My thanks to Aashirs nani for letting me have this spot today. I lost the use of my computer and the Internet a year ago. With my brother Reid's passing I was suddenly having to move to a small studio and live on below poverty wages. The good news is that I have managed to survive. I now have a tablet and internet so I can write again. Let me know if there is a day and time slot available as I would love to post again once a week.
I have been doing a lot of knitting scarves for sale. It keeps my hands limber and helps keep the arthritis at bay. It is also a way for me to create. I can mix and match colors, textures and patterns. It is the same skills that let me create a Princess Bride wedding dress for my niece. She also has an Arwen dress from the Lord of the Rings that I made her for Halloween one year.
One of the neat thing about knitting is that I have plenty of time to think as I've been knitting so long that it is automatic. As I knit I am also writing a book in my head. I put aside my fantasy book and am working on a Steampunk comedy that is currently titled "Reanimation Inc." I have the outline of the book and the major characters. One of the leads Colonel Cornelius Thaddeus Pettibone is trying to stave off dieing and being Steampunk I can utilize both magic and science. I have a son who is a best selling trashy romance novelist. I have a group protesting against living forever called The Church of the Sanctimonious Sheep who's motto is "we bleat to God." Obviously I am having a lot of fun.
Where does the creativity come from? Why can I look at ingredients and come up with good recipes? How can I write poetry, fantasy short stories, Steampunk comedy, and create both graphic art and expressionist paintings?
Something within allowed Beethoven to continue to create music when he started losing his hearing at 28 and was totally deaf at 44. Something within allowed Claude Monet to continue to paint when cataracts affected his sight.
My second grade teacher wrote on my report card "take a look at her art." The urge was always there to create. It got me through a father who was too affectionate and a mother who didn't like me. I'll never forget hearing her tell a friend "Mike just gets good grades. If Michele wants good grades she really has to study." I was in the top one percent in the SAT scores. I took the standardized IQ test and have an IQ of 180. That was never good enough for her.
I create because I have to. I have so many words and pictures inside my head that have to come out. I create because the art of creating makes the pain go away.
You can find more of my artwork and photography on my Fine Arts America page https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/1-michele-wilson