Art & Soul 2013

I've just returned from Virginia Beach where I taught four workshops at Art & Soul, as well as making time to take a workshop myself.  What a fabulous time of inspiration, community and creativity!

The first class I taught was entitled "The Secret Life of Trees".  It was a mixed media class where I shared lots of techniques that can be used in many ways, but the focus in the class was to leave at the end of the day with a completed journal.  Everyone started off with a kit that I had put together.

Kit for Secret Life of Trees class

Even though everyone started off with the same kit, the books they created were all unique and amazingly beautiful.  I was particularly touched by the story told by Brigitte Chavaillaz who told me that it is a custom in her family to plant a tree when a new soul is born into the family.  Brigitte brought photographs of the tree she and her husband had planted for their new grandchild, and incorporated these into her book.  What a beautiful custom, which reminds me of the saying: "One generation plants the trees, and another gets the shade".

"The Secret Life of Trees" Journal

My talented class participants!

I also had fun teaching three other classes where we made books, used our cameras to photograph close-up, made color journals and learned new ways to use the iPad as a photo art studio.  What a great week!

I have to also share with you the project I created in the class I took with Stephanie Rubiano.  I've taken two previous classes with Stephanie, as I love her work and the way she teaches.  I created an Encaustic Light House in the class!

Encaustic Light Houses made in Stephanie Rubiano's class

Stephanie shares some of her student work from one of her classes on her blog if you want to see more of these cute little houses!I also bought one of Stephanie's new iPad covers at Art & Soul Vendor night (the place to be if you want to see wonderful art and antique ephemera together in one place).

Soul Whisperings

I was excited to be a guest on Janet Conner's Soul-Directed Life Radio program on Unity Online Radio yesterday, February 14th.  One of the questions that Janet asks all her guests is what words of wisdom they would like to leave with the listeners on how to can create their own soul-directed life.  My soul-directed life fell into place once I began living my joy, once I began choosing to spend time doing things that had meaning for me. But how to translate this into "words of wisdom"?

Then I remembered my "Soul Whisperings" which I had translated into images and words to remind me of the flow of my creative process. I thought these might help others with their creative process and so this is what I shared as my "words of wisdom".

The first word is BREATHE.  This is to remind me to slow down and become conscious of my body and to thank it for how it supports me in doing the work I love in the world.

The second is LISTEN.  This reminds me to make time to listen for guidance by making time to meditate and to sit quietly and allow a sense of spaciousness to surround me.

Next is TRUST.  This is probably the most important word, as it is a reminder that I am not in the creative process alone.  I don't have to force anything, and I can relax when life takes a detour I wasn't expecting, as TRUST reminds me that all is happening perfectly.

These three words are essentially about how to show up in my studio.  Then when I am creating, I need to remember that I am merely a conduit and I have a partner in the unseen realm, so I do not create on my own, I CO-CREATE.

And finally, I need to SHARE, as creating, whatever form this might take in your life: cooking, bringing up a family or gardening (all life is an opportunity to be creative), is about sharing a part of you, and when you share from the heart you never know when you might be giving someone exactly what they need at that moment in their lives.  So don't judge your creations as not good enough or not big enough.  Everything you create makes a difference.

Arriving in India

I've just returned from sixteen amazing days in India.  India overloads your senses, and opens your heart to ways of seeing and being that you didn't know you were capable of.  There are no words or images that can fully describe the experience of India.  Life feels different - that may be because the drivers have you wondering whether you will make it back home, or it may be because there is color and beauty in the most unexpected places, or it could be that you don't usually life at the heightened state that life in India demands.

What really made my trip remarkable was the wonderful itinerary planned by Namaste India Tours and our wonderful driver and guide, Sanjay Kumar.  From fetching me at the airport at 2 a.m. (after waiting for two hours because my flight was late arriving), to giving wise advice for staying safe in the large cities, to educating us with the history of the places we visited and the customs of the people, to stopping the car every time he sighted a new bird or animal (I had told him my husband was a keen birder and loved wildlife), to checking that we were happy with our hotel rooms, and to furnishing a place of refuge from the crowds and the hawkers in the backseat of the wonderful old Ambassador car that was our transport, Sanjay was an amazing  host and friend to us.  I would highly recommend Namaste India Tours for their professionalism (they gave us a cellphone to use should we get lost or be uncomfortable at any time), the hotels they chose were just great (and all had flush toilets!)  In addition, the owner of the company, Jawahar Lal Rana, checked in with us four times during the trip to make sure everything was going well.



Because of the sense of overwhelm when you arrive in India, I believe having a reliable tour operator is essential.

