Category Archives: being a human being

78 and counting…assemble yourself

Posted on by Jo Ann Brown-Scott

ASSEMBLY is a paper assemblage, 8×10, acrylic, collage on canvas board

Happy first Monday of the newer year! This is not a blog about Ikea, (assembling something to eat or sleep or sit a lamp on). It is about you and me, putting ourselves back together again after a year when everything we thought we knew for sure was turned upside down, lost, broken, bent out of shape, damaged or disrespected.

I am going to try to accept a clean slate this week, on which to re-assemble the things that I will make right this coming year. The things I will cherish, or not…..the habits I will keep and improve upon, or discard. The ways I will spend my precious leisure time in the last chapter of my life, and the frivolous idiotic ways of wasting time that I will now refuse to fritter away on meaningless pursuits. I am going to try and be more discriminating about what I do and how I do it and who I do it with. I want more quality in my days. I want substance. Accomplishment. Pride in what I do with my time and what I produce.

Blah Blah Blah, you might be saying. Well, ok. I will do my personal best. It might not be perfect but I will raise the bar higher than it was before. At this over-70 age, urgency is a common condition for you and me. If the entire past year has gone by, with everything crammed into it, without it seizing our complete attention and without us feeling that it should be used for some deep introspection…then perhaps we missed a very large boat. This was a damn serious year. Certainly it occurred to you that while you were cooped up and restless, feeling like a caged animal at times, it might be a good idea to look inward and become a better, more self-aware person. Might be a good time to go deep, since we could not go wide.

I want my shot! That line is repeated in the hit stage show HAMILTON quite a few times and has its own song as well, but with a much different meaning. All of us do want our shot at life – we want our rightful chance to do something meaningful. Something that will make a positive difference. The year 2020 was your unfortunate excuse to not take your shot due to the multitude of unforeseen circumstances. This year will probably be different. Once we are all out from under covid it will be as if life has given us a Get Out of Jail Free card. A whole new chance for doing good things! A blank canvas upon which to create a bright new color scheme, a fascinating composition and a focal point of great meaning. Age is of no importance whatsoever – never use it as an excuse for not taking another brand new shot at life.

The new parlor game – “What will be the first thing you do when you and everyone else in your circle of family and friends have had your vaccination?” You can begin to assemble yourself right now. Get yourself ready for that new day. Make some plans and begin to dream some dreams. Put your parts together in a brilliant new way and go for it. Life is not just one more shot – it is a series of opportunities. Step right up and accept the next one!

Jo Ann Brown-Scott – The art above is priced at 75.00 including shipping

More of my art is now posted on ETSY under the title Jo Ann Brown-Scott ART

ART WEBSITES – www.artistjoannbrown-scott.com

Prints of my original art are available at https://fineartamerica.com/art/jo+ann+brown-scott

NOVEL – www.acanaryfliesthecanyon.com

NON-FICTION BOOKS – The Creative Epiphany, gifted minds, grand realizations

and Your Miraculous, Timeless Creativity, the care and feeding of your creative gifts

Books are available on Amazon and Kindle

INSTAGRAM – The Creative Epiphany

All of my previous blogs can be found in my Archives.

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The Risk Taker

Posted on by Jo Ann Brown-Scott

 

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I was told recently, in an insulting and accusatory voice, that I am no longer a risk taker…..

The sting of that remark has prompted a great deal of thought.

Is it true? If I have changed, is it due to my advanced age of 77 or have I simply turned into a chicken? I believe that anyone who knows me well – almost anyone, apparently – would find the offensive statement that I am no longer a risk taker to be false. I live a full life. I am a moving target.

There are many  definitions of being a risk taker, depending on who you ask. In my peer group of seventy-something adults the risk taking most of us do is probably way below the level it was even just 10 years ago. We are perhaps a bit slower, a lot wiser now and we prioritize what is important and what is not worth the effort of getting stirred up about. We weigh things. Do I feel like jumping on a plane to Madagascar or am I content with driving down the Big Sur highway with a person I enjoy? Is someone going to accuse me of being a chicken if I choose Big Sur?  Yes. But I am just prioritizing how I want to spend my time. It’s a big ordeal to fly to Madagascar.

