The touchstones of our creativity

A time to seek

I have spoken about settting up a creative space and the importance of ritual in my practice before. I thought I would illuminate one of those rituals and place it in its broader context. Rituals, for me, are repetitive actions that I take in my studio practice before I begin and as I end my creative time. They speak directly to my subconscious mind informing it that I am present and preparing to work creativity across and through time. If I don’t complete my small rituals, as I sit down to work, I feel unsettled and I lack focus. This is where the touchstone ritual enters my world.

Touchstones were originally a standard by which other stones were measured but they have a much wider meaning now. Folk attach meanings to them that suit their practice. They pop up in religious practices and, more broadly, spiritual practices. I am a Buddhist and have been for almost 20 years. I am also a meditation teacher so touchstones do have a spiritual root for me but, if I am honest, I have shifted the role of touchstones over the years. From time to time I will pick up my touchstone and spend some time thinking about my core values and beliefs but that is not what I am focusing on here.

I use touchstones in my creative practice as a way of preparing the mind. The clue is in the title ‘touch….stones’. The touching of the stone (or in my case worn shell) is a very calming process that allows your breathing to steady and your shoulders to drop. That happens automatically the more you touch your stone. This calming effect allows your conscious brain to reach into your subconscious brain and this is very important for your creative wellbeing. We need that access to be easy and without conflict. We need to avoid a conflicting mind when we are being creative otherwise negativity starts to take hold and we begin to overthink and over question.

This is not a magic wand of creativity though as it takes time to build up in our physical and mental beings. Over time our mind recognises both the physical movement and the feel of the stone and begins to naturally speak to our creative brain. How long I touch my stone varies. Sometimes it is a few seconds, sometimes a few minutes but always significant. As I run my fingers around the touchstone I feel the warmth build and with that a stronger sense of energy and purpose. I can begin to see wee crackled images inside my mind’s eye of a new creative journey ahead of me. I also feel a stirring of inner confidence and belief that all will be well. If you were to gather all these changes up you would have a super recipe for feeding your creativity. That is the power of the touchstone for me.

Mine is not a stone, it is a fragment of a well worn shell. Controversially, it doesn’t come from the island I call home. It comes from Kintyre and specifically the west coast. More specific than that, the south west coast. There are several reasons for this. Kintyre is the place I go very regularly to decompress and where my best thinking happens. But the south west coast is very exposed and there is no land until America so the shells that wash up there are very well tumbled by the sea and have journeyed far. I feel that when I touch them. I feel that when I find them.

This naturally brings me to the seasons. I change my touchstone once a year as I feel the need to do that. I am not sure why though. I ritually visit Kintyre early in the spring to gather a new touchstone (shell) and this year I found two - one for my home studio and one for my van studio. This annual pilgrimage means a great deal to me and centres me for the year to come. In my world spring is the start of a new year.

For creativity to flourish within me my mind and body must be in harmony and the touchstone ritual gifts me that. It has never let me down. All of my book arts projects rely on the touchstone ritual to reveal each and every page.

But there is one that stands above the rest for me and it was the book created in homage to Kintyre entitled ‘Wild Horses Weep’. The premise of the book is that wild horses see everything and the depth of their eyes suggest, to me, that they know everything. If that is the case what must they think when they see how humans are treating the planet they call home. Freedom in my world is a wild horse galloping. So the book offers up tokens. You exchange a token for something you would like to change in humanity that will allow for the planet to feel that freedom. My Kintyre touchstone travelled with me across each and every page and it is the most important book I ever created. Likely, it will stay that way…..

I write about this book in the offerings below, until next time. Fionax

Storm bound on a Scottish island

Wild Horse Weep

Welcome to my wee corner of Substack. I am a seasonal artist living on the Isle of Arran, off the west coast of Scotland. I am the custodian of approximately two acres of land that includes a woodland, a meadow and my wee garden. I offer a seasonal book arts project for paid subscribers if you are interested and you can read more about that HERE. Grab a cuppa and lets delve into our relationship with the shifting seasons…