Creativity and Joy for Women!

Artful Life Moon Circle - Full Moon Check In

2009-12-03T11:58:00.001-08:00

photo from www.nightpath.org

I know, I know - I haven't checked in with the moon or this moon circle for a couple of months. I even missed a few moons with my face-to-face moon circle. But we were back together on Tuesday night, G's house was clean and serene as always. I love her clay coloured walls, soft leather furniture, vivid textiles on the walls, smell of incense, beeswax candles, warm woodstove, gentle feminine atmosphere. We snuggled in to the big soft sofas, toasted with red wine, then started spilling. It seems the last six weeks have been thick with experience, some of it really, really challenging. The strength of women amazes me. Between us we had horrible court appearances, financial crises, deaths, seriously ill spouses, work dramas, child dramas, and the usual repertoire of broken dryers, broken cars, needy children, and sundry messes to deal with. Ironically the circle was cut short by a minor child emergency, just as the mother was explaining how she was finally beginning to understand Margaret Atwood's idea of The Edible Woman. Ha! So in the (now waning) fullness of this moon, I just want to take the opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the fullness of our lives, and wish us all the fullness of our strength and powers to live through it all with joy and courage!! If you'd like, I'd be honoured if you'd share in the comments what your biggest challenge of this moon has been, and how you've met it. Happy Full Moon!

2009-12-03T11:11:00.000-08:00

Odilon Redon's Buddha - I've probably posted it before, but I love it so much!

I've had a few nights in a row of being up late working - and last night we came home on the 11 o'clock ferry from Winterfest (dinner at the school for my daughter's graduating class) and all the dishes from the cheesecake I made for the potluck were still sitting on the counter, mixing bowls and beaters with congealed sour cream and hardened chocolate, eggshells, butter wrappers, cocoa powder. I washed and he dried. Then I did a load of laundry and returned some e-mails. So this morning I was tired. I stayed in bed for awhile with my light box, my snoring pug, a cup of tea, and my new Shambhala Sun magazine which arrived yesterday. There's a wonderful article by John Tarrant about living with joy through difficult times and loss. I wanted to share a gem from that essay:

When I meditate it's like calling out a spell in a forgotten language. The spell slowly traces the outlines of a door, making the way out visible, even in twilight, even in the darkest, most forgotten prison. When we lose money or get a diagnosis, we might decide that this is a bad thing, but we might be wrong. Uncertainty and the unknown are not things to endure: they are things to rely on. If you don't even consider winning or losing, there will always be a doorway. -John Tarrant in "It Would Be a Pity to Waste a Good Crisis" Shambhala Sun, January 2010.

questions that have been plaguing me lately

2009-12-01T22:11:00.001-08:00

will they dry without cracking?

will there be enough for the craft fair?

will people like my new pendants?

will my business (and I) survive the next financial year?

will the sunshine last?

what on earth will I wear to Winterfest Dinner at my daughter's school?

will I have time soon to deal with that huge pile of bark mulch?

why can't I be more disciplined about my meditation practice?

tonight's reading: business, or pleasure?

why is my to do list always so long?

Intimate Windows

2009-11-26T13:05:00.000-08:00

The place I live feels so spacious, benign, and beautiful, that I hardly ever think of it as isolated. My community is small, but my social connections are rich. It's all very familiar and intimate, and New happens slowly. It's a backwater, but not a stagnant one. Still, my window on the world looks much the same day to day. Two really important vehicles that bring New and Fresh and Perspective into my world are books and blogs. I have a super active and creative mind, and I'm highly visual and emotional. I don't really ever get bored, but I can get stuck. Stuck for me is more like a mechanical toy in a corner than anything else - my stuck is frenzied and active, and only a new, creative direction can save me. Over the last year or so, I've been bumped out of my corner countless times by the fresh or strange or beautiful ideas of a number of women from all over the globe, whom I have never met! I have had the privilege of observing and being inspired by their lives through the intimate windows of their blogs. When I first started blogging I kept hearing things like "blogs shouldn't be confessional" and "nobody cares what you had for breakfast." It turns out that the blogs I love the most are occasionally deliciously confessional, and that some people have the most beautiful and fascinating breakfasts (like here, here, here, and here.) If you have the nerve to be honest, and the skill to show us the beauty of life through your eyes, then I will be honoured and fascinated to witness. Although each of these women is vastly different from the others, and from me, there are common threads: creativity, entrepreneurship, compassion, artistry, love of beauty, spirituality, strong visual sense, courage, lack of artifice, positivity, talent, love. Here are a few of my CREATIVITY faves - next week I'll feature my LIFE STORY faves:

