Inspired

Everything Will Be All Right In The End

watercolor with digital text

quote from the The Eagle and The Hawk by John Denver

...a page for my art journal

We’re back home and fully into catching up in the garden…lots of weeding,  pruning and planting going on here.  It makes us both very happy to nurture and cultivate our small plot of land.  There was lots of oohing and aaahing over what had come up while we were away.  We planted so many things in our new garden last year that honestly, we’d forgotten half of what was there.  It’s like Christmas in the spring!

Yesterday we saw The Best Exotic New Marigold Hotel and loved it!  It may be that I related to it because I'm at the age of retirement...so I’d be interested to hear how people younger than myself felt about it…but we LOVED it.  It was just so upbeat and positive.

It’s about a group of British retirees who decide to "outsource" their retirement to a less expensive and seemingly exotic India.  Running through it was the quote by the young hotel owner “Everything will be all right in the end, so if it’s not all right, then it’s not yet the end”…what beautiful wisdom! 

I haven't looked at the reviews at all but I would recommend this movie…it's not "great cinema" but it has wonderful talent (Judy Dench and Maggie Smith to name a few) and watching it felt like being in a lovely oasis of joy and happiness...not the usual gloom, doom and despair that the media normally feeds us.  The rest of the audience in the theatre must have agreed, because there was a round of applause at the end…not something that happens at many movies.  In fact, I think the last time that happened was at the end of The Kings Speach.

Sending hugs and blowing kisses to all of you around this big, beautiful and amazing world of ours,

It’s a Beautiful Life!

 

Hello World!  This is my dining room wall…well, minus the writing.  I don’t have graffiti on my wall although now that I look at it, it could work!  I wrote the word “beautiful” with black gouache on paper, scanned it and made a Photoshop “brush” with it.  The turquoise paint isn’t quite this in-your-face on the wall.

I’ve recently been looking at many different ways of making art; digital, painting, mixed media, collage etc, and feeling drawn to so many of them…to the point where I’m not sure what my own style is, or do I even have a style?  What I'm increasingly drawn to is a more graphic style of art with typography, and a mixed media focus (lol…that narrows it down a lot!) Perhaps even adding some digital to the mix.  I’ve been mulling all of this over and working in my art journal helps me to work out different ideas.  Some work, others don’t!

 

Wandering, But Not Lost

mixed media; tissue paper, local navigational chart, pen, liquid eraser

and...I’m also back to writing.  I started writing a book last year on a topic that's been percolating in the back of my head for quite some time but I was too busy with other things…like pulling my life together!…to go much past the first few chapters.  It feels good to be moving ahead with it now and the inspiration is flowing.  (hint…it’s about using the creative process of art journaling to make sense of life---step-by-step...with a reflective, inner focus )

...and the website design course that I’m taking is keeping me really busy too.  The classes are 4 hours a week and I usually need to take at least that much time again to go over it all and put what I’ve learned into practice.

...and I’m still walking four to five days a week. The only drawback with this is that now that I’m walking for exercise, it’s hard to build up a head of steam if I’m stopping to take pictures along the way…and I miss it!  I’m now dreaming of this walk…maybe next year?

The full moon last night was AMAZING!  I was outside admiring it until the evening chill had me scurrying back indoors.  ...and speaking of cold and chilly weather…winter and I have finally made peace with each other this year. 

I found a raw and resilient beauty in winter, which is something I've never seen or appreciated before and in fact, something I've never really wanted to see before. I could never get past the grey dreariness of winter. It’s true that what you resist, persists and to enjoy winter I’ve found it necessary to look at it without incessantly wishing it were spring.  Winter is cold and bare and blowing and wet but it’s also restorative and nourishing and exposes a spare and sparse kind of beauty that’s hidden in the other seasons.

So winter…now that you’re almost ready to move on, I thank you for your gift.  I’ll never dread you or fear you again.  You’ve shown me that a time of rest and fallow builds strong, deep roots that are ready to reach for new growth…and spring.

Wishing you all a sense of wonder at the newness that’s pressing at the world right now…new growth emerging in so many, many ways.  (The general consensus for this years “energy” seems to be to "hold on to our hats" with much newness and change blowing in!).

Have a lovely weekend dear friends,

 

SHINING…just because…

art journal page…watercolour, paper, ink

 

Just popping in to say hello…I’m still here!  I can’t believe it’s been almost 2 weeks since I last posted.  I’ve not been that busy and yet my days have felt full.  There's a contententment and peaceful joy filling my days and I'm embracing it fully. 

