Buckwheat and pumpkin pikelets: journey to wellness

Buckwheat and Pumpkin Pikelets. Makes approximately 25 moorish pikelets

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Enjoy x

Journey to Wellness

“I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking”
Albert Einstein

I am feeling silly. A cultivated playful silliness. I have been dancing with my shadow. Projecting long rhythmic snakes of my limbs on to the sand dunes. The mood to dance came over me while I was walking so I invited my shadow to dance and stomp in the sand to some old school fat beats. This is the sort of silliness I can cultivate when I am alone on a coastal walk. I felt so invigorated afterwards, not just from the dance but from the exuberant joyful silliness one naturally feels dancing alone in nature.

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In the artists way Julia Cameron advocates artist dates which she refers to “assigned play”. I love this idea and I think we all need more time for juicy moments, even when we have to wedge them like too tight shoes on to the busy feet of our day. I read the Artists Way several years ago and I would have to say above all others it was a book that changed my life. I can not imagine having quit my day job to do a fine art degree without morning pages and artists dates. If you have not read this book, morning pages and artists dates are assignments given to you on the 12 week course of reading this book. I still love to do morning pages and artists dates now, though I do them less regularly.

When I am in the City an artist date might be a wander through the Art Gallery and a pot of tea or lunch afterwards while I people watch and scribble notes in my journal. I love to make word portraits of perfect strangers. Artist dates are like any other date, an invitation for your senses to come out and play, to eat something beautifully prepared or to drink in the Beauty of nature, an aimless stroll along the water. Essentially we are making space for the unknown. We invite chance and inspiration to swirl us across the dance floor of our imaginations, dip us to the floor, whirl us upright.

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Living on an isolated beach my artist dates look a little different these days. I usually find a quiet spot in nature to draw or write.  I nibble on a packed lunch of nuts or raw vegetables. I walk without the distraction of music or podcasts. Sometimes I take my camera and bear witness to the small miracles in nature. Sometimes I read a poem out loud and serenade the sky with Neruda.

When night comes down, the sea
puts on a dress of white and green
and later the moon in the spendthrift foam
dreams like a sea green girl
I have no wish to change my planet
Pablo Neruda 

Jeanette Winterson says we should read poetry aloud to really get to the meaning of it. I can attest that spouting poetry on the beach gets the poem on a layer between your skin and soul. Reading Neruda aloud is truly date worthy.

I think as an artist I have a tendency to treat creativity like an orange. I squeeze and squeeze when sometimes I would be better off juggling. The zest and joy of creativity comes from an open heart and a mind that is free to skip over ideas like skimming stones. Henry Miller once said everything he needed to know he learnt in Kindergarten and I think this is what he was getting at.

Play and create, nap when tired, share your toys in the sand pit. Draw orange sunny loops on endless white paper, eat fruit for sustenance while you wiggle your toes in the dirt. Fear not failure, judge our success by laughter and the joy of new friends. Tell stories that loop in on themselves and go nowhere in particular. Live juicy without the constant expectation we place on ourselves.

Artist dates are not just for artists. They are for anyone wanting to be a little juicy. When was the last time you took yourself off on a date? I took my shadow dancing and we laughed. A lone osprey bore witness to my lunacy. I romanced the muse with a little Beastie Boys. The osprey hovered. My laughter ran in crazed delighted circles and later the creative muse payed a visit.