Collage of Curiosities No. 28

September 2025

The Great Alchemist is once again playing with the light. As each day passes and summer fades, the Golden Hour stretches further across the day. Plants, parched from the height of the sun’s intensity, become metallic, setting the world aglow. Sitting on my patio, my drink the amber of the forthcoming season, I notice the air hovering between muggy and cool as it blows back toward me over the shimmering water. The world is teetering, seesawing between seasons..

September marks my 35th birthday. Another “in-between.” Other than numbers, I am unsure what else I’m sandwiched between. Just memories and dreams. I’m in the camp of believing in a sense of destiny. Perhaps the journey is not always, or ever, as straight forward as the idea suggests but I’ve always felt I was meant to do something of great worth. That feeling is always strongest when I feel the world rocking, and not just during seasonal shifts. I imagine I’m not the only one to reflect on this around a birthday. After all, many a plot line revolves around such introspection and questioning.

In some ways, I catch myself thinking that the entire idea is selfish. “Who are you to believe you can do something that touches someone’s soul?” And yet, while I sometimes feel as small and inconsequential as an ant, I realize that every ant has a purpose. Each one important, even if said purpose is to bite my feet when I get too close to their mound during an inspection of the garden.

While my “purpose” here on earth will likely always remain an enigma to an extent, I know that I’m destined to create. I’m meant to make art whether with paint, ink, words, or whatever medium falls into my lap. I think seeing beauty and knowing that it comes from human hands is reassuring during times when humans are also causing so much ugliness. Perhaps art helps restore some faith in humanity.

I don’t intend for this to be a manifesto. In fact, I think the word “manifesto” is far too political for my taste. Instead, it’s more of a musing on why art is essential and, perhaps, an argument for why it’s not a frivolous pursuit. Spending one’s life birthing beauty into this world can only breed change for the better. So, whenever you have the chance, choose to make something beautiful.

Here are a few ideas to spread a little beauty, and no, you don’t have to consider yourself creative to do them. I guarantee each will bring someone a smile.