Doctor Calligraphy, mythology, painting, poetry Laurie Doctor

King Minos and the Minotaur

When I was nineteen I had the opportunity to take a break from my studies and travel to the Greek Islands. I arrived by boat on a misty full moon night in March. Off the coast of Santorini they were digging for the “Lost Atlantis”. My studies of mythology, and how it is mixed with history, came alive– and I felt myself to be in a story (that was then and the feeling hasn’t left).

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The Taste of the Apple
Calligraphy, painting, poetry Laurie Doctor Calligraphy, painting, poetry Laurie Doctor

The Taste of the Apple

The taste of the apple does not reside in the mouth of the eater– neither is it in the apple itself. It requires the exchange between them. 

Jorge Luis Borges quoting Bishop Berkeley

This quote captures the essence of the creative pattern.

The muse, as creative inspiration, enters. She is not in us alone, or in our work– but in the mingling between the two. This adds a third aspect, the other, and the creativity of the number three– as indicated in the painting you see.

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Acting As If
Calligraphy, painting, poetry, retreat Laurie Doctor Calligraphy, painting, poetry, retreat Laurie Doctor

Acting As If

Sometimes when we are faced with a difficult task (or person), even one that seems impossible, it helps to change what we call it, or how we think about it.

I was listening to Ellen Langer, a psychologist and writer from Harvard, who has done many studies on the power of how we name, or think about something. For example, she did a famous study on people in their mid to late 80’s (back when 80 was 80, not the new 60). In this experiment all the people involved went on a retreat together where the entire atmosphere was created as if it were 20 years earlier. The participants were asked to fully enter into this world in the “present”, as if they too, were 20 years younger. At the end of the study, their hearing and eyesight had improved, they had renewed energy, they had essentially become younger! Another study was with chamber maids who spent the whole day on their feet, but worried about having time to exercise, and could not lose weight. In this study they were told to change their thinking about their work and name it exercise, and lo and behold, they lost weight! (This also relates to the difference between doing something mindlessly, and doing it mindfully– just noticing what is happening).

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Dream Drumming
Calligraphy, painting, poetry Laurie Doctor Calligraphy, painting, poetry Laurie Doctor

Dream Drumming

I heard Paul McCartney being interviewed on the radio about his new album. The interviewer asked him: How did you come up with this title for your song On My Way to Work? Oh, said Paul, once you have a title, you have somewhere to begin. You can start filling in the novel, or adding words and melody to your song. His title, based on the name of one of Damien Hirst’s paintings, flooded him with memories of the time before the Beatles, when he rode a two decker bus to work.

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Being a Novice
Calligraphy, painting, poetry Laurie Doctor Calligraphy, painting, poetry Laurie Doctor

Being a Novice

Each time I begin a painting, or prepare to teach a class, I become a novice again. What am I doing? How do I start? I am going through this process now as I step into a new painting series for an exhibit in 2015 and prepare for my classes in Canada, Colorado and Italy. There is the paradox of being an experienced artist and teacher, but apparently needing the discomfort of feeling lost, of starting over. This sense of beginning from scratch keeps my work alive.

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