outdoors

Lately I have been spending a bit too much time inside.
I need to get out today, away from traffic and walls and cars and computers, breath in some woods air, take the dog on a long walk, and hear some birds and wind in the branches.
That will be just the ticket!



"Learn to poke around. Take your time. Go slow. Get down on your hands and knees and dig around. Sit in one place for an hour at a time and let the world come to you." --John Bates

in the studio. . . .

I go in the world and gather ideas and images.
then I come to the studio to work with them.
and I am so grateful for this space and time to work here - who knows how long it will last?



"Gather and hoard your inspirations as you live, then recapture them as needed in the studio." --Nita Engle

just being

My anemia has gotten a bit worse, so I have been just being.
(Well, in between all the work I have to do I have been being . . . . )
I will go to the doctor, but in the meantime, I am learning to be in my body without making myself crazy or stressed or pressured to be what I am not.
It feels pretty good.
I am what I am . . . . and life goes on.



"Leisure is a form of silence, not noiselessness. It is the silence of contemplation such as occurs when we let our minds rest on a rosebud, a child at play, a Divine mystery, or a waterfall." --Fulton J. Sheen

why we do this work

Because we find stuff out.
We find out about our inner selves, which in turn, helps us understand what about our inner selves is connected to All.
So my journal helps me find about my own truth, and the truth of the Universe.
Cool, huh?



"Epiphany! Light poured in, my soul took flight, and I had encountered why I was put here, and who to thank for it! Each portrait represents a fresh journey, a voyage of disclosure, as I am privileged to explore the uniqueness of others." --David Goatley

from Journaling Group

Whenever we get together to work in our journals on our monthly Journaling Group, I always do pages I sort of enjoy. I think it is the slowing down and taking 2 hours to work, where in my studio I have ten other things looming that I am eager to get to.
These pages, as I shared with the group, reflect the two sides of my emotions I deal with - dark swirling moodiness and pastel joy.
My journal helps me understand and express these feelings, and for that I am grateful.
One reason this is my consistent practice is for the awareness it always gives me.
Secrets of my unconscious seem to emerge from the playing with color and image, and then the words bring some truth to the feelings.

Now if only life's problems could be so easily solved, but I guess that is the path.
at least Journaling helps me find the way.





"Art must not be intelligent; art is a jouisance, an enjoyment." --Andre Derain

Creativity Cafe

Journaling group is tonight, and while you wait for more journal pages, here is my newest work - Creativity Cafe, a blog and printed journal to encourage and enhance our inter-connected human process of Becoming Conscious of our Universal Creativity . . . .
more here:
http://creativitycafejournal.blogspot.com/



"When you make the finding yourself - even if you're the last person on Earth to see the light - you'll never forget it." --Carl Sagan

last page of my latest journal

When I kept a diary in middle school, then high school, then college, it was just all words.
Lots and lots of words.
I kept a separate sketchbook with drawings, and all my school notebooks were covered in doodles.
It took me about 20 years to finally figure out how to put these things together, now everyone seems to know about visual journaling.
That's how ideas infiltrate through humanity - and it happens so fast now.
One person thinks of something, or ten people do all at the same time, they experiment, share it, it spreads, then everyone seems to know about it.
Visual journaling was unknown ten years ago, now it practically has it's own section in the bookstore.

My latest journal is now full, so I wrote this note on the last page.
In the new journal I am working differently. . . . .
pages to come.

journal page for today

"I am a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn't have the heart to let him down..." --Abraham Lincoln

dog = love

"People tend to forget that play is serious." --David Hockney

just plugging along.

"That's the best thing about walking, the journey itself. It doesn't matter much whether you get where you're going or not. You'll get there anyway. Every good hike brings you eventually back home." --Edward Abbey

sometimes, it's about words:

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." --Howard Thurman

city? country?

I love to go into the city, to wander around, soaking in the frenetic chaos and noise, the myriad of people and buildings and things to tickle and tease the mind.
I love riding the bus and seeing an amazingly beautiful person walking a diamond collared dog, knowing I will never see that person again.
I love popping in and discovering a new museum or shop that has magical things previously unknown to me.
I love a great meal in a cozy restaurant, featuring the best food on the planet.
Somewhere I read that New York City has more French restaurants that Paris -- could that be true?
All the sights and sounds and tastes and glorious explosion of humanity that is the city is a wondrous place to go get inspired.

and I also love being in the quiet of nature, hugging a tree, laying in the grass admiring the sky.
I love to wander on a path in the woods, hearing nothing but birds and chattering squirrels, angry that I am interrupting their reverie.
I seem to need both of these places in my life.
But we only live in one place at a time.
Or do we have to?
I am envisioning a way to get the best of both worlds, not sure yet how it will happen, but one day, it might.



