Summer Stuff

summer is speeding right along and we are smack dab in the middle of our first heatwave.  not my favorite thing for sure but it could be worse.  here are a few things happening over in this neck of the woods...

we had some friends over to help initiate our new deck and celebrate some special occasions.... good times!

This is the lovely building where the interview was held

i had an interview this week regarding my grant proposal (details here) to teach art journaling to homeless women veterans.   it went very well and i’m optimistic but won’t know for sure for a few more months.

 i’m showing my mixed media pieces at ArtBeat on Main Street, a brand new exciting gallery in downtown Vista.

i’m giving up the idea of a summer retreat in favor of teaching a series of creativity workshops at the gallery.  excited about this!

next week we are doing a presentation at vista rotary club regarding both the gallery and the workshops.

Always ready to play!

Whatcha got??

bailey continues to be such a joy to get to know.... so full of love and, unlike our other cockers, she is a real ball girl!!

stu has a class reunion next month and a family reunion 3 weeks later..... so looks like a couple of trips to northern ca are in our future.  i hope you are enjoying all the good things summer has to offer !!!

Mary's Wall

if you ran across this mosaic would you not say it was fabulous??  what if i told you it was just a small part of a wall that was 90 feet long??  and that it was all done by one person?  and that it was in her backyard?  and that she just started it this past January?  just for fun.  are you amazed yet?

that, my friends, is mary’s wall.

 mary and i have been friends for a very long time.  we worked together in the schools.  and while i’ve always known her to be a person whose creativity was near the surface (i.e. generating lots of new ideas) i was not aware, during our working-together years, of the extent of her artistic abilities.

 when she attended 2 of my retreats in the last few years, i started to get a clue.  she talked about doing this wall in mosaics, but seriously, i had NO IDEA!  she had a vision.

Space Between3 Retreat

the wonderful thing about the wall is that not only is it beautiful but it is very personal as well.  as we walked from one end to the other, mary gave a running commentary on what bits and pieces of her life and family and the local area were included in each section.  totally amazing....

so while mary is not looking to draw a lot of attention to herself or her wall, i felt that it was a story that just had to be told!!

is she done yet?  i don’t think so…. now that she sees how much fun it was, she has plans for even more mosaics in her yard.  so if you happen to break a plate….. save the pieces for mary!!  way to go, my friend!!

Another of her creations

Beach Architecture

i first discovered  it at san onofre beach.  when i got down onto the beach i noticed the teepees.  i thought it was pretty cool and had a good time photographing them from all different angles and even from the inside.

 then in Oregon they started to pop up all over the place.  all kinds of small and large structures made of driftwood.  some quite simple.

 others rather elaborate.  some could actually provide shelter from the elements.

 the beach at bullards state park turned out to be the grand-daddy of beach architecture.  don’t think i’ve ever seen so much driftwood in one place!

i started really loving these little structures and finding them to have such a real and raw beauty.  i even coined an instagram hash tag for #beacharchitecture and started a photo keyword in my adobe bridge.  i have a feeling there will be a new beach architecture mixed media piece materializing soon!

This one in Yachats was a memorial for some boys who drowned

part of the reason i love this is that it’s a direct representation of the human creative spirit.  the ocean tosses up some random pieces of driftwood and we humans gather them and create with them.  how fabulous is that!!

in other news.... i've added an exciting update to my inside out project!

happy august, everyone!!

Doing vs. Being

I used to think I had to be doing something all the time.  as in every minute.  keeping busy at all costs.  i came from a heavily work-ethic laden background.  that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  it has bestowed on me the admirable traits of drive and perseverance.  

 but i have learned so much in these last few years.  (getting old does have its upside…)  i’ve learned that there is so much more to life than constant activity and checking off entries on my to-do list.

i’ve learned the richness of silence. 

the beauty of being.

the joy of solitude.

and the nurture of nature.

it’s TRULY a whole new world

i still have plenty of to-do lists.  i still stuggle with the need to “accomplish” in order to feel good about myself and my day.  it’s in my dna after all.  but there is a big change in my awareness level and that, my friends, is a very good thing.

 (all pics from earlier this month in coastal Oregon)