Inner Space

I have been very thoughtful lately. Fall usually does that to me. It's the changing of the seasons... the transition time. Summer is a time to be external while winter is a time to be internal with fall being the transition between the two. In the fall, I usually find myself dreaming quite intense and strange dreams. It always seems as if I am processing some information from the darkest, deepest recesses of my mind that I am never fully aware of. I always want to slow down and savor the inner moments as they make me more aware of who I really am and I end up feeling more concrete in my being.



During the summer, because of the weather, it is easy to be outside of ourselves. But sometimes I think we focus so much outside of ourselves, on what others are doing, that we forget what we are doing or where we are going to begin with. We are so worried with keeping up with everyone else and not getting left behind that we forget that we are on our own journey and to enjoy that journey as we are going along. Fall and winter are good times to reflect on that journey and to reconnect if we've become out of touch with it. The dreams that occur in the fall always remind me of where I am in regards to my awareness of the journey if I am willing to pay attention to them.



This past year has been so full of external things for me that I've been feeling quite out of balance lately. It seems as if things are speeding up, going faster and faster, and I can't keep up. There are never enough hours in the day to do everything that I need to do let alone what I want to do. For a while there, I was making myself crazy trying to do it all. I finally realized that I have to start being even more selective with my choices. Luckily, I have been able to reflect on some old expectations that I've had of myself and had a change of heart. I've realized what was once right for me is no longer because I am now a different person. It's amazing because these were expectations and ideas I had struggled with for many years but once the new idea was accepted and the expectation dropped, it all seemed so simple.



Of course I am still processing these revelations and am sure they have more to teach me... if I listen...

Busy...

I haven't had the time lately to post or even to create something to post because I have been very busy taking two web design classes and organizing an art show for January 2010. The show is going to be a juried exhibition and I have been on a tight deadline to do the call for entries and figure out all of the details. So there has been lots of classes, homework, meetings and graphic design work going on here and not much to share. But I will show the basic layout of the web design that I am working on for one of my classes. Here it is...



And... Here are some pendants that I created in September before classes started...

Positive Thoughts

As I was eating my fruit bar today I saw these tiny snowflake type crystals. They reminded me of a book I had read called "The Miracle of Water" by Masaru Emoto. Dr Emoto has been doing water-crystal research for years studying the effects of words and language on water crystal formation. He has found that positive words like love, beauty, and peace create the most symmetrical and beautiful crystals while negative words create misshapen and deformed crystals. The significance of his work is tremendous because the human body is made up of approximately 70% water. Many of us have been conditioned to accept negative self talk as a necessary part of life. If negative thoughts and words can do this to water what is it doing to our bodies? How many of us have health conditions that are the result of this negative thinking? It was a good reminder to me to be mindful of the words that I am not only saying but also thinking.

I also had the thought that this fruit bar must have been made by happy people...

An Inspirational Quote

"The way of the Creative works through change and transformation, so that each thing receives its true nature and destiny and comes into permanent accord with the Great Harmony: this is what furthers and what perseveres."
~Alexander Pope

Killer Prints from Don Kilpatrick!!!

Don is a good friend of my husband Dave and me. He is a great illustrator and image maker and teaches at CCS with Dave in the Illustration Department. Over the last couple of years Don's been slowly acquiring a few letterpress presses, supplies and knowledge and is now pulling prints with them. Dave and I are lucky recipients of a few of them and I wanted to let everyone know about them as they are available for purchase in Don's Etsy shop Little Buffalo Press. Here are a few images of the prints that we got. (Please excuse my photos...they are a little washed out. My camera is dying and seemingly beyond Photoshop help.)







You can see more photos and read about these prints on his blog here and here.

Perfection and Perceptions

Today I was reflecting on my yoga practice. I was contemplating the the idea of "letting things be as they are", a phrase quoted often by my teachers, realizing how important of a lesson it is for me. It made me think of all those years I spent trying to be perfect and feeling like I was never good enough. Now I notice I am enjoying the imperfections because when a moment of perfection does occur, the perception of it seems heightened and I end up feeling truly blessed.

I Bake Therefore I Run...

Not me really but my friend Kim. Kim is one of my good friends from high school. We became friends in band through many hours of rehearsals and performances. She is one of the sweetest people in the world and I have been lucky enough to reconnect with her on Facebook! Recently she made a comment on Facebook about wishing she had a shirt that said "I bake therefore I run" with a cupcake or a piece of chocolate cake on it. I thought to myself "What a cute idea!" So I asked her if she wanted me to create one for her and she said yes! I thought it would be a great way to work on my Adobe Illustrator skills. Right now I have 3 different cupcake designs and one cake design. Eventually I would also like to add a couple of pie designs and another cake design at least. Here are the designs so far:





And the final on a shirt:

If you like them, you can find them in my CafePress shop.