Inspired

Winter and Words

The winter view from my fathers deck

I’m having a longer than expected visit with my father and getting a much bolder taste of winter than I usually have at the coast. This photo was taken from dad’s deck…a beautiful spot in the summer, overlooking the town and down into the valley. My parents moved into this house when I was just seventeen and I’ve sat on this deck…which catches the cool breezes in the intense summer heat…and enjoyed many an hour in the shade of the weeping birch tree.

Winter on the other hand, is not deck sitting weather and this photograph was the result of a very quick dash outside. It was snowing when I took the picture but I “enhanced” the snow with a texture from Flickr.

 

).

 

It’s no secret that I love words…especially in my artwork. I have a difficult time not including words somewhere. Words, both written and spoken, inspire me…they seem to kick start the creative juices. I read this quote today on the website of one of my favourite digital artists…Alice Popkorn. Alice’s digital art work is always inspirational and she often includes a link to a beautiful visual meditation video as well as an inspiring quote.

Another of my favourite photographers/digital artists is Dawne Boynton at Quidity 2 and French at Heart. This beautiful and dreamy piece is one of my very favourites of hers.

And I have to mention Jamie Heiden…oh, I am so in love with Jamie’s digital work…and she does it all with photographs that she’s taken near her Wisconsin home. I’ve sat and studied her work for hours and even wrote to ask her if it she adds any hand sketching/painting but no…it’s all done digitally. As someone who’s had some experience with creating digital work, it’s really quite amazing.

What I love about digital art is the ability it gives an artist to conceptualize and create “magic”. One of the first digital artists that I came across who captured a piece of my own creative heart with this particular style of magic, was Aimee Stewart with pieces like this, this and this. BIG sigh of bliss. (I realize there are a lot of links here but if you have a few minutes, they're really worth looking at)

Sending much love out to everyone and feeling great gratitude for all unknown blessings that are already on their way!

Snowflakes Descending

snow nestled in branches outside the front door.

After days of temperatures that were too cold for walking here in the interior of our province, today I decided to pick up my camera and brave the chill to look for beauty, for astonishment and delight.

I didn’t have to walk far…as soon as I stepped out the door, I was immediately astonished by the temperature (-19C/-3F), awed by the beauty of the whiteness swirling around me and utterly delighted by two silent deer standing mere feet from me.  Breathe…breathe deeply.  Wide, wide grin. 

As I stood looking at the snow falling, it struck me that what seems to be disharmony or chaos whirling around us, can actually be seen as movement making way for newness, seeing new patterns, new ideas and new possibilities emerging.

We had a full weekend with family and have now settled down to the quiet of companionship with my dad for the week.  The freezing temperatures and chaotic road conditions encourage gathering by the fire, telling stories and drinking copious amounts of tea.  There is a sadness present here too, as a dear and treasured friend of my father, makes her transition from this life.

Change…life is all about change. 

I was going to write a completely different post today…but this is what my heart told my fingers to type.  Funny how that happens!

Blowing kisses through the snow to everyone,

Friday Fill-Ins

The Life List…from my art journal (watercolour and ink)

 

I often do a Five Senses Friday post on Fridays as a way of summarizing my week and today is (drumroll)…Friday!

I’m going to switch it up here today and do another Friday prompt that I found in my blog hopping meanderings. I love the idea of prompts as they get a stagnant brain moving…and they’re fun.

Friday Fill-In’s is simple…just finish the statements!

 

1. When I looked out the window this morning I saw the moon shining brightly in the western sky. The skies have been clear since the full moon on Sunday and for several nights now it’s woken me up with it’s brightness. It looks like we (and all the neighbours) have left all the lights on outside.

2. Trigonometry and Algebra and anything to do with numbers doesn't make sense to me. (my mind just blanks out when I see numbers)

3. Remind me about almost everything! Focus Kate, Focus!

4. Laughing is something I love to do!

5. TP is toilet paper? Technical pollution? Too plastic? Your dogs name?

6. I cleaned the refrigerator recently and I found that it should have been cleaned weeks months ago! (I have no shame)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to doing absolutely nothing (except watching a British Drama on T'V, tomorrow my plans include driving 500 km to see my dad with my son, my daughter and my grandson in the back seat…this should bring back some happy memories of 20 (or more) years ago! …and Sunday, I want to sing happy birthday to my father who will be 96 years old!

Have a great weekend dear friends…whether you’re nose is kissed by snowflakes or your feet are sinking into the warm sand of a tropical beach. It’s all beautiful. All of it. Throwing kisses!

