August heART - The Last of the Day Lilies

Simplicity. Keepin' it simple. It's a challenge for me. Yet on days like this when my ToDo list doesn't fit on my planner page it becomes a challenge to challenge back. Know what I mean? So a simple line drawing of the last of the season's day lilies is what I offer to August heART today.

How about you? Do your have some heART to share? Add you link below and be sure to visit some of the participants so far and leave them a comment of gratitude.

Peace.

Gotta run!

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Sautéed Cucumber

My mother would brag about me on occasion. I recall her telling folks that "Rosemari can go into the kitchen and make something out of nothing." And I'm inclined to admit that it's a statement not without merit.

As a long-(long)-time gardener and preserver of food, I can say that The Garden has taught me much about the art of improvisation. I enter my kitchen-realm wielding imagination and respect for alchemy, not a recipe. I look around, see what I have on hand and imagine what I might do with it. Oh, sure, I learned a lot from recipes in my youth, and do enjoy reading them as sources for ideas, not for weights and measures and structured rules ::shudder:: to follow, but for inspiration.

This week has gifted me many cucumbers, from my garden, from a neighbor and from Dineberg's Farm CSA. Today I desired something other than a variation on a salad, or fermented half-sours (though I am making more of those), and wondered about cooking them. So I peeled, sliced, seeded and chopped them up and tossed them in a pan to sauté with only a few other available ingredients. I was delighted with the outcome. Here's what I did (more or less), for my recipe-dependent friends ...

Sautéed Cucumber

3-4 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped (large ones work great for this)
1/4 cup chopped onion (or so)
1 tablespoon butter (organic, pasture-raised, if possible)
sea salt (to taste)
chives, chopped, a handfull (or chinese leeks, or dill, or parsley, or, well, you get the idea)

Heat the butter in a skillet, add the onion and sauté until they just begin to glimmer translucent. Add the cucumber and salt and sauté about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and toss in the chives (or whatever). Serve hot or at room temp. And ... enjoy!

So, yeah, sautéed cucumber. That's what I made today.

Peace.

August heART - Kerri's Wild Bouquet

It would seem that my friend Kerri has developed a botanical passion, for she's been busy identifying the wild rooted ones on her land. Even at night, with a flashlight. She had a photo of wildflowers that she wanted to share here, but she doesn't have a blog (or the like).

Oh, sure, I could have posted her photo, but I interpreted it in this sketch instead.

So that's my August heART for today. I hope you'll share some of yours, too. Just add your link below and join the blog party!

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August heART - Creation and Destruction

Creation and destruction, destruction and creation. You can't have one without the other, or the other without the one. It's just another spiraling cycle of life. Judgement need not apply.

With that, I wish you a creative day! And I invite you to share a link to your creation here. And be sure to the other August heART participants and leave them some love!

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August heART - A Renewed Love

Drawing what I see and not what I think is there. Drawing with abandon. Drawing without judgement. Drawing in simple line. Drawing for pleasure. Drawing to honor discipline. Drawing a renewed loved of the process. Drawing Simplicity.

Yeah.

That and a dash of colors of my own choice.

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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!

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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!

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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!

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