Tranquility du Jour
I love Kimberley for her indomitable cheerfulness and positivity, her sense of life-as-play, her incredible business savvy. (Washington DC)

fine little day
Elisabeth is just the embodiment of euro-bohemian cool. She has an incredible eye for light and colour, she conveys a strong sense of place, her design skills are enviable, her life is interesting. (Sweden)

Geninne's Art Blog
A life full of charm, serenity, colour, joy. Geninne is a talented illustrator with a quirky and original style, and a model of balancing art, business, home, and family. (Mexico)

Artnlight
Vineeta has enthusiasm, talent, humility, and a great eye for the decorative. Fantastic eye candy, and exotic inspiration (India)

Goddess Guidebook
OK, Leonie is just adorable. I can't explain. Check it out. You too will adore her. (Australia)

2009-11-26T11:08:00.000-08:00

I subscribe to a wonderful Daily Inspiration in my in-box (you can, too) from life coach Lianne Raymond. Today, because it is Thanksgiving down south (we celebrated in October) she shared this W.S. Merwin poem, with its powerful theme of mingled hope and despair. I was moved to share it with you:

Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridge to bow from the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water looking out
in different directions

back from a series of hospitals
back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you
in a culture up to its chin in shame
living in the stench it has chosen we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the back door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you

in the banks that use us we are saying thank you
with the crooks in office with the rich and fashionable
unchanged we go on saying thank you thank thank you

with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us like the earth
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is.

-W. S. Merwin

An Afternoon to Celebrate Women and Creativity

2009-11-11T14:35:00.000-08:00

I'm so happy to be participating in "An Afternoon to Celebrate Women and Creativity" on Saturday the 22nd at the Courtenay Museum. There will be a screening of the movie Who Does She Think She Is?, and some time to chat and network with other creative women. I'll be one of the five featured artists, and will be on hand to discuss my work and show what I've been up to lately. This event is organized by lovelies Lianne Raymond and Charlotte Hood-Tanner. Check out all the details here.

2009-11-10T23:22:00.000-08:00

My dish, get one here. Christine Mason Miller's wonderful cards, get them here.

Chogyam Trungpa, the brilliant, iconoclastic Tibetan Buddhist teacher, once quipped that the mantra most useful to most Western buddhist students was "Om grow up svaha." Gotta love that pithy tough-love buddhist humour. I don't know what is happening in my stars, but the last little while - month maybe? - has been just filled with all kinds of rich opportunities to Grow Up. All I can do, it seems, is accept these invitations from the universe as graciously as possible. Some little things help. Listening to Jane Siberry's Calling All Angels. Working (lots.) Hanging out with my beautiful daughter, cuddling my dog, talking to friends, leaning on my sweetie (lots.) Coming here and seeing how many of you left kind and caring comments last week (Thank you.) What little things help you get through your own rich opportunities for growth? I'd love to hear.

lately I have....

2009-10-24T12:15:00.000-07:00

set up this vignette on my windowsill to welcome prosperity...

made these adorable buntings after I saw Gennine's and had to have my own...

made cranberry relish with orange zest a while back for our Canadian Thanksgiving...

New Pretty Handmade Dishes...

2009-10-22T14:53:00.001-07:00

I've been busy. These are new. I like them. I also have some with fishies on them, I'll post soon. A few of these are now up in my Etsy Shop.

2009-10-21T14:04:00.001-07:00

Here's my (late!) contribution to this week's Mixed Media Monday topic Mothers and Daughters. The photo I used in this piece was taken 17 years ago, young mama me with my tiny baby girl. I was so joyful and so exhausted!

What's Making Me Happy Right Now

2009-10-15T12:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a rough week. I'm looking for happy. Where is my happy?

my husband's apple pie
the autumn light and colour
this spread from the Fired Earth Book of Fabric (yes, that's an elephant):
this face:

pouring over this blog
this song: M.C. Yogi - Rock On Hanuman (featuring Krishna Das)

Where is your happy today?

