Inspired

7 years

It occurred to me a few days ago that I've been blogging for seven years.  My first blog post was published on April 17, 2006 on Thru My Lens Lightly (much to my amazement, I'm still getting an average of 30 hits a day on that blog! I think it's mostly from my photographs that float around out there forever, on sites like Google Images).  

My focus at that time was my new Nikon SLR camera (yes...before digital!) and I was just dipping my toes into Photoshop and image manipulation.  It's amazing to see just how far technology has come in such a short time.  All cameras are digital now and my iphone camera has more memory than my first DSLR!

 

I think it's time to update my profile pic...my hair gets whiter lighter every year!

Although my passion for photography has waned somewhat and blogging itself has also changed...it seems to be used much more as a business tool now...I'm not quite ready to give it up yet.  In the past 3 or 4 months, I've been posting more on Facebook and damnit...it's just so easy that the slacker part of me likes that.  I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook.  There's not much depth to it but it does keep people connected and I love that.  (I'm here if you'd like to connect via FB).

 

Bob, Ethan and Molly looking for starfish in Deep Cove...where I live.

Shedio update:  We now have one window and a door installed in the "shedio/studio" and one more window ordered...progress is being made.  I've begun the spring weeding/clean out in the garden (I now ache all over) and the cushions for the patio furniture are coming out of storage tomorrow...after a slow start, it's begining to feel like spring!  Leaving home for three months in the winter is an amazing and beautiful thing but the resulting "catch up" leaves me feeling just a little breathless.

Creatively, I'm still working with Veronica Torres/Eloheim Channel, designing posters and I'm also working with my daughter Kirsten, designing two ebook covers for her business coaching website...Re:freshed Businesses.  

 

created for Veronica Torres/Eloheim.  

The context here is to be concious of leaving everything...every conversation, every business interaction (even every Facebook comment)...more concious than when we came to it.

 

I hope your world is filled with amazement and wonder at the beauty of life dear friends.  It's always, always there when we look for it.  Sending hugs and blowing kisses,

Be Yourself...

I had a quiet morning to myself today so I stayed in bed with my computer and got creative...pure indulgence!  It's been a busy time playing catch-up since we've been home...a big change from the gentle Mexican life we left behind.

I was inspired by words that I saw on Kal Barteski's site many months ago and finally decided to create with them myself.  Kal's work with words is created in her own beautiful natural brush script.  The font I used is Bebas Neue which is great for posters.

 

 

...and in slightly less "girly" colours...

 

I think I might print and frame one for myself and hang it in the bathroom...it would be great for a child's room too.

Sending hugs and blowing kisses to all you brave and beautiful people!!

 

 

Winter Solstice and The Shift

She Embraced Life 

Digital Mediea with ink drawing (stars and moon)

My thoughts on the day:

It's December 21, 2012...the winter solstice and the end of the Mayan long point calender.  And no, I don't believe the world is ending today...but it may be the beginning of the end of the world as we've known it!

I'm all about the energy.  We are energy and everything is made of energy.  This date has been super-hyped for years in both positive and negative ways.  It's neither instant nirvana nor the end of the world...it's a gateway opening.

My intuition/inner knowing is telling me this; the end of 2012 is a very energetically potent time.  We won't truly understand just how potent until we see from a new perspective what has expanded out from it.

I believe we're perched at the unfolding of a new understanding of who we are and what we're capable of as human beings.  

I also believe that what has looked like the "falling apart" of our society for the past 15 years or so, has actually been the "dismantling" or shifting of an old system that isn't working for the positive growth of humanity.

 

Our purpose here is to add light to the world through our emanations of love, compassion, joy and peace and anything that blocks us from doing this needs to be cleared. As the ancient Hopi prophesy says "we are the ones we have been waiting for".

I'm fairly sensitive to energy, as are many of you and I've personally noticed a marked intensity in the energy over the past couple of weeks.  For me, the intensity hasn't been negative...physically, there's a lot of pressure and tingling on the top of my head (crown chakra) and some dizziness. Emotionally, I've been experiencing feelings of deep peace, bliss, excitement and anticipation. 

I've also been thinking a lot about change...what I want it to look like and how I might direct it. Not huge change but subtle changes both within and without, that can affect a trajectory signifigantly over time.  I've also been thinking about words...as in "my word for the year".  How did this years word work out and do I really want to do this again?  More on this to come.

Sending hugs and blowing kisses to each and every one of you. Have a lovely weekend dear friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Fav's

I never seem to have my Friday Fav's done by Friday so in the interest of letting myself off the hook, I'm now calling it my "weekly" fav's...it's amazing how a slight wording adjustment can make a big attitude adjustment!

 

Weekly Fav's...November - week 1

 

Favourite purchase:

This week I became the thrilled owner of a MacBook Air...it's tiny, it's light and yes,it's almost as light as air.  When my old laptop had it's final gasp and shuddered to a halt, I wanted to replace it with something powerful enough to handle Photoshop, yet small enough to carry easily when traveling. This lovely little machine is seductive perfection. It's also challenging my brain with the switch from windows to Mountain Lion OS.  I can almost hear the new neural pathways firing (and sputtering) as they break new ground.

