Love Letter

"My Wild Spirit: Rima the Bird Girl Becomes a Leopard", acrylic 2012

Dear Virginia,
It's been several years now since I've seen here what you've been up to with your beautiful, creative self. I've missed hearing about your various activities, your accomplishments, your disappointments (only avenues for growth my dear), your meanderings. And although it's been important for you to travel down the road of life to explore and see and hear and taste -- I do miss your presence. But know that I do not feel separate -- I only need to close my eyes, hush my mind, and listen -- and you and your life come to me in a kaleidoscope of colors. Nevertheless I do hope that one day soon you will return to share your adventures with me...and the World.

With All Fondness -- and My Deepest Love

My Mane in the Wind

Mixed Media: You Are the Person You Dreamed You Are

You Are the Person You Dreamed You Are

I did this 8 x 10 mixed media canvas sometime last month -- or was it the month before? Initially I didn't like the technique I was trying out (journal spilling and then adding multiple paper layers, gessoing then painting over). It's been lying around for a while in my art studio, in my office, in the house. But I've finally come to like it: the colors, the movement, the sparkles, the way I gessoed then painted over her dress with iridescent oil pastels.  It was prompted by the death of a friend, mentor, teacher -- Shirley Luthman -- and perhaps the mixed emotions of her leaving this world had to be processed before I could appreciate what she had left me with and what the painting represented of my journey.

In My Art Studio: Monday, March 13th, 2011

Art Travelin"...

YOWSER!!! As typical, my workable area is shrinking down to a postage stamp. That vintage Samsonite is one of two filled with images for me to pull from. But...I seem to be bouncing in and out of the studio today. Can't seem to stay in one place too long! Maybe I'm just a night owl creator...I do seem to get warmed up by 4 in the afternoon, then cruise through until my husband gets home, we have dinner and most often I'm back in the studio or on the computer until 11pm. Want to make time for working in on my Right Brain Business Plan, email off a workshop proposal, and send in an art street fair application!

1000th Post Celebratory Drawing!

Sacred Journey Itsy Bitsy Oriel Pendant (Front)
Leave a comment and you might win this necklace!

Oh my -- I've hit my 1000th post! This is a big deal for me to celebrate almost 3 years of creative postings (my first post was on January 2008). It's been a stimulating, expansive, sometimes frustrating but all-in-all satisfyingly productive journey! I never expected to have any readers, but you guys who take the time to come visit and comment on my posts have added a totally different dimension to my pursuit of creativity. So here's a BIG THANKS to all of you for dropping by (anonymously or not so), and to celebrate my 1000th post I am holding a drawing for one of my handcrafted, hand-soldered oriel pendants! In order to enter your name in the drawing, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. In two weeks time, I will select one reader to be the giftee of my Sacred Journey Itsy Bitsy Oriel Pendant (featured above). Whether or not it's one person or 30 participating, I will use the old put the names in a hat, stir them around, and have my blindfolded husband pick one. So leave a comment on this post, and at the end of two weeks I will post the winning name!

Sacred Journey Itsy Bitsy Oriel Pendant (Back)
Comes with a 24" silver tone ball chain. The pendant contains a original collage with a beveled glass front and flat glass back. Swavorski crystalbeads dangle from the pendant.

In My Garden: Sunsets That Speak of Magic

The afternoon after we returned to the Bay Area from warm Mexico, a heavy, fall fog crept across the wetlands behind my house, right before sunset. It created that lovely, mysterious, cotton-y silence in which all sounds become muffled and you think to yourself...magic is just around the corner. The sunset refused to be intimidated -- it lit up the sky violently and then melded with the gray atmosphere. That which was distant seemed close, that which was close seemed far. As the sky's wattage turned up, the cats salsa-ed in the back yard. Not really, but they would not have tiptoed as e.e. cummings' foggy cat -- instead they would have looked at the fiery oranges, reds, and pinks weaving through the fog -- then cracked out the tequila shooters and marimba-ed across the redwood deck. So I imagined. Instead of similar antics, I just grabbed pictures of the light/fog show. Magic.

