Wyeth Walks: Ideas where you least expect them
Happy Birthday, Andrew Wyeth (July 12, 1917)! As part of my Wyeth Album project, I set out to better understand the creative process of artist Andrew Wyeth by following in his footsteps in the Brandywine Valley, by walking each day and letting surprises guide my camera.
By walking or sitting quietly, noticing the sights, smells, and sounds around us, and being consciously open to receiving surprises, we can receive the flow of creative ideas when we least expect them.
I share with you my “Wyeth Walk” from this morning, Andrew Wyeth’s birthdate July 12. I had been snapping photos of a gorgeous reflection in the creek and thought I was done with my photo of the day when I started to leave and just happened to notice this eggshell at my feet.
When and how do you receive your best ideas? I’d love to hear!
I invite you to “A Walk” from I Dream About This World: The Wyeth Album. This is an another example of a flow state surprise- when producing this track, I scoured all of my field recordings from my 450 Wyeth Walks over the course of the project to find the perfect sounds to accompany my piano, Steve Meashey's bass, and Todd Boston's guitar. After the track was completed I happened to look at the file name from the field recording to discover that the nature sounds were from my Wyeth Walk on Andrew Wyeth’s birthday, July 12 a few years before!