Dream - Wish - Hope

Still the Chatter - Leave no trace

Lisa from Life Unity is hosting a mindfulness practice using  "How to Train a Wild Elephant"  by Jan Chozen Bays.   Lisa has invited anyone who is interested to join her in this journey of mindfulness. 

This week is about Leaving No Trace -  You pick a room or an area in your life and you simply leave no trace that you were there.   Sounds simple enough, right?   I mean,  I'm a mother.  I pick up things and leave no trace all the time!  What could I possibly learn from this?  Well,  let me just start with this. . . .

My mind is full, full of chatter.   Reminds me of the children's story,  "If You Give a Mouse a     Cookie"  that I often read to my children.  I see a dirty dish on the table,  take it to the kitchen,  see the trash needs to be taken out,  take it out,  see the gate open,  go to close it,  notice the holes the dog has dug, go to fill them up, on and on and on.  All those little details we take care of.   But what I have noticed even more in the last two days is the chatter in my mind.   It is constant and quite shrilll at times.

And yet . . . if I choose to focus on the one simple task at hand and only that task,  the chatter stills.  I have that brief moment of being present.   What a gift.  I will continue this practice of leave no trace and try the other simple daily mindfulness practices in the book.   If you are interested, check out Lisa's blog. 

 

WIP - a background I started this weekend

Finding myself completely intrigued by layers and layers and layers

somewhat like the layers of our lives - not all seen but traces remain

a close-up

not enough sun in Florida today so there was a glare from the flash

I thoroughly enjoyed painting this last weekend.

Would love to have more days to just simply paint.

Blog Break - and Happy New Year!

 

 

With the computer crashed and company over the holidays I took a much longer break than intended from the blogging world. I have missed visiting my favorites blogs but I needed to take a bit of a break. I was amazed at how much time is swallowed up by the interweb world! I get caught up in reading the fabulous posts written and the wonderful art being created and neglect my own writing and arting! Plus I compare myself to all those absolutely talented artists and beging to think "why should I even try!" Not healthy I know.  So, with this time off I've started listening to that inner voice and have been painting and sketching. Having fun, no stress. Created some post cards and sent them to some of my favorite people.

I am looking for new perspective this year. Spent time one evening with my daughters creating a dream/vision board. It was wonderful to share with them. As always I was surprised and puzzled by my board. And now it sits on my easel and I look at it and see more and more messages for myself in it. Have you tried creating one? I started doing this thru Jamie Ridler's Soul Reflections Jamie Ridler's Soul Reflections. Love it and the process. It is a centering act for me. I always come away from it with fresh insight into myself. Little glimpses of myself that surprise me.

 When I lost the computer I did manage to recover my photos and videos.  Of course there is no order or sense to them yet. They are on dvd's waiting for my to look and organize. I have boxes and boxes of photos in my closet and in albums from the pre-digital age.  And now I have a million cd's and dvd's of photos here.   How does one organize them all?

 

I did take photos over the holidays.  This one below is one of my favorites. 

 My daughter with the love of her life, her horse.  The love between a girl and her horse . . .

I'm back in the blogging saddle again   : )  I hope to temper my  time on the internet and create time to create art and friendships.    Please take time to leave a comment.   I'm off to visit and see what everyone has been up to.

Wishing YOU the happiest of holidays!

Still without a computer to use so borrowing some time on someone's.

 

I'm hoping you each have a wonderful holiday, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza or just a wonderful day to celebrate life.

 

Wishing you JOY, LOVE and PEACE.

Ever Had One of THOSE weeks?   Got up one morning,  grabbed the first cup of coffee, fired up the computer and . . .   wait for it . . . .  the black screen of death appears on your computer?  Spent hours attempting to fix it on your own,  finally break down and take it to the local computer geek who calls and tells you it is unfixable.

Then wake up the next morning and something else is wrong with your car . . . that smell of gas that appears each time you idle?    Not a normal sign.

Then, the hot water heater gets so hot it melts the ziploc bags that are stored in the same closet?   That is NOT a good sign.

Today,  I got up to go to my dental cleaning appointment,  walked in a few minutes early  (I thought)  and am greeted with  "You are late.  Your appointment was an hour ago."

What a week, and it is only Wednesday!

And yet,  last night I got to see a 10 year old girl sing  "Free to Be Me" with her father accompanying her on the guitar.  And my daughter got her first job and starts today!  My brother is coming to visit next week for Christmas!  And I will be off for two whole weeks from the day job!