We traveled approximately 4,800 miles during our trip which started in New Delhi, and took us to Jhunjhunu, Bikaner, Khuri, Jaisalmer, Jodphur, Udaipur, Pushkar, Jaipur, Fatehpur Sikiri,  Agra and back to Delhi to fly home.  We experienced only a small part of India, the part known as Rajasthan or the land of the Maharajas, which is situate in the North Western part of the country (circled in white on the map below).  The ancient architecture and history of the area is rich and well worth seeing and experiencing.  Enormous forts can be found in most of the centers, and one has to marvel at how they were built so many hundreds of years ago and survive to this day.

How does one share the richness of character that is India?  It certainly can't be shared in one blog post - this is the first of many to share my trip so I can experience it again in memory.   Keith Bellows of National Geographic describes India so well in these words: "There are some parts of the world that, once visited, get into your heart and won't go.  For me, India is such a place.  When I first visited, I was stunned by the richness of the land, by its lush beauty and exotic architecture, by its ability to overload the senses with the pure, concentrated intensity of its colors, smells, tastes, and sounds ... I had been seeing the world in black and white and, when brought face-to-face with India, experienced everything re-rendered in brilliant technicolor."

SoulCollage® as Oracle

OracleALL - 2011 SoulCollage(R) Facilitators' Conference from SoulCollage on Vimeo.

I am so often asked to describe what SoulCollage® is.  The problem is that words don't fully express the magical process of discovery that takes place through making and speaking from the SoulCollage® cards.  This video, created by SoulCollage® Facilitator, Sue Gelber, is a deep and meaningful discussion of SoulCollage® as well as a sharing of how the SoulCollage® community use their cards to grow and expand.  It is almost an hour long, but well worth the time.  You will find yourself looking at the world in a new way after viewing the video.

Singing from the Soul

While exploring the archetype of the Healer, I learned that indigenous healers ask four questions of a person who is miserable and disheartened.  These questions are:

When did you last dance?

When did you last sing?

When did you last listen to a story?

When did you last spend time in silence?

This made me think of how much I loved singing in my school choir, and reminded me that I very seldom sing out loud anymore.  I sing in my head, but seldom let the words and sounds vibrate through my body.  I want to change that, but I've become self-conscious of my voice.

So I did what I usually do when I want to explore something I would like to change in my life.  I made a SoulCollage® card.  And this is what the card said to me:

I am the one who raises my voice to the heavens by the singing of sacred words.  I am the one whose voice sparkles with joy and praise. I am the one who has used the magic of sound since the beginning of time.  I am the one who knows the energetic vibration of sound.

I give you the knowing that your voice contains magic.  It is a connection to the realm of source.  I give you the reminder that opening your mouth and letting sound vibrate into the air around you will heal your body.

I want you to sing and chant.  I want you to remember how much you loved singing as a child, how much you loved being part of a choir.  There is no need to be self-conscious.  You can sing when you are alone.  Enjoy letting the vibrations of your voice travel within your body.

It is time to start singing!

The Healing Arts

At the deepest level, the creative process and the healing process arise from a single source. When you are an artist, you are a healer; a wordless trust of the same mystery is the foundation of your work and its integrity.
Rachel Naomi Remen

This week I focused on the archetype of the Healer in a class I taught, so when this quote found me this morning it really resonated within me.  I have found that creating is a deeply healing process for me - one which allows me to connect to a sense of wonder and awe.

The image is my SoulCollage® Healer card.  On it is a traditional African Healer or Shaman, and the card speaks to me of the connection between wholeness and wonder.  Wonder in sun that rises each day, in the dew that forms on the grass, in the sparkles created by the moon, in our bodies - our hearts which beat, our eyes that see ... there is so much to appreciate. When I focus on just how magical and beautiful our world is, a sense of gratitude wells up within me, and that in itself is healing.

Treasures of Imperfection

One of my favorite places to visit with my camera is Cline's Country Antiques in Mt. Pleasant, NC, affectionately known as "The Junk Farm".  You can find all manner of unusual and interesting items here, many of them in stages of deterioration.  It is the perfect place to photograph textures as rusty items and peeling paint abound. In fact the chair and the old tricycle on pages 122 and 123 of The Creative Photographer were photographed at Cline's Country Antiques.

Why photograph old things? I talk about my feelings about old things on page 122 of The Creative Photographer: 

"Old things seem to hold the energy of all those who held them or beheld them.  They have a story, a history.  They were once useful or meaningful, and now they have been left to disintegrate.  They can remind us of the inevitable journey of the human body.  Keep your eyes open for these hidden treasures of imperfection.  Visit an old junkyard and look at the junk in a new way.  Think about the "life" it had before it was discarded.  Photograph these things in such a way that you focus on the beauty in their degeneration."

And, if you don't have space to collect and store old things in your home, making photographs of them is a fun way to start a collection.  I have a great collection of old chairs which I have made into a Tag Book, and after my last visit to Cline's Country Antiques, I now have enough photographs of rocking horses to start a new collection!  What might you like to start a photograph collection of?

How about a show of hands?  (Also found at Cline's!)