"The five colors blind the eye.
The five tones deafen the ear.
The five flavors dull the taste.
Racing and hunting madden the mind.
Precious things lead one astray.
Therefore the sage is guided by what he feels and not by what he sees.
He lets go of that and chooses this."

-Tao Te Ching

not an art journal page but I wanted to share this with you:

We sent this letter to the White House, and click on the image at the bottom to read the lovely reply from Michelle Obama:


First Puppy
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington D.C. 20500

Dear First Puppy:
I want to welcome you to the White House and say how proud I am to be part of this great country where mutts like me are welcome and even celebrated. My name is Simba, which means King of the Lions in Swahili, and I heard your Master mention that his family would be looking for a dog from a shelter if possible.
I am just that kind of puppy! A short month ago, I had no home, and with my 5 sisters and brothers I was lucky enough to end up at SAVE in Princeton, New Jersey, a shelter where dogs and cats are adopted and a nice family named the Townsends took me home.
I wanted to give you some advice as you get used to living with your new family.
1. You will pee and poop on lots of rugs and chew lots of furniture. This sometimes bothers the humans, so try to do it when they are not looking.
2. When someone throws a ball, chase it and bring it back. For some reason this can entertain them for hours. They can throw it like forty times and not get tired of it – really strange.
3. If they put a leash on you, expect good things, like a walk outside. If they take you to a grassy area, watch out because if you do your business they might save it for later in a little plastic bag – crazy savers, these humans are.
4. They will give you dry pellets to eat, but don’t get confused, the real food is on their table and when they are not looking, you can jump up and sample. I got lucky and found the Halloween bag of candy unguarded and even the wrappers tasted pretty good, although the pooping for a few days was not too comfortable.
5. The smaller humans are mostly likely to give you food from the table, the large man human will be the easiest to fool (although yours seems pretty sharp), but the large female human - watch out for her, she knows all the rules and tries to make the others follow them.
6. You will be loved and petted and praised and kissed a whole bunch, and guess what – it is really great, especially if you get to sleep with them in their beds at night.
7. Oh and watch the biting – that’s the best way to end up in the dog house, literally.
Best of luck at the White House, and if you ever need a puppy play date, I would love to romp around the lawn with you, and I will even bring one of my humans, Kelsey, who is 13 and is very excited about this new change in our country. Yes We Can. And we will!

From Simba Townsend

Planning Goals

Secret 12 of the 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women bookgroup is about achievement.
Well, it actually is about planning.
I plan and plan, but sometimes something else seems to happen.
I am pretty good at plans, not so good at seeing things to the very end.
I did appreciate the advice in this chapter to be clear -- to have very clearly stated goals, and an idea how to follow through to make it become reality.
One difficult part of the whole process for me is putting the work up for sale -- the word "marketing" is really really hard for me -- well, not so much the word as the action. I just can't focus on it.
It implies money and money isn't something that I want to be motivated by.
I loved the encouragement and motivation and mostly, the information to be clear about my path, that I learned about in this book, but there are more secrets that remain undiscovered and a bit unexplored for me:
**The secret of finding a blissful reality apart from "worldly" (i.e. monetary) success.
**The secret that life sometimes does not offer what we ask for, but learning to accept what we do get with gratitude.
**The secret that the creativity is itself the gift, and we might not get the world to pay us in money or attention for following our own personal bliss.
The 12 Secrets we learned gave me some great inspirations, and certainly meeting so many cool and creative and amazing blogging women in this bookgroup was an awesome gift.
I thank you all for visiting - and sharing in your own words how to be successful, creative women -- and a special thanks to Jamie Ridler for orchestrating this lovely collection of creative voices.

and in this journal page - my lovely daughter in NYC through my water glass with some funky collage because life is to celebrated - Collaga-palooza style!:



“There are only three things women need in life: food, water, and compliments.”
Chris Rock

