There's a stretch of freeway that slices through Berkeley, California that I always looked forward to driving when I was a kid. I say "driving" even though I spent 100% of the drive in the back of the station wagon. Facing backwards. Part waving and part making faces at the following traffic.
There's a good amount of traffic through there. A fact that did not phase me. It's presence extended the view. A view that captured my attention for all the years of my childhood.
The reason for the regular drive was a visit to Grandma's house. Christmas Eve, Easter and various birthdays. So not only were there treats upon arrival but plenty of wooden ones along the way.
This particular spot became a gathering point for local artists, I assume. Artists or hobbyists. People who had an urge to build something. They used driftwood, metal, sticks and hubcaps. Whatever they could find, I guess. Maybe there was one of Don Quixote? If not, I should take a week off work and go build it . . .
One of the best aspects of the short drive-by gallery was the deciduous nature of the art. It was always falling over and being re-built. Often as slightly different - other times as just . . . different. So each time we drove past we were guaranteed to see something new.
The sculptures depicted people, vehicles, animals and the like. All created with an impulsive nature based, I always thought, on what was found that day. I always imagined a person and their friend scouring the waterside and shouting to each other "Hey, this would make a great nose!" or "How about this for the sword?" Because, well, I used to do that as a kid.
I believe that this fascination with the driftwood sculptures in Berkeley helped to form a creative bone or two in my body. This, along with other influences, suggested to my brain that this might be something I'd like. The problem, up until this point however, is that I thought I had to have a talent for things in order to actually do them.
Again, this is one of the reasons Quixoting (or "taking action on your ideas") struck me as important. You do not have to be a talented artist or a well-funded entrepreneur to take action on your ideas. You just have to possess the desire (and the courage) for your ideas to come alive and be seen.
As you can see in the picture above, I do carve driftwood from time to time. It's not very good artistically. But I don't much care about that part. I don't carve it to make money or impress anyone. I carve it to relax my mind and to release ideas from the brain and heart. Ideas that I don't know I have until a piece of wood suggests a path for its exit to the world. And if you don't act you'll never know what's truly simmering in that head of yours.
Just like a cloud in the sky, every piece of driftwood suggests a new shape or vision. And while it is fun to imagine what they could be . . .
It is a lot more fun to make it happen.
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