Life's a Beach

Dear all, I'm taking a leaf out of the Mondo Beyondo Dream Lab's book and off for a well deserved rest and play holiday in Spain: sand, sea, sangria and a break from computers and blackberrys. I cannot wait to feel the warm sand inbetween my toes, watch the sunset over the ocean and sit on that balcony with my best friend, contemplating life. I will have my trusty camera with me and plan on submerging myself into some delightful time spent with this old pal of mine. An almost "off the grid" kinda holiday! (okay I will check in once or twice) Wow this is going to be a challenge for me I know. :-)

In the meantime, ill leave you with Ingrid whilst I am the "Lady in Spain". :-)

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Bloom True

A few weeks ago I shared progress on the front garden and how excited I was to see seeds we had planted start to grow and bloom. The mighty sunflower we have been watching, watering and waiting for, finally decided it was time today, to open its petals in all its glory, facing up to the sunshine, worshipping its energy through the trees and catching the rays to energize itself.

How lovely it is to see it stand tall, strong, green and golden yellow and in some cases much taller than people passing by who have been stopping for a chat and watching it grow with us everyday.

When the seeds were planted many moons ago, little did we know how beautiful this was going to be, we hoped of course, had faith that if we nurtured, watered, provided an earthy spot full of sunlight and cared for it, it would indeed bloom so true to itself.

Today, after reading my Dream Lab prompt, I took the advice to "take all the time in the world you need to really see, feel and hear what is going on around you. Go Slow". So I visited with the sunflower for a short while, stood tall, opened my own petals reaching to the sky, breathed in a deep breath and said hello to the world and to myself living in this moment.

Like the garden, I believe in planting seeds out there in the world to inspire
an idea
or
creative goal.

Lets take some time today to think about our own creative seeds; plant them, nurture them, feed and water them, check in on them, have a friendly chat, watch them grow and be patient. Most of all, have faith that our own ideas and creative goals will surely flourish when it is indeed time to also Bloom True.

Enjoy your day.

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It's Time to....

It's amazing how some of my artful sisters, although many miles and sometimes oceans apart can still be so connected or on the same wave length. We are all riding a wave of something at the moment; change, fear, excitement and I think its knowing something amazing is around that corner, creating butterflies in our tummies, pushing up against our boundaries that is creating this wave of feelings.

The last week has all been about fear, permission, rest......Beth posted a video about "fear and Permission" and living the life you want, Tinnie girl reminded us "it's okay"....., Cul*ti*vate Chrissy and Andrea and I blogged about helping ourselves rest and Mindy also noted her own feelings on "assessing our fears and pushing that perimeter". Is it Kelly Rae's ecourse that is helping us push up against our boundaries? I think so....It is so inspiring, educational and yes a little overwhelming with all the absolutely outstanding information Kelly Rae is sharing with her creative community. I cant wait to see what happens next.

The lovely Beth is doing a great job co-ordinating "The Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap" and I've given you a sneaky beaky peak into a little of what my "Time" stitched postcard entails within this post, before I send off to a dear creative soul in Australia. I sat in the garden yesterday creating this in the sunshine. :-)

So lovely friends IT IS TIME....to
"Dream Big",
"Live Without Fear"
and yes, open up to the universe and
"Let Things Come to You"

The Dream Lab starts today also, Soooooo excited.

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Rest and Play? Moi?

Why do I find that Rest and Play is something I do less of? I am the kind of person who has many "to do" lists, flip chart “post its” around my studio and most often an overwhelming array of “ideas” whirling around my head and for someone who is a planner, just keeps adding task after task after task!

To say do I rest? Is something I find quite a challenge in the terms of what most of us see rest as. Is there anyone out there that is like this too? Or am I alone in my insane world of “keep going”? I left my corporate role 6 weeks ago, and still I am not being good to myself in terms of allowing myself to just take time out and know its all okay to just do “nothing” for a few days.

THEN a friend pointed out that Mondo Beyondo have a Dream Lab starting up this month and my first instinct was “YES lets go” but then I thought, hang on, i'm piling MORE into my life, what am I doing? Crazy woman! but then I read a little more about the e-course and guess what! Its all about being more playful and letting things go, as I read more I realized it WAS talking directly to ME! :-)

Who is it for?

• Anyone who is tired of the hamster wheel and ready to rest more and worry less.
• Anyone who is up against the compulsion to do more and be responsible at the expense of their happiness or physical well-being.
• Anyone who would enjoy a daily invitation to be playful.
• Dreamers who want to develop their sense of trust and spontaneity.
• Former students of Mondo Beyondo who want to reinforce key Mondo Beyondo concepts like being flexible and following your intuition.