In My Garden: Double Delight in the Evening Light

Emptying out my car this evening, the roses surrounding the driveway coaxed me away from my errands. The last bright rays of the day were highlighting various bushes. It was a "beckoning of the lovely" as some would say, and I walked around sticking my nose into the tall blooms. I lingered over some Double Delight blooms and inhaled her sweet, almost tea-like perfume. I pulled out my camera and caught her bold, red blushes. I love the way her petals look in the second shot -- almost like a Folie Bergere dancer with a feather tail!

My Mane Has Been Blowing in the Wind for Quite Awhile!

Can you see my mane blowing in the wind? I was seventeen and this picture was taken by my high school senior year boyfriend, Lloyd B. I had totally forgotten about this photo, until I reconnected with him in Facebook. I am involved in searching out our fellow classmates for our high school reunion next year and Lloyd was on my list. I was looking at some of his current photos and suddenly remembered he had taken back then some pretty cool ones of me and my filly, Gedi. I went searching for them, no luck. And then about a week later, this photo album magically appeared on my art studio bookshelves and there it was. Isn't this cool, My Mane was Blowing in the Wind, even back then!

One Year and Three Month Anniversary!

Flying High Tiny Dancer Oriel

Oh my -- the one year anniversary of this blog has come and gone without me mentioning it!!! How did that happen? Well, you know, they say time flies when you're havin' fun!

I began this blog on January 25, 2009, with a blog post entitled Freedom. My intention was to attempt to move steadily into my creativity and art making, and chronicle these endeavors in a blog.

I was drawn to the phenomenon of art blogging and wondered if I too could use this internet journaling as a way to explore and challenge my creativity and inner processes. For many, many years I had danced away from my creative talents. Creating collages and exploring myself in relation to them was something that I would do in spurts, with many dry years passing in between. It occurred to me that I could create artful goals and challenges for myself, announce them online, and then hold myself accountable online as well. Perhaps blogging would provide a vehicle that would stimulate and reinforce the creative habit. As a reality check, I also began my blog acknowledging the side of me that was a worrier with depression as a frequent friend, and all too willing to procrastinate and hide under the covers.

Many, many years ago I read a short story by Catherine Petroski, Beautiful My Mane in the Wind. I resonated deeply with the feeling of the young girl who would pretend she was a horse when things got tough. So it seemed appropriate that my blog's name should reflect that feeling. My Mane Blowing in the Wind represents the me that desires to move through life creatively, with freedom, and confidence -- like a horse running over the hills with its mane blowing in the wind -- or a girl on a motorcycle with her hair whipping behind her -- or a Hollywood starlet in a red MG with its top down. See you get the picture!

After a year and a bit of posting, I have to say that my blog has been exactly what I wanted it to be. I have set creative goals and met more of them than those I have not. I have met and made friends with some terrific people out in the blogging world. I am also not so worried anymore. I am enjoying the process, and I find that as I move on down the road, there is always another door to open, one more cup to drink from, another kite to fly. And most surprisingly -- there is growing sense of freedom -- my mane is blowing in the wind!

2009-10 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 345

2009-10 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 345: Awakening the Self, Discovering Joy

It seems these days, joy is an elusive creature, a ghost of its former self. I think of the woman I used to be, the girl that knew joy and expressed it with abandon, almost capriciously. I wonder if I've seen too much, experienced too much -- not only in my life, but in the world at large. It's not that I don't have joyful experiences, but a continuity has not yet come into being. One that I know exists. It's there -- I can feel it, almost touch it. Perhaps it will surprise me when I least expect it, take me in its arms and fill me to the brim. It just takes unadulterated awareness and a perseverance beyond reason to claim it.

2009-10 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 344

2009-10 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 344: Anticipation Grows