Joy Laking
 Gallery

A wonderful glorious day.  When I awake, the light is strong and low.  The marsh, my marsh, is starting to go brown.  Sunlight plays on the ochre and sepias  and  the intense green of the dyke.  The foreground of woods and field are dark.  Here and there, the sun catches bits of golden rod and on this Friday the 13, they are rods of gold.  The sky and bay are pale and still; a foil for the sizzle of early morning light.

 

I am always filled with creativity in the early morning; before I remember that it is garbage day or a meeting day or the house is a mess.  This is a fragile special time. 

 

Our golden retriever, “Marsh” is named for the autumn marsh when all the greens are gone and both marshes match.  He delights in starting his day with a run to the bay; collecting sticks, stomping through puddles and lolling in the acrid mud.  Today I postpone his run because I want to catch my morning view in watercolours.  Perhaps I will do a larger painting in acrylics or oil sticks later.  I take Marsh outside, just for a minute, while the coffee bubbles through.  I am gob-smacked by the lighting on the grapes vines, and the white rockers on the kitchen porch.

                        

I add a wicker table and a geranium in a deep blue pot and snap some photos.  Then I add and delete drift wood, a sheaf of garlic and the Mandevilla.  I move the grape vine and the chairs.  I am in the moment.  The view of the morning marsh upstairs is completely forgotten.  Eventually, after several dozen porch photos, I return to my chair at the bedroom window and do a watercolour study.  Already the light is higher but I remember the feeling I wanted to capture.

When these “spells” of glorious creativity hit, I am reminded of how wonderful and special life is.  Though it is often necessary to carry on with life as usual, it is a huge gift to just stop and bask in the ideas and images that are everywhere.  For me, this is when I feel in tune with the universal life force; these are my god moments.