September, 2022
Like I’ve said before, your body will talk to you a lot when you meditate. My body talks a lot louder than my thoughts, and even though I know it is a good idea to be “in touch” with you body, sometimes I miss the times when I had no awareness of it at all. Then again, maybe some of that is just that it gets louder as you get older, whether you meditate or not. I usually position my hands either upright on my thighs, or palms down on my thighs, or sometimes with my hands cupped in front of me. More than once, I’ve suddenly noticed that my hands have clenched into fists, the exact opposite of the relaxed, intentional posture you’re looking for. I don’t have any particular wisdom to share about how to prevent it, just notice and relax. What I can tell you thought, is that the more often I catch it in meditation, the more often I catch it during the rest of my day – finding some part of me that is clenched tight for no apparent reason. I take it (in a purely non-scientific way) as an indication that my fight or flight response has been triggered, or in my case, spends most of its time triggered, and that’s just not sustainable, at least not without consequences.
August, 2022
Well, I sort of stayed home in August. One quick day trip from Chicago over to Grand Rapids to attend a quilt exhibit and show. Great inspiration pieces and a great opportunity to do a little exhibit hall shopping as usual.
This was the unexpected bonus – it was a beautiful day for driving. I live in a city so I don’t drive much, and when I do it’s usually in the passenger seat with the boyfriend/husband, and it’s usually a lot of fun. But this time, I was in the driver’s seat, and it was just what I needed. My NPR time, my music, and I surprised myself with how much I really needed to sing and shout out loud where no one could hear me (not recommended when you live in a high rise!) Simple pleasures.
August, 2022
Moving on from collage to mixed media painting. I have a stash of unfinished pieces that need some resolution. Love working in layers, but boy if you get interrupted it can sit there for a while in a pretty unattractive place. Sometimes I just lose the thread altogether and reinvent. I can see traces of the collage series here in using the big bold shapes on top to frame the rest of the action. This was fun and faster than I expected, more to come!
August, 2022
The series of 10 collages based on views through various windows that have been meaningful to me is finished – pretty fast for me considering I began it during a class in June and there has been a lot of away time since then. On the left, what I see everyday from my window high up in a Chicago lakefront studio. On the right, seems appropirate to close the series out with a sunset scene, again from the beachfront window along Route 30A in the Florida Panhandle.
August, 2022
The series continues. This “window” collage is from the Montreal Botanical Gardens, a really magical place, and is my interpretation of a view from inside a little pagoda-type structure in the Japanese Garden, I think. I highly recommend spending a half-day or more here – it’s vista after vista of differently themed gardens, and our visit in early July was particularly well timed this year – beautiful weather and beautiful blooms.
