What's Right About SOUL GARDEN
We've been living in our new soul garden home in the Okanagan area of British Columbia, Canada for four months, but it seems much longer as we have accomplished much in that time. For most of the summer, the air has been smoky from forest fires which have forced us to stay in and paint and fix, getting ready for winter.
However, on days when the air is mostly clear, it is sublime and we've been able to take soul garden in some of the many lakes that surround us with swimming and kayaking. With each new day, I fall in love with our home more and more as it is rich with so much to do and see.
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For a short time, I thought my studio unpacking was all done....except...my husband found more cartons in the garage marked STUDIO which would explain why I couldn't find certain things. I am soul garden constantly surprised at how little I really need to make art. (Now if only my cheese grater would appear...probably in a box marked den.)
My only rule was that only one box
be put in the studio at one time so that I wouldn't feel overwhelmed in such a small space. I learned that one the hard way and just like
Zentangle, which is completed one stroke at a time. I unpack one box at a
time and depending on the box it could take a while as
I rediscover things from the past.
I am currently building a new Canadian website for my artwork which I
invite you to visit at. In other news; my artwork along with other Canadian
Zentangle artist's work will be on display in Jasper, Alberta starting
September 30th to celebrate 150 years of Confederation in Canada! Oh
Canada! I chose to design birds of which I am very fond.
Also, I am scouting out spots to hold both Zentangle and SoulCollage workshops
in the greater Vernon, BC area sometime late fall and winter so be sure to
check back for details. If you want to get on my mailing list, please
drop me a line at one of the above email addresses.
I leave you with a couple of gems: One rediscovery from a book I made
where I created a brainstorming poem that seems perfect for the end of summer
and the industriousness of fall...
The other soul garden is from a recent field trip to a lavender farm where they had this
open-air gazebo and people had written their wishes and good sentiments on tags
and attached it to the structure. If there had been any tags left I would
have tangled one for sure....but still, I could feel the goodwill and love in
that space, as it was palpable.
How Much Do You Charge For SOUL GARDEN
Soul gardenOkay, just one last thing? I spotted this tangle online and thought it too cute not to share. Though I won't show our dog, Mattie, as she has kind of a sour spot for cats ever since one tried to hitch a ride on her face! Woof!
All the best until next time...and
as usual feel free to leave a comment or two or six.
"There's a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."
Leonard Cohen
After a year of changes and
challenges, I, for one, feel like celebrating a bit. I can attest that
practices like Zentangle and other art forms have kept me grounded and
noticed how out of touch I felt when I did not attend to these practices.
Though the future still looks wobbly (but it always does, really), I think it's
time to bring a little Joy and Light
into our lives, don't you?
Many people at soul garden have asked for another luminary class that I am going to offer it again in January. You can click on the classes tab and reserve and pre-pay for your spot. Or if you are looking for a gift idea, why not buy more spots for family or friends to join you? Just let me know that it's a gift and I will send you a lovely gift certificate and card to give you your intended.
It's
been a bit of a roller coaster ride thus far this year. Lots of turns,
banks, and dips of personal changes and challenges. Throughout it
all, and with help, I have managed to come out the other end pretty well.
I find sudden and repeated curveballs difficult; more so as I get older.
How did I manage to soul garden much before and not even give curveballs a
second thought, I wonder? It comes down to pure innocence, I
figure. What I have learned is that each one usually propels me out
of my comfort zone du jour and sends me hurdling in a new and more exciting
direction. This time it is no different.
With these changes, I have decided to scale back on a few things. First of
all, a few weeks ago, I suspended my FaceBook account which included the Zentangle Spokane page. My time
was being sucked up too much by the cyber world and interfering with
my artistic vision. In short, it was messing me up!
So
out it went and I feel so much lighter not carrying around so much
distracting crud in my head. The bonus is that our meals aren't burning.....as
much. I still have an Instagram account which I post to on occasion, so
you can find it here and follow along if you wish: Loretta. west Spokane, Washington.
Because
I just can't help sharing, now can I? I may reinstate the Zentangle
Spokane page this winter.....but life is okay without facebook....actually
really good, trust me on this one. You might want to try it yourself
for a while and notice any changes.
The Advantages Of Different Types Of SOUL GARDEN
The other change involves learning a new tool for me. A few months ago, a friend introduced me to the intuitive and transformative work of SoulCollage. It involves three of my loves: Meditation, Intuition, and College which are used as tools to listen to your soul to help guide you through your life. Like Zentangle anyone can do it and it requires limited supplies. Soon I will leave to train to become a facilitator in this process and am very excited about it. You can find out more about SoulCollage at this link:With all the personal changes I have experienced this year, I have decided to scale back my Zentangle teaching for a bit. In gratitude to each of you who have supported my teaching journey, I am having an Autumn Appreciation Sale! I have always offered private classes in my bright studio,(see photo below), but now I am offering a 30% discount on private Zentangle Classes of 1 to 4 people until November 30th, 2016. That way I can more easily manage my time with all the best life has to offer me right now.
I can design a class for you whether you are a beginner or a more advanced angler. We can cover color, mixed media, luminaries, tangling on objects like gourds for fall, Holiday gifts, or something you would like to try and you need my studio and assistance. You can choose your own adventure.
Well, my adventure in Art and Life continues to unfold and I hope that we meet along the way! Blessings and Peace to you.
I am offering free classes this
summer sponsored by both the great folks at the Spokane Public Library and the
Spokane County Library.
To kick off the classes for the
Spokane County Library Zentangle classes put together a blog with a video of
me in my studio. You can view it at this link.
