Creative Everyday Challenge
I have enjoyed Creative Everyday so much this year that I’ve decided to participate in Leah’s Creative Everyday 2009 Challenge. I believe it is important to have a place that encourages creativity and a sense of community, and Leah has created just such a place.
“In order to create, we draw from our inner well. This inner well, an artistic reservoir, is ideally like a well stocked fish pond… If we don’t give some attention to upkeep, our well is apt to become depleted, stagnant, or blocked… As artists, we must learn to be self nourishing. We must become alert enough to consciously replenish our creative resources as we draw on them — to restock the trout pond, so to speak.”
–Julia Cameron
Wild Day In The City
It was a beautiful sunshiny day in San Francisco as we headed out early this morning to visit The de Young Museum. It took us several hours to see all the exhibits and we were exhausted by the time we got home.
We took lots of photographs and I will post some of them tomorrow. It’s late and with all the days excitement I am very tired so off to bed I go!
Tuesday
This morning I took a few minutes to sit in the garden with a hot cup of Irish tea as I listened to the wind in the bamboo and watched autumn leaves falling upon the dew soaked grass beneath my feet.
It’s hard to believe October is already upon us and that means the holidays are lurking just around the corner. Where did the year go?
These days it seems our lives move at the speed of light and most of us can barely keep up. I often wonder where we are hurrying to? Why are we rushing around trying to cram in as much as we can into one day .. one week .. one year?
What’s the hurry? It seems we have become a society that wants to live our lives in quick, rapid sound bytes. Are we in danger of missing the whole point of living?
Of course the other side of this equation is the tremendous guilt we feel when we slow down, and do nothing because many of us feel it’s wrong to just be still and stop doing.
Could it be that by being so rushed, distracted and preoccupied with the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we may be inadvertently settling for a mediocre version of what our lives could be.
If you get the chance to see the movie “Koyaanisqatsi“, I highly recommend you do so. The name of the movie comes from a Hopi Indian term which means life out of balance. It’s a beautiful but sad commentary on how we are no longer connected to the natural world, and how we have built a world that now exists to support the artificial one in which we live.
Neti Pot
I had to replace my Neti Pot yesterday, it had served me for a number of years and had so many little nicks and cracks I had to finally replace it.
I went to our local Health Food store and found this little gem. I thought about getting a plastic one but I decided on another ceramic one. I love the color!
Neti Pot
Here is a recipe for a Nasal Sinus Wash.
3 heaping teaspoons of pickling or canning salt.
Do not use regular table salt!
1 rounded teaspoon baking soda.
Mix and store Dry in a separate sealed container.
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Add 1/2 teaspoon of the salt-soda mixture to 1/2 cup lukewarm distilled or filtered water. Stir to dissolve and use.
Here is a site that has information on how to use a Neti Pot.
If your not into making your own Sinus Wash, try using premixed packets from your local pharmacy.
September
Goodbye August, Hello September. … I spent most of the day preparing four small canvases for a collage project, later I went outside to take a break and noticed all the fallen leaves on our lawn.
My husband was trimming some ivy which was overtaking our sycamore trees and he commented on all the dead leaves blowing down our street.
I love autumn! I love listening to the wind, watching the leaves turn into vibrant shades of rust and gold, smelling the dry leaves and cuddling up with a good book on cool evenings.
What autumn feels like to me…
“The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze.”
– John Updike, September
Have a good night!
New Blog Theme
Now that I have been blogging for 8 months I decided to look for a new theme for my site, and I found one that has three columns instead of two.
As I work on updating my blog I may be switching the header images from time to time as a way to showcase my art work, and I hope to finish the rest of the revisions over the next couple of weeks.
Have a great weekend! Any comments will be welcome.
Crows In The Belfry
Crows everywhere this morning! A group of crows descended on our oak tree this morning, squawking and making such a ruckus they woke me up.
As I peaked out our kitchen window I saw two squirrels making a run for it over our neighbors rooftop. I didn’t see anything else out of the ordinary, so I went back to bed.
Later I met a friend for coffee and we spent some time catching up on whats going on.
“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” – Anais Nin
“We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best that we find in our travels is an honest friend.”
–Robert Louis Stevenson
Myth Makers
“Myth must be kept alive. The people who can keep it alive are the artists of one kind or another. The function of the artist is the mythologization of the environment and the world”. – Joseph Campbell
“The job of the storyteller is to speak the truth. But what we feel most deeply can’t be spoken in words alone. At this level, only images connect. And here, story becomes symbol; symbol is myth. And myth is truth.” – Alan Garner
Wednesday Musings
I hit the wall! I’ve been working on an abstract painting for a few days and have been feeling more frustrated with each passing day. Arghhh!
Today, I was having great fun splashing paint, and collaging elements onto the canvas, until I stepped back to gauge how it was going. It was one of those moments when you know your stuck in the middle, staring at a half-finished canvas and self doubt begins to creep in.
The flashing neon warning signs were there. Either this is not working or I’ve reached the outer boundaries of my comfort zone. Now the question is which is it?
I could push on or just gesso and start over. Tomorrow is another day and I will decide whether to work on it or not.
Ode To Summer
Our Garden Fence – (C) 2008
“A languid atmosphere, a lazy breeze, with labored respiration, moves the wheat from distant reaches, till the golden seas break in crisp whispers at my feet.
My book, neglected of an idle mind, hides for a moment from the eyes of men; or lightly opened by a critic wind, affrightedly reviews itself again.
Off through the haze that dances in the shine the warm sun showers in open glade, the forest lies, a silhouette design dimmed through and through with shade.
A dreamy day; and tranquilly I lie at anchor from all storms of mental strain; with absent vision, gazing at the sky, “like one that hears it rain.” – James Whitcomb Riley, A Summer Afternoon