WIP - and Baby Steps

I receive regular emails from TUT - Notes from the Universe. I just LOVE them because they are so supportive and inspirational, and cheeky and sometimes just silly...but always positive and uplifting. Here's todays which, of course, is timely and relates to my post yesterday:

Brilliant, civilization-changing ideas are a dime a dozen, Cheryl. Physically taking action to implement them, however, beginning with baby steps that seem to accomplish very little, is what gets the crowds here screaming like raving lunatics.
In the good way... that lunatics scream... you know?

Peanuts! Popcorn! Cotton candy! It's the show of a lifetime!
The Universe

And, upon reflection, it is baby steps that gets this journal cover closer to completion, and baby steps that finds a painting complete, and baby steps that gets a studio organized, and baby steps that.....well, you get the idea.

WIP...and thoughts on imperfection.

I shared a note from Christine Kane with my friends recently on "Glorious Imperfection", a message I need to be reminded of as I often get stuck in not doing things because I either don't feel I can do them well enough, or "properly", or in the case of blogging, "profoundly inspiring"...or some such nonsense. One way or another I have , in my mind, made the task overwhelming. It's a pattern I've recognized before - putting things off for painfully long periods, only to find the job not nearly as long or difficult or complex as I had imagined it to be. Silly really.
The same could be said for this little gem I'm working on I guess.

I've heard comments from people who have watched me work on this leather journal cover as I drag it around with me like, "You did ALL that??!!" or "I could NEVER do that - it looks so complicated!" I chuckle and tell them, "No, really, you COULD do this! I'm just letting it go where it wants. I only started with a simple squiggly line and then I doodle for a few minutes at a time as I go and just let the drawing do its own thing." I'm not sure I've convinced anyone of the simplicity of the process as I travel with it. It's not until I can get someone to sit down and try it that they come to realize themselves, just how simply it comes together when we just remove the end target and any judgment about perfection along the way. It applies to everything in life I think.

Sharing from Christine's article:

"Anything worth doing is worth doing badly."

- Julia Cameron

How many activities do you sit and think about doing? How many things would you love to try but stop yourself because you don't know how to begin? Do you avoid adventures because of the pressure to do them well?

Yea?

Well, then, it might be time to explore one of my favorite success principles:

Glorious Imperfection!

Glorious Imperfection means that doing it badly is better than not doing it at all. As my friend and mentor Lisa Sasevich says, "Build the plane as you're flying it!"

And further......

Why Does it Work?

Because Glorious Imperfection is a way of setting intention. It lets your ego know that you would rather do the activity than wait until you can do it flawlessly.

When you begin a project and you lower the bar - or better yet, remove it altogether - then you're free to create without any grade. Ironically, this allows for such freedom and joy that you often end up doing a great job. (Or at least having a great time.)

When you demand perfection from the start, then your attention isn't on the activity itself. Your attention is drained in the perpetual "how'm I doing?" analysis.

And so with that, I think I'll try to just blog imperfectly.....and organize my studio space, imperfectly...and exercise imperfectly, and....well, off on my bike (instead of the car) to do some errands now.

It's All Good

I have been receiving "Blessing Way Challenge" emails from Kate Nowak who is the creator of the Blessings Experiment among many other inspirational works. It's funny how you always get the message you need at just the right moment...
As I actively engage in my own spiritual development, I notice that life has a way of way of bringing to us opportunities to evolve. Not all of them are comfortable. In the past few weeks one of the things that has surfaced is "judgment". I first recognized this theme while participating in a spiritual healers training weekend. What occurred that weekend and in the following few days were numerous events that allowed me to experience the feeling of being judged by others and my subsequent reaction, as well as being in the position of judgment towards others. What was interesting to me was my immediate observation of what I was experiencing in the moment. I was able to be the observer and notice that I moved through a series of thoughts and emotions in a matter of minutes, ultimately getting to a place of acceptance and peace...relatively quickly. In the past I may have held on to the feeling of hurt and resentment for a long time before coming to some kind of resolution and understanding. This, to me, is a sign of personal spiritual growth.....ever closer to living in the moment the Divine self that I am rather than in ego. Hurray!....progress. Right as I was experiencing these events, I received an email from Kate with the subject: Non Judging. Of course - how fitting. I share her some of her words here:

Whenever we judge anything, we tend to place a negative interpretation on it. We judge it as bad or evil or wrong and, in so doing, obscure whatever good might be inherent in it. If you decide, for instance that because your house has burned the ground, the quality of your life has been totally diminished, then you've judged the experience as a bad thing. And in so doing, you've essentially placed a limitation on the amount of good you're willing to let rise out of the situation. What good does come forth will first have to push past the mental barriers your judgment has placed on it. The time it takes for the positive aspects of the experience to be revealed will be totally dependent upon how much negativity you allow to build up around the situation. Essentially, you keep your own good from happening by your refusal to see it.

