Japanese Bartending Tools
Travel With Your Muse
There is a certain type of traveler who loves the art and beauty. She looks and spends hours trolling through museums, wandering through the cathedrals and looking and both can develop a pain in the neck, or worse, Stendhal's Syndrome. Stendhal, a 19th century French novelist, was so overwhelmed by the beauty of Florence who developed symptoms of disorientation – dizziness, sweating, and overwhelming. Over the years, others have reported similar symptoms with so much beauty. The lover of art and beauty is forced to take refuge in the coffee breaks and naps deep in the hotel. The art, however, can provide the solution for excessive beauty. Not you see, but to do so.
Art Simple exercises provide a way for a traveler to absorb the splendors of travel in a deep, meaningful and lasting. Quick drawings done as a drawing or a written brief details of the offer an opportunity to slow down and really absorb the adjustment. Artist Frederick Franck, in his book The Zen of seeing, encourages the drawing as a way to turn further overwhelm an intimate way. "Atmospheres are accumulated in a million subtle micro detail the elements too often minutes, too fleeting to the conscious mind to pick it up. Eye-hand reflexes to the heart notes below, so that the buildings, and even the faces forming them in the paper to be without doubt Rome, India, Paris, or Japanese. "
If you pause to catch impressions, becomes a traveler more than a sponge, absorbing paintings, sculptures and spectacular buildings. When you pause to create something at the time, you are able to connect from deep well yourself what you are drawing. A place of Provence, an array of vegetables in the local market, and plenty of Roman ruins come to life under the gaze of an artist. The world becomes more alive when you look to see what you can draw or capture in a paragraph. Everything can be interesting, when you really are willing to see it.
Franck books on the subject to see through the drawing are delicious. His drawings are expressive and well wrought. The sketches leap off the page and put the viewer in the scene. It can be intimidating for the novice artist to see this type of craft. People often say that 'you can draw a straight line, which means that his talent artistic, are void. The same is true for writing. postcards home often do not stray from the formula recitation of events. Franck insists that "see" instead of looking "in" is the key not only to improve the art, but richer life experience. Capturing the essence of a place or time does not require great talent artistic or extensive polishing. Simply slowing down, paying attention, and the release of the expectations of "good" drawing or writing is a recipe for express something that months later will recall a special experience of a journey.
Natalie Goldberg, author of the amortization of Bones, applies similar concepts to writing. His technique, "without writing", invited the writer to choose an object or a subject and write without stopping. No editing, pausing, deleting or sentence is allowed in the process. By using this as a travel tool, you are able to engage with the details of a place. His verbal snapshot of the waiter at the local café, or Extended cab driver you through the streets of Paris, become vivid memories of a moment. Instead of writing on a day that was taken in a thousand new impressions you can focus on one or two experiences and the chronicle of a deeper way. Like Franck, Goldberg insists that the job allows them to develop without judging. The point is not to produce "art" or "in writing" to participate in the world through art and writing. The process, not product, is what is valuable here.
What is the result of all this attention? When we slow down, connect to our creative core and see the truth, we are more present. The whirlwind of impressions pull our senses, crying out for attention. A peace deep reflection that puts us in the scene, allowing us to be part of the landscape, instead of touching or passing. It is no coincidence that both Franck and Goldberg are practicing Zen. And if it does not need to become Zen masters to experience the world deeply adopting the method of slowing down and see our trips and can enrich our lives at home.
Using art as a means to engage with a place that empowers, not only as a witness, but as someone who is involved in the creative act. Journey of the Senses, a tour operator in America, leads tours that do not focus on a stream of sights, but deep in the share with some experience. The trip to Provence includes a visit to a goat cheese farm, tasting olive oil and wine tasting. In California, participants are invited to connect with the landscape. Redwood forests, coves and beaches and grassy hills become the guide for slowing down and the eyes. Besides the visits are drawing and writing lessons free gesture. Use these creative tools, the participants closer to the experience and carry home not only a design guide itself, but a memory that holds more deeply. Drawings and free writes chronicles provide a more personal photo. Looking over a notebook of the journey that includes his art and words is a visceral reminder of place and atmosphere.
The kitchen is another branch instruction art that can deepen the experience of a traveler. Dozens of cooking programs abroad can attest to the power of food as a way of exploring a region. The palette of a region is a reflection of its unique history, art and heritage. The French call this "gout de terroir" or taste of the earth. A participant in Arles lamented the fact that his bakery in California could not do baguette with the same crunchy texture. Gout de terroir, which includes the method of cultivation, grow and cook food, offers a unique regional flavor. Through visits to the market and a gradual building of the palette of flavors, techniques and local ingredients, travelers taken literally, in the sense of a region.
A fun exercise in art is that participants walk the streets of a city, the choice of details draw. On a trip from the tour of the Senses in Arles, participants outlined the doors on a street. This allowed them to gain a deeper understanding not only the architecture of the city, but of. "When I left to draw the door, I saw much more. I had a keen eye, but only slowed drawing I realized that I could see more detail, and closer to what was around me, "said Sherell, a participant in 2005.
In a world that constantly asks for more, more, more, using art as a travel tool is an invitation to deeper, deeper, deeper. We travel to escape of our normal routine. We update our spirits in the face of great beauty and accomplishments. By bringing ourselves in creative dance, we find a treasure that surpasses the photos we took and treasures to buy and take home. A renewed sense of confidence, a more acutely sharp eye and appreciation for the simple things are treasures that we can use over and over again in our city and other trips.
About the Author
Cynthia Morris is an avid traveler and advocate of creative travel. She leads creativity tours in France and has written an e-guide:
Go For It!Leading Tours for Fun and Profit
. When not on the road, Cynthia coaches writers and visionaries from Boulder, CO.
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