Art Challenges

2009-10-07T13:07:00.000-07:00

One of my goals for the season is to spend more time in creative play, and to share that play. Because I make art as my livelihood, I can get caught up in the work and neglect my spontaneous creativity (which doesn't always present itself as a way to immediately get the bills paid!) In the short term this is OK, but in the long term this neglect can lead to burnout and stagnation in my work. One of the ways I've chosen to keep myself accountable to my goal of more creative play is by participating in two on-line art challenges that I really enjoy: Mixed Media Monday, and Illustration Friday. Mixed Media Monday, as you might guess, focuses on mixed media; the fun, active, friendly, talented community of MMM artists are a nice international mix, mostly women, and mostly those who make art for the love of it and not necessarily for a living. Illustration Friday encompasses all media, and participants run the gamut from professional illustrators to new artists. Both sites announce a weekly theme around which you can create your piece. I invite you to join me as I jump into these challenges!

Above is my (slightly late) submission for this week's MMM challenge, "Maps". These tiny works are Artist Trading Cards made from maps of the Caribbean. I made these during a time when I was doing lots of reading about Afro-Caribbean spirituality, music, and culture; my mind and heart were occupied by both the unspeakable horror of the slave trade, and the brilliant beauty of West African spirituality in diaspora. Something of these thoughts went into these tiny pieces.

Artful Life Moon Circle - Full Moon Check In

2009-10-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

About the Artful Life Moon Circle:

The moonrise last night was stunning. We were driving home along the coastal road; over the mountains, the sky was a brilliant pearl blue scattered with tiny poufs of grey cloud, their undersides glowing first with pink and then with unearthly purple red. The moon rose huge and brilliant white over the ocean. This big breathtaking moon seemed just right for me; this last cycle has been so big! After a few months of feeling stuck, or at least slowed down in my journey, the last two weeks have felt like a real growth spurt - a reminder that the trajectory of personal growth is not a steady, predictable line, but more like a beautifully complex spiral pattern, full of repetitions and apparent setbacks, but also mysterious leaps and moments of giddy acceleration. The intention I set at New Moon was to allow myself to accept, receive, ask for and recognize support. I am awed and grateful for the many, many opportunities I've had in the last two weeks to feel and be supported by the universe!

On the New Moon, we expressed intentions to RECEIVE, RESTORE, BE AWARE, STRETCH OUR BOUNDARIES, and SEW SEEDS OF COMMUNITY. How has this cycle been for you? How did those intentions manifest, or fail to manifest? What does your journey of growth feel like right now? Are you gritting your teeth waiting for something, anything, to shift, or are you hanging on for dear life? Can you remember to look at the big pattern? What are you ready to release, what can dwindle in the next two weeks as the moon wanes? Where is the magic in your life right now? Tell us!

2009-09-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a mixed media piece I made in 2008. I gave it to my sweet cousin, who is getting married this week!!!! I wish her (and all of us!!!) a home and partnership which always provide safety, sanctuary, joy, and a place to nest!

2009-09-17T14:59:00.001-07:00

My cousin is getting married next week. This afternoon I made this card for the wedding; she loves pink peonies as much as I do. I personalized the postmark with the date and place of the wedding. I'm flying out this weekend to indulge in week long girl fun and wedding prep with my daughter, aunt, and cousins at my aunt's beautiful farm house, followed by the wedding weekend at a gorgeous resort on Lake Michigan. Yum! Chances are I'll be away from this space for a week or so, but then back with new inspiration and post-celebration glow on!

Artful Life Moon Circle - New Moon!

2009-09-16T12:30:00.001-07:00

Are we really affected by the phases of the moon? Does the moon exert some magical pull on our watery bodies or our primitive minds? Maybe. What I do know for sure is that to flourish, we need to feel connected to the world around us. The practice of patterning our lives, even in small, symbolic ways, on the patterns of nature can be very affirming. For me, the cycle of the moon is a beautiful reflection of the cycles of increase and decrease in my own life.

About the Artful Life Moon Circle:

It's moon circle time again! Here on the Artful Life we meet at each New and Full Moon to share inspiration and intentions, and to align our energies with the lunar cycles. Anyone is welcome to join the Moon Circle! If this is your first Moon Circle, read this post to find out what it's all about. You can also click here for a printable (and pretty) guide to the moon phases, from me to you. If you'd like to read all the Artful Life Moon Circles, click here.