Tomorrow is the first of March...March!  Nevermind that we've had hail, sleet and snow over the past three days...March is spring.  March isn't January and it isn't February...it's snowdrops and soft pussywillows and green leaves sprounting from bare branches.  It's primroses and joy and promises of new beginnings.  March isn't winter any longer and it's not quite full blown spring.  It's a bit of this and a bit of that but it's moving more toward that, than this.

And speaking of new beginnings, I'm taking an online course in web design using Wordpress and the Thesis theme and I'm loving it.  It will take some time to feel completely comfortable with it and who know's where I'll take it...or where it will take me...but I'm enjoying the challenge.

 

I hope this finds all of you with some sparkle and shine happening for you too….I’m sending some of mine your way!

 

New Growth

art journal page…watercolour and ink

  

New Growth surrounds me right now.  Spring bulbs are pushing up through the earth.  The buds on the clematis and the rhododendrons are becoming bigger and fatter every day and the pussy willows are very close to opening.  New growth is self evident for those who take the time to look.

To some extent I spent much of the last year and even the year before and the year before that, looking inward and focusing on my own growth.  I was digging deep, turning the soil, planting the seeds…asking the big questions.

This year I feel very much in tune with the new growth that’s pushing upward and outward.  There's a quickening, an eagerness and an excitement about life...life in general and my life in particular..that’s pushing through and I haven't felt this for a long time.  It feels good...really good.

It also feels very right to be here in this much cooler and decidedly wetter corner of the world this winter, rather than in the sunshine of Mexico. The spring growth seems to more accurately mirror my own inner awakening.

It’s a happy day for new growth.

 

 

I’m slipping a Friday end-of-the-week summary in here today too...

Seeing …outside:  overcast, with varying shades and tones of greys and greens…so west coast winter!  Also a flat of cheery primroses to plant in pots this weekend

Seeing…Inside:      A fresh bouquet of mauve and white tulips.

Hearing:     Molly was very excited this morning as “Poppa” played hide and seek with E.  Molly knows they’re playing the game as soon as they start counting.  By the count of three, she is already over the top excited and starts running around, barking and ratting out the the hidden person. She kind of ruins the game but it’s also kind of funny. 

Tasting:  The gastronomical highlight of my week was a breakfast sandwich at a local cafe/bakery/farm garden called The Roost.  Laugh if you will, but OMG, I really, really love their breakfast sandwiches; they use their own organic eggs and they actually grow their own organic wheat, mill it and bake everything they sell with it.  I have mine on rye (also their own) which I seem to be able to tolerate in small doses.

Feeling:     (see above re: new growth)

I am Grateful For:     My weekly online webinar with Victoria and Eloheim.  That hour and a half of down to earth, step by step wisdom and guidance has taken me from 0 to 90 in the last two years…well, maybe not quite 90 but definitely 85!  Mr. I and I (that sounds just a little too cute) are going to Sonoma, Ca. in September to gather with others for an Eloheim retreat.  Sooo looking forward to it.

 

Have a lovely weekend everyone and thanks to all who stop by.  Sending you happy thoughts of spring and new growth!

 

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.

 

Bloom True

Art Journal Page…mixed media: water colour paint, goache, coffee wash, Inktense pencils, pens, paper.

 

I’ve been playing around in art journals recently…trying out my Inktense watercolour pencils and Pan pastels….(ooooh, the Pans are so smoooooth to work with!)

This page has a lot of detail and it took ages to do but I found it very calming and Zen-ish…a little like the Zentangles that I did last year.  I’ve been doing them while “watching” TV at night…I obviously do more listening than watching!  This was the first time I’ve tried a background coffee wash and it needed to be a much stronger brew of coffee from what I actually drink…either that, or thickened by boiling it for awhile!

It’s great fun and I’m enjoying the change from painting on canvas…and it’s a lot more portable.

This also has me thinking about the "word" I'll choose for 2012 (which btw, begins in just 24 days!).  This year my word has felt like a good one...I've had years when by June, I've thought what was I thinking?..but this year was a good fit.

 

I hope you will go out and let stories happen to you, and that you will work them, water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With Wolves

And always, always, may we remember to bloom true to our heart,

Shovels and Ladders

This is an art journal page that I did last summer. At the time I was asking myself this question a lot…is my hand on a shovel or is it on a ladder?  In other words, if I’m in a “hole” somewhere in my life, am I digging a deeper hole or am I climbing out of it?

This is one of Eloheim’s many “tools” to help us transform what isn’t working in our life (or as they call it…the pit of pain!.  This week Victoria Torres features this particular tool on her website feature “Tool Tuesday”.  It was such a valuable reminder for me when I was deep in the process of changing my thoughts and habitual patterns, that I really wanted to share it here…but I’m going to let Eloheim explain it…

 

Shovel or Ladder

The choice for consciousness is challenging, but habitual response is a pit of pain.

