My daughter has an assignment to find a picture that inspires you to think of a story. It is for a short story project they are doing in school. I take lots of pictures that are exactly that, things that I see that spark something creative in me. A lot of times I am not sure what the final outcome of the picture will be. Some are starting points, such as why are these pelican pink? Some will end up as part of a digital collage, Some I will turn into a painting, removing all the clutter that ends up in so many pictures. So much of “being a creative person” is taking the time to gather these inspirations, and then let them develop into something new. As we started looking at pictures I was directing her attention to the stories that I saw in so many of the images. She however saw different things, and different stories. She ended up choosing 6 pictures, which I promptly sent to the printer.
As it always seems to happen, go to print homework, and the ink is running out. It struck me as funny that what happened is that they all ended up with odd overtones of pink. (No, my pink pelican picture was not one of them, those silly birds were actually pink.) This was not a good effect on four of the pictures, but a pink Big Ben against a baby blue sky, and a surreal pink picture of a Dali sculpture were the final picks.
It is always a pleasure to see people making these creative leaps to their own final product. It just reminds me of how important it is to being open to seeing the possibilities. We could have been rushing out on a cold night to try and find a new print cartridge. Thankfully she was able to see past the idea of it being “right” to the fun of a surreal sculpture in surreal colors.
So back to those pink pelicans, the reason they are pink is they are eating the same thing that the flamingos eat. It makes them pink, just not as pink as the Flamingos.
I was a little sad to find this out, I had a much more interesting story going in my mind. Hmm, Maybe I should write it.
Rennata Tropeano 