Growing up on 8 acres of country in the hills of southern Ohio, I roamed and wandered freely all over that acreage and well beyond, alone and gone for hours and hours at a time. I was fearless and independent even as young as seven years old. I climbed trees much taller than our pitched-roof house, making my mother gasp and my father proud.  I road horses and one particular insane pony who bucked me off repeatedly and might have easily broken my skinny neck as I landed on hard ground. I was quite confident,  although some people who barely knew me might have decided that since I was pale of complexion and blue-eyed, petite, soft-spoken and intelligent that I must be a scaredy-cat, afraid of life.

I made the highly contested decision to go west to college instead of staying close to home because I could not stand the thought of never leaving Ohio. After arriving in Boulder, Colorado I realized I belonged in the west and basically made all my decisions from that day forward in support of that plan. I had places to see and things to do. I wanted to broaden my horizons. For the next several decades circumstances offered me and my new family the chance to live in at least a half-dozen different states and I knew that every move we made was an adventure to be welcomed. I loved to explore and meet new people.

During the time I  was raising my children I ended a chapter or two in my life and began others. It took courage and a high degree of risk taking to begin a new  life again, and then again, and again several more times in new locations and on my own. I did not come away from those experiences unscathed. I have been battered and bruised, learned some valuable lessons and kicked some butt, because when rotten things happen to me I rise above and take action. I have taken on battles with insurance companies, social security, moving companies and various negative people who were not truly my friends. I was, at one particular period of time, so defeated that I took the risk of emotionally exposing myself 100% to a professional person I trusted who gave me enormous help and peace of mind with the realization that the simple, honest things I was expecting out of the relationships in my life were normal and deserved. After learning that lesson, I chose to remain single rather than push for the security of being married.

 I am an open book. I have expressed my deepest thoughts in art and in print, gaining a degree of notoriety with galleries showing my paintings, an appearance on national TV resulting from a letter I wrote, authoring 4 books published on Amazon.com and being quite vocal whenever I get the chance. It requires intestinal fortitude to write down on paper and publish, for the world to see, the gutsy little thoughts in your head. Any person who paints or writes from the soul opens herself to criticism and judgement.

I have traveled rather extensively, halfway around the world in both directions, sometimes alone, and become a better person for it. Traveling opens your eyes and broadens your gratitude. Traveling is not the biggest risk – living a narrow life can be the risk that takes you down.

These days I am most happy doing the same things I did when I was a young girl growing up. I hike alone in the mountains outside Denver, I paint and write, I travel and I meet new people whenever I can. I am not afraid of getting older. I am not afraid of new relationships. In my mind, largely  unchanged after decades of time, I feel like I am 10 years old climbing a high tree. I take great joy in celebrations, giving gifts, surprises, cupcakes, Mexican food…..and meaty conversations.

I laugh a lot and when I can no longer do that with a person in my circle of friends then I know it is time to move on. Any melancholy person, any sad soul is probably not going to be taking many risks. It is a joyful thing to be high on life, and the enormous risk in life is if you enjoy living! because life can be taken away at a moments notice. RISK is the bottom line to everything, down through decades of time. Living fearlessly, with confidence and faith, for all of your years on earth is risky as hell.

NEW NON-FICTION BOOK  Your Miraculous, Timeless Creativity, the care and feeding of your creative gifts, Amazon and Kindle

WEBSITE http://www.artistjoannbrown-scott.com

NOVEL http://www.acanaryfliesthecanyon.com

NON_FICTION The Creative Epiphany, Amazon and Kindle

INSTAGRAM  The Creative Epiphany

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Questions Answered – Find Yourself in the Pages

Posted on by Jo Ann Brown-Scott

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From the author of The Creative Epiphany…Gifted Minds, Grand Realizations

YOUR MIRACULOUS, TIMELESS CREATIVITY

The Care and Feeding of your Creative Gifts

By Jo Ann Brown-Scott

What is it that drives your creativity forward, year to year, decade to decade? Where does the energy originate? What fuels it? What is mojo? Does it dwindle over time or gain strength? Does age matter? How can you possibly sustain creativity at its best level of performance over an entire lifetime? What do you do if it begins to fade and falter?