I can't complain.  My life is beautiful.  The joys and the bothersome details.  It is all beautiful!  I sit this morning  (borrowing a laptop from my daughter) sipping a wonderful cup of coffee and  LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL!!!

Hope your week is filled with joy!

 

 

Haiku My Heart

Let singing commence

Let hope, light, laughter and joy

Come within your heart

 

Do you like haiku? I love to participate each Friday that I can.

There are quite a few special people who write each week for

Haiku My Heart Friday.

visit

Rebecca

 

AEDM - A Compilation

I did not get to post each day this month.   I did however create art every day!   Some days it was a photo, or a sketch of some idea I want to try.  Some days I chose paint, and many days I chose my Inktense pencils since they are so fun and portable and vibrant.

Lessons learned this month? 

    1.  I want to continue to explore and play.   I see improvement! 

    2.  Often the simple sketches I did were my favorite. 

     3.  Scanning art does not work nearly as well as a photo.  I will be using a

          camera from now on.

    4.  I am learning perspective slowly but I can see things more clearly than before.

    5.  I will continue to create and do art each day . . . I loved knowing I would be having

          some time each day.

    6.  It was difficult to go visit all the beautiful art on other blogs and not compare  

          myself.

    7.  I am slowly developing my own ideas and style!

    8.  There is inspiration and ideas EVERYWHERE if you just keep your eyes open and

           let your imagination run wild.

    9.  There are the most amazing artists out there!  And they are so supportive and

            kind and wonderful!  The beauty of each is overwhelming.

    10.  Leah is AMAZING for hosting this each year.  I will be back next year. 

            Please be sure to check out her website for all her fabulous art and all the other

            artists who participated!

 

Here, in no particular order is some of the art I did,

the not-so- good  along with the ones I like   : )

 

 

Haiku My Heart - AEDM

Burst of vibrancy

Butterfly shadow speaks out

Stop, look, and listen!

 

  

Do you like haiku? I love to participate each Friday that I can.

There are quite a few special people who write each week for

Haiku My Heart Friday.

visit

Rebecca

 

 I will post next week about my journey with Art Every Day. 

I'm out of town this weekend but will be carrying my travel art kit with me.  Hoping to meet up with a new friend who is an artist!

 

 Leah is hosting Art Every Day Month. 

Check out all the wonderful blogs of those who are participating!

  

  

AEDM check-in

 

Loving the color!   Not so drab, not so bleh!

 

Had my camera out, saw the 'butterfly' shadow in the pansy.  The deep purple was so vibrant and alive!!

Watched this guy attach to the wall and create the chrysalis.   Guess we won't be painting this portion until a butterfly appears!

Art Every Day is back on in my life!   Sketching, a bit of watercolour on a sketch from the weekend.  Started a short story today.  I love how the words tumble out.  I never really know what direction a story will take.  The stories come from a different voice,  each story wanting to be told.  Insisting actually.  

 

 

 Leah is hosting Art Every Day Month. 

Check out all the wonderful blogs of those who are participating!

  

  

Monday Musings - not so much AEDM : (

Did not accomplish much in the art every day mission this weekend.  We were painting the exterior of the house so paint was involved just not sure how artistic it was!  The house certainly looks better.  Have you ever noticed how CLEAN everything looks when you paint it?  Just painting the trim on the door made it all crisp and clean.  Of course, I didn't do much.  Whatever I had last week made me feel yucky for days on end.  Today is a new day, a new week and I was able to do some yoga this morning, write my morning pages, and now I am off to work to play catch up since I missed so much last week.  I hate to feel behind!!!

 

The before color - very blah. . .

 

The paint bucket with the new color

 

My job was to paint the edges

No photos of the after -  I ran out of steam.  But it is looking MUCH better.   I'll take some today.  We still need to repaint the brown trim.  The color is bit more orange than I thought it would be.  I was going for a sand color but I like it.  Kind of reminds me of a gingerbread house.

 

Hope your day is filled with wonder!!

 

AEDM - Haiku My Heart

Reaching for, Looking

for light, love, hope.  Stretch to

let yourself flower.

 

Finding time each day for art - loving AEDM.

 

 Leah is hosting Art Every Day Month. 

Check out all the wonderful blogs of those who are participating!

  

  

Do you like haiku? I love to participate each Friday that I can.

There are quite a few special people who write each week for

Haiku My Heart Friday.

visit

Rebecca

 

recuerda mi corazon

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