Monday, February 23, 2009

Forbidden Joys - Artist's Way

This topic in my current chapter of Artist's Way (Recovering a sense of possibility) is a little ironic this week as it is Carnival. Only my forbidden joys are a bit tamer I imagine than most party-goers this week:)

This chapter really gets you thinking about what you really want- what you consider to be too crazy to do or go after, what is on your 'wish list', and what images support these desires (time to really visualize what these things look like and collect them into a file). I keep forgetting to do this once I close the book, but now I've written a couple index cards as reminders.

A few examples from my own lists follow.

"I wish"...
- I would get my a__ in the studio and work/play creatively for just a couple hours a day!
- I could help those less fortunate/those who are suffering
- I read more books
- I spoke better German
- I could travel just about anywhere, whenever I wanted to
- I exercised/practiced yoga more often
- I didn't have this crappy carcinoma right on my nose, or at all really
- I were more productive creatively
- I could do something I love and that pays!

"What I would try if it weren't too crazy"...
- Yoga retreat
- Creative (photography, drawing, or painting) workshop/vacation
- Produce and sell my own artwork
- Open a store/gallery/shop of some kind that sold other artists' work
- Dance classes (belly dancing? Tango? Salsa? I dont know!)
- Write a book/stories about my crazy family or my experiences married to a german/italian
- Go back to school

And finally, "Forbidden Joys- 10 things you love and would love to do, but are not allowed to"
- Go shopping (although many times i'm no at all in the mood anymore, I wouldn't mind having a better wardrobe:)
- Sit in the sun
- Get massages/facials/pedicures
- Go to museums and sketch, wander around (ok, I could do this, but for some reason I just dont)
- Ignore household chores
- Move to a bigger/nicer place (or get a place in U.S. and a place here)

That's only 7 but that's enough for now (and I need to think about this some more).

I'll end with a quote from the chapter by Peter Drucker. I often am not aware of the individual behind the quote or would like to learn more about the person, so I'll also link them for more information about the person).
He says, "There is the risk you cannot afford to take, (and) there is the risk you cannot afford not to take. "

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Recovering a Sense of Possibility- Artist's Way



This morning while I was writing my morning pages for Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way book I've been working through, I thought why not post the processes and thoughts I'm working through here. True, I'm on Week 5 (despite having begun this journey last October!) I'm recommitting myself to it and think this will be a good way to do that, as well as retain some valueable points as I find them. So far, I've enjoyed the book: the morning pages, the letting go of the fear to create, the possibility of a more creative life, and learning not to be so judgemental/critical of not only what I create but the process as well. I've pulled out some quotes as I find them (there are many inspriational quotes throughout) and from now on I will post some of those as well as some of the words/tasks that I really connect with.

I'm now working through the tasks at the end of the chapter. But I've jotted down some of the words that I connected with (not necessarily directly quoted):

- If we learn to think of receiving God's (or some other higher power) good as being an act of worship -- cooperating with God's Plan to manifest goodness in our lives -- we can begin to let go of having to sabotage ourselves.

- Synchronicity! (Great word in this process)

- Pray to catch the bus, then run as fast as you can! (Love this, it's not enough just to keep asking the universe for things, you've got to actually DO something about it)

- The desire to be worldly, sophisticated, and smart often blocks our flow. (But wouldn't it be nice to know that you'll get recognition of some kind?? Careful with that!)

- Shake an apple tree and the universe delivers oranges!

- A great quote by Margaret Young, "Often people tend to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you want."

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Valentine Doodles..and L'Amour!

Or as they say, so romantically in German.. die Liebe! Ya...

Ok, here are some more Valentine sketches, doodles, and the last batch of cards- finally sent off to my peeps in the U.S. A little corny (I mean, its a corny holiday) but fun too!






Some doodles, this was fun to play in my sketchbook for ideas..while its snowy and rainy outside!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Not just for your printer!





I'm experimenting with some notecards that I almost didn't buy in the U.S. while I was there last time, but now I'm glad I did. I got them primarily to make some photo notecards, and photos do print out really well on them from my little Canon i560 (inkjet) printer. But I decided to try my red calligraphy marker (that I almost didn't buy too because its not exactly a quality calligraphy writing utensil) but it writes beautifully onto this paper - it produces a very crisp, rich 'print' don't ya think? Faulty/shaky strokes show up more so you have to be very steady, but I like the outcome of the red against the matte white.

The cards are just the Avery 'Matte White Notecards' size 4 1/2 inches x 5 1/2 (set of 60). I don't like the word templates that Avery provides, but its easy enough to plop down a photo into whichever program you prefer to use. I also got a great card from a couple of my Paris photos below. I don't send out that many cards anymore, but my family still likes to receive them so it's worth it to me. (And doesn't everyone still like to receive a card once in a while?)

Monday, February 2, 2009

J'aime Paris!



I can't believe I left that picture of my ratty old Christmas tree with wieners hanging off it for so long! Okay, I admit, I haven't done a whole lot of creative projects this past month (and I'm only up to April on my homemade calendar)..but i've got to finally remove that nasty tree photo..ah, that feels better.

In place of that eyesore, are a few, hopefully more enjoyable, photos from our Paris trip last weekend. What an inspiring city! Voila..







Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Happy 2009!



Time to put the holidays behind us.. I think its official now with the 'redecorating' of our little Christmas tree. Friends at our 3 Kings/12th Day of Christmas Party Monday night really helped us out with this- we got reeeeeally creative with some new ornaments. Its now Wednesday and they are all still there, wilting away, I've just been too lazy to take the whole tree down, but will have to do so later today (still don't quite feel up to the challenge). But I am excited to get back into the Creative Challenge.. I'll try to post something a couple/few times every week for the "Creative Every Day 2009" Challenge, since I liked the idea (and motivation) so much for "Creative Every Day Month" last November- even though I had to stop posting because of holiday travel plans..
Looking forward to much more creativity in the year ahead!