Listicles Are Fun aka Five Things

There is so much happening in my life that the only way to wrangle it is to round it up in a listicle style post. I find listicles fun because they suit my short attention SQUIRREL!

*Giggles*

Thing One

I am guest teaching in Art Journal Summer School and I am very excited about it BECAUSE summer means the last thing anyone wants to do is sit in the studio and AJSS will facilitate arting on vacation and/or on the go. A small toiletry bag/cosmetic bag full of very basic supplies and a mobile phone/iPad full of awesome teachers providing quick lessons of 15 minutes or less all summer long? YES PLEASE! Details here.

Stay tuned for a giveaway, coming soon!

Thing Two

I am working very hard on creating the look and feel of the next Radiant, which will be all art journaling all the time. I have lined up 15 of my very favourite mixed media art journaling teachers and we will be diving into learning about their process with the intention of further developing our own processes.

Everyone has their own reasons for taking on art journaling as a hobby or spiritual practice. I love exploring those reasons, being surprised by them, learning new techniques, and discovering some 'out of the box' uses for supplies/ways of doing things. This class is going to be so chock full of that kind of thing that we will find ourselves inspired for years to come.

Why do I say we?

As your hostess, I will be taking the class right alongside you, filming my own interpretation of each teacher's lesson, showing you how I integrate what I learn from other teachers into my own practice/process. We will be the glittery trenches together, trying new things, creating in ways that are new to us, adapting other people's processes to our own styles, needs, and desires...

It's going to be at least as awesome as the first Radiant (which you can still buy here for $45 with forever access) but I suspect it's going to be even better. Watch this space for more details on who the guest artists will be and when registration will open.

Thing Three

Spring is springing around here and it is glorious. I have been spending a lot of time outside, sitting by the creek with coffee and a happy dog, walking the trail, and going for country drives at sunset. Nature inspires me like nothing else and being attuned to it in the way that I am really drives my creativity. Moon Journaling, which is an always free offering in my class network, consists of touching base with my wilder side this month. While it features a video I dug up out of my archives, it also features a new video meditation that includes the Gayatri Mantra and a time-lapsed painting. You can check that out here.

Thing Four

This man and this dog are everything right now. I love my kids, and I love my friends, and I love my tribe, but at the end of the day, when I've exhausted myself with output, the input I get from these two delectable creatures fills up my well and guarantees that I have more to give the next day.

Sookie (of the adorable raspberry tongue) curls up in the space between my knees and my boobs every night without fail. She curls herself into the smallest furball possible, presses her spine into my belly, and does not move unless I do for the rest of the night. It is utterly comforting and perfect and good. Sultan, of the soulful eyes and plum coloured lips, takes me out driving, holds my hand, tells me his life would be impoverished if not for me, sings along with me to whatever is on the radio, laughs at my jokes, and looks at me like I'm a pork chop and he's starving to death often enough that I remember my hips and the power in them and his hands and the power in them...

We have rediscovered all the reasons we loved one another before the trauma of blending our families before we were ready, addiction, deaths of family members (and ex-husbands), poverty and slow climb up out of it, my too muchness and his not enoughness...

All that has fallen away like a curtain away from a sparkling clean window. So much that got obscured by all that stuff back there is now crystal clear.

Also, I'm happy.

Thing Five

The lilacs are blooming