"Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source."

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I extend to you a very warm welcome to my blog.

Catherine Meyers is my name and I am an artist, a painter. Joni Mitchell, my very favourite singer/songwriter, says in her song, " I am a lonely painter and I live in a box of paints. " It is true being an artist/painter can be a lonely profession as it is usually done in solitude. This is a good thing and I believe essential to me, though it has been problematic in ways that necessitate contact with the outside world. That said I am so very grateful to have my computer because it enables me to do this, and has made all the difference in my feeling isolated.

My intention for this blog is to explore in a personal way, thoughts, ideas and activities around creativity. Creativity to me is not a gift reserved only for the artist, but has been given to every human being.

I have two goals implicit in this blog. The first relates to my intentions, but just as significant to me, is to be accountable and to enable and nurture my own creative process.

I have recently been working hard on applying for a Canada Council Research/Creation Art Grant and a Nova Scotia Tourism, Culture and and Heritage Creation Grant. I think or it is my hope that this blog will help me to see this goal come to fruition and completion. The reason I mention this is because I have in the past been very reluctant to involve myself in this kind of endeavour. I made all kinds of excuses for why I wouldn't. The reality was they were excuses that I'd hide behind due to my fear of rejection and lack of confidence in myself as an artist. Making my submissions for art grants has helped to demystify whom I thought applied or could apply for these projects, somehow assuming "they " were better than or thought they were and well I didn't want any part of the elitist BS. I could never have imagined I'd ever have delved into applying for a Canada Council grant so this is a big deal for me and demonstrates to me that I've changed...in a good way! I think I growed up!

In attending Art College for four and a half years in the early 70's, it was my experience that the art world was a very political place. I could easily get onto a boring rant about that, but I won't. I have come to this conclusion.
I needed to ask myself , so what am I going to do about it? I can make a difference in all that I do, if I believe in myself regardless of what is going on around me. I have changed my attitude, taken a proactive stance and am learning the skills of marketing myself. This doesn't have to be an experience that somehow lowers my own personal integrity. Perhaps it is just called growing up or it's what happens to women when we reach fifty. Maybe my give a damn has broke or stopped working. What matters mostly is what I think about who I am, as a human being, as a woman and as an artist.

The second reason for this blog is writing...which I have long loved to do and I attribute reading the book, The Artist Way, for literally changing my life and helping me to use the tool of writing a daily journal, which I still do. Writing has been therapeutic for me, helped me get through very difficult times and celebrate wonderfully happy times, and enabled me to actualize my creative dreams. Blogging, like keeping a journal, is a wonderful way to keep the creative wheels well oiled, and turning..

I do hope you will join me with comments or just stopping by to read my blog. If not, well that's all right, because the main reason I am doing this is for my own personal growth and discipline. I used to be one that disliked that word discipline, which according to the Oxford dictionary, is defined as being, " mental and moral training." I felt it was something I couldn't possibly enjoy, would be forced to do, regardless if I liked it or not. I finally came to have a deeper understanding of what it meant to me, after much struggle and life experience. I now realize that within discipline can be found a great freedom. I liken it to the word obedience, which I also saw in a negative light, in the past. But now I welcome what I consider to be two character strengths in my life, not because I am forced, but because I am a willing participant, I have a choice. I will say this does relate to my own spiritual beliefs. I won't expound on that right now but will save it for another time.

I will leave you with this quote from, The Artists Way. " Our dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity."


With Kind Regards - Catherine











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