Day 307 - Find

Majorca Spain, photography by Ana Sorce
I have Oprah's booklet, What I Know for Sure and enjoy her articles a great deal. Today I read "If you don't know what your passion is, realize that one reason for your existence on earth is to find it". That passage resonated with me because I have so many passions, but find I need to hone them down to focus on what I really love to do. Painting, travel and art history are 3 that blend well together. I think I will do something with them!

Day 306 - Halloween

Today was fun. Trick or treating at the house, my dog going bonkers at the door bell, goblins walking the neighborhood and good, scary movies while we gave out candy. Just a fun weekend.

Day 305 - Special

Something very special happened today and I am looking forward to a potentially exciting venture in travel. Stay tuned.

Day 304 - October

The rest of this month has been good at work, at home, with family and close friends. I love the fall and this has been a time to reflect on the past and look to the future. I try to live in the present as much as I can. I plan for the future but enjoy my work and creating art. Today was a good day except for missing someone special. Like I said - a good day.

Day 303 - Collage

This week I am going to try working with collage. Some ideas I read about recently in Cloth, Paper, Scissors:

Create a Collage about the home you grew up in.

Make a photo collage of the street you grew up on.

Try making a mixed-media piece using only the numbers of the addresses that you lived at.

Capture your street during your favorite season and turn this into a collage.

Day 302 - Learning

Learning Helps Bring Healing
from griefshare.com

"Take every counsel, every word that has come to your heart in the deep place where you are, because it is in that place that you surrender," says Shelly, who lost a son. "It is that place where your will is broken. It is that place where the veil is lifted, and all of a sudden you see what you need to see, and the instruction will come into your heart.

"So embrace it and hold on to it until you can see the image that God wants you to change into while you are in that deep place. Then look forward to the mountaintop again. There was a time when I couldn't have said that, but I can say that now."

Beautifully said.

Day 301 - Present

from Cheryl Richardson:

"We must be completely present for what we are doing, without sacrificing or rushing what's in front of us in order to get to 'more important' stuff later. No matter how mundane the activity, treat everything as important and take pleasure in it. At bottom, whatever we are doing right now is what we are engaged in and it deserves our full attention and appreciation."

She read this from a book called, Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less, by Marc Lesser. I have the book and it's a great read. It goes on to say that we are often engaged in a task while thinking about something else. Tension arises from doing one thing but focusing on another task that needs to be done. It leaves us exhausted.

One simple piece of advice from Mark's book is this...

Focus on one thing at a time. If your mind wanders, bring it back without judging to the task at hand. He says you will know you are getting it when you feel yourself slowing down and relaxing. Then the joy of knowing that the moment is the best time of your life regardless of what you are doing will come.

Day 300 - 300!

I can't believe it is day 300 of my my blog. Only 65 more days. I already have my next year's project ready to go and will start it after Halloween. I am very excited about it and will share it soon. For now, I will continue to finish 365 days of art!

Day 299 - Four

The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials - Lin Yutang

Patty Digh wrote a book on living life in 4 words. Some of her wisdom:
Drink your coffee black.
Eat less, move more.
Keep it very simple.
Avoid the word don't.
Make each an action.
Wear only solid clothing.
Give up toxic people.

Day 298 - Planning

I am making most of my Christmas gifts this year with one-of-a-kind designs using expressive art. I am trying new techniques, ideas and uncharted territory for me. Pretty exciting stuff.

Day 297 - Fun?

Today turned out to be a LONG, arduous day of work, but ended it with some fun. Here it is.

Day 296 - Respite

Respite...my definition: A chance to get work done without distraction. Artwork to follow.

Day 295 - Breather

Tonight was my first breather in several days and a chance to catch up on some art. Why do things have to get so complicated?

Day 294 - Art

"Art is only a means to life, to the life more abundant. It is not in itself the life more abundant. It merely points the way, something which is overlooked not only by the public, but very often by the artist himself. In becoming an end it defeats itself."

Henry Miller

Day 293 - And

And so goes the plodding. Working in the sketchbook daily is daunting, but I am committed to this project. Only 30 more pages to go - yes, daunting.

Day 292 - Apples

I love apple picking in the fall, and I love Robert Frost. Autumn is my favorite time of year.

Day 291 - Caring

When someone doesn't feel well or needs to be uplifted, I am grateful to be the one who cares.

Day 290 - Sparks

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The more that we stimulate our creativity the more likely we will develop momentum that will spark our creative habits. Some great habits that foster creativity are:

1. Research and development. Find a project that you want to work on!

2. Make sure you have a sacred place to create in!

3. Experiment and don't be afraid to fail.

4. Try new things!

5. Celebrate the results! Tell people and admire your own work!

Day 289 - Judge

I read an article about personal growth through our experiences and trials. I have seen many changes in my life especially in having more compassion for others in difficult situations and a slower attitude in judgment of people. It hurts when we judge others or are judged by them because they (or we) don't know the reasons behind the actions or lack of them. Sometimes someone may feel like they know all the answers and want to laud their knowledge and make a statement by being unkind and self-righteous. I hope to counteract that attitude by not giving into it. I hope I hit the mark often and when I do fail to ask forgiveness.

