2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 272

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 272: First You'll Notice

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 271

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 271: Magical Vibration

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 270

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 270: Imagine Wanting More and Getting It

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 269

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 269: Nature, Nurture
When we nurture nature, we nurture ourselves.

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 268

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 268: Is Your Hair Trying to Tell You Something
Let your mane blow in the wind...

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 267

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 267: Once in a Blue Mood (Moon)

Once in a blue mood pink arises and the landscape is changed for ever. Once in a blue moon -- one has the opportunity to love again and the world you live in is changed on a cellular level. Once in a blue mood you realize that there is no such thing as never again. Today on New Year's Eve, the last day of this year, we are witnessing both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse. The origin of the term "blue moon" is steeped in folklore, and its meaning has changed and acquired new nuances over time. Some folktales say that when there is a full blue moon, the moon had a face and talked to those in its light. So I am not in a blue mood as I look up at the blue moon that is bringing in this New Year, 2010. I have a feeling it's going to be magical.

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 266

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 266: Sex

I can't help it. The word just threw itself at me. Maybe it was because of the apple. You know, apple...Eve...Adam...knowledge...truthevil..sex? Sends my head to spinning all of that old stuff. She does seems pretty happy, this woman. Is she pushing the apple away? Is she reaching for it? Has she had enough truth? Does she want more? Is she gesturing -- Hold on there a moment, cowboy? Is she just laughing at the absurdity of it all? I don't know, this stuff just seems to roll out of my subconscious and onto the page, then off into space. What a ride!

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 265

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 265: Stormy Weather

Honestly, I have been a slackard over the holidays in regards to journaling everyday. I'm having to play catch up! Stormy weather...where did this come from? I'm feeling pretty good, pretty hopeful these days, but these images appeared as if by magic tonight. Don't you love the feeling of a storm creeping up...change in the air...unseen electric currents snap around you...your hair whipping around...a flurry of activity from the birds until they hide in the bushes and trees right before the rain slams down. Maybe I'm getting ready to fly-- maybe I'm not! One thing's for sure...there'll always be another moment to spread those wings, to feel my mane blowing in the wind.

One Last Salute to Christmas 2009

Magic...

What Do Bad Girls Get for Christmas?

Ok, here are a couple of photos I took during the Christmas Day celebration that was hosted this year by our dear friends Ingrid and Michael, fellow Don't Quit Your Day Job Dancers Extraordinaire! We had swapped holidays this year-- normally we host Christmas for about 20 of our mutual friends, and they host Thanksgiving. We reversed it this year and it was fun to relax and have a good time at someone else's beautiful home. A good time had by all and beautiful California weather to boot -- just enough of a nip in the air to think: Ah, yes, perhaps it is Christmas. It was also fun to see some of the people there wearing my custom necklaces that others had given them for Christmas!

Merry Christmas Baby

Here's a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all who came into my life the past few years -- and those who have been there forever! And my blog friends -- especially Chrissy, Billy, Robert P., koufax, Jesse, and all the rest of you -- thanks for brightening my life and enriching my blog! May every day of this coming year be filled with creativity and joyfulness (or at the very least-- extended moments of it -- LOL)!

Charles Brown singing Merry Christmas Baby from a Cool Christmas Blues
If you like this tune -- here's a 1970's (?) vid of him playing and singing it with a ton of joy...and the audience is having a real good time, too!

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 264

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 264: Own the Amazement, Own the Sky

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 263

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 263: Effortless Beauty

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 262

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 262: Poetry in Motion

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 261

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 261: A Different View

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 260

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 260: Can't Be Part of Your Everyday

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 259

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 259: The Shape We Desire Changes

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 258

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 258: The Gaze Glances Off

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 257

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 257: Give Thanks

Catching up -- seems like most of my focus has been on getting custom necklaces made for people. Will post what I have done as I have time!