The mystery of creativity’s timeless energy is explored and explained here.

Creativity is a hunger for expression. You might feel it as a yearning, a passion, a desire or a dull ache to get something done. You want to say something, invent something, sing, dance or perform, paint or write or cook. You might want to teach, volunteer your expertise or compete for a gold medal or trophy.

Creativity is a wonder. As an artist of any persuasion your life mission is to inform others of the wonders of the world, however simple or magnificent they might be. You relish that assignment because you like to wake people up to life. You are a see-er, an observer; you thrive on the interpretive reporting of whatever you notice, nuanced or enormous. You are the vehicle for that job. You create, you perform, you compete, you express. You bring attention to what you do. You and the unique way that you live your life and what you do creatively ARE one of the wonders of the world.

Perhaps you excel at a skill and you must find a way to keep one-upping your own performances. You might want to tackle a project or pursue a talent for the sake of the recognition it brings or just for yourself and the intrinsic joy of accomplishment, answering to no one. Is it hot fame or building a lifetime legacy of quality and character that fuels your fire? What is your thing?

Your creativity is shaped and defined by your unique DNA plus everything you do, what you see, what you read, what music you like, where you go, who you know, what you taste, what you swallow, what you wear, where you decide to live and everything you smell, feel, think, dream and touch and your very attitude about life. All of the above become the map of exactly who you are. The ways in which you are creatively gifted write the documentary of our life.

The biggest creative accomplishment you can make is to live your life enthusiastically and well, creating a story of choices and accomplishments that build your character and express your gratitude for the time you were given to be alive.

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Available now on Kindle and in paperback on AMAZON.com

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Returning…with gifts

Posted on by Jo Ann Brown-Scott

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Hello again!

Apparently I can’t Blog and write a book and chew gum all at the same time, because once I began seriously writing my new book everything else fell off the to-do list. I have been busy.

My gift to all of you creative friends is my new book.

This book is all about YOUR MIRACULOUS, TIMELESS CREATIVITY and the ways you can keep it alive and hot through all the decades of your life. Life is unrelenting, if you are lucky. It goes on and on and maybe you will live to be one hundred years, or more. Maintaining and thriving within the world of activities you feel passionate about is the key to happy longevity. The quality of your long and arduous life journey is dependent upon how resilient you are…how able you are to withstand and overcome the inevitable adversity that will come your way. Creativity is what carries you through. Every one of us must have a passion and a desire for expression. The love of doing something that is fulfilling and intellectually exciting is critical to our human-ness and our mental health.

This book is for the people who want to remain vital and alive – dancers who become one with the dance, writers who cannot stop writing, designers who never run out of ideas, singers, mountain climbers, artists, photographers, poets, chefs, weavers and wonder-ers, cabbages and kings…..

This book is timeless and ageless, offering playful suggestions and serious observations about creativity’s place in your life. It is not a book about growing old – it is about staying young at heart. It is relevant to any time of life because it is about not losing  your spirit and your youthful approach. That can happen when you are 21 or 71.

If you are here on earth to create, you are going to learn from this book. If your passion is there but your mojo is not, you have a problem. Learn how to prevent that sad occurrence before it settles into your days and nights. Simple child-like habits and rituals can save your creativity from extinction. If you can remain curious and awake, always questioning and wondering, forever young at heart and grateful for your life you will stay productive and enthusiastic about the life you have been given. Your gifts of creativity are the offerings you make in gratefulness for life itself.

Available on Amazon.com and Kindle by July 1.

You can also special order it from your local bookseller.

http://www.artistjoannbrown-scott.com

http://www.acanaryfliesthecanyon.com

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A Call To the Living – The Garage of Blessings in Oak Harbor, Washington

Posted on by Jo Ann Brown-Scott

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recent photo of Mike Rowe and Kristiina

The Garage of Blessings

Quote by Algernon D. Black, former senior leader, New York Society for Ethical Culture:

“This is a call to the living,

To those who refuse to make peace with evil,

With the suffering and waste of the world,

This is a call to the human, not the perfect,

To those who know their own prejudices,

Who have no intention of becoming prisoners of their own limitations.