Secret eleven - subtracting serenity stealers

So we are on the eleventh secret in the book group "12 Habits of Highly Creative Women" and this is one that is probably my nemesis.
I have an A.D.D. brain which grabs onto everything and anything - racing around enthusiastically endorsing every new idea that I don't have time to act on.
So culling the herd of ideas is a constant thing I need to focus on.
Without clarity, all the great ideas just disappear into the clutter.
So this chapter is the crucial one for me to remember and incorporate.
Over-committing, over-scheduling and over-stimulation -- wow, what a list for me to remember.
I need massive time in my studio for meditation, journeying, contemplation, and just to unwind from my over active brain.
and this used to make me feel guilty - but now I allow myself this time.
It is a necessity for me, and it took me 47 years to know this clearly about myself.
Without clarity, it is hard to see anything.
Without pruning, all the branches grow so close together that they choke each other out and the tree eventually dies.
So it is ESSENTIAL to prune.
I vow to remember this!

and my journal page today?
Is a homage to Johti the parrot, who actually did a dance of joy when he saw this collage painting - how great is that? To have cross-species approval!




"As the gardener, by severe pruning, forces the sap of the tree into one or two vigorous limbs, so should you stop off your miscellaneous activity and concentrate your force on one or a few points" --Ralph Waldo Emerson

today, just a page from the journal

"Be joyous, though you've considered all the facts."
--Wendell Berry

Chaos = Good

I love that my journal helps me sort things out.
Sometimes, the images are very chaotic and jumbled, and weirdly, I find that these are often the pages that I love the most. It seems that this life, with all its stress and confusion and noise and energy is best expressed for me with chaotic images in my collage.
and that is good.
Self expression is the goal for me, not decorating pretty pages.
I guess this is sort of my goal for anyone who jumps headfirst into creative journaling -- that letting go of the "pretty" frees your journal up so so much.
It is a bit scary - to make a mess.
We have been told our whole lives not to make messes.
But seriously - who wants to color in the lines?
Coloring in the lines is NOT fun, and it certainly isn't satisfying to see the same old same old ten thousand times repeated.
If we allow ourselves to be messy and real, how much more is our own inner self expressed and discovered?
and this is a voyage, not a destination.
Today - I am so grateful for my journal which allows we to create freely with NO expectations, no need for neatness, no requirements or critiques or editing.
Go For It.
You will love what happens.



"Chaos is everywhere – and artists, to fashion art and live truthfully, have no choice but to invite this unwanted guest right into the studio." --Eric Maisel

Journaling Group

Last night at our Unitarian Church, 6 of us sat around tables cutting, tearing, coloring and writing.
Then we shared our pages and a bit from our lives - this is always an awesome group.
Also, I always surprise myself when I work in symphony with others - and the page I post here just thrills me, and I can't really even pin-point why.
Maybe I don't have to.



"In matters of art one's state of mind is three-quarters of what counts, so it has to be carefully nurtured if you want to do something great and lasting." --Paul Gauguin

the wilderness of intuition

Spring is almost here -- Ostera is this Friday and I am so ready for flowers and green and sun and warmth.
I am so ready to wear a lightweight scarf around my neck instead of a heavy wool one!
I love the way that, for centuries, so many spiritual traditions have decorated eggs and left them at shrines for gods and goddesses to celebrate the new life and re-awakening of this time of year.
And the seed-sowing that kept us alive for thousands of years can be part of the ritual to welcome Spring - a few herbs in pots in the kitchen will be my ritual planting to celebrate the cycle that brings new life.
Also my worm bin - I often neglect my poor worms in the winter and I am afraid they didn't survive the cold, but I know I can get new ones, add new life to the worm bin, new scraps from our kitchen that will feed them and allow them to start their cycle of biodegrading the green stuff from bits of fruits and vegetables and make for me new brown stuff that is compost for our plants, which will then, in turn, make more scraps for feeding them.
So the cycle goes. . . .
Spring comes and brings us new light and life is new again.
We leave the city of our comfort and go into the wilderness of our intuition.




"There comes a voluptuous moment when the senses and the whole skin tingle with a sharpened awareness of the body and the world around." --Anton Ehrenzweig

The Ides of March

Today is the Ides of March, the 15th day of the third month:
In Roman times, the Ides of March was a festive day dedicated to the god Mars so I dedicate today to winning the war against self-doubt.

Creative journaling is about discovering your own voice.
It is not about pretty pictures.
Mostly.
Because I know, for me, and probably a bit for you, making a pretty picture feels good, making a messy picture can feel scary.
But life is about facing those fears - so go for it!
happy Journaling!



"One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself." --Leonardo Da Vinci