Photo from Mondo Beyondo

So yep! You guessed it, I signed up! I am currently also learning to fly with Kelly Rae Roberts which is a fabulous e-course with so much to read and digest. It's also fantastic that so many of my artful sisters are also participating. The "Dream Lab" does overlap a little in terms of timing, but I think this may very well challenge me to go against that natural grain of mine a bit. For anyone who has not taken Mondo Beyondo (I know many of us have) I would highly recommend it, which is why I’m jumping on this new addition to their offerings. (There’s also a new Mondo Beyondo class starting Aug 30)

If anyone wants to join me in the Dream Lab, please let me know, but I'll be sharing some of the activities here on my blog over the coming weeks. (it kicks off next week)

What are some of the ways you rest and take time out? Do you go to the spa, the gym, go for a walk, or like me to fully re-charge, have to take yourself completely out of your regular environment, sometimes even leave your town or country!

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Vintage Opening and a Birthday Sign.

"Vintage Enjoyed" Corks, tea and clear granular gel embedded in an 11x11 frame. Mixed media piece by me. :-)

What does the theme "Vintage" mean to you? Amongst all the craziness of the last week or so, I am pleased that I got to attend my group art opening at the Distillery Gallery in Jersey City on Friday night. Our theme was "Vintage" and those of you who have met me, will know that when this theme was chosen I immediately thought of
VINTAGE as in wine (the act or process of producing wine; wine making)
rather than
VINTAGE as in old (or should i say "representing the high quality of a past time").

I felt that as this old storage space now turned funky gallery is right next door to a wine shop, it really emphasized the connection of my interpretation.

"The Barrel Room", 8x10 luster print on cradled wood panel

I am also pleased to announce that I sold my piece that was displayed in the show (YAY!) titled "The Barrel Room". It was great to chat to the couple who bought the piece about the photograph which was taken at Cline cellars in Napa Valley, CA at a friends wedding last August and how wonderful the light is out in that part of the world.

After such an amazing busy week mostly away from art, it was such a divine way to start the weekend knowing that art was back to being more present in my life.

On another note, my lovely Mum turned a young age of xxx on Saturday ;-) I found this wall painting sign in Seattle back in March of this year. I thought this would be a perfect way to say Happy Birthday on my blog and express how much I love you mum.

Such a cool sign dont you think?


Have a wonderfully creative and inspiring week all.

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5 Things that Make me Smile - June

Dear blog and blog friends, I feel I've neglected you this week....so sorry. Cant wait to catch up with you all very soon. But in the meantime, here's some smiley stuff just from this busy event hosting week I've had. :-)

Filling party Rooms with Helium Balloons


Raffle Fever


Flipflop weather for Rooftop BBQs

Drinking Pimms in the sun - my favourite British Summer Drink

AND
Curating a Group Art Exhibition to celebrate British Culture and World Cup Football where we raised $427 at the opening reception for FreeartsNYC - a local children's charity.

Hope you have all had a great week too.

Also pleased to announce the winner from Junes First Friday Giveaway is KOLLEEN! YAY. Kolleen said "the latest thing I did was to get on the jungle gym at a park WITHOUT my kids!!" LOVE IT Kolleen. Ill get your address and post Neils Book to you asap. :-)

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First Friday Find & Giveaway - JUNE

Welcome to First Fridays Find and Giveaway for June. A monthly feature where I'll post some fun, inspirational or useful finds and also offer a fabulous giveaway from myself, sponsors or the universe in general!

This months FIND is a blog which inspires, delights and makes me smile (actually Laugh Out Loud) oh so much. Color me Katie. Do you know of her?

Well if you dont, you are in for a real little treat. She is a freelance photographer and Street Artist who comes up with the most funniest, quirky, out there creative things.

Her boyfriend is actually one of the Improv Everywhere genius's so I can just imagine how fun their home lives must be.

Whenever I have a bad day, feel a little blue or just need an injection of something inspirational, I pop over to Katies blog and as if by magic the child in me is awoken and I sit in my studio just laughing and smiling. The best feeling. I just know she will be on your blog list once you check her out. Color me Katie is a great way to remind us all of the child inside that is okay to let out once in a while.

First Friday Giveaway

Staying on the subject of Improv Comedy! My Expat business Big Apple Brits is organizing our first annual BritFest NYC starting on June 4th and we met some great British Improv comedians on Wednesday night. VERY funny guys who have improvised together for many years. Neil Mullarkey and Stephen Frost are working with us on a couple of events. Eddie Izzard and Mike Myers turned up too!
So this months giveaway is something to make you laugh, but is also smart. A signed copy of Neil Mullarkey's new book "Dont Be Needey, Be Succeedy".

TO WIN: Just post a comment below on 1) your latest find, 2) something you have done recently to let your child inside out or 3) just something nice you want to share. :-) Ill pick the winner at random on Sunday night.

Have a great weekend all!

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