I dropped "Persephone's Dream: A Prayer for Peace" off at Parkhill Orchard the other day. What a pleasure! Russell met me and gave me a golf cart tour of the place, (including drive by berry sampling- Yumm! I'm going to the market today to get some of those berries!), and showed me where all the sites where new pieces are going to be installed- including my own. And then we looked at the stones he had to mount her on. She is going to look great. The picture here is trying out one of the the stones, but not in its real location.

I have an admission to make. I have a history of having a fear of galleries- a fear of approaching them- like they are the big bad wolf for artists.

I tell you this in the off chance that you know someone who has had a similar fear. Because it has become abundantly clear to me, with experiences like meeting Russell,  that my fear was ill founded, and maybe yours, or your friend's is too.

Recently I have found myself using the term “creatives” as a label or shortcut term for my people. I am also seeing that term tossed around by others. I thought it might be useful to explore what I mean when I call my tribe creatives.

A creative might not know that they are a creative, they might not feel artistic or musical or whatever. I know that I did not- people had to tell me. It is hard to see from the inside.

So, these are some of the signs:

You have been called passionate- you can dive into an idea with all four feet because you see the ways that it can be so great for the world around you.

You have been called a dreamer- your imagination is always on. If you have ever run into a hypnotherapist, they might have told you that you were already in a trance.

You often have more ideas than you can follow through on, and may bounce from one project to the next – on a good day it is invigorating and affirming, and it can also lead to a feeling of ineptitude when you see all the dropped projects around you.

It can feel hard to trust yourself and your ideas because you know that you have not always been able to stick with one long enough to reap the benefits.

A creative is someone who thinks outside the box and makes links between boxes that others might never have thought of.
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​So you are grumpy- the to-do list is long and boring and never ever done. And you have the "I Want"'s- that nagging feeling that you want something but you can't figure out what. Somehow nothing seems easy- like there is just a lot of resistance going on. You feel pretty distant from your creative practice, and you are eating far too much of the wrong things!

If this is you- or if you have known this feeling- try something for a minute. A quick visualization.

Get yourself seated comfortably and let your eyes gently close while you take a couple of deep breaths.