In brief, here's how it works: on each New and Full Moon days, I will be posting my intentions for the coming moon phase. Then I will invite you to leave a comment, with your own intentions and reflections. Writing your intentions and sharing them with others will help keep you accountable to yourself, and you'll have the benefit of all the yummy energy and encouragement from the other artful women in the circle, not to mention the moon magic. In general, the New Moon is a great opportunity for new beginnings and goal setting, so you might want to set an intention for something you want to INCREASE or GROW as the moon waxes. The Full Moon is an opportunity to reflect on this growth, and to set an intention for something you would like to DECREASE or RELEASE from your life as the moon wanes. Questions? E-mail me - bbsimons@telus.net.

So welcome to the September New Moon!
What is it that wants to grow in your life over the next month? Where do you need the energy of increase in your life? This New Moon, my keyword is support. A change that I want to invite into my life this month is allowing myself to accept, receive, ask for and recognize support. This Fall I am embarking on a study of Restorative Yoga; eventually I want to integrate this powerful and healing practice into my teaching of dance & creativity. For now I am taking classes and studying. In Restorative Yoga, all poses are supported - literally supported by props, so the body can relax and surrender. This morning in class I had a wonderful AHA moment - about how perfect it is that I should be drawn to this discipline just now in my life - because what I need most is to learn to surrender to the support that is around me. I believe many of us struggle in this way - we value our independence, we cultivate strength, we strive for autonomy. These are valuable qualities, but if we forget to temper them with cooperation, collaboration, gentleness, and acceptance of our vulnerabilities, we suffer from stress, anxiety, and sometimes loneliness. I am hoping that through my yoga practice I will be able to access the wisdom of my body, which already knows how to surrender and accept support. I hope this wisdom will spill over into all areas of my life. Accepting support is not only about allowing other people to help us and give to us, but also about recognizing that life, nature, and our deepest selves are always supporting us. You know those moments in the water when you just really let go and allow yourself to float, just really surrender to the ocean and float? It feels so good, to be so fully supported, by something so deep and vast and powerful. I'm starting to see that life can hold more of those moments. Cultivating those moments begins with allowing support. So my intention this moon is to allow myself to accept, receive, ask for and recognize support.

Please share your own New Moon intentions here in the comments; join the moon magic! I would be honoured to have you here in the circle.

Announcing... The Artful Life Moon Circle!

2009-07-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

I've written a lot lately in the blog about the pleasures of tuning in to moon cycles, and I've been enjoying celebrating both the New and Full Moons in a small circle of women friends.Two weeks ago on the Full Moon we enjoyed a long twilight walk on one of our beautiful country roads. The air was soft after a few days of rain, and our youngest companion (she's four) ran ahead picking wild flowers to bring back to us. As we strolled, we shared what had been happening for us since the New Moon and how we were doing with our new moon intentions. Back at my friend's house, after the little one was in bed, we climbed into the hot tub with a yummy glass of good red wine. After that, we talked until almost midnight, sharing ideas, encouragement, intimacies, and wonderful woman talk; as our moon magic, we each shared something that we wanted to shed, or begin to drop from our lives, over the next two weeks as the moon wanes. What a wonderful evening. I treasure these connections with the women in my life. Finding support for my goals and intentions, reflected both in the beautiful faces around the circle, and in the natural rhythms of moon and season - this is powerful stuff.

I want to widen that circle, share that support, and strengthen those connections. So.... you are cordially invited to join in the Artful Life Moon Circle!

Here's how it's all going to work: on each New and Full Moon days, I will be posting my intentions for the coming moonphase. Then I will invite you to leave a comment, with your own intentions and reflections. Writing your intentions and sharing them with others will help keep you accountable to yourself, and you'll have the benefit of all the yummy energy and encouragement from the other artful women in the circle, not to mention the moon magic.

