Author Archives: Jo Ann Brown-Scott

The Creative Epiphany

Posted on by Jo Ann Brown-Scott

Last summer in the Safeway parking lot when my car would not start, just after stocking up on all the weekly supplies on my list including fudgsicles and other perishables, I called Triple A in a frustrated temper tantrum. The guy asked me what I thought was wrong with my car. HUH?

As if….I mean really….how in the world would I….I said I had no idea. But I told him that I could repeat the sound it made when I turned the key. He said great. Go ahead lady. I made a sort of sucking, jerking, spitting, Tourette’s Syndrome “GUCK ah GUCK ah GUCK ah Gumph” like a cat trying to cough up a hair ball. He immediately diagnosed the problem as my fuel pump. He added the compliment, “Nice job lady! Now we got somethin’ to go on!”

We proceeded to load my car onto the back of his rescue vehicle and I jumped into the front seat of the tow truck to ride with him on our way to the fix-it place ( these are all highly technical terms ). The driver and I had a lovely talk on the way and the day wasn’t nearly as horrendous as I had imagined.

Everybody needs a little something to go on….just a little bit of a clue helps so much. It is tiresome and sweaty, flying blind all the time. I have found that you can usually make a sound that will perfectly describe your current emotion and will be of help to people in your life who remain mostly clueless. Sounds get peoples’ attention. Try out a sound sometime. They define situations when words are inadequate. I suggest you develop an entire array of sound special FX (a tip of the hat to my son-in-law who makes a living in FX) and you will soon have a vocabulary of them from which to choose when you need one fast.  WHOOOSH. I am outta here.

The Creative Epiphany

Posted on by Jo Ann Brown-Scott

The Creative Epiphany
Gifted Minds, Grand Realizations

We are proud to say we have fans of the book around the world. There is something for everyone inside these apple green covers. I selected 18 people to write chapters for this book, chosen for the extraordinary  realizations they had experienced involving their creativity which opened their eyes to some missing puzzle piece that changed the way they looked at life, taking them in a direction they had never before imagined until they had a creative epiphany. The book is available with Amazon.com and other booksellers. When you are a creative person one of the most difficult decisions you face is choosing which direction to follow – usually multiple directions are available because you are a creative idea machine spitting out more ideas than you might ever be able to put into practical use. My Introduction to the book discusses the phenomenon of being highly creative and what agonies and ecstasies await you in life. Creativity is always a challenge; a curse at times; a gene you cannot deny any more than you can deny the color of your eyes. As for me, I seem to have settled upon fine art and writing as my most passionate pursuits after putting in some years in other more practical positions teaching Interior Design, working in sales and marketing for a financial advisory firm, then Director of Marketing for my boss’s financial book which led to the decision to author and market my own book,  being an art gallery director for a couple of great locations which was the best training for the successful marketing of my own art in fine galleries. They say that life prepares you for life, and that is exactly how it worked for me. You become involved in what you love, you learn from it and you make it your own direction. I was enrolled in watercolor classes when I was about 8 years old at the Dayton Art Institute, feeling validated and proud even at that young age that I was indeed an artist, so identity was never in question for me. I am saddened and surprised by some people of great talent who never manage to see themselves as authentic artists – I tell all of my students that they are artists.  I sold my first piece of art when I was in high school and began selling professionally after I graduated from U. of Colorado with a BFA. And so it has gone.

The journey of an artist, a photographer, a designer, a musician, a poet, a writer, a chef, a race car driver – or any career that is non-robotic – is long but it also needs to be WIDE. There is much to be said for WIDTH – because every journey stretches long into the future but it must not be a narrow, one lane trip.  My advice is to use your peripheral vision  so you don’t miss the great side stuff as you watch for the end goal. That’s like going to a three-ring circus and only watching the center ring. Creativity demands a big picture view. If you live in the now, being aware of the possibilities to your left and right as you move forward, you just never know what epiphanies will brush against you. Creativity is BFF with serendipity, improvisation and unexpected opportunity. When the epiphany light bulb goes on, you’ll be enlightened.

The Creative Epiphany

Posted on by Jo Ann Brown-Scott
Nice to Meet You
Content
Ok here we go – I say “we” referring to myself because I feel that I will need to utilize various aspects of who I am to write a blog, and that’s fine, I have many interests. But of course I am hoping there are some people out there on the receiving end to catch what I am throwing, it does take a village. I have been tempted to write a blog for a long while but always felt it to be more responsibility than I wanted….I ask myself what has changed? Having written 2 books (books I put off writing for many years as the clock ticked) I do miss having a reason to write again. When you toy around with an idea for a long while, wasting time and being stuck in neutral, then wake up one morning asking yourself, “If not now, then when?” you finally begin to move forward. The banner of constantly changing ideas and ‘breaking news’ scrolling across my mind, like the streaming news on the bottom of the TV screen, is something I believe all writers have in common. Stuff keeps happening, ideas don’t stop, there is always something that takes you to the keyboard, because your first impulse is to write about it. A blog certainly is a kind of journaling, but far more public here in the 21st century, and as that great quote says, ‘You are what you think constantly about.’ A blog reveals the things you think constantly about. It reveals the authentic you.
I am also a life-long fine artist, an art instructor, and have held positions in teaching, marketing, sales and public relations. I plan to use all that has gone before in my approach to this new blog. How could I not? We are all the sum of what we have experienced thus far. I am especially fascinated with creativity and the unique, highly individual processes required to express that creativity. I love the arts. I like hearing true stories of how people’s lives were changed as the result of a monumental realization – an epiphany. That is the subject of my second book. There is much more to say on that subject.
So let us have some conversations – I will not be writing every single day, but often. I will include photos, I will include art info and images, great stories, humor, personal viewpoints and experiences. Come along with me, laugh with me, visit my other websites and we will become friends.
Jo Ann Brown-Scott