Alone Yet Connected
Contributor
Written by
Courtney Putnam
July 2009
Contributor
Written by
Courtney Putnam
July 2009

Together But Separate, mixed media collage, 4" x 5" Tonight I was working on some logo ideas for my friend's new website. As I was collaging away upstairs, I had this strong feeling of connection to my partner who was one (or two) floors down involved in his own creative activities. And then I began to realize how often he and I make room for creative energy in our home--and how, together, we go about our writing and arting and reading separately. Together but separate. We may meet on the middle floor to share or ask questions (mine is always, what does my art piece actually mean?) or check in, but we feel connected in our separate activities. [For those of you who might appreciate some technological geekiness, we sometimes even use iChat to check with one another, so we talk to each other on the computer screen and set a time to "meet up" live.] I feel content but inspired. Alone yet connected. Free and yet always somehow tethered to my partner's heart, knowing he is accepting of my artistic messes and creative bursts at 10:00 at night and my seeming inability to end one project before starting the next. And he knows that I forgive him for being able to fall asleep in two seconds after a night of creating when I am wide awake with swirls of ideas. My artistic process requires a great deal of aloneness, yet I love to feel that I can connect or collaborate if I wish. Having a three-floor townhouse helps cultivate separateness for sure, but I also think that we've created permeable boundaries--boundaries that we constantly shift as we change the way we wish to create. Tonight I am appreciative. And I thank you, W, for your understanding--no, championing--my creative process every day. Try this: Think about how you create. Alone? With others around? With distraction? What do you like about your creative environment and about those who may share space with you? What might you like to change about your creative circumstances, if anything? What do you appreciate about the way you create and how do you acknowledge this appreciation to yourself and to those who share space with you?

Let's be friends

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