Inspiration and Opportunity

Caitlin H.

February 21, 2010 - 1:48 PM

No shortage of inspiration. Infinite shortages of opportunity. Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in a day.

What a week this has been! I feel like so much is bursting to get out of me I can't find enough time to let it all out. I think it all started when the sun came out on Thursday. Eugene has been blessed with a few gorgeous days this week and the nice weather is by itself capable of making a college student feel satiated with life. Hiking trips, camping trips, beach walks, river excursions have all been desperately trying to distract me from my studies. There are so many things to go out and do from Eugene and I have found myself excessively trying to prioritize and plan so that I might be able to capitalize on a few unclaimed hours in the sun.

Then I went to hydrology class and I felt like I found my life's calling (in part) during lecture. We started talking about water laws and regulations and analyzed the success and shortcomings of different forms of water regulation. After only an hour and twenty minutes of discussion I practically ran out of the room looking for people to tell about my newfound insights; I needed to share my passion for developing water legislation in the west that better reflects present day use and protects future development. All I wanted to do was learn more about water law in Washington and Oregon.

That is, until a friend pointed out a website they had discovered with photos of artworks in subway stations around the world. Scrolling through the website I was so taken with one particular piece I started researching the artist, Panya Clark Espinal. Her work in a subway station in Toronto, Canada was so striking to me. When viewed from the proper angle, her paintings on the walls and floors seem to jump off the earth and become three-dimensional. It is absolutely fascinating. And so, since that moment, I have been helplessly lost in a world where all I want to do is paint.

Clearly I have been inspired in a number of different ways by a number of different topics. Somehow, the amazing happened - I found a way to combine all three in a single afternoon.

Around noon on Saturday I decided with my friend Keith that we needed to go to the Oregon Coast. It never fails to amaze me that it can be late afternoon and at a moment's notice with a whim of desire, a person can jump in the car and from Eugene arrive on the coast in about an hour. We had several hours to play in the sand, eat fresh Dungeness crab sent to Florence from Newport the same morning, watch the sunset, and be back in Eugene by 8pm. Incredible. Now I said I had combined some of my other ‘inspirations' with this afternoon. I found myself chatting happily with Keith about local geology, groundwater, salt-water intrusions, and more along the way as we cruised the coastline. And instead of painting, I used photography to satisfy my artistic urges. I think some day soon I will attempt to paint my inner thoughts surrounding the wonderful Oregon shores, but not this weekend.

Like I said, sometimes there aren't enough hours for everything, but we try.

It has been exciting to feel so full of life. I'm eager for the new week to start and the inspirations I might find within it!