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Posts tagged ‘Art’

Apr 27

To Be Seen, To See

“How hidden the heart, Nance thought. How frightened we are of being known, and yet how desperately we long for it.”― Hannah Kent, The Good People

“We are all givers and receivers, we all need each other and are called to enrich each other.” – Pope Francis

My good friend Angi asked me to stop by yesterday to give me something.
She started art of needle felting recently.
She felted figures of Abby and Sasha for me, adding a tennis ball for Abby too – nailed it!
Beautiful detailed art, simple profound kindness.
Blown away!

In a world when we often feel unseen, we have the power to see each other.
What’s right in front of us.
To offer the generosity of seeing others, noticing, sharing.

That’s what Pope Francis did in and for the world.
That’s what Angi did in my world yesterday.
That’s what each of us can do each day in different ways.

Do not bypass, rush past, miss what and who is in front of you this day.
And let them know you see them.
We see ourselves when we see others too.

Kindness, acceptance, love feed the receiver and the giver.

“It’s beautiful when someone recognizes and appreciates us for who we are, for how we are, without trying to change us, and without any judgment. Unconditional acceptance is the truest form of love.”― Akiroq Brost

Mar 8

The Science of Art

“Colors have the capacity to change our respiration, our blood pressure, even our body temperature.”― Susan Magsamen, Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us

“Play is a key component of the arts and aesthetics in myriad ways. Art and play are like two sides of the same coin, with play being a part of artistic expression, imagination, creativity, and curiosity.”― Susan Magsamen, Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us

Outstanding podcast on making this week by Kelly Corrigan with the authors of Your Brain on Art on the science of how art heals, develops, expands and transforms us.

Get outside
Doodle, color, paint
Listen to music
Nature
Art museum
Play
Have fun
Fresh air
Colors, fragrances, light
Awaken all of your senses
Make rather than do
Build up rather than break down
Unfold rather than bind up
Breathe, in and out
There’s plenty of chaos, noise and destruction right now
Regain your footing to add and multiply rather than divide and subtract
Permission slip granted to go on a field trip daily
To be renewed, refreshed and ready to participate meaningfully rather than spectate in exhaustion
Long game, joy, resilience and grit required
Recess on

“Learning comes in many forms: cognitive, emotional, embodied. There is explicit learning, where you actively seek knowledge, and implicit learning, where you passively take in experiences that change you. Many elements go into making experiences more salient for learning, among them novelty, humor, curiosity, attention level, creativity, motivation, environment, and the unique way your brain develops.”― Susan Magsamen, Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us

Jan 27

What Can I Make?

“Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.” – William Plomer

“Rather than asking what can I do? Ask what can I make?” – Martha Beck

Doing is transactional, checking the box, volume driven, busy, productive, counting, outcomes focused
Making is relational, slow, intentional, building, weaving, wandering, connecting, patterns, creativity
The gift of the process, the journey, the unfolding, the unknowing, the leaping, the trying
Patterns, connections, discovery
While doing what’s necessary, also ask what can I make?
Through connection, conversation, creativity, fun, exploration, pausing, laughter, kindness, generosity.
Be a carpenter, build something beautiful.

“Criticism is an alluring substitute for creation, because tearing things down, unlike building them up, really is as easy as falling off a stump. It’s blissfully simple to strike a savvy, sophisticated pose by attacking someone else’s creations, but the old adage is right: Any fool can burn down a barn. Building one is something else again.”― Martha Beck

Jan 21

Pen to Paper

“Laugh and grow strong”― Ignatius of Loyola

“Enthusiasm is more important than innate ability, it turns out, because the single more important element in developing an expertise is your willingness to practice.”― Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project

I have a stack of notebooks that I use for my Morning Pages ritual (Julia Cameron method), ideas/notes/learnings, and now Julia Cameron’s guidance method – ask a question and write the answer.

Writing helps me think. It’s sensemaking, ordering, connecting, revealing. What already resides beneath the surface awaiting space to rise up. For almost 4 years (pandemic practice), Cast Light is a daily morning ritual, habit, creative outlet to put ideas, thoughts, optimism, joy, light out into the world. To publish consistently and imperfectly with an intent to add and create rather than subtract and criticize.

When I was pulling out a new notebook, the drawing above was in the middle of a blank notebook. My great nephew Liam’s work. He loves to draw and all I need to do when he visits is to hand him a blank notebook and he pours himself on the page. It was fun to find it hidden in what I thought was a blank notebook. A burst of joy in the ordinary and simple. This looks like a representation of a Vikings football fan. Hopeful in the beginning of the season, distraught by mid-season then hopeful again when August pre-season comes around again. A perfect interpretation of the burden of being a purple people eater.

