I'd like to think such photographic doodling is not just self-obsession, but part of trying to repair myself and be able again to move beyond only self. The week off work has been mostly solitary: sleep and culture and walking and reading. At an LRBookshop talk on Tuesday, I ran into a lovely woman I used to see at a meditation group and we both had a lot to say, in the break, in the street and outside the tube station, about art and music, about Italy, where she's from originally, and mainly about writing - her MA in creative writing, my blogging and inspiration by fine writers and artists met on line, most notably of late, of course, Teju Cole's novel, Open City. Her face lit up. A Spanish friend had phoned her to recommend Antonio Munoz Molina's big review of the book in El Pais. She had loved the review and marked it down as a novel she must read. Then back to solitude. I could wish, perhaps, that this was not what I need for self-repair, but it's the bedrock. Relaxing with others can only come after - next week, I hope.Friday, 22 April 2011
Doodling
I'd like to think such photographic doodling is not just self-obsession, but part of trying to repair myself and be able again to move beyond only self. The week off work has been mostly solitary: sleep and culture and walking and reading. At an LRBookshop talk on Tuesday, I ran into a lovely woman I used to see at a meditation group and we both had a lot to say, in the break, in the street and outside the tube station, about art and music, about Italy, where she's from originally, and mainly about writing - her MA in creative writing, my blogging and inspiration by fine writers and artists met on line, most notably of late, of course, Teju Cole's novel, Open City. Her face lit up. A Spanish friend had phoned her to recommend Antonio Munoz Molina's big review of the book in El Pais. She had loved the review and marked it down as a novel she must read. Then back to solitude. I could wish, perhaps, that this was not what I need for self-repair, but it's the bedrock. Relaxing with others can only come after - next week, I hope.
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5 comments:
Keep on doodling, Jean, I love it, and why should it not be good for you too?! I'm like you that I do need quiet solitary time in between seeing people, though sometimes I'm guilty of being almost reclusive, except for my immediate family here at home. The other day I met my artist friends for a pot luck luncheon, had a great time catching up, but was absolutely exhausted later. Have a restorative week ahead!
Me too,like you and Marja-Leena: solitude is the great restorative and doodling the proof of its effectiveness.
I love your doodles! More please!
Solitude and wool-gathering (though what you do is more than just wool-gathering), I try not to reproach myself for spending too long with them, the pressure that I am wasting time, not doing enough that's constructive.
I curse myself sometimes for so often feeling that the company of people I love and want to see becomes a demand that I feel reluctant about, it isn't them (usually!), it's the time and energy,which even in a relatively leisured life like mine, there never seems to be enough of...
Beautiful words and images flowering here.
Doodling and solitude is important. I remember an interview (I think I blogged about it but can't find it) with a writer who, in old age, recommends it. Okay, finally! I found the post. It was Gail Godwin: "Now I do a lot of lying around. Finally I have accepted that my supine dithering is fertile and far from a waste of time…I have discovered I can compose whole paragraphs in my head and find them waiting, intact, next morning."
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