uh huh !

one of 3 NEW designs for MagnetWorks (a fantastic company to work with) - check for a retailer near you* here

shine bright - uh huh !

and always remember sometimes you need to keep on shiny bright even through the muddy mirk & madness ;-)

+ check out MagnetWorks sneak peek to see my involvement in their Studio M peace pole project - woohoo-ing !


* garden flags, mats, mailbox covers & yard signs are sold in Canada & USA - even in my little Nova Scotia village - please try calling the MagnetWorks toll free number to see if you might find a retailer in your area.

& we can also shine bright like a diamond - let's add a little Rihanna to that magic mojo mix

eggrolls & modern family

good morning crow / lichen love or searching for green / near the crescent beach / dune grass / greenery / winter / asters

Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.  Harold Whitmann

Oh Boy ! There's no question I have come alive this year.

Especially so in the last few years but most of all this darn year (yeah you 2013 !) I've come alive lately at such a rapid rate and in so many different ways I can hardly stand it - literally. It's felt way too often like I'm on some high speed, thrashing, spinning, somersaulting ride, dizzy & waving frantically to the controls guy to stop (the madness) but he does not hear me so on I go - whizzing, falling, spinning, tumbling, feeling really queasy, anxious, awful, afraid & insecure. Doubt & questions of Self Worth  are always on this crazy ride with me. 

But … I understand clearly now that truly coming alive is always a mixed bag, sometimes a surprise bag, of emotions, thoughts & feelings. Note to self - none thankfully are permanent Phew ! That indeed the very best way, in fact really the ONLY way, to get to the other side of anything is to go through it. Going through some shit stuff feels so very difficult (les bold understatement) but WOW ! when you land securely on the other side and take a look back at all the distance you've covered, all the lessons you've learned and all the growth you've accomplished it feels GREAT ! it feels freakin' fantastic.

I've recently been treated myself to some extreme self-care with nightly pre-bed/book time back-to-back episodes of Modern Family (laughter is indeed the best medicine) LOVE !!!! & I've delightfully given in to an out-of-the-blue intense craving for eggrolls with spicy plum sauce. TLC +++

My friend Allison from Japan (via Canada) mentioned my fav Katy Perry - You Rock On Girlfriend Wontcha ! song in yesterday's comments, let's add this one to the mojo mix. Baby you're a Firework ;-)

roar(ing)

icy seaweed at the end of Water St. / sweet old cottage / dandelion in the park / the ice has arrived early / lichenologist lovin' / aster seed heads / 'tis the season ;-)

This is something basic to be understood 
the ego must come to a peak, it must be strong, 
it must have attained an integrity 
only then can you dissolve it. 

Osho

I get a dose of Daily Love in my inbox each morning so often the quotations are just what I need to hear
thanks Katy ! oh magical maker of most excellent mojo mix & tres empowering tunes

honestly

from les iPhoto archives - sweet mini roses / lobelia avec Miss Betty / cherry tomato harvest / dogwood berries on the crescent beach / golden rod with a bee / begonias / Japanese windflowers  / fantastic bold snapdragons

Living with integrity means: Not settling for less than what you know you deserve in your relationships. Asking for what you want and need from others. Speaking your truth, even though it might create conflict or tension. Behaving in ways that are in harmony with your personal values. Making choices based on what you believe, and not what others believe. - Barbara De Angelis

colour, the brighter the better, flowers, values, integrity & remembering my personal mantra (below) this Sunday morning

I will always tell the truth. My truth. I will be authentic. 
I will be brave, thoughtful, & assertive. I will set my boundaries with care, kindness & grace whenever possible. I will choose discomfort over resentment.

oh my 2013

more scenes from my most recent visit to church - my favourite big poplar trees standing naked for the winter / at the crescent beach / rose hips / view from the far end of the crescent / more lichen love / sea grass / mussels / golden blaze & foggy seaweed strewn beach / fog & the gorgeous smell of the salt air - LOVE

If God said, 'Rumi pay homage to everything that has helped you enter my arms,' there would not be one experience of my life, not one thought, not one feeling, nor any act, I would not bow to.
Rumi

oh my 2013 - you have been a humdinger, you have put a shit kickin' into me.

