Creative Soul
My plan was to paint today, but instead I worked all day on designing the new book I’m working on. It’s a strange book, something I wrote to myself originally, and decided to share as the process I’m using to get back to myself, and beyond. It’s titled Creative Soul.
It has many images of my paintings, and the thoughts that came one day when I was writing my “Life Plan.”
I started using my subway ride in the morning to uplift myself on the way to work. After so many years, I wanted to get myself started again, so I began writing a plan on my phone. One day, I decided I needed it to be more visual, and opened a Canva document to transfer the information there. I started transferring information, but soon it transformed into what now seems to me a transmission because what I wrote there was not at all what I was planning to write.
The words that came out were a series of thoughts that encourage and remind the human soul of a path to itself. The words that came out were a series of thoughts that encourage and remind the human soul of a path to itself. They speak to me as an artist, about the goals of a creative life, and present a personal vision of life, work, mission, and self. These thoughts poetically delineate actions and processes that provide a path to a life enveloped in creativity and freedom. Writing, drawing, painting, sharing, planning, leading, living, embracing, and emotions pave the way to a freedom-ready heart and the ultimate goal of peace.
These poetic prose writings are followed by a series of templates and ideas that a person can use to get started on their own journey. I had been designing a “coloring planner” since 2022, but decided that I rarely use planners, so I reduced the design to a few templates that might be useful to someone like me, plus a series of drawings of Mary Magdalene that could be used as templates for paintings or coloring images.
Creative Soul still needs work, but it’s finally taking shape. For now, it contains paintings of Mary Magdalene that I created after publishing Painting Mary Magdalene: Little Miracles and Transformations Along the Creative Path. In the meantime, I’m working on putting into practice the messages that I interpret for myself in these texts.
In my mind, the time I’ve spent away from my art, working in the everyday world, must mean something beyond just making bad decisions and sacrifices. If I can bring myself back to my desired life, a better life than before it all started, it will all be not just worth it, but also empowering, to myself, to my son, and to anyone who is living a similar experience and calling. In fact, it's not a matter of 'if I can...' because I already am.
I plan to have the book ready for The Mary Magdalene Celebration 2025 on July 20 at 3pm.
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