Tinker toys, lumber scraps, crayons, pencils, paper,
coloring books, comic books, few playmates, extreme shyness, non-verbal
interchanges, creative isolation, inner-world imagination, no TV,
limited radio, victory gardens, nature in all seasons, collections of
colored soil and stones, cutting patterns in the summer grass or making
mazes in the winter snow are memories of pre-school life. These
experiences or memories are still a source of happiness and are
registered as blissful moments that fuel my 'zinger' experiences with
the world. 'Zingers' are those moments when ego does not exist and I
become one with the universe and totally free.
This is
also my experience when I am in creating mode whether it be a drawing,
painting, gardening, cooking, even chores that allow you to travel in
your mind while doing something else. When I am able to reach this
inner space as I am painting or in any creative action, I have lost
contact with time, with the events of life, and am able to allow my
subconscious, and I hope, my unconscious material to surface. Because I
am well grounded artistically in the principles and elements of design,
that part of consciousness seems to be able to direct the painting. It
is as if I have a participation arrangement with some greater force or
information center. I seem to be able to enter the intuitive state at
will. Anything perceived as beautiful can also trigger a 'zinger'
experience: fall colors, the sound, smell, and taste of the sea, or the
emotional connection to a loved one. But it is the sustained activity
of creating that drives me to paint which sets off the 'zinger' putting
me in touch with the universe, something bigger than me, that I have
come to embrace and love.
