Red Flowers

I am still working on coordinating photos and text. HTML is not my language. If anyone knows of any tutorials on this please contact me !!!

I have been singing "Bloom, bloom, bloom" to all my flowers. Petunias are doing their thing. I am waiting for my lavender to do something. Ah well. My latest projects have been flowers, teapots and teacups and plenty of tempests in all of them. I hope to photo some and post the latest by Monday. Problem is that I am always second guessing myself on whether or not something is finished.

My other project is to go back to doing some visual journaling. It always seems to give me some bravery in how I use my materials and combining effects of text and image..hmm..seems to be a constant challenge there. Julianna Coles is one of my heroes on that topic and I just invested in some of the guides from her retreats that she sells on her Etsy shop. They were well worth the pennies. The prompts for creating are excellent and thought provoking. I made a "witch book" ages ago in Las Vegas. It actually opens two different and separate ways with a great leather cover. There are even little niches in the center....It has been blank for four years and I hate that, so it seemed a likely victim as it has brown, heavy paper on the larger side, strong enough for paint, pencil, inks, whatever and then thinner smaller sections for actually writing things, though those pages are already splattered with walnut ink. I may have to use a bronzie kind of ink to write things with some splashes of gold leaf.OOOHHH fun !

What Seems magical is that I am taking time in the early hours of dawn to cloister myself in my studio. I paint a little, draw a little, this morning I played in the journal and even wrote a bit. The more I incorporate this into my schedule, the easier it gets to actually create during that time. I also find myself humming along, happy and content,and that feeling carries right into the rest of the day. it is sweet really. I think I am spinning a charm over myself that lasts the entire day and gives me courage and peace to deal with all that other "stuff" I want to say it makes me a better person..a nicer person to be around.

I did "The Artists Way" when I was on vacation in California last year and it really helped me to balance all the swirling energies and personalities that were present in that beach house, tossing around as wildly as the sea outside the windows ! I will be facing a similar circumstance in a few weeks visiting my home state, essentially to say good-by to a parent succumbing to illness. There is much agitation connected to this parent and I had my concerns about the trip, but I really believe I can weave a protecting charm with my paints and pens and come out the better for it. I will let you know how that turns out.

Enjoy the blooms.