This is an annoying discovery: I think in black and white. I am in the thick of writing a memoir about my nearly 25 year relationship with my Japanese in-laws and I’m having the hardest time imaginable seeing images. All the colors, shapes, textures and depth I bring to painting are sequestered from the writing part of my mind. This is truly shocking. It’s as if there is a wall in my mind and on one side the colorful intuitive artist plays to her heart’s content knowing that the mind is at rest while the hand chooses colors either at random or prompted by the beauty of nature. This has been my way of working in paints, pastels and Neocolor crayons. But when it comes to writing, the images go flat. Believe me–there’s no shortage of words, just images! The words that come are the product of thinking, reasoning, the world of ideas. I love this world and wouldn’t for a moment want to give up on my very private, quiet intellectual life that gets expressed in the writing. But how to bring the color into it?
Years ago when I created The Genesis Way, I tried to imagine who would use the Genesis Cards? Who would benefit from the guided instruction to notice the beautiful connections in daily life that nourish creativity? For many years the Genesis Cards have been enjoyed by artists of all ages and types of creative experience. But writers? Clearly this is my next challenge, to use my own Genesis Cards in the service of the written manuscript and discover how to make those cards toil to bring out the color in the words.
I’ll let you know how it goes. . . and maybe I’m wrong. If you’ve been using the Genesis Cards already as creative companions to your writing I’d love to know and hear your story about how to wed the visuals with the words when writing is the aim!