True, I haven’t written on this blog in nearly a month. But I have been doing a lot of journal writing … and writing on other blogs … and, oh yes! getting back into art. Because, you know, writing is an art, right? And different arts are connected—seeing as how they are all creative expressions of the human mind. So they’re bound to inspire even further creativity in each other, don’t you think?

So what have I been doing, art-wise, to inspire my writing? Let’s see: Oh yes, colouring!

And I’ve rediscovered photography, thanks to a cold snap with some cool results along the beach and at the oxbows, using my Samsung tablet for the first time to take photos, and signing up for Instagram while I was at it (you’ll find me @penandpapermama)

I’ve been posting wintry albums on Facebook like this one and this one with snapshots like this:

I’ve written several new blog posts on my Penticton Pedestrian blog (like this one if you’d like to check it out), which feature snapshots, commentary, and poetry about the beautiful Okanagan city where I live. Definitely, a place you’ll want to visit once Covid is over!

At the urging of a couple of my writing friends, I attended a recent meeting of the Penticton Photography Club … and joined it!

I also watched several videos about art basics from Art2Life and was inspired to get out my box of art supplies—especially my watercolour paints and a couple of watercolour books—and yesterday I picked up a watercolour artists pad.

While I was digging through the box of art supplies, I realized that I have lots of wonderful coloured pens—and of course I couldn’t resist trying them out—so I’ve been journaling like crazy the past few days!

While I was at it, I also found lots of wonderful coloured pencils and sketching pencils … and that has inspired me to use my own drawing and photography for my blogs, rather than borrowing from other folks! It has also encouraged me to start offering youth writing workshops which feature art as inspiration for writing, like this STEPS writing workshop I facilitated a couple years ago. In fact, I’ve been asked by a local arts group to do that again, this summer (if Covid cooperates).

Yes, I definitely believe that writing and other arts go together—and inspire each other—and build creativity! What about you? What arts do you use alongside your writing?