One of my favorite verses sums it up:

"He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit" (Jeremiah 17:8).

Day 288 - Much

This is a busy week with so much to do. Many changes in the air - good ones.

Day 287 - Update

I am in the process of updating my first children's book and had ONE MORE illustration to complete. Should be done by tomorrow and then I can get an ISBN for Amazon!

Day 286 - Easy

from Cheryl Richardson:

Embrace Easy

Do you expect things to be hard or do you allow them to be easy? When something goes wrong are you able to step back and imagine a simple solution or do you automatically envision a major problem waiting to be solved?

When we expect simple or easy solutions to life's challenges, we set ourselves up for a more positive experience (whether it turns out to be easy or not). We show up with the right frame of mind, we focus on what works instead of what doesn't, and put ourselves in a more open and receptive state that attracts the people or resources we need to get things handled.

Choose one area of your life that's been hard and make a decision right now to shift to "easy." Create a written affirmation that reflects this new belief. Something like:

I easily transition from my current job to a new one that I love.

I enjoy the process of buying a new home with joy and ease.

I marvel at how simple the process of clearing out my garage is as I share my treasures with those in need.

Day 285 - Four

Today it has been four years since my husband passed away. Many emotions and thoughts are going through my head and heart. I will keep a quiet evening tonight. It is amazing how circumstances such as the death of a loved one draw you back into what is important in life. Money? Things? Vacations? Power? I am always drawn back to God and what good I can do on this earth while I am here. Artwork to follow

Day 284 - Continue

I was able to create the credit page for the sketchbook. The thin mole skin paper was not meant for watercolor, but I am choosing to use it anyway. I want the book to have a vintage, worn and quickly drawn look (even though much time and thought has gone into each page). This will become a familiar friend that I will have to part company with in December when I ship it to the Brooklyn Library. The fact that it will travel the country with my parents' love story is very exciting. I really want to do them justice.

Day 283 - Ideas

Not done.
IDEA BOARDS!

Idea boards are creative devices that trigger juicy images, thoughts, designs and visuals for projects. A design board can be large or small, but needs to be where you can look at it everyday. The paraphelia on the board will prompt a creative thought when you are stuck and can't come up with a concept.

Some things that can be on idea boards:

Fabric
Ribbons
Cards
Scrapbook papers
Dried flowers
Photographs
Tags
Tickets
Trim
Vintage ephemera
Kitsch!

Day 282 - Change

Change is an interesting circumstance to be in. It is in our nature to resist, but it can hold for us the greatest opportunity spiritually, mentally, physically and emotionally.

Change brings growth. Change is in the air.

Day 281 - Sketchbook

I am working on one project for a National Touring Company of 16,000 sketchbooks which will wind up in the Brooklyn Library of Art. Mine is entitled "The Greatest (Love) Story Ever Told" and is about my parents' enduring love at war time. I am very excited about this project and look forward to working on it in the next few weeks. It needs to be done around Thanksgiving so the time clock is running....

Day 280 - Projects

I have an amazing project in the works about the life and love of my parents. My sister is doing research with me and together we are creating one of the greatest stories ever told. More to come.

Day 279 - Matters

What Really Matters?
from griefshare.com:

Grief has a way of shaping you and turning your attention away from the busyness of life to what really matters. People in today's fast-paced culture do not stop long enough to contemplate the significant questions of life.

What is important in life?

Look at the big picture. Your life on earth encompasses a short time frame when compared to eternal life. You are an eternal being. You are made to live forever. Keep this in perspective.

So the question best asked is, what is important in this life that will extend into eternity?

When you really embrace the world to come and bring it back into the world of your own life, everything is radically rearranged. One of the things that is rearranged is your values. For instance, this world tends to value self, tends to value things, and tends to value accomplishment and personal success.

When you're really committed to the world to come and understand the depth and importance of it, you begin to value other things—like people. People are the only things going on to eternity. So I tend to value my children differently; I tend to value my neighbors differently; I tend to see the people I work with differently. I see them in light of their own eternal destiny.

Day 278 - Poisoned

The best laid plans...I had food poisoning yesterday (bad) and only went to the Oktoberfest (where I was poisoned) so none of the other things I was hoping to do got done. I did get to rest and today was able to see my niece's amazing art show at the Montclair Museum. 3 of my beautiful nieces were there with their mom and dad - a great family time. I am SO proud of my niece's ceramic art. I'm glad I rested to be able to see her work today - just a pleasure.

Day 277 - Weekend

This weekend I hope to get to my niece's art show at the Montclair Museum, take a bike ride, walk my dog and visit a winery to enjoy an Oktoberfest outing. This is a relaxing weekend! Painting and movies too! (and some web design and prep work...not sounding so relaxing).