In general, the New Moon is a great opportunity for new beginnings and goal setting, so you might want to set an intention for something you want to INCREASE or GROW as the moon waxes. The Full Moon is an opportunity to reflect on this growth, and to set an intention for something you would like to DECREASE or RELEASE from your life as the moon wanes. Say you want to focus on health one month. On the New Moon, you might set an intention to bring new healthful habits into your life - organic food, a yoga class, an appointment with a healer. On Full Moon, you might reflect on what you have gained from your new habit, and decide how you can strengthen your intention further by letting something go - giving up sugar or self criticism, for example. I think you will be thrilled with the extra power boost you give to your intentions by sharing them with the circle, and matching them to the powerful symbolism of the lunar cycles. This is really exciting... I hope you think so too. To join the circle, all you have to do is check in at The Artful Life on New & Full Moon days and add your intention to the comments. I'll also keep a list of participants in the sidebar, so drop me an e-mail if you'd like to be included. TOMORROW IS THE NEW MOON, so do check in and set your intentions for increase and renewal. I know some of you are working with vision boards and other magical tools for goal setting - if you have a visual you'd like to share in the circle, just e-mail it to me and I'll be happy to post it. Questions? E-mail me - bbsimons@telus.net. See you on the New Moon!

just a reminder

2009-09-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

an ATC mini collage of mine from 2008. Click on the image to see full size & read what it says.

Bug Eyes

2009-09-15T09:59:00.000-07:00

This is only half the image, click on the image to see full size.

I've been slowly bringing order to to the chaotic and neglected back room of my studio, where all my wonderful painting and mixed media supplies are. My ceramics business has absorbed all my creative time and energy over the last year or so, and I am looking forward to pulling in more art-for-me time, more art play, teaching, retreats, and workshops! Yay! The creating sanctuary process (otherwise known as cleaning and organizing!) has unearthed some fun things, including lots of art journals and altered books. Above is a page from one.

Creative Journaling and Visual Autobiography Workshops

2008-07-17T14:11:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching a couple of Creative Journaling workshops this summer and fall; the first one is part of the "Artist's Bootcamp" in conjunction with the Arts Denman Celebrating Our Own Festival Aug. 16th & 17th, and the other is at Leapenhi Paper Arts on November 2. This is an exciting new adventure for me! I thought I would take the opportunity to share some pages from my own journals, to show you some of the techniques and ideas we'll be playing with in the workshops. I've been a journaler/diarist since I was a child, and always have one or three on the go.

Here are some pages from last spring's "Sketch a Day" journal. I challenged myself to work fast - no more than 5 or 10 minutes on each sketch - and to record simple details from daily life. These are done on watercolour paper with technical pen and gouache:

I've often kept a dream journal, and have found it really interesting, sometimes startling, and useful for my emotional growth to record these messages from my unconscious. A few years ago I got tired of writing them all down - dreams are so visual and irrational - so I put a basket of really simple collage materials (magazines, pen, glue stick, scissors) next to the bed, and began a visual dream journal. Here are some of the pages:

Of course I keep travel journals -- but I enjoy recording the little details that bring the experience back to me, so my travel journals are quirky and personal. Here are some examples:

Sometimes I use journals as a way to record what I'm learning or as a repository for information about my widely varied personal interests. Here are a couple of pages from an altered book I made about Afro Caribbean spiritual practices:

One final way I've used journals is as a medium for reflection and healing. These pages are from a "Fairy Tale" I created when I was dealing with the tragic onset of mental illness in a family member. These highly personal pages were created very spontaneously within the framework of a story. The process of creating this journal was immensely healing for me, and also created a quiet and non-threatening way for me to share my experience with others:

So these are some ways that my journals have been important tools in my life. I hope this inspires you to try some new and creative ways of recording your own experiences. Feel free to share your journaling experiences with me! Post your pages to your blog, then put the link in the comment section of this post!

Artful Journaling

2008-11-12T07:57:00.001-08:00

Last Sunday was a sparkling fall day, and this creative group of women got to spend it making art! I taught a Creative Journaling workshop at Leapenhi Paper Design. We played with two different types of journals; recording memories with spontaneous watercolour sketches, and preserving precious photos in elegant gilded settings. I am going to be sharing a couple of techniques in tutorials here at the Artful Life, so check back soon!

pilgrimage

2009-06-03T12:11:00.001-07:00

An image for you today: this is a mixed media piece I did last year. The place shown is Deer Park, one of the world's great pilgrimage sights, where the Buddha delivered many of his teachings and eventually attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. Painted with both oils and beeswax, the piece also incorporates found objects and papers and solvent transfers. Click on the image for a larger view.