This,That and the Other

 

the greys and browns of my winter morning walk

textures by Flypaper and Kim Klassen

I’ve been busy…still walking! No kidding, I’m still walking almost every day and it’s amazing what a big chunk of time it takes out of the day…especially when coffee is included as an incentive at the end of it. And because of it, I’m feeling great…the exercise, the sunshine and extra Vit. D (or alternatively, the wind, the rain and stinging pink cheeks), the deep breathing and oxygenation, the physical tiredness, not to mention all those happy little endorphins that are swimming around in the chemical soup. I wake up in the morning wanting, needing, to get out, to get moving, even when the weather is west-coast-wild. This is just not me, at least not any aspect of me that has ever surfaced before, but I’m thrilled with it and have a feeling that this me is here to stay. I have more to say on this and what I think has triggered the change within me, but I'll save that for another day.

 

 

I’ve been playing around in my art journals for the past month… I have several journals on the go and they’re all different sizes, so yesterday I ripped all the pages out, punched holes in them and put them all together under one cover, held together with rings. The cover is made but not quite finished yet.

 

 

I've been using my journals as a place to develop ideas as well as trying out different media and techniques. I can then decide from there if I want to change something up and take it another step...and sometimes I just look at it and think "well that was fun but that's enough of that".

 

 

…The cover is made but not quite finished yet. (the writing was just photoshopped on the picture!) Does anyone actually say "pizzaz" any more or am I just dating myself?

I’ve also been redesigning my blog and will be updating that soon too (in the next few days). So as usual, there's a lot percolating beneath the surface here, both mentally and physically.

I'll leave you with this quote by Neil Gaiman, which I really, really love...

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.

 

Embracing 2012

Can you believe it?  It's 2012.

Wow, I'm still rolling that one off my tongue and trying to get used to the sound of it. It's that time of the year when most of us are thinking of new beginnings and although I abandoned New Years resolutions years ago, the contemplative soul that I am still likes having an "intention" to focus on.  Like many others, I've been choosing a "word for the year" for at least four years now. Some, like last years word, have been a good fit and others...well, not so much. 

This year I had a difficult time settling on my word. None of the ones that I've considered for the past month felt right.  Until today that is (I'm writing this on the 31st of Dec.).  I had decided that I wouldn't rush it...that I'd let the word find me...and it did.

As you've guessed by the photo above, my word for 2012 is Embrace.  As soon as it came to me, I knew it was perfect.  I've come to a place in my life where I'm ready to let go of striving and struggling to make things happen.  I've (mostly) let go of needing things to be a certain way.  I'm ready to allow possibilities to unfold.  I'm ready to embrace life with all it's ups and downs, it's highs and it's lows, it's great and it's not-so-great!  It's not that I'm feeling fatalistic...not at all.  I'm just ready to see the possibilities, the opportunities and the potential's in whatever rolls my way, rather than needing things to be different before I can be happy.

So there it is...Embrace.  I'm embracing 2012 and looking for the gifts that each moment holds.  Bring it on!

(Have you chosen a word for 2012?  I'd love to know what what it is, if you have.)

 

 For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.

 
~T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding

Farewell 2011

Cannon Beach, Oregon on a wild and wintery day - December 2011 (texture used...by Kim Klassen) 

 

Dear 2011…You were a good year.  A tough year in some ways but at the end of it I can honestly say, you were a good year. 

We hit the proverbial wall together and you brought me to my knees.  You helped me see how fear can crush the beauty from life and how it and it’s bosom buddy anxiety, crushes the life from life.  You helped me step off that crazy round-a-bout and we-did-it-together!

You showed me that beauty and love and amazing possibilities exist only in the moment and that worry slams the door…hard…on all of these. 

You taught me that being uncertain about the “how” and the “when” of things is really OK and in fact, it’s better than OK because uncertainty opens the door to more possibilities than I could ever dream of.  All those years of micromanaging my life took their toll.  You gave me freedom this year!

Yes, you’ve been good to me 2011. You walked me through the fire and out the other side.  And I Thank you.

I'm waiting to be introduced now to 2012 and I have a feeling we're going to get along just fine.

Peace and Joy

I wish for all of you, a beautiful, beautiful peace…

 

…and a knowing of deep contentment and inner joy.

 

Sending love to everyone from a wintery beach in Oregon.

 

(en)lighten the dark and shine!

 

The Solstice…that amazing time when the earth pauses for just a moment and then begins it’s swing back on it’s axis, is such a magical time for me…so full of intent and promise!  

A beautiful gift today from Oriah Mountain Dreamer...

