Creative Check-In

Last week, I was sitting in my home, looking for something that I wanted to do. I had grocery shopped and was cooking something, the dishes were washing and I had an itch to create something. My brain was trying to create, but didn't have any type of direction.

I went on Pinterest (not always the best idea) to see if I could find inspiration and direction. I'm not exactly sure how this came about, but I decided on some lyric word art.

One of the things that most people don't know about me is that I love graphic arts. If I hadn't found music therapy as my passion at such a young age, I may have gone into typography or graphic design as a career. I love making words and lettering into art intended just for me. I've forgotten how much I love writing and drawing.

So, I decided on lyric word art as my project.

Then I faced my second dilemma.

What lyrics?

The problem with being a music therapist is that I don't have just one favorite song, I have many, MANY favorite songs. I love music from all types of places and times. I love some songs because of their lyrics. I love others in spite of their lyrics. I had to figure out what song to choose.

This was time for some mindfulness. I closed my eyes and just let songs drift through my head. The one that I stopped on was The River as sung by Garth Brooks. I've always loved that song.

I printed off the lyrics and then went to my relaxation spot for drawing and thinking.

I read the lyrics several times until a phrase popped out at me. "So don't you sit upon the shoreline and say you're satisfied. Choose to chance the rapids, and dare to dance the tide."

That was it. That was the message I needed to think about at that time, in that place.

The lyric word art developed from there. The targeted lyric was where I started to write. I did my own font idea - kinda calligraphy meets left-handed sprawl - and didn't stress too much about whether things matched. After the initial lyric was on the page, there was way too much empty space left. I needed to fill it up.

I decided to keep going with words until the empty space became full. All of the words in the picture are words in the song, but I just used them randomly with no clear purpose or structure. I saw a word, and I put it into the spaces available.

When everything was full, it was difficult to see the targeted lyric. So, I used some color to highlight the target words.

Next time I do this (and I feel that it will be sooner rather than later), I am going to try to use less words and more pictures or borders. I may also use more of the lyrics. We'll see. The best thing about creating is that the process is more important than the product. The product is something to take pride in, but the process is what can fulfill my creative spirit.

Any suggestions for the next round of lyrics?

Happy Saturday, all!