August heART - Reconnection

The simplicity of the relaxed line drawing from life is really resonating for me, and I have a feeling it's going to continue ... and evolve. Oh, the anticipation of the bloom within the bud!

So today's August heART stays true to the line drawing, of capturing something that's simply around me ~ a section of shelf in my studio ~ yet evolves with the addition of simple color, using those watercolor crayons I mentioned yesterday. And while the drawing is from life, the color is not "true" to that life. The color I added was pure whimsey.

I enjoyed this process, this journey of creativity. It reconnected me to both a style and technique that I've loved since way-back-in-the-day. Dig it.

With that, I'm off to tend to art and gardens and to visit the sites of those who have shared their heARTful inspirations with us so far. I hope you will too ~ and leave them some love!

An InLinkz Link-up

August heART - Patch of Garden

Keeping things simple isn't so simple. Am I right? Well, maybe it is simple, but it's not without challenges. If that makes any sense.

As I work to keep things simple in my life ~ so that I may become a more astute observer as well as simplify my life more deeply ~ I'm allowing my daily doings to twine organically and move to their own rhythm without any interference. I am witnessing. As evolutions go, this is a stage (and archetype) that I adore, probably because it tends to be so challenging for me. I do so love a challenge. Hmm. I. Am. Witnessing.

Morning glory is teaching me to target on observations, sharply, at a set time each day ... then to move on with grooving and twining in my daily activities. As serendipity would have it, mornings suit me perfectly for this focused reflection. Imagine that?

In keeping things simple I opted, yet again, for a simple line drawing. This time I sat on a patch of mowed "lawn" and expressed, pen on drawing paper, a patch of front yard garden. This contribution to August heART begged for color and inspired me to visit my studio to snag a watercolor moleskin, watercolor crayons, a couple of brushes and a spray bottle ... to keep by my side during this journey. Simple. Dig it.

How about you? Do you have some August heART to share? If so, be sure to add your link and join the party!

An InLinkz Link-up

August heART - Glory in the Morning

August arrives with simplicity. That's my intention.

You see, July had me in stitches, literal and figurative. Laughter is such Good Medicine and I needed it this past month with my two back booboos and a small, yet deep laceration in a bendy place.

When I notice patterns of three, my awareness spikes, for I recognize such patterns as messages. And when my back acted up for the second time in as many weeks, with a cut in-between, I could almost hear spirit saying, "In your face." You see, June had delivered a few quieter physical and earth-bound patterns.

So I'm looking at my everyday, ordinary patterns of life. Closely. And I'll be sorting through stuff and activities in the coming days and weeks to wind my way to a space of greater simplicity.

Morning glory has grasped my attention. She is Poetry for me right now. Simple and elegant. A powerful bit of Medicine to support me. So it's only fitting that I kick off August heART with a simple line drawing of my recent plant ally.

How about you?
Add your link to your recent heARTful expression!

An InLinkz Link-up

August heART!

August arrives (can you freakin' believe it?) and I'm declaring it a month for heartful Art: August heArt!

August heART is a month-long artful, heARTful blog party celebrating the heat of creative passion in the heat of August (in my little corner of the word, that is)!

So I invite you visit here every/any day in August to share a post to your creative expressions with us throughout the month of August!

I'll be posting daily (crazy, eh?). It might be a quick sketch or doodle, a painting or art journal entry, a collage or mixed media piece, or even a work in progress!

Whatever heART you create in August, I hope you'll stop by here to share it with us!

And, of course, when you share your link here be sure to stay true to the Blog Party concept and visit the links of our heARTful posters to thank them for their for their inspiration and their generous heART!

I'll be doing my best to visit every link to enjoy the heARTful inspiration that's shared all month!

Are you in? Hope so!

An InLinkz Link-up

Quiet Curling

So a week or two ago I aggravated an old back injury. I took it slow 'n' easy for a day or two, ramped up my lower back exercises and bounced back. Good deal. Yesterday I was working in the garden (as I am most days in this season) and felt a twinge. Anyone who's endured a back injury knows the twinge of which I speak. Am I right?