On this side of the globe, celebrations are about the promise of the returning light- something that doesn’t happen all at once, but gradually, a little more light each day from this point on until the summer solstice. It’s a lesson in trust, patience and the natural ebb and flow of life cycles- challenging realities for a culture that often eagerly seeks permanent, instant, life-changing “enlightenment.” 

Today- and especially tonight- I remember and hold in my prayers those aspects of self and my fellow human beings who are experiencing a time of darkness that makes the promise of the returning light feel like an empty daydream. For all those who are feeling lost in the darkness, overwhelmed with loss, unsure of their ability or willingness to continue. . . . may those individuals or aspects of self lean a little into the faith of those who, in this moment, remember and experience the promise of the returning light. For all those sitting in the darkness of confusion and not-knowing, of grief or despair. . . may they feel tonight that someone sits with them, holding in their hearts the seemingly impossible promise of the growing light.

And may we all find in the darkness a place of deep rest and rejuvenation, time for clear dreaming for ourselves and our people that we may co-create a sustainable and soul-full way to live together on this tiny planet we call home. 

 

I am heading away again…yes, I’ve been back home for just a few days, and now the Oregon coast and good friends who just happen to also be family, are calling.  This break will be very nourishing for the soul.

Five Senses Friday - December '11

The fog lifting in the Fraser Valley of BC.

(taken with my camera phone while zooming down the freeway)

Seeing:       White and grey.  I’ve been away for a week now…checking in with my father in the interior of the province.  It’s colder here than on the coast…below freezing and with an arctic wind blowing. Br-rr.  A few inches of snow fell a few nights ago so it’s looking a little Christmassy.

 

Hearing:     The wind blowing.  Howling, in fact.

 

Tasting:     Ginger Ale.  Dad has been sick and is drinking ginger ale...and so have I. It’s odd the associations this drink brings up for me...whenever we were sick as children, we were given ginger ale and to this day it takes me back to that.  We were never given pop or soda at any other time except at Christmas, so it always felt very special to be sick and get this treat!  It's interesting how these things can get twisted in a child's mind and taken forward into adulthood. What were you given to drink (or eat) when you were sick as a child?  Does it have the association of being nurturing?  I still find a glass of Ginger Ale to be very comforting.

 

Smelling:     Peppermints…how many people do you know who still keep a candy dish full of “sweeties” on their coffee table?  (My dad does.)

 

Feeling:  There are changes afoot in dad’s health and it’s difficult to watch him try to come to terms with this new challenge.  At 96 (next month) change in one's life is not usually an easy process.

And yet, life is always about change.  It seems to me that a successful life can be measured by our adaptability to the changes we encounter along the way…both the ones we think we want and the ones we’re sure we don’t want.  Do we struggle and rail against them or accept them and then look for the "fascination" with where this new step has taken us?  

Not always easy to do, but I'm practicing!

 

The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. 

For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers."

Scott M. Peck

 

Blessings to you all dear friends, in these last busy days and weeks of 2011.

 

Glowings, Gloamings and a Nibble of Cheese

Quiet. Stillness. The evenings are drawing in early now.  Last Friday afternoon as the sun was setting (around 4:30p) I threw on my coat, grabbed my camera and walked across the road to the dock.  It was cold and the wooden boards on the dock were slippery so I gingerly walked to the end of the pier, firmly holding on to the railing.

It was worth it.  My nose was cold and my fingers quickly became numb but I snapped away as the light disappeared, adjusting the camera to allow more light into the lens as darkness overtook daylight. 

 

 

The lights were beginning to glow in the homes clustered around the edge of the cove and the thought of the fireplace and it’s warmth in my own home was tempting me to hurry back.  But I didn’t.  I was waiting.

I wanted to absorb the quiet, the stillness, the beautiful moment, so I stood shivering in the pink and blue glow of “the gloaming” as my grandmother would have described it.  But I was also waiting…for the moon.

 

I turned to the other side of the pier and took this picture as the moon came up over the trees with it’s shining face reflected in the water.  It was the night of December’s full moon and a gorgeous one it was.

Fully frozen by now, I gingerly walked back to more solid footing on land, quickly crossed the road and thankfully sank into the warmth of a chair by the fire, still marvelling at the stunning beauty that’s always to be found around us with eyes that are wide open to seeing.

I hope you were able to enjoy last weeks full moon where ever you were…I love that this is something we can all share together no matter where we live…we all look upon that same big moon.

 

And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby

It helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same big sky

Somewhere Out There

(cheesy, but I’ve been known to like a bit of chesse ;)

Many beautiful blessings to you today and always dear friends,