This is a call to those who remember the dreams of their youth,

Who know what it means to share food and shelter,

The care of children and those who are troubled,

To reach beyond barriers of the past,

Bringing people to communion.

This is a call to the never ending spirit

Of the common man, his essential decency and integrity,

His unending capacity to suffer and endure,

To face death and destruction and to rise again,

And build from the ruins of life.

This is the greatest call of all,

The call to a faith in people.”

My sister Vicki Hand who lives near Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island in Washington has been telling me about the Nonprofit Organization THE GARAGE OF BLESSINGS for months and months. She is one of the volunteers at this place of giving and providing, to those who are less fortunate, the very basics of life – not just warm clothing but soap and toothpaste, blankets and food and most of all love and recognition. I was there myself on a recent trip to visit my sis and I was overwhelmed with the organization and the efficient cooperation of its volunteers. But there is an ambiance that surrounds all of the hustle and bustle as people are assisted in finding what they need to survive – and let there be no mistake I do mean survive. The only words that begin to give you a feeling for the rarified air of this place are simply the words Love and Respect, for all those folks who come in the door and are greeted without judgement and an eagerness to be of help.

Founded in her own garage by an extraordinary woman named Kristiina who has a heart as big as the planet and goals to match, the Garage of Blessings had a visitor yesterday, bringing a camera crew and bundles of great joy. Mike Rowe of the TV show “Returning the Favor” paid her a visit, listened to her story, met everyone and managed to enlarge and enhance her warehouse space in ways that she might have needed years to accomplish on her own. Kristiina dreams BIG and so does Mike Rowe so they are a match made in heaven.

If you are fortunate to be moving to Oak Harbor, Washington, (lucky you) or you already live in the area and you would like to volunteer your services or donate goods just get yourself over to the  Garage of Blessings – everyone knows where it is.

Go to http://www.garageofblessings.com for more information.

Look for Mike Rowe’s TV Show – “Returning the Favor”

https://www.facebook.com/GarageBlessingsOH/

 

GARAGE OF BLESSINGS VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers ready and eager to be of help and take your donations!

You Know What I Think?

Posted on by Jo Ann Brown-Scott

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Above photo of this giant prayer wheel was taken at the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in Singapore, 2016

Wow, it has been a long time since I woke up in the morning not worrying about what might have happened overnight. These days I am already agitated about what I missed overnight as I am reaching  for the TV remote, bracing for what will be rolling across the bottom of the screen and the images I will see… More often than not it is disturbing news that starts the day which is repeated endlessly for the next 24 hours, only to begin again  the next morning with a fresh batch of reasons to feed my anxiety. Some people used to say that I – we – should just let it roll off our backs and have faith that all will work itself out and be fine in the end – there is nothing we can do about it anyway. Who says that anymore? Better in what end? When? Will things be better in our lifetimes or our children’s? I am a positive-thinking person, optimistic even, but certainly no pollyanna, and because we are all family now with the proverbial loose canons who are allowed to undermine rational thought, we take two steps back for every one forward. There is no longer any “your people” and “my people”. There is less than 6 degrees separating us, more like 2, since the onset of the internet and the speed of traveling. I know what happens in some remote areas faster than the residents who actually live there do in many situations because news travels at the speed of light. I breathe and I cry and I bleed for everyone. It is one common planet that unites us, and the domino effect is in full swing all the time. What knocks you down comes back around and eventually takes me down too.

