The Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap

That certainly is a mouthful!

Today, I'm going to make a master list of all of the projects I'm involved in right now including deadlines and schedules and whatever else I might need to refer to in order to have a snowball's chance of completing it all. Believe me, it is a daunting amount to say the least! But, when I get on these creatives waves of energy, I really have no choice but to go with it. I'm feeling a bit like a creative crackhead!

So, that might explain why I felt I needed one more teensy, tinesy, little project to add to my already full plate. So now I'm involved in The Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap. It's one postcard (easy-peezy) and the chance to be part of this creative project, and I can't wait to see whose postcard I get!  And I already have my idea...bonus!

It's like I'm trying to match up different outlets for all of the ideas that are flowing through me right now, and when something pops up that suits one of them, clickety-click, I'm signed up!

Tune is to see how all of this turns out :-)  (yes, I'm chuckling at myself, and in the background is the husband, shaking his head). Ha!

Art, Heart, and Healing, week#1

One of the many projects/workshops that I am involved in the moment is the Art, Heart, and Healing workshop being sponsored for free by the whimsical Tam. If you're looking for some creative fun or something to get your juices flowing, check it out. You'll be glad you did!

The above journal pages are from week #1, and I won't go into too much about how they came about because you'll find out in the workshop. But I do have to say that there is so much power in facing your inner critics and negative self talk and then letting them go and using your hands and your heart to create over them. Creativity is a powerful thing...much more powerful than a tenacious little gremlin telling you, YOU CAN'T DO THAT! (or any of the other nonsense they tend to spew)

And besides all of the inner work, this was just fun! Not only did this exercise help me get over not wanting to do "faces" but also it helped me work on some background techniques and stamping techniques, not to mention the love of the brayer!  I learned something else....It's all in the DOING.  Doesn't really matter what the END is. It's the DOING!

Cheers, Everyone!

What Do You Wish to Shed?

I was looking through my photo library for an autum tree shedding its leaves, when I came upon this old craggy pine from our backyard. Then I couldn't resist playing with it a little bit for Halloween. If I had time to mess with Photoshop, I would put a wise Raven there in the branches or maybe a sinister Owl with spooky yellow eyes!

Anyhoo, it's time to make a Wish and this week Jamie asks, "What Do You Wish to Shed?" 
If this question had been asked a couple of days ago, my answer would have been skin and scabs (this really is turning into a gruesome, spooky post!) as I recently took a tumble off of a skateboard which I might elaborate on in a future post. Let's just leave it as, "It was all the dog's fault" for now. Anyway, I was in the healing phase where my skin was all itchy and all I wanted to do was shed those dead layers to make way for new.
I'm happily healing and past that point, so for today, my wish is to shed the extra weight that has been slowing me down. To shed whatever patterns I've been repeating that keep me holding onto it and to shine the light on whatever I need protection from.
I've already had a pretty good start with increasing the physical activity and water intake. And recently I've cut way, way back on the white devil....SUGAR! I mean, way, way back as in BLACK coffee for me! Now, if I can just beat back the dreaded mellocreme pumpkins and candy corn for the next week, I think my wish is going to come true! 

Happy Halloween Everyone!

PS:  Also I'd like to share a giveaway by the fabulous Renee Rodriguez. If you're into paper crafts, Check it out here! Good Luck!

Let's Face It! update #2

Here is an update from the workshop called Let's Face It! that I'm taking with Jodi Ohl. I feel like I have many irons in the fire at once, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. After a period of prolonged bouts of confusion and not knowing what direction to take and just plain inactivity and avoidance of my studio, this flurry of recent activity is actually a really good thing. I'm enjoying going in different directions, trying new things, and the flood of ideas that seems to be pouring in. I'm excited at trying to keep up with it all.

I have been oh so pleasantly surprised by all of these recent opportunities to work on faces! Isn't it funny how in just a few simple steps, resistance can be transformed into pleasure and even desire?  I'm actually desiring to work on more faces!!

Anyhoo, these are WIPs of my page about who was I?  I just need to fill in the journaling bit, and then move on to Who Am I.

Hoping everyone is having a creative week!