So I took a break, had another cup of oat straw infusion, did some gentle stretches and decided I'd just plant a few more seeds. So I did. I got another rotation of lettuce in, and kohlrabi, and turnip, and beets and then came the twinge-O-rama.

It took many deep breaths and a deeper reach into the depths of my Will to get myself upright and moving. I got myself back to the deck and comfortable on a chair and observed my surroundings as my standard query swirled within me, "What are you are manifesting?"

In that moment so much information danced around me it was impossible to take it all in. My eyes settled on the morning glories, long curled up for many hours in the late afternoon sunshine. Contrary they are, or so it seems, when one compares them to their contemporaries. But there they were, tugging at my attention, reminding me that my intention was to ramp things down that day (and this coming month), suggesting that I, like them, do my own thing without consideration to the goings-on of the external world.

"You promised to slow down, to take care of yourSelf, over a year ago. Have you done that?" they asked?

I recognized, in that moment, that I had not. In my passionate desire to get myself back "out there" after (at least) seven years of a loving life-diversion, I jumped back into My Life Desires without taking the break for which I had so, so yearned. After all, it was during those years that my back started acting up. And in addition to forging ahead with my own Desires, I'm still tidying up residuals from those years.

I have a lot to sort through. I have a lot to consider. I have plans and priorities to reassess. And what I see now, with distinct clarity, is that I must be willing to curl up in the dazzling Truth of my own Nature, even when the world around me is blooming … even when I feel the tug to bloom along with it. And when I  bloom in accordance to my own Natural rhythm I will see, recognize, and honor the inner light that has my best interests at heart and that will best guide me on this journey. And my light will shine, shimmer and dazzle all the more.

So today I make time and space for quietly curling up with with the Light of My Own Dreams. With no distractions. And in doing so I shall discover the Medicine I most need.

Peace.

A Mistake

I didn't today. And I'm paying for it. But ... tomorrow I will.

Peace.

Sails for Simplicity and Waves for Will

A couple of hours in the studio yielded a heART journal page for Mix It Monthly. It felt Good. But simplicity tends to inspire Good feelings. And clarity. I'll be nurturing more of that in my life. Yes. I. Will.

I made other things too, and still am making things, so I better get back to that!

Peace.

Elderflower Champagne

Over the past 10-days or so, I've been harvesting the Elder blooms to make batches of elderflower "champagne." I've never made this before, though I have made other wild fermented beverages. I was inspired to make this soft-drink by Susun Weed's recent video. And I am glad, for this is a delicious, sparkling and loving wild ferment!

Susun's recipe, for a one gallon batch, calls for:

1 gallon of boiled water
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
a handful of dried lemon rind
7 elderflower blooms

I've been working with single, one gallon batches, which has afforded me the opportunity to play with added ingredients like this elderflower/black currant variation (pictured). I've made others with additions of hibiscus and rose petals and orange peel. I have over a dozen bottles of various sizes crowding my dining table. We definitely need more shelves in our main living space … I don't dare put these downstairs in the pantry cabinets for fear I forget about them, for they are intended as soft-drinks, to be imbibed not long after their bottling, as they are volatile and could become what brewers call "bottle bombs."

Today I'll be creating a batch (or two) that will receive a full second fermentation to be bottled as wine. It's an experiment, one that may or may not yield enjoyable results, but I have a Good feeling about it. To make the wine I'll be adding an organic banana to the simmer as well as organic/fair-trade camilla sinensis (black tea). The banana adds to the mouth-feel and the tea will offer some tannic acid to enhance the dryness that I love in my wines and meads.

While I still have elder budding, it is blooming fast .

Many blooms are already moving into the phase of berry production.

So I don't have much time left to make this happen. And the bees (of every variety) are, like me, acting with a sense of urgency, so negotiating for the blooms poses added challenges! But happen it shall, and I look forward to the months ahead (possibly a year or more) to taste how this wine matures.

The magic of the elder is worth preserving. In so many ways.

That's what I'm making today.

Peace.