Does “More than” include Multimedia?

Regular readers of this More than Writers blog will have read about Scargill House, where some members of the Association of ChristianWriters (ACW) congregate for an annual weekend of inspiration about writing.

I am fortunate to have been there for the last three of these weekends and also for a water-colour painting weekend last summer. The ACW weekend took place three weeks before the painting weekend. Thoughts from the former were still trundling around in my head when I should have been sleeping on the first night of the latter.

I was half awake, thinking about the theme of the writing weekend – Dodging the gatekeepers. The gatekeepers had been presented as being those circumstances or people, who try to prevent us from making an impact through our creativity. They do not even need to be external influences.

My thoughts led to an idea for something I wanted to paint, but did not believe I was skilful enough to do justice to. (I hadn’t done any water-colour painting for years.) In spite of my lack of confidence, I decided to try.

The following afternoon, when there were options for walking or painting indoors or out, I took my painting kit to the walled garden, found a bench to sit on and began. Another course member was sitting painting farther into the garden. When I had finished we compared our paintings and had a chat. I told her about the gatekeepers. She told me about how she had felt held back by her early experiences of the education system. Sometimes putting things like that into words can be part of letting them go and moving on.

The gatekeepers

Almost a year on I showed a photo of my painting to Bridget Plass, who had been one of the leaders on the dodging the Gatekeepers weekend. She recognised it as being the walled garden with two figures one outside and one inside. I hope it is fairly obvious what they are supposed to represent. I used the old design of the gate, rather than the new accessible electrically powered one, because I liked the idea that the garden (representing paradise, perhaps) was completely hidden from the outside.

Thinking about it now, the gates can provide their own illustrations. The new gate not only allows more people access, but also gives a glimpse from outside of what wonders are in store. How many ways can we find a glimpse of something more than this life?

Inside the walled garden in June 2018

I illustrate my posts here with my own photos, but I have waited a year to post this painting. Perhaps I am more confident about my photography having been taught by Dad, who was a keen amateur photographer.

What holds you back from being creative and sharing your creations with others?

Have you any tips for dodging the gatekeepers?

(For a proper explanation of "More than" please read Andrew Chamberlain's recent post.)