The joy of creativity...

Years ago I did a lot of hiking, as we call long walks into the wilderness, in America.

Down Under it is called TRAMPING!  When I first heard the term tramping I thought about TRAMPS!  BUMS!  Down and out people...

Well, not so.  Walking has been around forever.  Germany really got into it years ago.  If one studies the history of what American's call Hippies the life style actually began in Germany.  Communes and living in symphony with the planet one lives on.  The old sing-a-long tune:  "Here We Go a Rambling amid the leaves so green... etc... with a back pack on my knee!"  The joy of being out of doors, carrying all the things one would need for the day in a pack upon their backs!  The pack held wine, cheese, bread, fruit, and extra clothing in the case of in climate weather.

The British and French created PICNICS!  A basket full of "sandwiches" pickled onions to gherkins, olives, cheeses, wines, fried chicken, cold roast beef, a table cloth, napkins, (serviettes) real cutlery and a sweet dessert.  Fruit pies to cakes.  Chocolate and brandy!  Strawberries, oranges and plums.

I just heard on the new this morning that walking (NOT RUNNING) can add years on your life!  I use walking as a sacred mind cleansing sacrament.  When I am out of sorts, angry, confused, anxious and worried I WALK!  My father taught me this secret.  When I was a little boy he simply said:  when things become strange and rather scary WALK.  He gave me a precious gift.

Walking also sets off different neurons inside the universe of your brain.  It can also introduce you to all kinds of situations.

One will meet human beings, animals, tides, shifting rock, an empty water bottle, stars and galaxies you have never, ever imagined could possibly live over your head.  Sunrise and Sunset.  The most amazing for me is TWILIGHT.  The light between day and night.

I love to force myself into places I think I should not enter.  Imagination and vision help but, one day years ago I discovered the joy of painting.

NOT WALLS.  God, I hate painting walls, floor boards, ceilings, roofs and the list is endless.
I do love having a blank space in front of me and a box of oils, water colors, finger paints, crayons, pencils, glue and colored paper with sharp knives, lots of bits and pieces to assemble into "something"...  My father taught me

about shadow and light.  He could draw images extremely well.  He could spend hours outlining mountains, trees, houses, barns, and his clouds were breath taking to me.

Now I will knit this skien of WALKING and PAINTING into one DISH!

A few years ago myself and a dear friend did a tramp through the Catlins.  A place beside the sea in the southern most part of south island NZ.  It was quite the adventure.  I have no doubt written about it in my years of past blogs.

I have forever loved the art work of TURNER.  The other evening I viewed the movie about his life.  I came home lifted some blank canvas out of storage, dug out the oils and dreamed of NOT LOOKING LIKE TURNER BUT PAINTING LIKE HIM!

I wanted to create a sunset.  I have been humbled to the point of kneeling before a sunset from the time I was a little boy.  Living a mile from the Great Salt Lake I was given the most amazing SUNSETS on planet earth.  Blue water.  Antelope Island.  A sky so high and wide heaven could fit forever in it's span of space.

Rutha and I witnessed some gorgeous sunsets when we tamped the Catlins.  Lots of tall grasses and farm lands near the edge of the sea.

I have painted a simple silly piece of art of a memory of the Catlins and the Sunsets.

When I die I hope someone will spread my remains in the rivers, oceans and mountains I love at SUNSET.