Happy Holidays!

I was in a bit of a quandary about our holiday card and pressed for time (not to mention low on funds!). So I decided I would really go all out creating an artful holiday greeting, and then make an artful (I tried!) video greeting to share.  It was a labor of love and I was thinking of all the recipients as I spent hour after hour creating it.  Would they be insulted by a digital holiday card?  Does everyone still want to open something and display over the holidays?  What happens after the holidays?  Are all the cards set into a box and stored, or disposed of to be recycled or put in the land fill?  Those photos of kids you can't just throw away, but how can you spare the space to keep accumulating it all? Well, yes, it became a quandary inside a quandary.  So, in the end, I just decided, I would go with my original and new idea and go digital.  I think, even those who might be a little put off initially, will see the effort that went into this blessing...as long as they watch the video ;)  Here it is!  http://vimeo.com/33699539

Art Play Take-away!

I've developed a really fun and meaningful little art playshop for our Divine Spirit parties and events.  It's the Art Play Take-away!  For $10 you receive an art lesson and can create a mini work of art to focus your intention, make an affirmation, or share a blessing, or positive thought.  You get step by step instructions, exposure to various art media, and lots of fun playing around with messy, unconscious, art!  (baby wipes a-plenty help you clean up your hands for mess-free shopping!)  Everyone, even those who say they are not creative, have enjoyed this freeing experience.  We will focus on the process, not the result, and you will lose yourself in color while you create.  You will be amazed at what you can make.  Join us at our next Divine Spirit Party or event and get messy with me!

Art Journal Canvases

I've made art journals for special friends to honor them in a unique way, and just thought, why not do a few little art journal "page" canvases to sell at our Divine Spirit parties and events?  So I've put these together, had a blast doing it, and have had a great response so far.  If I don't sell out over the next few weeks, some of you may even receive them as gifts!

  

My, my, my, Mandalas!

My mandalas are original artworks, hand-drawn and colored and mounted on 6x6x1.75 inch gesso board.  The insert on the back, inside, describes the corresponding chakra and provides a meditation for healing, opening or balancing that chakra.  They are available for purchase in the Chakra Garden & Boutique at Lemongrass Spa in Encinitas, and on the Lily Girl website, as part of the Divine Spirit Collection of art and jewelry.

ROOT CHAKRA ALTAR

SACRAL CHAKRA ALTAR

SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA ALTAR

THROAT CHAKRA ALTAR

HEART CHAKRA ALTAR

 THIRD EYE CHAKRA ALTAR

CROWN CHAKRA ALTAR

The Goddess of All Good Things

I am enchanted by bright pink, fuschia, orange, and red these days.  For a while these colors have been making me happy and inspiring much artful endeavor.  I was checking out Michelle Ward's (Green Pepper Press) 54th Crusade...creating a color and naming it (actually, starting with the name and creating the color...so, the Crusade was an inspiration). I had just completed this background using all these colors.  I didn't think about naming it until I read the Crusade, but it was immediately clear to me that I must name this color "Lakshmi's Garden."  Lakshmi (in her many forms) is the Hindu goddess of all things good:  wealth, prosperity (both spiritual and material), beauty, light, wisdom, fertility, generosity, fortune, grace, charm, courage and good luck.  See...everything good!  And I'm about EVERYTHING, yeah...ALL OF IT being good right now.  I'm giving myself permission to have EVERYTHING be good in my life.  Why do we try to focus our positive energy on just one thing or two?  My astrologer and Moon Book co-author, Suzann Lennox tells me I don't have to do that!  And the planets are with me on this!  Thank you Suzann, and thank you, Lakshmi, for EVERYTHING...especially your colors.

So I didn't really know what I was going to put into this background (it's actually half of a two-page spread) until I named it.  I had been working on a sketch of Lakshmi and now I know where she will go.  She will be standing on a lotus, and I will have to draw four arms...that means four hands...and I'm not so good at hands yet.  But I have a feeling she will be beautiful!

Chakra Energy is Flowing!

So thrilled to be a part of the Lemongrass Spa Chakra Garden!  It is such an inspiring and beautiful place.  And my artwork is featured and will be offered for sale!  I am proud and honored to be part of this endeavor that has brought so many amazing people together...and will continue to do so, I'm certain.  I hope to see you there as well!

Flower Faerie

Journal Flip Plus-Dedicated to Leah

can't wait 'til sunday!

