What fires a person up to create?

It’s a question I ask myself, because I see how it has changed in me over the years, and yet at its core, stayed the same. I think passion is the driving force, and what is passion, but a need.

As a painfully shy, dyslexic, pigeon-towed young person living with scoliosis, I needed fashion’s power of self-expression to discover who I was, beyond all the inward deviation I felt saddled with.

Next I turned to acting to find my voice, then writing. That happened around the time of my divorce, a time when delving into a character’s thoughts, feelings and drives helped me understand the world as it turned out to be.

Designing for dogs came after rescuing my two dogs and needing to end the shelter experience. Now it’s more than just dressing dogs, it’s about helping others to build a better life. I think that’s what art, what inspiration, does.

Dogs became my muse.

I love what’s happening in the instagram  dog world. People give their dog the page and talk through them, bypassing the judgements, prejudices and insecurities that might inhibit reaching out in real life. It’s a fun fantasy world and creativity abounds. Then these dogs go out in the world and brighten the lives of all who come in contact with them.

I saw this first hand when a few of us went window shopping on Rodeo Drive with our dogs dressed to the nines. People crowded around them with electric smiles and sun-lit giggles, snapping photos with their cellphones. Power like that can change the world.  Check out Little Lola Sunshine. She does it the best. This dog has style, grace, and a fabulous human who knows how to translate that visually.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzal7U_hEUF/

 History is the picture telling a thousands words.

When the feelings of then align with the feelings of now a powerful clarity lights my fire. Right now it’s the sixties melding with the roaring twenties.

Twiggy, the queen of mod, broke the modest fashion modes of her day with her cropped haircut, graphic makeup and scandalously short hemlines. Her rebellious style came to define the youthquake of the day. Today’s youthquake sprouts from a darker place, where planet destruction and the physical burden of college debt and astronomical rent sets their world on fire. That’s where the twenties come in.

Prosperity drove the roaring 20’s. I see today’s prosperity to be our wokeness.

No longer is the business of America business.  Now, and more so in the future, the business of America is people.  I love that.  And I love that it has activated a generation and generations to come. The  boldness, freedom and joy it inspires fills me with light.

 

Texture, movement and color tell the story of the moment.

Whether designing, writing, acting or painting these are the artist’s tools. The white lines on the page.  The things that make you feel.

I believe artists create to be heard, because they have something to say, something they think people need to hear. Not want hear, or might like to hear. NEED to hear. That’s where passion comes from, a need.

In my early days I believed clothes were a way to express yourself without words. As an artist, that’s still my need: to ignite empathy, to inspire feelings, to bring those truths to light. The medium changes, but the need stays the same.