“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” Thomas Merton

I’m on a 4-day trip and sitting my hotel room. It’s quiet. I like these times. These are times when I read or journal, check emails or read a few blogs. After finding the above quote it has perked my interest to write.

For me the past year has been focused around art. Most of the books I’ve read all pertain to some form of art: writing, painting, photography, sculpting, etc. I’m not sure how much I considered my photography as art but because of all the reading I’ve done, and looking closely at how I work at photography, my views are changing. Photography is my paint brush for expressing my vision, my creativity and how I see the world around me. I’m learning to listen to the voice within me to create images pleasing to me and even write posts about my photography. As I’m listening to the muse, as Pressfield suggests, I’m finding out new things about myself and seeing the world with a fresher vision. I press the shutter button on my camera for my need to express myself. And, to express myself I need to know more about myself.

Here are some of the books I’ve enjoyed reading lately:

• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
• Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
• Linchpin by Seth Godin