DIVINE SPIRIT, for me, is an amazing community of friends and artists.  They are angels, mermaids, sweet souls, wise women.  There has been this outpouring of creativity between all of us, surrounding us, sustaining us and filling us; it goes so much farther beyond what any one of us could experience on our own.  We can barely contain it all among just the few of us and so we are compelled to share it will everyone; bring anyone and everyone into the community through art, meditation, creativity, and love;  and take us all beyond the limits we all put on ourselves.  I love my Divine Spirit collaborators with all my heart, and I am eager to spread the love and juiciness to all of you!

Peachy Pink Warm Fuzzies

So much love and support is surrounding me lately, I am bursting with joy and creativity.  At our Divine Spirit Circle Monday night I just felt FULL.  The air was full of light, rose essence and magic! The women in this Circle are so amazing...and I feel amazing to be part of it.  I'm feeling peachy pink and my hands smell like cinnamon...life is good!

The Hardest Thing

Heart Chakra Mandala

(soon to be a Healing Chakra Alter at shoplilygirl.com -like "Divine Spirit" on Facebook)

it's hard 

to have compassion

i think it's actually 

the hardest thing

you have to let go 

of all your basic 

human emotions

    anger

    resentment

    desire

    fear

even a sense of 

what's fair

sometimes

you can't be 

reactionary

you can't think 

of yourself

or what you're not getting

it's the purest form of love

i don't know 

if i can be that pure

but i'm trying

Full Moon in Scorpio

Flipping through my date book, the days, weeks, months are just pages.  Today is this little rectangle.  If I write, I will rapidly fill it with thought, and it will not be enough to hold everything for today, about today, this moment, the moment before or after this moment.  A moment ago I was flipping through a smaller, tide chart calendar, and noticed that the whole year, all those powerful ebbs and flows, were contained in a tiny book that can fit in a surfer's pocket.  I was looking for moon-rise/moon-set.  The moon governs the tides, so I thought I would just quickly check on when I'd be able to see tomorrow's full moon.  This little book stopped me dead in my tracks.  Flipping quickly through the months, like they have no significance, and realizing that each of them have at least 30 days and a full moon all their own.  Does it take a full moon to make me realize the passing of time and how precious each moment really is?  Yes.  Thank goodness I get a reminder every month!  I'll never look at a full moon the same way ever again.

Tutus & Love

I'm a giver.  (So sue me...no wait, ya might not wanna, cuz I'm a lawyer too.)  Pardon the interruption.  I give a lot.  I'd probably give more, but I have an editor in the house:  my husband.  Sometimes he has saved me from grief...on a rare occasion.  But he really can't stop me from being me...poor dear.  Honestly, I need to be giving...it's who I am.  But my gifts must be meaningful.  And, I have to admit, they need to be appreciated.  Most of the time they are appreciated...I think I've learned where to devote my attention.  Is that selfish? Does it defeat the act of giving?  I don't really know.  But it won't stop me.  I'm unstoppable! Especially when I'm wearing a tutu!

Shine

Lately, I've been feeling like my age is showing.  That extra fluff...all over...my previously athletic body; those spots and wrinkles here and there; the grays.  But my age is also what has brought me to a greater sense of peace and joy in my life...it took time.  Time takes it's toll on you physically, but it also gives you the experience and wisdom to help you realize what's really important.  And I know that when I am thinking about what's important, I realize I am so fortunate.  I have love in my heart and confidence in who I am.  That's my light.  And when this light shines out, none of the physical signs of aging are noticed.  The light shines brightly and gets everyone's attention first.  This quote:  "Shine with all your light all the time" is from The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.  It is what I remember when I'm looking for my light.

The ENEAGRAM

Well, I don't know about you, but when several of the people I value in my life point me to something and tell me it has truth, I'm intrigued, and then I learn a little more, and then I point someone else in that direction...usually.  The Eneagram is a very interesting way to determine your personality, in all its wonderful flaws and potential.  It helps us look at and develop an awareness of what shapes us and our reactions to things, so that we might overcome some of the negative traits to our personality, tap into the positive, and evolve.  I believe that my time here on Earth is a journey of soul evolution.  I can't just stay the way I am...I need to find my highest self before I move on.  It's hard to do when you are bogged down in the mundane...but when you start to see amazing spirituality in the mundane, then you know that no experience is wasted.  So are you a 1 or a 2 or a...9? And what does it mean to be a 1 or a 2 or a 9?  Take a look if you're curious...this would be the book I recommend.  Here is a journal spread inspired by my own Eneagram.  My mom, one of the people mentioned in line one, says I put all the good stuff and none of the negative.  I told her, my journal is about empowerment, being positive...not a place to dwell on negativity.  We all have our flaws, but if that's all we examine or contemplate, how are we to move beyond it?!