10 – Sandstorm at Sea - Narrative Nonfiction Inspired by Rebekah's Photography

Today’s story is from my own blog archive, which, I realized gives me the opportunity to fill you in on more Art Ink history, because what you may not know is that this show is an expanded audio version of what I was already doing on my own blog for my own art a few years ago. And I actually have to thank Melissa for that original blog concept too, because if it weren’t for her “Tiny and Daily” teachings...

[If your podcast app isn’t showing the featured art for this episode above visit rebekahnemethy.com/artink10 to check it out.

Castbox and Podcast Addict are both apps I recommend that do show episode specific art.]

Links from the Show at a Glance:

Artist: Me (Rebekah Nemethy)

Title of Art: Sandstorm at Sea

Artist’s Website: rebekahnemethy.com

Instagram: @rebekahnemethy

Melissa Dinwiddie’s book The Creative Sandbox Way (check out the first 50 pages for free!)

Support Art Ink on Patreon to get goodies:

rebekahnemethy.com/patreon

Art Ink Submission Guidelines: rebekahnemethy.com/artinksubs

Art Ink Podcast Transcript:

[Intro:]

Welcome back to a brand new episode of Art Ink! I feel a bit like I’m cheating this week... because despite my best efforts to sit down and write something new over the past couple of weeks, I’ve barely had time to sleep let alone get into a creative or productive groove. I have a bad habit of putting too much on my plate... I’m working on it.

But!...

The good news is that it’s nearly my favorite time of the year: Creative Sandbox Retreat time! As you’re listening to this, I’m packing my bags with comfy clothes, blank notebooks, and maybe even my camera, to head to California, where Melissa Dinwiddie hosts her annual creative retreat about an hour south of San Jose. This is either my 4th or 5th year returning... I honestly lost count hahaha. Time just slips out of my grasp when I’m there, I’m afraid to admit it, but I’ll be on my way home before I can blink I’m sure.

So why is that good news for you? Well it’s my intention to crank out some stories while I’m there. As many as I can manage in the 5 days I have.

Today’s story is from my own blog archive, which, I realized gives me the opportunity to fill you in on more Art Ink history, because what you may not know is that this show is an expanded audio version of what I was already doing on my own blog for my own art a few years ago. And I actually have to thank Melissa for that original blog concept too, because if it weren’t for her “Tiny and Daily” teachings (which you can find out more about in her book The Creative Sandbox Way), well, if it weren’t for the “Tiny and Daily” concept, I don’t think I ever would’ve started the Photo and 100 Words Project.

I needed a way to regularly get my art out into the world that wasn’t too overwhelming. Writing 100 words wasn’t a huge deal... but the idea of doing it daily was still a bit scary for me, especially because I was creating art AND writing a complimentary story to go with it. (sounds familiar huh?) So I decided to go with tiny and weekly instead: one photo and one short story of less than 100 words. It was 2014 when I started blogging weekly, writing mostly narrative nonfiction with a poem sprinkled in here and there, and I kept that up for well over a year.

Even back then I wanted to get other artists involved, though. In fact, I started an Instagram account for the Photo and 100 words project, too, though I never actually posted to that account.

A few years into it, around the time my new-found fascination with capturing tiny reflections spurred an abstract series of photos on the blog, my stories started to stretch past the 100-word mark, and the Photo and 100 Words Project evolved into Artsy Reflections.

By the time my blog trickled out to a standstill, I knew I wanted to give my stories an actual voice in the podcast medium, but it was too scary to put the whole focus on my own art and personal stories... it just seemed too selfish. But the spark for Art Ink was there... and if you listened to the very first episode of this show, you already know that story.

So today’s featured photo came from my Reflection series... let me recreate it in your brain before we move on:

[Art Description:]

If you squint at this abstract photo, it could pass for a yellowed map. It’s mostly blue and reddish-brown, with slashes of coppery gold hovering above and blending into the rest of the piece.