Where I'm At

"She didn't always know what the Universe was trying to tell her, but she trusted it,

knowing that it was perfectly stitched together, just for her."

(prints available here, cards here)

I have three draft posts ready to go, but none of them seems fitting. Instead, I offer you a glimpse into my headspace these days. Thank you for letting me indulge.

~ I am drawn to images, colour and space. To visuals that entice me to step inside and get lost in the breath of possibility and the surreal.

~ I feel a need to let my right brain take over for a while and give my left brain a rest. I feel called to soften my approach: less striving, more unfolding.

~ I want to make art and make it available, to deliver colour to those who seek it.

~ I want to be still, and receive. During the past three weeks, I've added a meditation practice of sorts to my morning pages ritual. It's provided me with insights - some practical, some bewildering, all welcome.

~ I feel an urge to express myself in words and images: time at the art table and at the keyboard, braindumps of words and ideas flowing from my fingertips. So many things are bubbling at the surface.

~ I am not sure how to deal with my return to 9-5 work, three days a week. I welcome the promise of a paycheck. I fear the break in freedom of time and space that I've enjoyed during the past 11 months.

~ I am taking stock, re-visiting my priorities, solidifying my definition of meaningful work, making sure that what I am building supports the life I want to create overall.

~ I trust that all will be well. Deeply.

7 Reasons Creative Retreats Are Good For You

tree in morning sun, Squam Lake, New Hampshire

"One of the underlying reasons for traveling to sublime landscapes... is to pay witness to a world far beyond our narrow concerns, to enter a cultural world that does not trigger our habitual responses, and at best, to find ourselves then borne along by some other invisible current; an invisible current, that until then we were too habituated to or preoccupied to find."

~ David Whyte, The Three Marriages

This month I travelled to the woods of New Hampshire for a creative retreat. No doubt Squam Art Workshops fits the bill (and more!) when it comes to Mr. Whyte's sublime landscapes with an invisible current, but really any retreat that gets you out of your habitual environment has the same potential - big or small.

~~~

Gathering with like-minded people in a physical space dedicated to creative endeavours is good for you. Here's why:

~ It allows a temporary respite from the little things that sometimes weigh big. You know, the laundry piles, the dustbunnies, the unopened bills on the table... Sure it'll be there when you get back, but for now? You can leave that sh-- at home. Free your psyche for bigger things.

~ It shakes you out of visual complacency. Being in a new physical environment can stimulate new creative patterns. New smells, views, sounds, palettes, textures... who knows where they all could lead?

~ It gives you the confidence to sink even deeper into your creative identity. Being with a bunch of creative kindreds can do wonders to reinforce what you already know: that you are a painter/dancer/writer/[insert your creative title here]. For the duration of your retreat, you are free to live it. Unabashedly.

~ It entices forces you out of your creative - and sometimes social - comfort zone. You work through a new painting process, write poetry instead of business memos, take photos of people instead of stills. You share lodging and meals with people you've never met before, hop on a plane when you're afraid to fly, or leave the kids alone with their father for the first. time. ever. Grow little one, grow.

~ It facilitates new connections and creative community. Gathering with other creative folks expands your creative network, offering support that may not always be readily available on the home front. It may bring about friendships that last a lifetime, or deep connections that exist only for that momentary purpose they were meant to fulfill. Both are wonderful.

~ If you're lucky, it gives you a safe place to be yourself, understood, and accepted for who you are.

~ If you're even luckier, it infuses you with an intangible creative spirit and energy that will carry you through to the next retreat, that invisible current referred to by Mr. Whyte, above.

~~~

Creative retreats are good for you.

Whether it's to a local studio, an oceanfront cottage across the country, or an empty boardroom at the office, where could you travel for yours?

In The Works... (or Life is Full)

So. Many. Exciting things in the works...

• painting, painting, painting, stretching out of my comfort zone, trying new things

 

a step outside of my creative comfort zone that's leaving

me both perplexed and exhilarated

• working on new items to put in the shop
• 100 iPad Faces project (54 and counting!)
• agreeing to be the subject of a mini-documentary/artist profile for a local film student's class assignment
• a new Website, learning how to build it using Wordpress
• "springifying" my home, tidying up the studio, renewing my physical spaces
• exploring poetry and reporting back via Weekend Poetry Dates here, in honour of National Poetry Month
• spring hikes with D., playing with my camera

baby pine cones, all in a row - Mud Lake, Ottawa

• working with a consultation client to help her fulfill her calling, witnessing how her eyes light up with inspiration when the a-ha moment hits
• new juicy service offerings to help YOU fulfill your calling

Oh my, such goodness and such creative energy! It must be spring.

