“The creative process in all its many forms is the key to emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing.” Janet weight reed
My hummingbird imagery symbolises the unseen and intangible in our world. Just because we can’t see or touch something doesn’t mean it’s not there or is having a profound effect on our lives.
The Aboriginals, Native Americans and many other indigenous peoples around the globe have a deep understanding of our spiritual, physical, social and cultural connection to the land. They believe all of life as it is today, human, animal, bird and fish is part of one vast unchanging network of relationships. They understand fully the importance of land management care towards our health and overall wellbeing. 
It seems that many people today, young and old from all sectors of society, are experiencing physical and emotional illnesses and distress. Given our fast pace of life and that so much of the world’s population is now plugged into technology of one kind or another, is it any wonder that our collective senses are being deadened?
Technology has changed the whole world dynamic.
In this fast watercolour sketch from Portugal last October, everything within the image is interconnected. There are no starts and stops…no beginning and no ending, rather a continual flow.
Feeding our senses by spending time in the natural world, is healing. However, like all good medicine, it needs to be enjoyed on a consistent basis.
Many have forgotten the simple pleasure of sitting beneath a tree and how restorative it is. 
I have been listening to a radio programme about the power of the placebo…and how it has been shown time and time again to cause a sense of wellbeing even though the recipient is fully aware that they are taking a sugar pill. This has everything to do with mind, body connection.
This photograph was taken on a hot day last October on my friend’s farm in Portugal. I had just finished teaching a course and needed time to relax, focus and meditate. Once I began to sketch and most importantly open my senses to all that surrounded me, within minutes I felt calm and refreshed. 
When we immerse ourselves into the creative flow, our minds are taken into what I call deep time. A place that is totally different from our clock watching, rushing to the next appointment type of time. An intangible sense of calmness and wellbeing ensues. We return to what we were designed for – being part of nature and engaging our senses.
Portugese children on Armona Island playing with shells….
Trying to exist in this brave new world and finding a space for creativity, in all its many forms….might sound impossible.
I have raised a family and worked all my life and like most people have lived through some very stressful times. I have learned that if I simply stop….and give myself some soul food each day, I am immediately calmed and feel a sense of well being. Soul food time enriches and supports everything else we need and have to do in life.
It costs nothing. It doesn’t mean major life changes. It simply means addressing the part of ourselves that is in desperate need for daily food. 
One hugely important factor so often overlooked is that of populations growth.
I was born in London in 1946, right after World War 2. At that time the world population was approximately two and a half million. Today the world population is seven and half million and rapidly rising. 
This tells me that more than ever before we need daily soul food and to renew our connection with the natural world.
If we don’t give ourselves this precious time, we are doomed to be like hamsters running around a wheel…..feeling utterly frustrated and exhausted, and at the same time achieving very little.
I made this quick sketch when visiting my son and his partner on their farm in Pennsylvania last spring. Their neighbours are Amish. We have much to learn from such people. 
From Buddhist Offerings….
‘We see that life, composed of this mind and body, is in a state of continual constant transformation and flux. There is always the possibility of radical change. Every moment – not just poetically or figuratively, but literally – every moment we are dying and being reborn, we and all life’
A bientôt
http://www.janetweightreed.co.uk – The Apple Exercise.
I have just re-read Virginia Woolf’s – A Room of One’s Own. It has been at least forty years since I last read it. Back then it didn’t resonate with me in the way it does today. .
She reminds us that material stuff clutters our lives.
A Bientot
Given the fast pace of our lives today, and the fact that so many of us are plugged into technology of one kind or another, our collective senses are being deadened.
When we first enter this world, we are naturally full of curiosity and wonder.
When we think of an apple we might visualise the iconic Apple Max symbol, or the shiny red apple that children take for their favourite teacher.
It”s so easy to get caught up in all the adult stuff. I remember very well when my own children were young and being responsible for putting on Christmas celebrations with all the trimmings. Quite often, the real meaning and essence of the celebration was lost,
Capucine – a little girl I painted in France this year. Her eyes were filled with wonder and curiosity 
As adults we don’t have to give up our childlike ways – in fact I believe that a fully integrated person is capable of being both an adult and a child. The child-like wonder that still lives within us is what keeps us filled with the promise of the unexpected, the spontaneous.
It would seem that it is the simple elements of life that give us all great pleasure. Singing, dancing, giving to those in need, being part of a community and laughter….and of course a simple smile can change the day for so many people. 
I hope that everyone enjoys a Christmas with elements of spontaneity and joy and of course some really good food:)
For those who are not familiar with traditional English Christmas Cake – a little more information.
About two weeks before Christmas the cake would be covered in marzipan along with a thick white icing resembling snow….and then Christmas decorations added.
After a wonderful summer in Holland…swimming in canals with local children, riding bicycles around the countryside – stopping at farms where we were given the most delicious fresh cheese and milk straight from the cow, and of course sketching…..even back then I carried a sketch book with me. Alas, it was time to return home.
I was put on a train heading towards the Ferry port at Calais France. 
When I arrived at the Calais Terminal I joined many other young people from all around Europe sitting on the floor waiting for ferries.
After docking at the Dover Ferry Terminal, I found a policeman waiting for me. Clearly alerts had been sent out…..
I think it took me until I was forty to begin to understand the meaning of gratitude. Until that point, I had wondered through life, sort of hanging on, and trying my best to put one step in front of the other, often under challenging circumstances, and then boom, an epiphany – something occurred which opened my eyes to what gratitude is all about.
Of course this didn’t mean that life would be easy from that point on. As a working artist for the past forty-five years, I am fully aware of the feast or famine syndrome and what it’s like to live on a knife edge. However, with this new way of being life’s challenges have become much easier to live with and to move through and more importantly I am able to learn from them….
I lived and worked in the States from 1966 til 1993 when I returned to Europe, consequently I enjoyed many Thanksgiving celebrations. However, I do wonder if I had real understanding of what it was all about. Sadly I think the running around and worrying about if every detail was correct obliterated the true meaning of the day. We live and learn…..