These gems are woven through each day and miss them, looking past or speeding by onto the next thing. Children, flowers, dogs, sunsets, nature, friends, family, self – all here to enjoy and delight in. Look around and see what cues, clues, beauty, art, signs, signals are right in front of you awaiting your noticing, partaking and participation.

“I am out with lanterns, looking for myself.” —Emily Dickinson

Mar 27

Planting Trees You’ll Never See

“Wonder is the heaviest element on the periodic table. Even a tiny fleck of it stops time.” – Diane Ackerman

“First day of spring
The whole world’s wakin’ up and turnin’ green
And everything connects to everything

It’s a beautiful design
It just takes love and faith and grace, a little time

We’re all sons and daughters, just ripples on the water
Trying to make it matter until our time to leave
One day, they’ll carve your name in stone
And send your soul on home

‘Til then it’s prayin’ for rain and pullin’ up the weeds
Plantin’ trees we’ll never see”
– Lyrics to Amy Grant’s newly released song Planting Trees We’ll Never See

A drive, music turned up high.
Windows open to let spring air in, stale air out.
New music and familiar too.
A fresh playlist to enter a new season.
Winding roads to take.
Twists and turns.
Trees lining the path.
Small and big.
Scatter seeds. Pull weeds.
Planting trees you’ll never see.
Leave a legacy of love wherever you go.

Mar 25

Cathedrals and Altars

“When once your foot enters the church, be bare.
God is more there, than thou: for thou art there
Only by his permission. Then beware,
And make thyself all reverence and fear.
Kneeling ne’er spoil’d silk stocking: quit thy state
All equal are within the church’s gate.”
― George Herbert, From the Temple

“A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The world is filled with cathedrals and altars.
Nature, heart, space and place, in others, in an embrace.
We need merely take notice, enter, drop to our knees.
May you see all of the places to run, to remain, to kneel today.
And do so.
Reverence. Awe. Wonder.

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”― Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Nov 2

Open the Shades

“Life is a mystery- mystery of beauty, bliss and divinity. Meditation is the art of unfolding that mystery.”― Amit Ray

“Expectations are resentments under construction.”― Anne Lamott

May you fall into the mystery, let go of rules and regulations.
Pull back the veil to see clearly.
Embrace possibility, with a side of trust and faith.
Greet grace, hold light.
Bliss, divinity, sacred ground.
Walk lightly, feet and heart.

“My art and profession is to live.”― Montaigne

Aug 26

Cloud Mountains

“I hope
you are able
to remember
what was Light-woven
and beautiful.
I hope
you are able to see
to remember what was,
and carry the goodness
that you will never forget
in the direction
of what is to come.”
― Morgan Harper Nichols

“May you always be the one
who notices the little things
that make the light pour
through, and may they always
remind you: There is more to
life and there is more to you.”
― Morgan Harper Nichols

Clouds shaped like mountains
Or perhaps a rollercoaster
Use your imagination
Jumpstart wonder and awe
The sky, flowers, sun, moon, stars, a butterfly, a bird, a summer breeze
Notice the little things and enter their immensity, beauty and grace
Let them enter you to broaden, deepen, soften, open
Heart and soul work
Tend the fields
Touch the sky.

“Maybe
this heart
of yours
that longs for
something more
is being prepared
for something
so much
greater than you.”
― Morgan Harper Nichols

Aug 22

Split the Sky

“The sky is love’s muse.” – Walter Mercado

“The soul can split the sky in two and let the face of God shine through.” – Edna St. Vincent Millay

As summer lingers a bit longer, join her.
Soak in the sun.
Allow awe.
Invite wonder.
Witness beauty.
Look up.
The wisp of clouds painting the sky.
Love’s muse.

“Go forth under the open sky, and list To Nature’s teachings.” – William Cullen Bryant

Aug 17

In the Pause

“Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars. Gaze at the beauty of the Earth’s greenings. Now, think.” – Hildegard of Bingen

“Rather than going for the high moment of drama, the high moment of the erotic, the high moment of the extraordinary, poetry will choose the small moment of pause just to look at what’s really happening, to look at a few layers deep and to let that small pause, that ordinary moment, open up with all the fullness of its being to us.” – Pádraig Ó Tuama

A pause
A glance
A moment
Embrace
Be held
Poetry in the ordinary

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