ayurveda & maintaining balance in seasonal change

2009-09-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Staying connected to the rhythms and cycles of the natural world is very important to me. We suffer from too much separateness in our world as it is now; at worst, immersion in the modern world can create an almost complete estrangement from the true rhythms of nature. I believe this amounts to an estrangement from our bodies, our creativity, each other, and our deepest selves. When we work, live, and travel in comfortably controlled environments, communicate and receive information about the world through electronic devices, we need to remember to connect with the real, tangible, and powerful forces of our actual natural environment. If we can maintain that organic connection, then all the shiny tools and comforts of our created world can be enjoyed and understood, in the greater context of nature. Perhaps maintaining this connection can help us to create new technologies and comforts which work in harmony with nature.

It's not such a daunting task, staying connected. Just pay attention - to the weather, to the moon, to the voice of your body, to the seasons. Get out there sometimes, and just be in the weather. Staying connected to the seasons has been a powerful practice for me since I left the ease and warmth of California for the intensity of the temperate rain forest of coastal B.C.. I love the times of seasonal change for the feelings of excitement and renewal they bring into my life. Like all times of change, however, the seasonal changes can bring a little vulnerability, and a challenge to stay in balance. Ayurveda, the traditional East Indian wellness practice, offers tools for staying in balance through the seasonal changes, and for keeping our bodies in balance with the larger rhythms. The transition into Fall is often a bit challenging for me, so I thought I'd look into how Ayurveda could help. Here's what I learned:

According to Ayurveda, September is the beginning of the Vata season, which lasts til around Winter Solstice. Vata energy is one of the three Doshas, or universal energies. Vata has the qualities of movement, activity, light, coolness, dryness, agitation. It is related to the element of Air. We are prone to imbalances of Vata during this season of late summer and early fall. Vata imbalances can manifest as:

an over-active, agitated mind
sleep disturbances
low immunity
achy joints
dry skin
loss of focus
chills
digestive problems
worry and anxiety

Right? I've been suffering from all of these things in the last couple of weeks! So what helps? Here are some suggestions I found for restoring balance during Vata season:

Stay hydrated by drinking lots of water or warming herbal teas.
Keep to a regular, and gentle, schedule, especially with sleep. Go to bed early, and rise early.
Practice restorative yoga or another gentle physical practice - stay active without overdoing.
Stay warm! Practice gently warming yoga poses like backbends and extensions.
Eat warming cooked seasonal food like squash, brown rice, and nourishing soups.
Take immunity enhancing herbal supplements.
Avoid too much travel, too much work, staying up too late.

These all sound like healthy, appealing suggestions, and I might even be able to integrate a few of them into my Fall routine. But the suggestion I liked the best was:

practice self-massage every morning with warm, scented oils (sesame oil is traditional.)

That sounds like a wonderful, self-nurturing practice, and well worth making time for. So if we do a few of these things, focus on slowing down, staying warm, and nourishing ourselves with seasonally appropriate foods and activities, (common sense, right?) then we can expect to experience the best of the Vata season, which is:

healthy energy
clarity of mind
awakened senses
renewed sense of purpose
positive momentum

Ayurveda is a sophisticated and complex ancient science. I found a good lay person's introduction here, if you are interested in learning more.

Florence, Home of my Heart

2009-09-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

That's me in the garden behind my apartment in Florence in 2001. It's May and the roses are blooming. The smells of the street reach into this little urban garden; dry stone, exhaust fumes, dust, lemons. The sounds as well, the whine of Vespas, sirens and shouting. It's a rough kind of paradise. It is a place that feels like the home of my heart, just as much as my wild and pristine island. I'm achy lately to return there. Just casting the net of that intention out there! I want to bring a group of women there for soul reflection, art-making, breathing in the strange beauty of the place together, gathering inspiration. Do you want to go with me? Below is my favourite piazza, Santissima Annunziata:

visual autobiography

2008-05-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

I just finished these two pieces yesterday and I'm really happy with them. They have been brewing for a long time, and ended up being completed in a flurry. I think sometimes I resist the art process, especially when the pieces are personal, like these. I do so much decorative and functional work, work as livelihood, work on deadline, that I forget that these personal works just don't emerge through the same process. There's an incubation period that needs to be respected; the work ripens slowly.