BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Creativity Keeping a Sense of Wonder

In addition to working on my Bella sites and assorted other projects, I am also co publisher of an e-zine called Coloring Outside the Lines

The 2nd issue is newly finished and the theme of this issue is "It's a Wonder-Full World".

So we asked a few people, and now I am asking you all...

How do you keep a sense of wonder in your work? And it can be any kind of work, not just artistic or writing.

In addition to writing business owners site, and a few other things, I'm a mosaic collage artist. I keep the sense of wonder by learning new things. New techniques and by reading about and viewing the beautiful works of others.

I find the work of others inspiring as well. especially if it is a media that I do not use myself, like beading. I love trying to see how they created the piece etc.

There isn't always a sense of wonder in creative work. Sometimes it is drudgery, just like any other kind of work. In the past 20 years since I started writing and editing professionally, lots of that time has been without wonder, though still wonderful. The wonder comes at unexpected moments, often when reading someone else's work, sometimes when reading my own, and even at times not related to reading at all. Wonder is everywhere, with loved ones, in the garden, with my dawg...
Deliberately keeping wonder in work could be tough. God knows I work my bliss, but even so, it takes discipline to create wonder.
Best wishes,
Mary Ellen

It's true. I got a good "zap" from visiting Faith Harper's Namaste web site. Her work is so genuine. It's quite apparent that she hasn't simply copied someone else's designs (to me just as bad as plagarism!). There's whimsy and sense of humor there. I think they can be marks of genuine creativity: whimsy and humor.
I discovered this morning that sincere compliments about one's work really contribute to that sense of wonder! A friend wrote to me that she had been re-reading some of my articles and took the time to send me a sincere and complimentary e-mail, one of my affiliates sent me a beautiful teapot as a bonus for the sales produced on the site, and my sister phoned me first to tell me about our new nephew---just 10 minutes after delivering a 9.5-pounder! I'll leave it to you to guess which was the most wonder-ful!
Sincere compliments do open the "channel" for wonder, but hearing your little sister giggling over her new baby sure does bring with it a pretty large dose of wonder all on its own. <img src="/images/graemlins/heart.gif" alt="" />
Best wishes,
Mary Ellen
Irish Culture
Container Gardening

Thank you Mary Ellen! That made my week!

You are very welcome, Faith. I really was enchanted by your ingenuity. IMHO, you are underpriced, but if you raised your prices, I won't be able to shop there when the money eases up a bit.<G>
Best wishes,

You arn't the first person to tell me that! When my article came out in Polymer Cafe other polymer artists scolded me on my pricing! It actually isn't that I'm underselling myself and softening the market, I just work really hard to keep overhead low so I can make pretty things that are still affordable! And a good half of my sales are custom pieces too, which tend to make more. In fact, I've been so busy with custom work this week I haven't had a chance to play with my new metal clay and kiln!

Oh! I love mosaics. I know this is very primitive, but when we were in school, we made art with various colors of aquarium gravel and glue. I loved it. I still can't pass by a nice piece of tiled mosaic or the like.

When I went into the NY Subway as an adult, I wanted to wash down the walls. I was so impressed with the tiled station names and the "decorum" of the tiles on the walls of the station. Every stop, I would look for the name in tile on the walls. To me, it was such a surprise to see this original workmanship still extant after so many years and still in good shape despite the notorious territory of the subway.

I have always admired Rachel Carson and her sense of wonder at the world. Carson wrote Silent Spring when no one believed pesticides were harmful. Most of her other writings introduce the world of the ocean and seashore to a public who just went to the beach to sunbathe and not to romp through tidepools examining the life found there.

Carson always filled her writing not just with facts and figures, but with the excitement and wonder she found when looking at the amazing world around her.