Unless you are numb or dumb with misinformation, in denial, simply uncaring and/or too lazy to read and inform yourself properly you have no escape from the constant noise of the news and as much as I like to think that the good news out-numbers the bad, there is still an unusually large tidal wave of bad news now. If you believe, as I do, that the earth is a living breathing organism that depends upon our ecological maintenance and our so-called intelligent expertise to keep it healthy then you know we have let Mother Earth down quite miserably. The health of Big Blue and all of her inhabitants (in every category; botanical and animal) is not only dependent on our efforts for being ecologically responsible, but I believe that the collective mental health of us all carries tremendous clout toward the well-being of the planet. Right now it seems the world has lost its mind and we are giving almost all of our attention to wackos in high places. Why don’t we stop this adolescent behavior? Why is it taking so long to rid ourselves of this ominous influence? Is it because we thrive on chaos? Are we just that bored?

We must bring a whole body wellness to the table in order to evolve and flourish. We must learn to effectively filter our thoughts and allow less time for the daily drivel we are fed. We are one with this planet and we are not holding up our end of the universal plan. Some other societies and indigenous people seem to understand this symbiotic relationship far more deeply than we do, unfortunately with far fewer resources than we have to use toward their dreams for a better earth. In spite of our resources we are not such an enlightened country in comparison with others. In many ways we are our own worst enemy.

I for one feel powerless to make change happen…and that is the sad truth.

Waiting on the World to Change

Posted on by Jo Ann Brown-Scott

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The lyrics of this John Mayer song ( from his 2 CD album titled “Where the Light Is” ) keep monopolizing my mind space, underlying every daily routine, haunting my thoughts like a benevolent ghost reciting a mantra. Other lyrics included in this selection of songs are also meaningful to me and play significantly in my mind – “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” for instance. I doubt Mayer, in 2008, could have foreseen the state of the world and its rapid dissent into the chaos in which we now find ourselves, but you never know. The artists, the musicians, the writers, the poets, the dancers, the dreamers and the writers of songs are often the canaries in the gold mines of our minds and our world, are they not?

It is difficult to sustain creativity under and against the weight of such difficult times as these, but we must. It takes more work but we must express our recognition of current events whether that means being a brilliant light in the darkness or recording your misery from your unique place inside the darkness. If you prefer to paint in direct denial of the times, then by all means do that, and your enlightened, uplifting  images will offer people refuge in the storm. If you prefer to paint in direct opposition to what is happening in the world, screaming and capturing the chaos and the mayhem then by all means do that as well. You might feel one way on Monday and a totally different way by Friday morning. There is room for white or black and all points in between. Life is way more than 50 shades of gray, by the way. Whether you are a painter, a writer or a photographer – express yourself in the authentic voice of who you are at any given moment in time. You just have to do that, even if it shocks and stuns. You are the barometer of the weather you are experiencing;  what you record is a journal of your personal progress and your ability to cope in the complex world surrounding you. Express it; just bleed it out. It is all a part of the universal picture.

http://www.thecreativeepiphany.com    acanaryfliesthecanyon.com

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Summer 2016

Posted on by Jo Ann Brown-Scott

The photos above are my own – the first one is the vista taken from Mt. Lindo (the mountain with the enormous lighted cross) looking east toward the distant Denver skyline, with highway #285 winding its way west toward Conifer – a weekend journey for me, up that canyon to the place in the pines that I love best. (referenced in my new novel, A CANARY FLIES THE CANYON – AMAZON & KINDLE).

The second view is Evergreen lake, the third is the meadow across from Meyers Ranch in Conifer near where we hike, and the last is our little doe making herself at home in the sheltered spot surrounded by rocks just outside the studio window.

Summer 2016, from the ridiculously funny to the sublime and everything in between, is about half over and has already been logged as one of my personal best. I find my peace in the mountains. And yes, my blogs have been few this summer, but that does not mean I am uncommunicative. I am incubating new ideas. I am on fire to write another book (I have no control over this urge to write – it is an animal that needs constant feeding) but so far I am just making notes. I am also painting, which is quite similar to writing…requiring color, pattern and texture in the composition…focal point, sub-plots and sub-areas,  interesting detail and dialogue. The process for each creative endeavor uses much the same principles, and of course you must also open yourself up and bleed it all out. You have to be unselfconscious in your desire to share.

