Thanks for the DANCE

Whew, all the dancing and all the eating and all the visual feasting......I don't know about you but I'm exhausted. Ah, but it was a wonderful event. A big big thanks goes out to Elizabeth at Be....Dream.....Play for hosting our wild party! Thank you to all who came by and signed my dance card too - here's one last toast to blogland friends!

The Bloglandia Ball

Here it is - the moment has arrived. My gown is ready. It's a casual dress as I am a casual gal. Of course, it had to have swirls and hearts. When the magical evening air gets a little cool, I've come with my crocheted shawl.

I'll dance my way through the New Mexico pinon and sage brush and juniper to the Bloglandia Ball. I'm ready to meet new friends.
You'll know me by my sparkling eyes and my radiant smile which will be a reflection of all of YOUR beauty.

As we glimmer and shimmer and laugh and prance under this wondrous full moon
We will PLAY!

This is my wish for all of you
- DELIGHT -INSPIRATION -JOY -

Follow the stars...........
to the Bloglandia Ball

It's 7:30 here and the moon just came up over the ridge. A blooming moon!

my sacred life update

Carla's month long Sacred Life project has come to an end. Yet she's continuing on Sundays with the project. I missed last Sunday but I plan to jump in there next Sunday. I have been a busy scattered woman lately. But I just adore this concept of My Sacred Life. Even if I don't get a photo posted or anything written on my blog I have noticed my own sacred life these past few days and weeks. Noticing is what is even more important than documenting. Just by writing this post I realize I am so grateful for that beautiful moon shining through my window. I am grateful to have my husband by my side - giving me little kisses and that glimmer in his eye as he asks me - are you writing a blog post - just because he knows how much joy this blog gives me.

Just that small moment combined with the intention to notice my sacred life shifts it into a precious gift. I have also enjoyed every one's posts about their own sacred lives. I've read about other's sacred life and been reminded to notice even more. There is a lot to worry about in this world but there is also an AWE-some beauty that is there for noticing always. To just set the intention - to notice what is really so special that one could call it sacred is a process I think helping love beauty and joy expand. I can only report my gratitude......


Wahoo....tomorrow is the Bloglandia Ball! Stay tuned.....

Shimmer, Glimmers, and Dresses Galore!

The Bloglandia Ball is tomorrow! I'm seeing if I can get this badge link on my blog but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see my dress!

Gifts abundant

Here I am standing in front of my work at the reception last Friday. It was a very good birthday. I feel a new journey beginning for me. Though I miss my mom, and grief is there sometimes, I also recognize that a whole new path is opening up ahead for me. I don't know where it will take me exactly but I feel like I have found a whole new freedom and that I must share the gifts.

Speaking of gifts - Look the rainbows came!
I first noticed them on my birthday. We have a water prism. It hangs in a south facing window. When the sun moves low into the southern sky it shines through the water prism and the rainbows dance! We purchased this water prism from a Placitas artist couple last May and I've been waiting through the summer for the fall sun to find it.

More about sharing gifts. I sent Tinker a creative heart seed. I used the opportunity to also send Tinker a daily lump for 2006. I sent her this daily lump. It was inspired by one of her posts from that time period last year.

She wrote a wonderful heart story.... Go read it here.


I'm currently making more creative heart seeds. One may be coming to you soon! My plan is to send them out......okay now I must go get my hands into the clay.....have a great day....... may you find gifts abundant.

Happy Birthday to meeee!
Look at the beautiful flowers my husband extraordinaire brought home for me. Those lilies smell divinely passionate!
Tonight is the reception for the Luna Project show. Please scroll down or click here to come visit my work.

Welcome to the Luna Project

I'm in a wonderful show right now at the Harwood Art Center. 11 other women artists are in the group and we are showing some of our work from the past 2 years. We called it the Luna Project after the moon because "Like the moon, artists wax and wane. Our group encourages each other to begin again and keep making art."

My work was all created in 2007. This is what my artist statement says......