Okay, I'm in! I had heard about The Sketchbook Project and thought that it sounded pretty cool, but at the time, I didn't have the extra funds to join up. Well, then my friend Anne-Marie enthusiastically let me know that the Sketchbook Project will actually be touring through our town next year! Well, that just sweetens the pot that extra bit, and synchronistically, I just recieved a nice royalty check, so I quickly got signed up before the deadline at the end of the month. I had a hard time choosing a theme between...In 5 minutes and It's Raining Cats and Dogs.  In the end, I chose It's Raining Cats and Dogs! which just makes me happy to think about. Can't wait to get my sketchbook and start!

Celebrating Life!

This past week marked a full year of living for my dear friend, Cheryl. And I mean really living! You see, Cheryl had a heart attack a year ago and the doctors gave her a 25% chance of making it this far. I really wish they wouldn't do this, because that is statistics and as anyone who has ever taken a statistics class knows, statistics can always be skewed. And thank God for that!
We decided to celebrate by giving her a "1-year chip" like they do in AA, except it's a heart. This is kind of ironic as the Artist's Way seems to be loosely based on a 12-step program similar to AA. It is through the Artist's Way that we met and continue on this journey. The steps she has taken on her creative journey have rippled out and changed my life. I have been on a wild ride and had so many adventures and met such wonderful, hearty people....and it all sprang from spotting an ad in our local paper for The Artist Way group that Cheryl facilitated. A group of creatives getting together and talking about creativity. Pure magic.

I cherish every moment that I spend with her. She is an amazing person, a wealth of life's wisdom, and someone who truly knows how to belly laugh!

One of her favorite quotes is:

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave

with the intention of arriving safely

in an attractive and well preserved body,

But rather to skid in sideways,

chocolate in one hand,

wine in the other,

body thoroughly used up,

totally worn out and screaming

"WOO HOO what a ride!"

Until then, I am grateful to know her and call her a friend, and until then, we will Cherish Life!

A Glimpse of my Table, WIP

I love how these greens and blues and yellows ended up on this canvas....I'm picturing a divine mermaid swimming here soon!

Love my new color palette! Orange has been popping up quite a bit lately, especially with turquoise and greens.  Good thing, we are a Miami Dolphins household!

 

An ordinary sparkling moment I thought I'd share. Sometimes when the light hits something so right, I just want to crawl right into it.

Wishcasting Wednesday!

Today, Jamie Ridler of Wishcasting Wednesdays, asks "What does the soft animal of your body wish for?" For those of you who don't know, that comes from a poem by Mary Oliver called Wild Geese.
 It is an amazing poem, I think you'll agree. It just grabs you by the first line.

Well, my soft animal wishes to feel free. I have been asking myself a lot of questions lately about the limitations that I seem to have imposed upon myself. And about what I need to do to let those go.

I wish for freedom from feeling like I have to manage it all.

I certainly wish to be free from getting up before 5:00 a.m. and working for a company that I feel doesn't value it's employees. I wish to get up when my body feels like it, usually for me this is around 7:30.

I wish to feel free from the worry over finances and paperwork and everything that goes into managing a household and business. I wish to have an accountant or assistant to handle all of that. While I'm wishing, I'd like to wish for an assistant with whom I really get on well with...no drama, no egos.

I wish for the freedom to dream as big as I wanna. I've noticed that I've been wishing within limits here....like only wishing for things that I feel could be possible with just a few tweaks of my life, or if I just tried hard enough. No, I must begin to wish BIG with Imagination and Belief.

I wish for the freedom to take trips to places I dream to visit, like, of course, Hawaii, but also Scotland, Italy, New York, SF, the Berkshires...our beloved Asheville. The list goes on...

I wish for the freedom to create art from my heart without my inner critic second guessing. I wish to feel free to create an artist workshop without doubting my abilities. I wish to feel free to create the life of my dreams. I wish for the freedom to enjoy it all...all that life has to offer.

What does your soft animal wish for?

An ordinary sparkling moment

Just an ordinary moment, filled with joy and hope and light and awareness and flowers from the garden! Have a great day and remember to Practice kindness.

My new laptop!

