Melissa Stephens Art

Intention is a powerful tool to focus one’s attention. I use intentions to clarify what’s important for me to hold onto and reach toward and, conversely, what’s important for me to let go of. I don’t make resolutions for the New Year. Unlike intentions, resolutions feel like rules: harsh, inflexible, and unsustainable. I’m also, at this point in my life, no longer interested in setting lofty goals and then working toward them in the mechanical, non-stop, forward-moving motion of a treadmill. Intentions, however, feel like gentle guides, friendly, aspirational nudges that help me to sort and sift the choices of my days, which add up to my months, which add up to my years, which add up to my life. To help me live with more intention, years ago I found an online workshop called One Little Word offered by memory keeper Ali Edwards. In January of each year, she chooses one word “to focus on, live with, investigate, write about, craft with, and reflect upon” in her daily life. She invites workshop participants to choose their own word and encourages them, through monthly creative prompts, to be intentional in letting that word guide them through the entire year. In the years I have chosen a word and, with intention, steeped myself in it for 12 months, I have felt centered, energized, and inspired to move closer to becoming the person I hope to be.

I first participated in the One Little Word workshop in 2011 and my word for that year was “JOY”. Looking back through the album where my One Little Word photos and words are stored, I chuckled at an entry that said, “I want to pretend that I am an artist!” Fast forward 12 years and I’d like to believe I’m no longer pretending? A few entries from that year recall the JOY I felt in a mountaintop moment, summiting Mt. Madison in New Hampshire with a group of friends, as well as in many simple, ordinary moments, such as carving pumpkins with my son Matt. 2012’s word was “TRY” and for a year I challenged myself to learn or attempt something new each month. Highlights, as I look back on that year’s documentation, include learning to swim (yes, as an adult!) and taking my 1st photo with my very 1^st iPhone! I wonder how many thousands of photos I’ve taken with my camera phone since then? In 2015 I revisited One Little Word again but, instead of documenting my months with photos and words, I chose to create 12 art journal pages, each focused on the word “TIME”. They are now beautiful reminders of my transition from memory keeping to artmaking. In them I can see the early yearnings of the painter who wanted to emerge. I lost the thread of One Little Word after 2015 until, in the end of 2022, I found myself in a new home and a new town in addition to being new to both retirement and empty nesting. Change was my only constant at that time, I felt adrift! I wanted to be bold, to invite new ideas, challenges, and experiences into my life in a consistent, intentional way. I wanted to take risks! An email about One Little Word found me again and I knew it could be my lens to clarify my disjointed thoughts into intentions for the year ahead. The word I chose for 2023 was “RISK”. To be clear, I had no desire to bungee jump or sky dive! No, for me, Risk was more about saying yes to new adventures and opportunities, large and small. Each month we’ve collaborated, Risk and I: Risk encouraged me to paint my 1^st really big canvas (3’x3’) in January; Risk challenged me to run a half marathon in Pittsburgh in May; Risk invited me to play in confetti in a creative workshop in New York City in July; Risk convinced me to start a blog and make my writing public in September; and Risk celebrated with me at my 1^st gallery show of my paintings in October. We’ve had a good year together! Was it all fun? Was it all successful? Heck no! Risk and I would prefer to forget mile 11 of that half marathon forever! Yet we kept going and, in doing so, we finished a lot of cool things in 2023, the half marathon included.

As I close the door on 2023, I’m feeling compelled to choose a new word (or 2!) for 2024, to set new intentions and to see where they might take me in the year ahead. “GENEROUS” is a concept I hope to embody in my daily life and decisions. When faced with choices in the New Year, I’d like to pause and consider, what would being generous look like, sound like, act like in this situation? “PLAY” is the other word I’m hoping to explore. Yes, at age 59 I’d like to incorporate more spontaneity, fun, laughter and play into my life. Perhaps it’s my way of circling back to the 1^st One Little Word I chose in 2011, “JOY?” In an online art workshop I just finished called, “Find Your Joy” with artist Louise Fletcher, I was encouraged every week to play with paint, to let go of the need to achieve a result and to simply find joy in the process of making art. For 1 of the assignments, I “painted” the pear featured in this post using only objects I found in nature on my walks with my dog (the photos below show the objects I used and some steps in the process, from reference photo to finished work). Who knew I could make an entire painting without a paintbrush, what fun! I’ve titled the piece “Play” and will hang it in my studio in hopes that it will inspire me to invite more play into my art and life in 2024. What do you want to invite more of into your life? Choose a word, just One Little Word. Then set some intentions and see where they lead you in the year ahead!