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 256

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 256: Feeling Sexy Seems Elusive

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 255

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 255: I Never Thought

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 254

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 254: Play

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 253

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 253: About Leaving a Legacy

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 252

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 252: Tell of Age-Old Mysteries

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 251

2009 Journal Page Challenge -- Day 251: Getting Up Close and Personal

2009 Daily Journal page Challenge...Day 250

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 250: Women Are Not Made to Be Invisible

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 249

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 249: Heart-Less

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 249

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 249: Long Live the Mane

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 248

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 248: Whatever Happens Naturally

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 248

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 247: Risk Takers

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 247

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 247: Don't Try to Figure It Out!

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 247

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 247: Evocative
Hazel, not brown, and with a witch's mark...

Custom Oriel: Harry and Scruff

This custom Earth Angels oriel is a Christmas present for a customer's best friend, featuring her friend's retired show horse, Harry, and her dog companion, Scruff. Once I decided on which photos to use, the oriel came together easily. The animals are just so happy with what they are doing and who they belong to, and they are just so darn personable that they needed very little ornamentation. I used beveled glass on both the front and the back of the oriel. Happiness is beauty and these two Earth Angels just shine with both!

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 246

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 246: Made It So Inviting

This week in Kentucky the creative muse was singing -- or screaming. I created 15 spreads over five days. Curious how that happened. Part of the reason is that it kept me busy while I was sitting in my mother's room keeping her company. Part of it was the tension that always happens when I return home. Things are better now between my mother and I but she surprised me with an announcement that did not sit well with me. It shook me to the core, bringing to the forefront all sorts of mother/daughter forces that basically brought me to a sobbing, whimpering heap. Totally humiliating -- beyond humiliating -- it just was something I needed to experience. In retrospect, it was all grist for the mill, and the result was a creative burst of energy that I am sure will have continuing ramifications. Author Shaun McNiff says in Trust the Process -- An Artist's Guide to Letting Go: "Creativity cannot flourish and reach its deepest potential without the participation of its demons as well as its angels." A mirror of my process, my journey. Amidst the ashes, I am excited to see what is coming next.

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 246

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 246: I Have Curves

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 246

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 246: Like It or Not, Now Is the Time

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 246

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 246: Start Creating

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 246

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 246: Explore with an Artist's Eye

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 245

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 245: It's This Easy

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 245

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 245: Evolve

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 245

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 245: Most Surreal

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 244

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 244: Trust This Touch

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 244

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 244: We Believe

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 243

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 243: Defying Gravity

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 242

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 242: Shine
Definition of shine: brightness from a source of light, radiance; to be immediately apparent

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 241

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 241: Where Our Expedition Begins

See? What did I say? Everything will work out. Just turn that brain off. There, now you're movin' -- you're on life's journey. Surprises await.

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 241

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 241: Changing (You Want To)

Ok, so you make a decision to walk a different path, yet you still feel stuck. You still feel that you are tangled up in the past. You want to change, you do. But you are all dressed up and there's nowhere to go. The streets of St. Petersburg (or Paris. Or Venice.) still look enchanting, yet you know it's just a beautiful, beautiful city that could never be a home to you. Ever. And although those sexy, sexy heels make your legs look great, you'd rather be wearing kick-ass motorcycle boots and be hitchhiking down Route 66 with the wind in your mane. Don't fret. Everything will work out. Just turn that brain off. There, now you're movin'.

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 241

2009 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 241: Ladies Are Not Allowed Inside

So much of life, it seems, we follow the road prescribed for us. We go to school, get a job, get married, have kids, work until retirement, spend the last 10-20 years of our life watching reruns in the living room or sitting across the table from our spouse with nothing to say. Why is that? Why do people stop questioning the circumstances they find themselves in? Stop growing? Stop creating? And what if you have led a less than conventional life -- bucking the status quo, skipping the children part, foregoing the marriage until death do you part -- are you any different from those who have not? Are your needs, hopes, dreams any different, though the circumstances are different? Now, I am not too sure why I launched into this path of query. This sari-clad woman looks a bit like an Indian Madonna, perhaps questioning the limitations that the sign above her head addresses. And she should -- we are the ones who limit ourselves. And in questioning, we open up the possibility of walking in a different direction -- and perhaps a chance to become more of who we really are.