Torina's Creative Journal
Thoughts…
by Torina Stark
Lately, I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be an extreme introvert with social anxiety and how that relates to friendship and activities I enjoy doing. I was driving through Bayfield, Wisconsin last week and there was a big group of people plein air painting a beautiful building in the middle of town. It caused me to reflect on the area in which I live…while great for outdoor activities, it has very little in the way of community art and literature events that bring people together beyond what the small local library does. Pre-covid, I did all the things that the library had to offer but these things are only once every few months and I’ve never hit it off with anyone at any of them.
Bayfield has an artists guild that brings together artists for activities. In the rural area where I live, there is nothing like that. Community art activities are few and far between and a bit disparate. I like where I live but this is one aspect I wish were different.
My solution, for now, is to double down on the things I really enjoy. And accept and embrace that this era of my life is for mostly solitary arts activities.
THIS WEEK
Creative Endeavors
Every year, when the demands of gardening slows down, I spend more time in the woods painting and writing. I love nature journaling and plein air watercolor painting or simply sketching while sitting somewhere listening to birds, taking in deep breaths of all the scents of late summer and noting the minute details of seasonal change. In fact, right now, I am sitting my largest garden writing this. It takes me a lot longer to do things because I pause a lot to watch and reflect. A red tailed hawk spent much of the last half hour circling and catching thermals above my house. A red admiral butterfly flitted around my garden pausing on various flowers. Cricket's noise is constant with intermittent goldfinches calling out as a they swoop overhead. Fall color changes are just beginning to happen and berries and pitted fruits are ripening into beautiful reds and purples and oranges. It’s all such a feast for the senses. I feel like I can feel it all even more when I capture bits of it with art and writing.
Nature Experiences
My partner and I took the ferry out to Madeline Island, Wisconsin a few days ago. I'd only been once before a long time ago. We hiked the boardwalk and sandy shoreline of Lake Superior along one side. Then breaked for a picnic lunch in the park. Biked the interior. Then drove the rest. It was a lovely day trip.
What I'm Reading
I’m still listening to Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal. I have listened to all of Stradal's books in audiobook form. He is a TV writer so he really understands how to pull off a spoken narrative. Narrators for his books are always incredible at character voices and they need to be because Stradal fully develops his characters. He writes in a way that, at first, feels like he is telling a series of interconnected short stories that hop scotch through time. But they always weave together later on to fully highlight the complexities and quirks of the characters. This novel is just as delightful as his others. I am really enjoying it.
I also just finished Falling from Horses by Molly Gloss. It's about a 19 year old kid from Oregon who impulsively decides he's going to Hollywood. It's set in 1938 and the kid grew up on a ranch and hopes to get a job riding horses in cowboy movies. Of course, when he gets there, it isn't that simple. I love Molly Gloss' books. I've read a few and all have deeply involved people and horses. She has a quiet, deliberate way of telling a story that feels like it captures the mood of the era and the desolation it often feels to be human. I love that she always has women characters doing nontraditional things and, no matter the era, includes queer folk as characters which many historical fiction books do not do.
What I'm Sewing
I keep all my batting scraps. They live on the top shelf of my sewing room closet. When there is an abundance of them (so they regularly fall down), I piece them together like a puzzle to make usable batting sizes. Edges are squared up and I work through the similar scraps, butting edges against each other but not overlapping. Then I sew those edges with a multi part zigzag stitch. There were a LOT of scraps this time so I managed a bunch of sizes: 1 tablerunner, 2 throws and 1 queen. It's a very satisfying project.
Looking Forward
Grapes are nearly ripe! I'll start picking, destemming and cleaning this week! I freeze my grapes so in the coldest part of winter, I can enjoy the summery activity of making jelly. (I've not had time to edit this since I initially wrote it so in reality this has been done already!).
Dirt Road
Northwoods, Minnesota