You get a shovel or a ladder, it’s your choice to dig yourself in deeper or to climb up the ladder and out of the pit. The shovel is repeating habit, it’s you not being willing to say, “What the hell is going on here in me?  Not with him, not with her, not with the boss, not with the kids, not with the bank, not with the credit card statement but within me. What is going on in me?”

“Am I going to dig myself in deeper out of fear, guilt, lack, victim hood, or am I going to put my hand on the ladder and say something has to change? And am I going to keep climbing the ladder even when my pit partners look at me and say, ‘What are you doing? Where are you going? Who do you think you are? You’re getting too big for your britches!’” and all those other lines that they might give you. The ladder isn’t just a hop. You’re so far down in these pits of habitual response that you need one of those tall ladders, but the beauty is, your ladder is tall enough.

 

 

You figure it out by putting one foot in front of the other and continuing to make the choices that say, “Habit is not who I am.” Because when habit gets to tell you who you are, the scenery doesn’t change. Do you want a shovel or a ladder? We will not give you shovels. But we have loads of ladders of all different sizes, shapes, and lengths and we even know how to make them taller. So if you get dug down in there, don’t think you’re ever lost. You’re not ever lost in the pit of habit. You simply have to keep making the choice.

We’re standing there cheering you on. Just lift your foot. We know it’s challenging to break habits, but it will get easier. If you want your life to change, you need to choose and choose again to climb the ladder of consciousness.

***

Veronica writes:
When Eloheim first came up with this one, I was blown away. It is classic Eloheim, funny and practical. I picture them standing at the top of the hole saying, “We have ladders for you!” There is something so comforting about the image of them standing in the light looking at us down in the dark just waiting for us to reach up for the ladder they are lowering.

 

Have a wonderful day my friends, climbing ladders to where you really want to be…and enjoy the change of scenery!

Prepared

The theme last week at Lens Us Together was “prepared” and…well, I wasn’t all that well prepared so I’m running late…we were away here, for a late anniversary get-away.

When I'm away during the winter months, I try to prepare by taking a few creative “tools" to play with.   Some years my suitcase is more art supplies than clothes but last year I kept it simple.

 

I took a smallish sketch book/art journal, a watercolour paint box, a few brushes and pens, and a glue stick…picking up magazines and used books along the way for ripping, tearing, cutting and pasting.  It was very low key, without any real direction, except to let myself play.

I finished a background on every page and started the layering and journaling on nearly half of them.  Although I packed a few magazines with me and found some old paperbacks in Mexico, the biggest challenge by far, was finding English text in Panama.

It was an interesting challenge...limiting myself to just a few materials and finding out how I could use them in ways that work.  It pays off to be prepared before you leave because you just never know how difficult it may be to find materials at your destination. 

These few items didn’t take up a lot of room in my suitcase and provided that needed fix for creative play while escaping the intense mid-day sun (and through a week of downpour in Bocas del Toro!)

Creative blessings to each of you…and don't forget to let your inner artist out to play! (and the emphasis is on play!)

Q52 - Manilla Tag Mini Journal

 

Just before I left for Mexico in January, I mentioned that I thought I would take part in Emily Falconbridge's Q52 mini art journal.  Emily poses a question every week and the idea is to create a small visual piece of art on a manilla tag (or an ATC) with journalling on the back and then put it all together to make up a tiny art journal.  Emily used manilla tags and I had some on hand too, so that's

 

Q52 Mini Tag Journal cover

what I've been using.  Because we've been doing a lot of travelling since January (I just got back from the interior of BC, for a visit with my father a few days ago) I haven't actually been doing one each week, but when I've had the time.

Q52 - #1 What are your wishes for 2009

  They're small, quick and simple but it's been giving me the creative fix I need and haven't had much time for.  I've also being working almost solely in digital because that's the most portable medium!

Q52 - #2  Are you afraid of change? (front and back)

Emily ask's a question each week and the back of the tag is perfect for journalling the answer...big enough to write down my thoughts but not big enough that I feel I need to get wordy (who me?).

 

Q52 - #3 Do you believe in fairies?

There's an eclectic mix of questions and I'm finding it fun to do.  I love slipping them on the ring when I have each one done and enjoying them as a collection.  I'll be posting them as the year progresses

It's Easter Sunday and raining here on Vancouver Island.  It's not cold but the Easter egg hunt for the little ones may be a bit soggy!   Wishing you all a lovely weekend ,where ever you are and what ever you're up to.