With all of the hullaballoo in the previous weeks with my old PC dying a slow death and then my having to go get a new one on the fly and get it set up for work and.....blah, blah, blah, (you get the picture. I don't want to rehash it as it was not pretty), I didn't get a chance to share the best thing about that whole ordeal....I finally got a laptop! I have been wanting one for sooooo long and ta-da! I can't help but think that was the Universe's way of answering my wish....by MAKING me get one as opposed to waiting around and putting it off until a "better time."  I have been wanting a laptop especially for kickstarting my blog and my ETSY shop, and FB and re-vamping my website. So I am choosing to believe that I went through all of that Yuck to get to exactly where I wanted to BE, post haste!

Anyway, a little bit about my new LoVe.  It's fast compared to the dinosour I had, and it has everything I need for work and play including it's own Social Network button, where I can get my FB account with 1 click and it scrolls new posts right in its own box off the to side of whatever window I have open. And it is this delicious deep-brown color perfect for me.....Espresso! I am just giddy with the freedom to walk about the house and to lounge on the couch and read the blogs!  I know a lot of you are ages past this first blush, so bear with me in my excitement!

Lets Face It! Workshop

These are a few of the background pages from a workshop that I am taking called "Let's Face It" by Jodi Ohl. We are going to explore creating faces using a child's board book as a base for the journal pages. These photos show my WIP as I went about creating my backgrounds. This was a lot of fun for me which is something that I have been missing in the studio lately. It was nice to just get out some colors and start splashing around. There was no care really about brushstrokes or ideas about how I wanted it to "turn out". I splattered, dripped, and and dribbled. I used stamps, bubble wrap and paper towels. It brought me back to a time as a younger artist when I really wasn't afraid to try anything!

I actually won this workshop by entering Jodi's free giveaway, which I got turned onto by my good friend, Tory. (Thank you, Tory!) I was just thinking about exploring more faces, which I normally don't do, and then this just kinda fell into my lap.  Funny, huh? 

Well, next up are the faces!  Looking forward to seeing what bubbles up with that. Check back for updates on this project. Until then, practice kindness whereever you go!

WP Autumn Art Fest

Last weekend I made the time to check out a local art show. The weather was absolutely perfect and sales were good. Very encouraging for the upcoming festival season!

Central Park in downtown Winter Park where the Winter Park Autumn Art Festival is held. This is also where the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival is held in the Spring, one of the top shows in the nation. They have a beautiful rose garden there where it is nice to sit in the shade, watch the artists and patrons and stop and smell the roses!

 

Check out this beauty! It's petals looked so delicate, like tissue paper. This one is inspiring a painting.

I love how this turned out. So full of sunlight but you can still see the morning dew. There is wonder all around us.

Leila and Lisa, two beauties right at home with the roses!
Had a fun day, getting inspiration from my fellow artists and it really got me psyched up for my show in November on Sanibel Island.

Make a Wish!

It's time to make a wish for Wishcasting Wednesday. Today, Jamie asks, "What Do You Wish to Free Yourself From?"

I wish to free myself from the JOB! I wish to free myself from the work I am doing now. It is taking way too much of my time. It is leaving me tired and without the energy to pursue my craft. It does not make my heart sing and I am ONLY doing it for the money, which kinda goes against the advice, "Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow". I do believe that, and I know the time is coming soon. So I wish to be free from the limiting thoughts that are keeping me in this place. I wish to be free of the patterns that are holding me back. I wish to be free of this job but in a joyful, safe, smooth, right-timing, kinda-way. In the meantime, I will be grateful for it and do the best that I can with it. After all, I am where I am for a reason! What are you wishing for today?

Confidence

It's Wishcasting Wednesday and today Jamie asks, "Where do you wish to grow your confidence?" The above is a part of one of my paintings and I think it fits this week's wish perfectly. At first, I was going to wish on things like....confidence in marketing, or my art, or relationships....but then I realized that it really is just about growing confidence in my self! I wish to become more confident with who I am and who I want to become. Trusting that I am enough to do whatever my heart desires. I have sparkling moments of bravery and confidence, and these moments keep me going in my pursuits. But I wish for unwavering confidence to fearlessly head out in the direction of the life I want to create! Who's with me?

A grateful day

Thank you so much to everyone who joined me in my wish for Wishcasting Wednesday. I am so grateful to share that almost all of my computer issues are solved. There is only one last little thing remaining and it is something that can be gotten around if need be. But I'm hopeful that will be solved by the end of the day! Thank you, thank you, thank you. Sometimes its so powerful just to hear that we're not alone. Here's to WishPower!