That Feeling

The artist I am staying with has been teaching me how to make glass earrings in a small kiln.

1. I start with a small, round piece of glass, then I put a u-shaped wire on it, with the bent part poking off the side of the glass. 
2. On top of all that is a colorful round piece of glass and sometimes a clear piece goes over that. (Shown in the bottom part of the above picture)
3. Once everything is stacked, the earrings go into a kiln where they are heated and cooled at just the right temperatures for just the right amount of time. 
4. They come out dome shaped, all the layers fused together. (Shown in top part of above picture)

She has a series of color types that she wholesales, but she also makes some that are more free-style that she sells personally.

The other day she handed me a container of pieces of glass to use for making some free-style pieces. They are circles cut from glass that have a coating of something that has geometric patterns. The free-style pieces are circles cut from random places on the geometric patterns; none of them match perfectly in pairs. She said, "Have at it," and I happily got to work choosing pairs.

As I worked on deciding what pieces to pair together, I started realizing that there's a particular feeling I get when I am fully involved in a creative work of art. It is a particular state of awareness in which I notice patterns, colors, harmony, balance, composition, etc. It feels very intuitive because a lot of the time I can't explain why something looks good, it just feels right when I get it to a certain point. During these times I am connected to everything around me because I am paying attention and at the same time not really present in my physical body--not noticing it. Time doesn't exist while I am in that mode, and I feel content and happy.

I absolutely love that feeling and treasure every moment that I give myself the permission and space to enter into it. I usually feel it when I am taking photos and editing them, sometimes when I am choosing beads for a jewelry project, often when I am piecing together and editing words for a poem, and many times when I am teaching.

I want to challenge you to notice and cherish these times in your life too. When do you feel your awareness of time slipping away and feel totally connected to yourself? If you don't experience this much, can you make time to find the activities that make you feel this way?

P.S. I'll be happy to share who the artist is once I stop working for her since her website has location info.


Photo copyright 2012 Lia Robertson, all rights reserved.