38 Before 39 - An Eleventh Hour Update

#3 - Kelly's Beach, Kouchibouguac National Park, NB (about 20min from Mom & Dad's)

I spent two glorious afternoons sitting on this beach listening to the waves roll in

With two weeks left before I turn 39 it's time to check in on my list of 38 things I wanted to do before the B-Day. So if you'll let me self-indulge a little more than usual, here goes:

1. take voice lessons 1/2 hour a week for six weeks during May and June 2011
2. hike a new-to-me trail Little Bluff Conservation Area, Prince Edward Country, Ontario - it was a short trail, but beautiful!
3. sit by the ocean during my solo trip to NB, August 2011 (see pic above), though technically it's the Northumberland Strait and not the ocean I'm giving myself full points - it smelled salty
   
4. take a plane somewhere
5. create an e-book
6. lose 10 pounds I lost five, but I might have gained some too sooo, no points here unfortunately
7. create and give art workshops centered around intuitive art-making and creative play
8. write and submit an article (or a query) to a magazine - hopefully get it published 1/4 points here, I took a workshop on pitching articles and created a very rough draft of a query letter
9. find the user manual for Matilda, my trusty point & shoot, and learn how to use her manual settings full points with a note that it's a work in practice
10. host a painting or tea party
11. see a Cirque du Soleil performance a birthday gift from D., it was amazing!
12. take a solo trip - it doesn't have to be far solo road trip to visit Mom & Dad in NB, August 2011
    
13. try a new recipe a ground beef/pasta/cheese bake thingy, yummy winter fare!
14. clean out my filing cabinet
15. paint on a big canvas again - at least 30x30, maybe even bigger I painted on two 20x40 canvases, close enough
    
16. take an art workshop, or two one textile sculpture workshop taken in June 2011, and two painting-related workshops at Squam Art Workshops in September
17. show my artwork in a local venue
18. find a pair of stylish, dressy, warm winter boots lambswool-lined ankle boots that I can wear with dressy pants, jeans or a wool skirt, works for me!
19. find or create an occasion to wear the party dress my sister gave me for my birthday (I feel so beautiful when I'm wearing it!) I have tickets to see the Bolshoi Ballet this coming May, I plan to to wear the dress
20. find a pair of party shoes to wear with my party dress
21. do my morning pages at least five days a week, every week though I haven't checked, I think I've managed to average this thanks to my working from home since November
22. host a few dinners, potlucks or game nights with D. yup!
23. see live music performances, maybe a few Bluesfest concerts took in Jazzfest AND Bluesfest concerts + a show the Black Sheep Inn
    
24. go to a movie theatre saw The Artist and the Pearl Jam documentary
25. visit the National Gallery of Canada (here in Ottawa, no excuse!) saw Made in America photography exhibit with D. + a bit of the Canadian gallery
26. go to NYC
27. make peach preserves chose to let go of this one in the fall due to time constraints
28. visit my parents and family in New Brunswick August 2011
29. hike a second new-to-me trail
30. send cards and notes via snail mail - target one a month Yup. I might've even averaged one a month.
    
31. print photos from our wedding to fill our wedding photo box
32. print favourite photos from last year (trip to Gaspé, '70s housewarming party, art vernissage) and create a souvenir album I can flip through
33. throw a belated birthday party
34. go dancing D. & I got our groove on at Le Piano Rouge in Montreal during a weekend getaway
35. put $5000 aside in Savings YAY! This was so I could take a leave of absence from work, it served its purpose.
    
36. do something with my series of Mandala line art created in 2005-2006
37. get my hair and makeup done professionally
38. continue posting here at least twice a week, even if it's just a photo or a quote  According to the monthly archives numbers I averaged at least twice a week. My tightest month was July 2011 with 8 posts.

Twenty-one out of the 38 things are crossed off with a few more weeks to go, not too shabby!

And there might still be time to knock a few little ones off the list; I'll see what I can muster up between now and then...

A Year Worth Celebrating

Warning: Due to the celebratory nature of this blog post there will be an abnormal amount of exclamation points (!). Punctuation police be warned.

A few people in my family will be hitting milestones this year - significant milestones that are cause for significant celebration thus making 2012 a happy year to come!

This got me thinking, what else would be worth celebrating in 2012? Why stop at these two milestones?

So I started a list.

Working quickly I wrote down real events like birthdays and anniversaries, but then, without setting out to, I started listing events I wanted to manifest that would be cause to celebrate.

a work in progress that didn't quite make it to the finish line

I like the message

All of a sudden my list became a mixture of affirmations, visualization and already-existing events worth celebrating. It's visioning and party-planning all wrapped into one! How cool is that?

Here's what I came up with:

• Mom & Dad's 50th wedding anniversary
• Mom's birthday - she's hitting a major milestone this year, whoop whoop!
• my birthday - this is the year, I want a party!
• my blogging anniversary - 6 years baby!
• my online shop's first sale
• my first workshop given
• my dating, "going steady" and wedding anniversaries with D.
• Summer
• other family birthdays
• my first $1000 earned outside the government
• my first $10000 earned outside the government
• D.'s birthday - the big 3-5 (hee!)
• a family gathering
• the arrival of our new niece
• the 5th Squam Art Workshops in New Hampshire and the friendships I've made because of it during the past four years
• friends and family meeting goals or setting off on new adventures - Cheers to that!
• the loss of the 12 extra pounds I've been carrying for the past year
• losing my first 3 lbs
• Cassie's birthday
• Sis' first marathon - NYC or not Sis, I think this is the year
• taking a plane for the first time in nearly 10 years - New Brunswick? New York? Paris?
• booking my first consultation client
• the launch of my e-book
• seeing an article of mine published in a magazine
• the Winter Solstice
• Christmas
• New Year's Eve

Wow. So many potential parties!

~~~

What are YOU going to celebrate in 2012? In addition to what's already on the schedule, are there any events you'd like to manifest that would be cause to celebrate?