We do the same thing every time we pick up a newspaper or watch a television newscast and decide that the reports we've read about various people and events are bad. We place a judgment on them and feed into the negative energy already surrounding each situation. And sadly, because we live in a world where what we focus upon increases, our willingness to see only the negative aspects of any situation give it the energy it needs to continue.

That doesn't mean we're supposed to go around pretending that everything is wonderful and our world is trouble-free, however. It just means that we must be willing to refrain from categorizing the experiences and people outside ourselves in only negative terms. It means that we must be willing to look at every challenging experience, person and experience in our lives and tell ourselves, "There is good in here somewhere. And I will find it."

Kate signs her emails appropriately, "It's better to bless....and It's all good." These words and the events of my last few weeks inspired the piece at the top. What do you notice about how judgement impacts your life?...and particularly... how you judge yourself.

"This is the power of blessing: It elevates us beyond the trap of the rightness and wrongness of what has happened."

— Gregg Braden

Trust Yourself

I was fooling around with some metals and new letter stamps today - thought I would do a quick little project. Over 3 hours later, as usual, I had gotten a little carried away and this little trinket grew on it's own as the ideas flowed. At the top is a small print of one of my paintings soldered beneath a glass pebble. The metal piece that started it all is in the middle - patina on brass and textured copper. This was inspired by the book Life is a Verb by Patti Digh. (A moving read by a favorite writer.)
And, at the bottom another angel that manages to creep into many of my pieces. This one is a birthday gift for a good friend and is meant to hang on her wall as an inspiration. Hope she likes it.

Riding the Artfest Wave

What a wonderful, blissful few days of creative fun with friends.  And, let me start by thanking those responsible for making it all happen - Teesha, Tracy and all the others who worked behind the scenes.  What  a huge undertaking to bring together an event of this size and scope.  And also a big thank you to everyone who shared such enthusiasm for my little "kissing fishes".  Thanks to my closest buddies (now dubbed the "Groupers"), I seem to have earned a new moniker as "The Fish Lady" - sheesh!  Anyway, the warm reception was much appreciated.
I didn't manage to get back for the show and tell night on Friday as we were too absorbed in finally exploring the lovely town of Port Townsend and enjoying a fabulous dinner.  So, here's a little show and tell of a couple of items I started in the classes I attended.  On Thursday I was in Sunny Carvalho's Plywood People class.  Really an impressive surprise.  Her paintings are so much more wonderful in person - they have such depth to them.  Mine still needs some finishing touches, but this is where I got her to before I left:

 

On Friday I was in Linda and Opie O'Brien's class, "Set in Stone.  This one was such fun to mess with metals, patinas, cold connections, and concrete.  I managed to get a couple of pendants complete and ready for chains which I will finish at home in my studio.

 

Now....what to start on first now that I'm back home and my head is swimming with ideas and creative energy??!!

Would You Kiss These Lips?

Well....look at that grinning face...would you kiss him? I'm trading kisses at Artfest next week!...Well....Fish kisses, that is.

I have been having an absolute riot making these little babies for trading at Artfest. I'm taking some artistic license with the theme, which sea monsters. I figure even sea monsters need friends...and as we all know now, "Fish are friends, not food!" So, I'm making sea monster friends in glass - and kissing ones no less! I tell you, I've never giggled so much and so long in my studio while working as I have for this little project. As soon as the eyeballs and then the lips go on, I'm howling at their quirky little personalities that just instantly light up. Each one is completely unique. Such fun.

If nothing else I think I now have sufficient training in creating kissable lips, I might consider applying as a surgeon in Hollywood. What do you think?!

Featured: How Cool Is That?

Our local publication has run an article about me as an artist....so very neat!  I remember being a little girl at home and thought it was so cool that my dad was written about in our home newpaper about his stock car racing, and all the races and trophies he'd won.  When I was very little I said "I'm going to win trophies some day, just like you!"  Well....this little article kind of feels just like that.