explore, imagine, invent, discover

“It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.”
--Edward de Bono

another project of mine:

In April 2011, EtStudio celebrates the 4 year anniversary of starting
the Goddess Mail Art call of fabulouso Creative Exchange. We have had
submissions from 25 countries and one magnificent art show - and we will
have the FIFTH ANNIVERSARY show of Goddess art and artist trading cards
this SUMMER!
WOOHOO
All art will be posted and shown on the blog -- see below, and artist trading cards will be exchanged.
1. Please send us your Goddess mail art, AND/OR six original (6) ATCs— a set of 6, or 6 versions of your work.
All cards submitted will be displayed in the SPRING show, (venue to be decided.)
2. Please include with your 6 card ATC submission: a pre-stamped return
envelope (SASE), your contact information, including e-mail (if
possible) and 1 page maximum about you and the way you made your work--
tell us a little about yourself & discuss your techniques and tools,
and your image content.
3. Do you live outside the USA?
Don’t worry about return postage, send us something fun-- ephemera from your
country, or even an extra ATC. We’ll pay the return postage. it’s easier
that way.

Display Closing: Mid-August 2011, after which you will receive 6 trades mailed back!
For More Information, please contact Emily Townsend/11750 Carmel Drive/Lakewood, Colorado, 80215, USA.

http://goddessy-art.livejournal.com/

May we Honor the Goddess in all HER forms!

myth, meaning, mystery

I always have this urge for travel.
Not tourism, not just ticking off a list of sights, but being deeply in another place. The places that feed my soul the most deeply are natural, mountains, rivers, oceans, groves of trees, paths down natural and wild places.
But also, I have loved being in historic capitals of Europe and learning of the history of where my ancestors came from, and learning about amazing artists, writers, architects of these places and how they created brilliance that inspires me today.
I have given up wondering why I have this urge, and let these longings direct me, following my bliss, which Joseph Campbell talks about.
And although I do love wild places, my body also loves comfort, and sometimes the best way to experience the wonders of the world are by watching a film, or reading a book about it.
I think the connection to anyone in history who has lived the myth of their lives, found meaning in their work, used the Spirit of place to make meaning is what attracts me.
Getting out of our comfort zone makes us really see. The rut is what I am escaping. I love making art out of experience, hence, creative journaling!
I am finding my mission statement, my meaning for being, it's just taken me a few decades to get there.

"Tell me what it is that you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? A ship is safe in port, but that is not what ships are for." --Mary Oliver

the vision

Inspiration sometimes just piles up in a backlog of ideas in my brain, and instead of working at expressing it, I seem to sit in front of this computer and waste time on this and that on the internet.
I know I have deep truths buried in me, but the trick is to express them clearly in images. How to get the whole of the world in one small cut up collage?
I sometimes come across an image that takes my breath away in it's complicated beauty combined with simplicity; and sometimes I come across a phrase in a book that captures it all. . . . my mind wants to hold all the meaning in one shot, so I do try to get this in my work - perhaps I am reaching too high -- to make something so clear as to hold all the meaning in the world?
That is the seed that I am after in my work right now.
We'll see if it can happen; why not try?

"The world of learning is so broad, and the human soul so limited in power! We reach forth and strain every nerve, but we seize only a bit of the curtain that hides the infinite from us."
--Maria Mitchell

and finally a new journal page . . . .

I am being easy on myself these days, still working on getting the house all sorted out, enjoying some cooking and knitting for the holidays.
My journals are patiently waiting on the table, in a messy little stack, until I "feel it" again.
Sometimes I just fiddle with pens and paper, organizing and sorting, and not requiring myself to push forward yet.
Today I did manage to add some squiggly lines and a quote from the Tempest to this page I had started a few weeks ago.
I am settling into this time of fallow fields, and honoring the space that I am making for something new and big to start in Spring.
Sometimes I feel panicked nothing will happen.
But I have been at this long enough to know to stop, breathe deeply, maybe get up and stretch, and pick up a book if I need to.
Creativity does wax and wane, and that's fine.

"All things in common nature should produce
Without sweat or endeavour."
--William Shakespeare, The Tempest

waiting for my new direction.

"Old Woman . . . .
Under the words you are my silence."
--May Sarton

"I know there is a shift going on inside of me. A deceleration. I can feel the striving leaking out of my work. It's like I'm just figuring out how to lean back into the simplicities of being. It reminds me of the first time you try to learn to float, the way you have to keep letting go and resting in the moment, believing the water will hold you, that it is enough, that it is everything. And then you sink and you have to sputter back and start again."
--Sue Monk Kidd, Traveling with Pomegranates

This elf is busy getting ready for the holidays!

"We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup." --Buddy in the movie, "ELF"

what are you dreaming today?

"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." --Anatole France

learning from a tree

I have been immersed in our new place and my new path, forgive me for not being here too often while my journal fields lie fallow, there will be more pages as the moon waxes and wanes, all in the fullness of time, as they say!

"A tree uses what comes its way to nurture itself. By sinking its roots deeply into the earth, by accepting the rain that flows towards it, by reaching out to the sun, the tree perfects it character and becomes great. Absorb, absorb, absorb. That is the secret of the tree." --Deng Ming-Dao