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On Fall Cocooning & Rejuvenation…

On Fall Cocooning & Rejuvenation”Close both eyes to see with the other eye.” -Rumi ***** How do we know when its time to retreat? For me it begins with a restless yearning for stillness. The kind of replenishing stillness that quietly slips away from my every day the more I fill it up with digital noise and to-do lists. I …

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Learning To See Again : Creative Lessons from Meditation

Creative Lessons from Meditation“When we do not trouble ourselves about whether or not something is a work of art, if we just act in each moment with composure and mindfulness, each minute of our life is a work of art.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh ***** I’ve realized in recent years that painting is like meditating. The harder one grasps, the more …

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Repercussions of A Creative Adventure

Repurcussions of A Creative Adventure“The life that I could still live, I should live, and the thoughts that I could still think, I should think.” —C. G. Jung, The Red Book I had talked of a yearning for creative solitude in a recent Travelogue entry, but not even then, fresh from Summer’s creative adventure, could I have ever foresaw what would change in …

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An Enchanted Tapestry Painting For the Bedroom

An Enchanted Tapestry Painting for the Bedroom”…we are all badly in need for the symbolic life. Only the symbolic life can express the daily need of the soul.” – Carl Jung. I’ve been working on tiny paintings for awhile now- the ongoing Journey Totem deck ones, and my daily meditative and plein air pieces and it’s making hungry to paint bigger, braver …

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Tools for Creative Solitude

Tools for Creative Solitude“There is no art without contemplation.” ― Robert Henri I’ve been feeling a hunger for solitude these days. not the kind in the studio where I’m still plugged into a hundred different ways to say hello, but the kind that allows shy thoughts and ideas buried deep in the unconscious, to bubble to the surface. Do you …

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What Stops The Magic & Why We Don’t Create

(Listen To This Travelogue Entry) In my last Secret World piece, I shared a personal story about what it’s like to fall out of love with your own art-making and the important things we must do to keep the creative flame burning so we don’t find ourselves with our dreams shattered around our feet. Today I want to take a …

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What Happens When the Love Fades

The picture above was taken with an old film camera, by my dear husband 8 years ago, when my art spirit was starting to awaken after over a decade of being asleep. I was in love, both with my art-making and my future husband. How could I not be? I was getting married and finding joy in hand-crafting my own …

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Secret World Of the Artist: When It’s Not About the Magic

I used to think that the evocative work of my favorite artists was possible only because there was a little bit of magic involved-like the stars being aligned when they were born or they had access to a secret world of inspiration that I didn’t. It wasn’t that I doubted my artistic or creative skills, but clearly there was a …

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My Year of Brave

This year took all my long-held beliefs of myself and exploded it into millions of tiny brilliant pieces of blossoming possibility. I am changed. THE BRAVE PROMISES KEPT 1. Childhood. My best friends and I made a childhood dream trip come true. Prince Edward Island was all that was quaint and old-fashioned and magical. For a week, I was Anne Shirley, charmed …

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Secret Garden : Spirit of the Island Part 2

Welcome Curious Kittens! This is a special 2-part series based on my pilgrimage to Prince Edward Island for the Anne of Green Gables experience. L.M. Montgomery’s books on the stubbornly cheerful and tenacious red-headed spitfire influenced me deeply in my growing up years and this is my homage to it. I hope this private behind-the-scenes peek at the photos, books …