Contour Lines

Yesterday was the perfect day to walk to campus. I mis-judged how warm it was going to be so I did have to spend about 30 minutes reading outside once I got to campus in order for me to cool down. Now that the weather has finally shifted and I can reclaim riding my bike and walking, I can also look around more deliberately and see the changes that are happening. Of course, the plant life is coming back, and yesterday while I was walking I came upon a lot of tulip leaves getting their start from the ground. I love tulip leaves, I love the strength of the turgor of the leaves, their shape, and the lines they create. When I was an undergrad studying fine art, my professor gave me a sketchbook one summer to make sure that even if I was away from the studio, I filled this up instead. I remember feeling so honored and inspired that he would go and buy me a sketchbook (and it was a really cool one) that I did spend that summer filling it up. And I remember distinctly that there were several pages devoted to tulip leaves. I probably had 20-30 pages just of contour line drawings of tulip leaves. Not the bulbs or blooms, just the leaves. Obviously on my walk to campus yesterday I didn't have time to stop and sketch, nor do I carry a sketchbook with me. Yet seeing those leaves reminded me of creative parts of myself that I haven't accessed in a while. The memory of spending a summer drawing tulip leaves inspired me, and even though right now I don't have the time to draw or paint or play music, having these little walks and feeling inspired by the things around me and remembering there is a creative soul inside me is comforting. I know that creative soul right now is mainly focused on academics, and that's okay.