We are attending summer concerts, art festivals and galleries, having friends visit us, painting both in the studio and plein air, checking out the Little Bear Saloon to make sure it still rocks (it does), the Lavender Festival and exploring back roads on the Harley. We have had a Colorado, stay-at-home kind of summer, but we have big plans for Fall. Every breath I take I am reminded that these are my Halcyon years, now in the final chapter of my life. I cannot ask for more than this, nor would I want to. My extended world is not perfect – people I love dearly are battling cancer, friends have painful family issues to deal with and the world here and abroad seems to have lost its fucking mind. Chaos and unpredictability rule the day. But somehow I have found a degree of peace, relieved of most of the stress…and removed…to a place both mental and geographic…that I love. I recommend that you do the same. Cheer Up! Do what you can with what you have got, and make yourself some happy.

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Your Life’s Collage

Posted on by Jo Ann Brown-Scott

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Mixed Media Collage by Jo Ann Brown-Scott

I have always enjoyed mixing it up. I find it nearly impossible to swallow things whole without tweaking some little aspect here or there to achieve a unique recipe that appeals to my own particular sense of intellectual or aesthetic “rightness”. And we are not talking about food here folks.

I am hardly 100% anything.

My religion, if you can call it that, is a spiritual soup of many doctrines and beliefs. I am not strongly spouting off any hard and fast doctrines – there are aspects of Christianity, Buddhism, the Jewish faith and several others that when combined into one whole all work together quite nicely for me. I am a child of the universe. I believe the earth is alive – our hostess – breathing and in need of constant nurturing. We serve at the pleasure of the planet. And we are so disrespectful.

My art (my life-long passion) and the art of living my life are a collage of experiences which I stitch together as I go, adding new pieces of knowledge to the whole. Whenever a new snippet is added to the fabric I am weaving, everything that has gone before is slightly moved and adjusted and changed by the arrival of new information. Edges of things, sometimes cut and sometimes torn,  are overlapped and meticulously arranged; texture here – color there – lines naturally formed with paths of information and achievement and failure and loss and joy and wonder and discovery take my attention forward to the next thing. Texture, pattern and color are my  life’s manifestation of events – whether those events be happy, sad or somewhere in between. I see my experiences  in those artistic tactile dimensions.

Every single thing is of value to me. I do not miss much. I notice, I am aware. And I am often, daily and hourly and even minute by minute – AMAZED. Life is an ever-evolving tapestry – a blanket of layers – a textile of humankind. I am but one, but I am mighty.

Your life is the same. We all question things. Most of us  live in the space between the extremes of knowing absolutely and not knowing. I truly doubt that you are 100% anything at all, unless it is human. But there is great value in simply that.

Here is a quote from me, found at the PREFACE in my new novel A CANARY FLIES THE CANYON, available on Amazon and Kindle.  http://www.acanaryfliesthecanyon.com

 

Mankind is on an eternal march;

a trail of humanity driven by instinct

and perhaps divine inspiration.

Although we are at time directionless,

straying randomly from the path

an internal compass guides our way

and we are actually at one with the stars,

purposely aligned and aware

of our place in the universe.

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Artistic Expression

Posted on by Jo Ann Brown-Scott

 photo courtesy of nationmultimedia.com

Ai Weiwei's latest installation has 14,000 life vests tied to the columns of a Berlin concert house.photo courtesy of CNN

“Are you jealous of the ocean’s generosity? Why would you refuse to give this joy to anyone?”

Quote by  RUMI, born 1207 in Afghanistan, whose family fled the threat of the Mongol armies and emigrated to Turkey between 1215 and 1220.

The relevance of artistic expression in today’s world is seldom more explicitly displayed than in this recent installation by the most prominent of Chinese dissident artists, Al Weiwei, on the pillars of the Konzerthaus Concert Hall in Berlin.

This artist has wrapped 14,000 life jackets around the pillars of this landmark building to bring attention to the urgency of the tide of refugees arriving on the shores of  European nations and around the world. These particular life jackets were worn by  migrants who braved the seas in flight from the Island of Lesbos in Greece.

With thanks to this artist and others who feel the pain and misery of the refugee population, who at this very moment are enduring all manner of human suffering in their attempt to simply find a better life for their children, I humbly and simply post this blog.