April you were such a fierce teacher...

April you were such a fierce teacher...

I've been reflecting on my "To do" lists, how onerous they feel, how chore like, heavy and oppressive. They don't move me forward, there's no satisfaction ticking things off them, no joy in the completion for the sake of it. It feels a bit like killing time, and what a crying shame that is- killing one of our most precious things, one of my favourite things, time.

So here's how its looking. I'm swapping my "To do" lists for a "Get to do" lists which brings with it ever expansive choice, and luxuriating in the moments and pleasures of the get to do list. Take yoga for example, I can do it as a chore to keep my body supple and healthy or I can chose to get to do it and really sink into the magic of being in the yoga for the sake of the yoga itself, for the sake of the beautiful time on the mat. Yoga becomes an empowering choice and privilege, something to celebrate the doing of, to revel in, to be grateful for.

I'm looking at this challenge in the same way, this 30 Faces in 30 Days Challenge. Yes, I fully believe that the muses LOVE to find you working away when they come to visit, but more than that they LOVE to find you open and receptive and listening to them. Sometimes that requires Being not Doing, that requires space, an opening- room to listen, room to hear. Yes the challenge is instrumental in getting me to the blank page/canvas, for stretching my practice, for providing new opportunities but this is art making, this is the contemplative practice, this is creative play and it should never fall on to that "to do" list, it should always live on the "get to do" list. And so I am letting things go, as I wrote about here, and applying a new perspective to the concept of "challenge". I think from now on I shan't do "challenges" but rather "invitations" or "opportunities" for that is what they really are. I invite myself (and you) to play with the "get to do" list, I invite you to have choice and with that empowerment and ever so much expansive space.

And to all of you who joined us on this challenge invitation I say every painting you did that you love,every painting you did that you enJoyed the process of, every painting you did that you learned something new, every painting  that allowed you to hear your own thoughts, every painting you did that connected you with something- well that's a Gift.

Thank you for being with us on this journey. Xx

{Poem- Day 19}

On this sweet dew heavy morning
     the sadness is palpable
 as the delicate new growths
    stretch their pollen laden fronds
         and unfurl their transparent petals
               to the harsh world
where magnolias fall
   eaten, devoured,
      unique fruit for unseen winged ones,
and the camellias skirts
   too heavy for their fragile necks
        bow and touch the earth
            their beauty to deep for this world
Oh how I see
  when blossoms give way
      to ripening fruit rotting in the soil
        where worms feed fat
            and so it begins
Oh sweet world
    that I should visit
        for but a day
             and sip of your beauty

 {Floral- Day 23} I’ve been thinking a lot recently about regeneration, transformation, life’s cycles- decay and regrowth. It’s not what I had planned to do with floral, but sometimes when you are faced with the blank canvas all you can do is listen and watch. I could have spent hours adding more flowers and adjusting her head piece but I decided that on this quiet Sunday I needed to hit the mat so I called it done.

 {Halo- Day 25} Shakti, Pacha Mama, Empress, Queen, Kali, Gaia, Mary Mother, Kuan Yin, Truth, Durga, Wyld Woman, Priestess, Badass, Crone- a rose by any name… This ones for you Marybeth, she has your name on her

 

{Reflected- Day 27} “There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” Edith Wharton
For reflected I went within, I went outward, and I went beyond.

 {Tribal- Day 28} “We were all indigenous to somewhere, someone, and somehow…and can become so again. The old ways are gone, but I am still going home, not necessarily where I started, but maybe somewhere I began.” Green Anarchy #19 – Spring 2005 Xx
We are reMembering the ways, our lineage back to when we slept on the raw earth, drinking her waters, foraging for food and reading her messages. She still speaks to us, her daughters and sons, whispering softly for those who can get quiet enough to here her.

{Bird- Day 30} Swan Song- this challenge, this month, didn’t go to plan- it was full of life, which means the full circle, death, rebirth, the moment, the GreatFullness of it all. And I am honouring my beautiful fur baby by not going back to catch up on those missed days when I was just here, in my love with my loves.

And for those of you looking for a bit of creative inspiration and guidance- this wonderful collective begins on May 2nd- woot woot Details here.

You are a radiant SPECTRUM of Life & Wholeness…
… and the insight & joy you seek is within you!
Are you ready to do some creative journaling – expressing yourself with words or through mixed-media {art}making – is an amazing way to access, celebrate and awaken what feels invigorating, meaningful and vital to you?