September 15-19, 2010 ~ Squam Art Workshops
I’ll be back in New Hampshire to teach Book in a Day with Marisa Haedike at the Fall 2010 Squam Art Workshops (SAW.) Head to the SAW website for information on how to register.
Transitions
We have had multiple transitions going on in our household this month ~ the very well documented arrival of Tilda, the arrival of two family members who are staying with us as they go through their own transition to Santa Monica from Boulder, the return to my home studio, and the change in venue of my home studio. My easel, painting supplies, and panels are all in a different room now, which is technically a guest bedroom. But the room has a lot more light than my “official” home studio and isn’t used that often, so I decided it was time to see how it feels to work in a different part of my home, where there is no computer and I can leave whatever mess I make intact when I finish for the day.
Although I am excited about this change, and I feel giddy anytime I step into that room and see my easel next to a big expanse of windows, my time in there will be minimal for a while. The focus these days is on Tilda, my book, and my website, and in between those projects I still have to manage the usual array of household tasks. It sounds more hectic than it really is, and everyday I feel a little more settled than the day before with Tilda. She is teaching me so much ~ about patience, rest, laughter, and being totally present. In those instances when I want to hand her off to the first person that comes knocking at my door, imagining days far in the future when she won’t have razor sharp puppy teeth, I stop and remind myself that she won’t be this little for very long.
She still is so small. As fast as she’s growing, and as big as her paws are (!) she is still so small.
Tilda is pulling me closer to the earth, to the day-to-day details of my life. I decided this past weekend that I would stay off the internet, thinking it would be a challenge. Instead it turned out to be the loveliest of gifts, for instead of perusing blogs and Twitter, I finished the book I was reading and played with Tilda, and soaked up a quiet weekend with my family. Already I’m having a hard time imagining what our life was like before she joined us.
“Nothing is secure but life, transition, the energizing spirit.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
August 21-22, 2010 ~ Trust the Mess
I am very excited to announce that I will be hosting Trust the Mess, a two-day workshop with Sabrina Ward Harrison in my Venice, California studio. Sabrina and I invite you to join her in a magical space that has re-awakened my deepest creative energies and inspired me to move in many new directions.
Saturday, August 21 and Sunday, August 22, 2010
11:00am – 4:30pm
Venice, California
SPACE IS LIMITED: 16 participants maximum
$445 per person if registered by August 6, 2010
$700 per person after that
Spaces will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so register early. To register, email me at christine@swirlygirl.com. Click here to read more about Trust the Mess.
Our Suffering
“Our suffering comes from the fact that we are attached to the outer form that something assumes in a given instant rather than the movable conversation that stands behind it. Keeping up with what is occurring rather than lagging and getting caught in things that no longer exist, is one of the the great disciplines of life.” ~David Whyte, The Three Marriages
July 17, 2010 ~ Art and Wine for One World
Come see what I’ve been up to in my studio in a show to benefit the One World Health Project:
Saturday, July 17, 2010
6:00 – 11:00pm
Gus Harper Art Studio
11306 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066
Wine & hors d’oeuvres, a DJ and plenty of beautiful artwork! Click here for more details.
July 2010 ~ Art Journaling & Somerset Studio
The Summer 2010 issue of Art Journaling will showcase my very first collage journal along with an essay about how my first foray into this process changed my life.
The July/August 2010 issue of Somerset Studio has a gorgeous feature about the 100 Books Project, with a special 100 Books journal entry from Amman, Jordan.
Sparklette #55
Yesterday evening I was in the backyard playing with Tilda and as I ran across the lawn I slipped and landed flat on my bum. My first thought was, “Oh no ~ I slipped on POO!” but it turned out to just be wet grass.
And THAT’S how I spell relief: N-O D-O-G P-O-O
Five Things
1. From MaryJanesandGaloshes, you can shop her beautiful wares here, here, and here!
2. Head to Amy Krouse Rosenthal's site to share what you DON'T want to do anymore!
3. Jean Paul Gaultier's designs for Roche Bobois make for a supa-swanky pad, non?
4. What are you obsessed with? Share it over at ItsASickness.
5. Last but not least ~ I'm proud to announce my artwork is featured in Patti Digh's new book Four Word Self Help. WooHoo!
June 2-6, 2010 ~ Squam Art Workshops
I will be teaching Book in a Day with Marisa Haedike at the Spring 2010 Squam Art Workshops (SAW.) Head to the SAW website for information on how to register.
Disorder
Right now: Piles of laundry on my kitchen table, counter and chair. A pile of paper that needs to be sorted through. A salt shaker, my iPhone, a book, two pens, and a pair of glasses on my kitchen table. Laundry basket, shoes and trash basket on top of cabinets. Baby gates blocking one side of the kitchen, four dining room chairs set down sideways to block the other side (two wider gates due to arrive today.)
I am not comfortable with disorder, don’t like the feeling I get when my entire peripheral vision is filled with things, with objects. I heard through the grapevine that I’m known to keep a very tidy house and it’s true. I laughed out loud when this was shared with me, laughed that it even merited someone’s attention enough to pass that little detail of my life around.
I am having to let go of many details of “tidiness” and organization these days, not only in my kitchen but also in our bedroom, where we’ve moved a rug, a table, two lamps and our bath mats. I’m having to let go of the deadline I set for the launch of my new website. I’m having to do my best to ignore all the stories from the 100 Books Project that are sitting on my computer waiting to be posted on this blog. My work in the studio is over for at least the next 4-6 weeks, and I’m having to sneak in work at home between laundry, dishes, puppy training sessions, puppy visitors, meals and sleep. Today I let go of trying to be super-human, taking the risk that one person in particular will think very poorly of me.
In other words, the level of disorder and Not Being On Top of Things in my life right now has gone far beyond my comfort zone, and I’m having to choose ~ on a daily basis ~ how to respond to that. I’m trying to be graceful about it, to choose my battles carefully, and be quiet when I need to. I want to take this opportunity to shed one more layer of the belief system that I am not enough.
I love to work hard, to inspire, to push myself, to reach and run and take on more than I should. I love it. But there is also that line ~ that very thin line ~ between the passion behind my drive and the feeling of “not enough-ness” that has the potential to creep into that journey. There are all kinds of routines and patterns in my life that have been shattered by a little clumsy four-legged wonder named Tilda, and I’m trying to let her barrel in and dismantle it all, so I can continue learning how to let go, and be enough, and still keep a tidy house.