 

Favourite quote:

I saw this on a friend's Facebook page and almost squeeled when I read it....you know how some things just "speak" to you?

 

 

Favourite Music:

Immersing myself in a live musical performance of vintage Patsy Cline music in a local production of "A Closer Walk".  I'm not normally a country music fan but I do love me some Patsy Cline heartbreaker-drama-rama.  

 

Favourite Artist:

I'm absolutely mesmerized by the installation art of Brazillian artist Ernesto Neto.  This work was shown at the Faema Museum of Art in Buenos Aires last year  and was an extravaganza to say the least!

 

Installation work created by Ernesto Neto at the Faena Arts Center in Buenos Aires 

I've felt drawn to travel to Buenos Aires for some time now and if I had known about this show which was held last fall, I would have hitch hiked and swum my way there to see it!  

Can you imagine?...it must have taken an army of people to crochet this work...yes, it was all hand crocheted...and the beautiful colours plus the the hands on/tactile aspect of it have me wanting to reach out and play in it!

My years of gallery work have left me with an huge appreciation of instalation work like this.  Check out this link to the Faena Arts Center to see more shots as well as this time lapse video of the impressive installation.

 

Favourite moment of joy:

Waking up feeling rested after sleeping for a full 9 HOURS...after two long weeks of 4 and 5 hour nights.  Oh bliss and Joy!  Sleep deprivation is so, well..exhausting, and waking from a full nights sleep felt so heavenly.

 

Favourite "Good Feeling"

Helping our friends from Melinda's Biscotti move their bakery and cafe on Saturday morning.  It was done in 4 hours and finished by noon.  The amazing part is that it was their customers arriving with their own trucks, cars and SUV's who made it happen.  In fact it all happened so fast, it looked like a fast forward video!

Thanks to all who stop by here to my little (online) corner of the world.  Sending big hugs and blowing kisses to everyone and I hope November is being kind to you.

 

 

Five Years Later...and I’m still here!

blossoms on our red current bush

Yesterday I realized that today, April 17, marks five years of blogging for me...and it all started here.  Whew!  I find it amazing that I’m still around after all this time.

There have been many times when I’ve contemplated packing it in.  If you blog, you know what I mean.  There are times when it feels like I have absolutely nothing of interest to say...that I’ve said it all and how many times can I reinvent the same old, same old.  It’s kind of like having an old friend who knows all your story’s and sometimes you’re not sure what you’ve told them already and really, are they even listening any more?

But at the same time, I know I’m not the same person I was five years ago…but then, neither are you!  A few of you have been coming by since the beginning but in blogland as in life, things change, people change, and people come and  go.

 

 

The one thing that has kept me going is that when all is said and done, I write this blog for me.  I made a decision early into the game that I’d stop looking at my stats to see if ANYONE came.  Checking stats is a sure way to bring up all our feelings of insecurity and rejection!  A few years ago Typepad changed their format and made it more difficult to avoid this, so I now have to move through the stats page to get to the posting page...but I still make a point of not checking the numbers.

It may sound odd but one of the main reasons I blog is because it’s a record of me…my life...and the fact that I have lived, had these thoughts, did these things…that I existed. It’s a modern day version of the journals that women have been keeping for years.  The difference now is that these journals are interactive. 

 

 

It’s the retrospective that gives me so much satisfaction; I like to look back to see who I was five years ago (someone very insecure about being so visible) and where the photographs have documented my ever so tentative steps on my creative journey...through the various stages of photography, digital art and more recently, mixed media and painting.

I’m in the process of taking all of these posts (666 of them now, from both my first blog... Thru My Lens Lightly and this, my current blog, Inspired) as well as nearly 2000 photographs...and turning them into hard covered journals (one for each year).  I’ve completed and printed one and another is ready for printing.  Two others have been started but the editing is a slow and detailed and I can only handle short bursts of it.  I’m hoping to be caught up on all five by next year!

And of course…there are the connections. I love the connections I’ve made through blogging.  I know I don’t stop and comment often enough and yes, it’s important and takes less than a moment to say “great post”, “love the artwork” or "thanks for stopping by”.  I know how much thought goes into your postings, and how much talent and expertise goes into the creativity.  I always feel very honoured and privileged that you’re willing to open your souls and be vulnerable, both with your words and your art and I appreciate and  respect that.

 

 

So thank you all for sharing your lives, your talents, your deep thoughts, your humour, your interesting links, your darkest fears, your greatest hopes and your inspiring stories.  I always look forward to hearing what’s happening in your world…the arrival of new grandchildren, books read (or published!), trips planned, art retreats taken and love found. 

And I worry about you when you disappear for too long and feel a happy relief when I hear you’ve just been very busy.  But there are times too when I’ve found that a husband has died, a painful divorce has devastated, a feared diagnosis was given and even a cyclone had hit.  Although I’ve never met most of you, you’ve all become a dear and precious part of my life.

Thank you to each and every one of you for bringing such a rich fullness to these past five years.