The Artist's Way

quiet green pool of inspiration. That rhythmic, repetitive
action transfers the locus of the brain’s energies from the
logic to the artist hemisphere. It is there that inspiration
bubbles up untrammeled by the constraints of logic.
Martha is a carpenter and a long-distance bicyclist.
Carpentry challenges her daily to find innovative solutions
to construction problems, to untangle the intricacies of a
complicated design situation requiring a simple answer to a
complicated question. “How can I build in work space
without using floor space when I’m done working?” or “Is
there some kind of cabinet that could fit in this corner and
around on this wall without seeming too modern for my
furniture?” Pedaling from her home in the suburbs to her job
in the city, Martha encounters her answers to these
questions. In much the same way that a red-winged
blackbird will suddenly take flight and cross her line of
vision, Martha will be pedaling when “louvered doors” will
flash as a design solution. Pumping her bicycle rhythmically
and repetitively, Martha also pumps the well of her
creativity. “It is my time to let my imagination roam and
work out problems,” Martha says. “Solutions just come.
Somehow I am freed to free-associate, and things begin to
fall into place.”
The things that begin to fall into place are not merely
work associated. When she bicycles, Martha has a sense not
only of her own motion but also of the motion of God
through the universe. She remembers riding alone on Route
22 in upstate New York. The sky was an azure bowl. The