If I ask questions
you'll show me
some beautiful thing you have made...*
Yes, that's what I do. I make beautiful things. It's my passion and purpose.
I'm an artist - a ceramicist, jeweler, painter, and designer. In my low moments, I question the artist's life, and I dream of some other sort of service to the world, like feeding children, or healing the sick. And in my clearer moments, I know that for each of us, our gift perfectly matches the world's need. So my contribution of beauty is needed - as much as your gift is needed.
I was raised within sight of the world's most dramatic tides, and watched every day of my childhood as the great Bay of Fundy filled and emptied in accordance with the rhythms of time and the moon. This instilled in me a great respect for natural rhythms and their power. My first words were "tide coming up!"My father was a poet and our house was filled with books and art and with the characters who created them. It was a difficult and tumultuous childhood and I am very grateful for it. I'm so happy that today my house is filled with books and art and the characters who create them!
An early inability to adjust to a conventional work life meant that I needed to be creative - I have created my own work and livelihood since the age of twenty-three.
My work has always been a creative adventure. It's been so varied! I've been an artist, a teacher, a speaker and retreat leader, a designer and web developer, a bellydancer, a choreographer, a painter, and even a fortune teller. I still am all of those things.
No matter what else I'm doing, (and I'm usually doing lots of things at once!) I have always brought circles of women together to learn and celebrate. There is so much magic and power in women's circles! I feel blessed every time I am able to bring women together to create and grow!
The Artful Life
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| Getting crafty at a tea party, 1968. |
I love that YOU are here, and I love to hear when my blog or Facebook posts have added a little more soul or beauty to your day or given you a reminder that YOU are beautiful, or that it really truly is all good.
Connection
That's what this web is all about, so if you are inspired, do connect here!
You can comment.
You can e-mail me. I'd love to hear from you.
You can be my friend on Facebook - it's another forum I use a lot to spread beauty and positivity, and I love mixing my on-line and in-the-flesh circles there.
You can follow me on Twitter, @ArtfulWoman. I'm not there a lot, but when I share, it's something I think is really worthwhile, positive, and beautiful.
If You're Still Curious....
Family: I'm a mother - raising my daughter has been an immeasurable gift of grace. She's 18 and is beautiful and strong and soooo creative. My marriage means the world to me - it is also 18 years old, and has also been an immeasurable gift of grace. I have a true spiritual partner in my husband.
I used to be a cat person, but now I am a dog person; more specifically, a pug person.
I'm a stubborn and sensual Taurus with a highly sensitive and introverted Cancer moon and a clever and extroverted Gemini ascendent.
I'm a sensualist in the best sense of the word - I love and take immense and constant pleasure in the world of my senses. Music, fragrance, colour, touch; food, wine, perfume; art, movement, nature; sex, sleep, flowers and the ocean... it ALLL makes me swoon. I spend a lot of time swooning.
I'm a businesswoman... seven years ago when the modesty of the bohemian life became stressful instead of liberating, my sweetie and I bought some land and started a Real Business, making gorgeous high end ceramic tile. You can learn all about it here. This lovely business is still feeding us.
I'm a Buddhist, but I'm also big on folk magic, which I consider to be an aspect of women's culture that is compatible with practically any other spiritual path.
I love my garden, especially the bamboo, the peonies, and my big bed of organic mixed salad greens and herbs.
I love writing this blog, and I'm truly honoured that you are here.
*I'm proud of these lines my father wrote of me as a child....