Since the Luna Project was inspired by the moon, I had the idea to make circular relief sculptures using clay. In its unfired workable state, clay contains water, and therefore, it can be shaped just like the moon shapes the earth's tides.

I've had a few years of significant transitions and these pieces arose out of a desire to give myself visual self-care reminders. They are like slogan mandalas for the wall. They ask questions such as - what are you cultivating in your life? What are you doing to relax and sink deeper into your being? Are you taking small little by little steps? Are you fostering faith and expressing your creativity? Are you asking for help?

I left the clay unglazed for simplicity. I did not want to hide the texture, mica, and color of this New Mexico low-fire clay. I consider myself an explorer of the creative process. I work not only in clay but sometimes in words, collage, craft, and mixed media. These pieces are one small part of a larger desire to live a creative life and to inspire myself on that path. I share them in hopes that they will in some small way inspire others to follow their creative path.

Here is an up close look at my pieces.............

Cultivate

Bliss

Decide

Serenity Prayer

Sing

Guides

Sacred Life Hands

My Sacred Life includes a sister who helps me in so many different ways. Here is her hand demonstrating how she holds the yarn in crochet. Can you tell from this photo that she's left handed?
Here is my hand. I took photos so I'd be able to remember later and because I just love hands. Hands are sacred.
It's nice to learn something new. I am starting to get the hang or hook of crochet. I went to my second class yesterday and it wasn't nearly as difficult as that first week. My goal this week is to make a dish cloth. What I love about learning this new thing is the absolute freedom I feel while doing it. I'm not learning it very quickly in fact I feel a bit dense and inept with it but what feels so free to me is that I don't have to impress anyone. I feel no pressure to make it into anything.

I also love having something to do with my hands. I watch too much TV and it feels so wonderful to be learning something that I can do while watching TV. There is something very comforting about actively using both hands and therefore both sides of my brain. Oh, what freedom to find a hand craft that my perfectionist simply doesn't give a darn about. Who cares it says.......so off I go practicing a little here and there and just having fun learning something new. That is sacred.

Declutter Flu

Been away a little long. I caught the declutter re-organizing flu. I've still got a touch of it and it may be a long recovery. The good news is I am feeling a little lighter and less bogged down. May be able to go in my studio soon and work on creative projects without feeling the weight of all that needs to be sorted out and cleared away.
I feel like I'm making room. Opening up space. Making room for more clay projects and more multi media and collage play. I feel as if each thing I find a proper home for and each thing I release to a new home is opening up an area in my life that will allow for new friends and new work and new creative inspiration. Each little project that has been waiting because it was a low priority that I take care of releases that "I did it - I finally did it - energy!"

I didn't realize I was complaining about the mess and how it didn't work until my husband seemed so proud of me for doing something about it rather than having a meltdown over and over again about it.

Having to clear out my mother's home this year really taught me a lot about what's important. You can't take it with you. So I am finding a balance of keeping things I love - letting go of things that are getting in the way. Finding other ways to honor the past without allowing it to be a space hog crowding out the present precious moment.

I was at the library this week - looking for low fat cookbooks (another current project of mine). Along the same aisle, I passed the organizing books and Sandra Felton's book Organizing Magic leapt out at me. Now I realize reading about organizing doesn't get one any closer to getting the job done. But it looked like a little book to inspire me while I'm down with this declutter flu.....

Here are a few quotes from Felton's book:

Organizing is not nearly as important as many other things in life. But what it delivers often is priceless. - Sandra Felton

A year from now you may wish you had started today. - Karen Lamb, author

Every minute you procrastinate putting something back where it belongs is a cluttered minute. -Sandra Felton

A habit cannot be tossed out the window: it must be coaxed down the stairs a step at a time.
-Mark Twain

So, this is where I'm at......away from the computer mostly.....I have my clay work in an art show at the Harwood Art Center in Albuquerque. Next week - I'll show you the work - you had a sneak peak earlier here.

I'll leave you with some images from the last week of my sacred life - clouds - more clouds I can't seem to help myself they have been so magical this year