You have been an extremely trying year. You have been difficult, continually anxiety & fear inducing. This year I have failed repeatedly, made huge mistakes, fallen down, picked myself back up, fallen down again & again & again. You 2013 have made me angry, sad, worried, anxious (so anxious in fact that I have a pain in my stomach way too much of the time). You have been a busy year, far too busy, too busy to think straight busy. 2013 you have sucked, you have been way too hard.

Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavour. 
Truman Capote

If you remember my one little word for this year was "ease" (insert tres ironic & boisterous laugh track here). As we near the end of this year 2013 (& good riddance I yell), Grace thankfully has arrived, late to the party as usual, but with Grace's arrival I'm realizing that Yes, this has been the year of the hard knocks, this has been the year of mistakes & failures (and big ones). It has also been the year of intense & invaluable learning and growth, I can see that now. Frustrating as it is while you're mired in the muck of bad decisions & uncomfortable feelings, once cracked open those baddest bads always hold the golden tickets - the tickets that allow you to leap and bound forward fast and furiously, more confidently into the future holding Grace's hand as you go. The baddest bads inevitably hold the greatest lessons. The baddest bads teach you, the hard way, what you do not want & what you will not stand for. & can I have a hallelujah for that most excellent nugget ?

Success is stumbling from failure to failure
with no loss of enthusiasm.
Winston Churchill

church

the crescent beach - mild & fog / our pine tree / lichenologist love / deadly nightshade berries / portrait on the crescent beach / leaves like feathers / beauty & calm / dew / seaweed

I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and 
have no real certainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me--that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.

Anne Lamott - from Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

being in nature, exploring, observing & photographing nature feels like church to me - it is church for me

doing, doing, done

a mix of archival & current images - harbour love / morning dew / my buddy, my constant companion & comfort / hydrangea / the nest aver Miss B / a Betty portrait with much loved orange cat Mama blankie / I'm so grateful that I live by the sea / Winnie Dixon & Tweet / tree love / Mr. paws on boss cat, doesn't want to miss a thing ;-) 

The wise know that too much doing and a thing won't get done. The secret to manifesting on the highest level is to find the perfect amount of doing and non-doing to allow the doing to be done. Sometimes much more can be accomplished simply by letting go and trusting. 

Jackson Kiddard

I am moments away from practically* finishing the HUGE project I've been working on all fall, since September really, when the initial planning, conceptualizing thumbnail drawing portion began. OMG ! I've had moments, and many of them, where I wanted to fling myself off of my cushy, spinning office chair, wave the white flag of creative slumpdom and say "I give", I'm failing, I'm floundering, I can't do this - but of course I would never, ever say that I was just in one of those creative slumpdom big snit phases - which happen to all of us, even to my new dear friend Annie Lamott. Last night I was listening to this Anne L. book chat on repeat while outlining typography with ink and a very fine paintbrush - I had to pause her she was making me laugh so hard and squiggle my meant to be somewhat straight lines (it was her skiing mishap story for those of you who have been listening along too).

I've been creating all of these new pieces in Photoshop. Hand collaging/mixed media bits, icons & typography, scanning them, close cropping them (les clipping path - Photoshop term) then layering, layering, layering. I can't tell you an exact number of photoshop files, let's just say very many. This week, after today, I need to get ready for this Saturday's Christmas Farmer's Market and package + send my lovely retail stockists Inkwell in Halifax and Dots & Loops in Lunenburg their "better late than never" holiday packages. No calendars this year (sad face) I just didn't have time. Then finally I have one custom/freelance art project and tout fini for 2013 … well almost finished ;-) seems I'm never really finished … secretly I'm pretty sure I actually like it best that way. Shhhhhh ;-)

* I say practically because there is a slight round 2 headed toward me mid-December but I do get a wee, much needed break for a week or so. Hooray !