It's been a bumpy spring of sudden changes. Lots of rocks
to navigate around and drift over in the river of my life. My
time has been diverted from teaching for a bit as I needed to spend
some time in my own little art eddy for a while. Like many, making
art sustains me in turbulent waters and keeps me from going
under.
This is when I rely on nearly daily practices that ground and nourish me. My life experience has taught me that the water will flow again and that the things that slow me down and steady me, like practicing Zentangle, meditation, gardening, yoga and the love for and of others, of course; will see me through once again to the open waters.
One of the things I did to keep in contact with the world was join a Facebook
group called,
Traveling Tangles Project.
Or you can do a search for Zentangle swaps and find all sorts on the web.
In this group over 400 tanglers from all over the world have gathered to
start a Zentangle tile or two or more, and then mail them off to
others to finish and keep. It's so nice to get real honest to goodness
mail. It's like Pen Pals with tangles!
There were mornings when I didn't feel like tangling and instead wanted to dive
into the rapids. However, just knowing that someone in another part
of the world was waiting for me to send my started tile or finish theirs got me
going.
In fact, participating in this swap got me motivated to finish a tangle pattern I had started long ago. The resulting online conversation about it even helped with a name: world! I have added a new page to this blog: My Tangles which has all the tangles I have developed thus far for you to try.
When I am not teaching I also keep busy by either trying out new
techniques or mediums to share with you and by completing Art
Commissions. Fortunately, the great folks at the Spokane Public Library
asked me to design the back of their bookmarks for people to color and also a
coloring page for their coloring sessions at the branches.
It includes the words, Read, Learn,
Discover and Color. A Calligrapher I am not, but I learned quickly enough
to get the job done and we all are pleased with the result. The
bookmarks should be available soon at your local city library, if not
there already.
I had so much fun designing this page, I thought about how best could I share
this experience with everyone? I noodled around selling
coloring pages or books online which I may still do, but my heart is
in teaching first, so I thought it would be even more fun to teach
you all how to design your own coloring page using the Zentangle method.
It's a winning combination of two mindful and
relaxing techniques in one go!
A place where someone or something is protected or given shelter. the
protection that is provided by a safe place. the room inside a church,
synagogue, etc., where religious services are held.
The word sanctuary has come up a lot for me of late. What does it mean to me?
Does it need to be a physical space or is it more of a feeling? How important
is this sanctuary? Do I need to defend it? Share it?
Last year I started to realize just how certain places had become my shelter.
A place to recharge and regroup and then emerge; somehow more settled, in
order to meet the demands of my world.
How I Got Started With SOUL GARDEN
One such place is my home and in particular my studio and more precisely, my big chair where I am sitting right now writing to you. From this chair, I can look onto the front garden and watch the birds and the seasons change. I can meditate or sit with a book or tangle, draw, paint, and dream.
I am always reminded of how
important this spot is to me when someone else sits here. When that
happens, I feel uprooted and sometimes a bit uncomfortable. Sitting
there has become my pattern for regeneration and restoration.
The second place in our garden. I love to walk barefoot in
meditation through the garden on summer mornings, waking up with the
birds and flowers, pretending like I'm Snow-white. Tra-la-la. I
love visitors to our garden. I like to show them all the plants,
trees, flowers; successes, and failures. Invite them to smell
and touch it all. To hold dear the earth as I do.
The third place is one that moves and floats and is propelled by the
wind! I just love sailing on our little boat and equally love just
bobbing on the lake relaxing with my husband and our friends. Our
boat is a cradle to me and the surrounding water a moat and once I step
off of dry land I feel as if we are in a world of our own.
Recently we were both asked to act as students by our good
friend, Bill Holcomb who was interviewed and filmed last summer for North
West Profiles on PBS. Here is a link to our cameo roles in the show
in case you missed it the first time:
In Zentangle, we learn to draw
patterns and how that can equate to the patterns in our lives, our world. Physical
and mental patterns. By drawing the repetitive shapes we may begin to
notice patterns more and more. Eventually, we may notice behavioral
patterns, our own and others. Recognizing behaviors as patterns allows
us to see a bigger picture. If they are our own behaviors, we can
decide to accept and continue them or to change them.
We can also get stuck in one pattern that keeps us stuck in other
endeavors and once we change that one thing it can unlock a door of changes
that was just itching to see the light of day. Recently for me it
happened that after many years of attending the same yoga classes, my
circumstances changed and I stepped away from what was my sanctuary.
Though I missed my yoga class and my
fellow yogis greatly, other good things have happened since I changed my
pattern. I have returned to swimming in winter. I believed
swimming was only a summer lake activity; but when I got over the diversion of
putting a bathing suit on when there's no sand and no chance of sunburn,
I love it and feel stronger than with yoga alone. I'm meeting
another tribe of people too, friendly water people, and that's alright!
In the process of studying about the sanctuary and how important it is to all of
us, I have begun to see that physical sanctuary spaces change, come and go, and
that the trust sanctuary is deep inside my soul.
If you haven't already, please click on the classes tab to find out all about
my next class at the ClayFox Clay
School where I will be a guest teacher on Saturday, March 12th. I am
very excited about this opportunity as way back when dirt was made I studied
pottery in college and loved playing in the mud!
So this is a bit of a pleasant visit
to the past for me. It is also a bit of a full-circle thing too as
the owner of ClayFox, Jill Smith was my first landlady when we moved
to Spokane and I was looking for studio space for my looms. Life's
pattern is all about circles. I hope you will join me there.
Just click on the classes tab on the right and find out more...
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