My Year of Wild

i guess i’ve always been drawn to the wild.  it's evident throughout the history of this blog.  and it’s one of the biggest reasons we chose to relocate to the PNW. but i hadn’t thought of really diving into it by making it my word-of-the-year until i ran across this book.  it seemed so perfect for me and my plan was to use it as a kind of guidebook to chart me on my wild course this year.

 i have not been disappointed.  Mary Reynolds Thomspon writes beautifully and compellingly about the ways in which 5 “soulscapes” (desert, forest, ocean/river, mountain, grassland) can aid us in the process of self-discovery and also help us relate more deeply to our natural environment. 

 i had no idea when i started out of the ways in which “wild” would manifest for me this year, but here it is april and i am finding out.  besides the obvious draw that nature has for me to get out there and explore, there have been some other ways that wild has worked its way into my life and art. 

       even as a kid, i loved rocks, shells, pinecones, acorns and such, but this year i am paying even more attention to these little manifestations of mother earth.  picking them up, photographing them, re-arranging them, creating with them, letting them tell me their stories.

when i hung my mixed media pieces at pacific pantry for the months of february and march, i decided to give the show a theme of “wild wanderings” with a little sign and explanation. 

 i’m working on a chatbook which matches some of my favorite pics of this area with quotes (my own and others). i may offer it for sale and the title will be “wild western washington”. 

My other 2 Chatbooks

as i began reading through each of the soulscapes in the book, i realized that i have literally thousands of pics that could illustrate the ideas expressed there.  i decided to make photo powerpoint presentations for each soulscape.  so far i have completed “wild desert” and “wild forest” and i’m just starting to work on ocean. as with my other presentations, they contain images, written words and music and these are about 10 minutes each in length.  i honestly have no idea yet of their destinations or audiences, but i’m trusting the process… 

the wild focus has given me some new insights.  i’ve always craved wild and now i’m seeing that it’s truly my portal into the sacred.  it’s the link to my own spirituality.  church never did that for me, but this….these places speak to me of all that is divine and holy and nourish that side of my being as nothing else could. pure and simple joy.

so there’s still a lot of year left…. hopefully this is just the beginning.