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Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman,

before which difficulties disappear

and obstacles vanish into thin air.”

by John Quincy Adams

land sea sky bvw

People who have faith in life are like swimmers

who entrust themselves to a rushing river.

They neither abandon themselves to its current, nor try to resist it.

Rather, they adjust their every movement to the watercourse,

use it with purpose and skill,

and enjoy the adventure.

David Steindl-Rast

along the journey by bvw

I imagine life as a journey through time, that each moment is a gift.

People, places and circumstances change around us.  We make choices that will help to create the life we experience.

When I create my art, I try to make each stroke as close to my heart as possible. Every choice I make brings with it limitations and also opens up new ways of seeing.

Use your creative thinking skills on your life journey.  Stay aware of what you observe around you. Live in the now moment. Use your ability to image in your mind’s eye, to imagine the possibilities. Simplify or abstract the steps you need to create a meaningful life.

Learn to search for patterns along the way. Patterns of time and habits can give stability and structure to your journey. You can also change patterns that are not serving you well and replace them with new habits.

The only thing stopping you from changing a destructive pattern is fear of stepping away from a familiar path.

Be brave. Be you. Share your thoughts.

Carpe diem.

Flopsy in the midday sun, pastel bvw

Observe!  Yes, you heard me, look around and find the little moments around corners and in the most obscure times and places! Stop as you turn the corner in the grocery store  and take in the patterns of bright red, orange and yellow colors of beets and deep green leaves in the produce section.

Take time to notice the beautiful wrinkles on the face of someone you catch sight of on the street corner. Imagine the life behind that face. Take the hands of your aunt admiring the  matters in life that those hands have articulated.

Spend a moment sitting  on the grass in the sun with your dog and watch how she observes life, waiting and watching.

Cherish each moment  with gratitude. Observing, listening and waiting is not a waste of time. It is a way of discovering where the beauty and fullness appears in your life. Make it a habit to discover it!

backyard garden ~ pastel bvw

It  is good for us to reflect on the simplicity and focus that Steve Jobs incorporated into his life. He never gave up, on his inner visions. As a result his actions have had a very obvious positive effect on our lives. He also kept encouraging us to do the same.

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

[Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

 

What is the great work that you believe you need to do in this life?

Do you agree with his philosophy that knowing you are going to die can be the strongest motivation to do your best work?

sketching @ martin viette by bvw

 

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Steve Jobs

Scott Belsky 99 percent

What inspires you to live the life you imagine? 

What do you feel you need to create tomorrow to make your inner vision visible?

I’d love to know …!

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It is important to create with  (or without) the crayons…I’ve been struggling with this very experience over the summer.  Creativity seems to seep out of me when I am going through an ordinary day. Free roaming creativity can interfere with my painting and drawing.

Wait just one minute…What is creativity, anyway?

There are many definitions…

To create is to “bring something into existence” or “to produce with imaginative skill” as defined in Merriam -Webster Dictionary. Mihaly Csikszentmihaly defines creativity as “any act, idea or product that changes an existing domain, or that transforms an existing domain into a new one” (p.27). Creativity can be described as” thinking outside the box”. You effectively exhibit creativity  when you manage to transform a mistake into an opportunity!

So let me ask you , shave you ever created something that never existed before?” Do you imagine things before you make them?

I can just hear your answer now…a child, a party, a dinner, an experience, a cookie, a vacation, an outfit,  a hairdo  all have the capacity to be be the result of a creative imagination.

I have spent the summer, dear friends, struggling to refocus on building and then digging into my daily images. Weaving in time to nurture my relationships with friends and family, I was able to find numerous opportunities to create and view art and my surroundings.

And so, I sketched and painted, with- and also without, my art supplies! Creating meals with fabulous fresh summer vegetables from the garden, mending clothes that I love, changing plans and having an even better time because I was open to the change, venturing to visit places off the beaten path are just a few of the  ways of inviting creativity into your life.

Ways to transform life are unlimited.

When you transform and think outside the box you are utilizing your creative skills.

That is so important.

It is why I keep writing this blog.

A life altering thought…

Oh yes, you can be an artist in whatever material or subject matter that you work with.

I would love to hear about ways that you are creative in your life…

Thank you so much to the reader, Valerie, who wrote to ask me about the s cookies that my Grandma used to make!

I remembered that I had mentioned those light and delicious cookies in my last post about observation and  memory.

My grandma Marianna used to make them  with us , allowing us to help mix and then shape the cookie into an “s” shape after she pressed the dough through an extruder. I remember her kind hands helping us, patiently waiting for them to come out of the oven and finally sharing a taste after they cooled. The were simple and not too sweet.  When I recall them , I remember the the kindness of my Grandma, the sun in her kitchen and the warm fragrance of baking cookies.

Motivated, I searched for our family book of Sicilian recipes and called my dear cousin Trisha who helped me find the it! I studied the recipe, unconvinced that it was the same as the ones I had made years ago. After searching the internet, I found a recipe by Tom del Rosso that fit more closely to my memory.

I substituted organic palm oil shortening by Spectrum  for Crisco. I was especially thriled to find the combination of vanilla and lemon flavors, as I think that was part of it too. I used the pastry bag method and prefer them golden brown.  Enjoy!  Thank you, each of you for the nudge to get that recipe!

S cookies were originally made using a funnel attached to an old-fashioned meat grinder, but they can be formed with a pastry bag. Sometimes they are shaped like a figure eight. This cookie is soft when it first comes out of the oven, but crisps up like a sugar cookie as it cools. They are a cookie jar favorite, but also look stylish ona wedding cookie cake.

INGREDIENTS

3 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup solid vegetable shortening, melted and cooled

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.
• In another bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar until light and lemon-colored.
• Whisk in the shortening, lemon juice, and vanilla.
• Gradually stir in the flour mixture, mixing well to blend the ingredients. Let the batter sit, covered, for 5 minutes.
• Fill a tipless pastry bag two thirds full of the batter to form 3-inch-long Ss or 8s on cookie sheets. Or drop heaping teaspoonfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets, spacing them about 1 1/2 inchesapart, and shape each one into a 3-inch-long S, using the back of the spoon.
• Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, or until pale golden in color. Watch carefully and rotate the sheets to prevent burning. Let the cookies cool slightly on the cookie sheets before removing them tocooling racks.

Note: These are wonderful with coffee or tea and make a greatafter-school snack. They can be frozen, but will be softer in texture.

I’d love to hear about times when making something has triggered a memory of someone close to your heart!

 

grandma's bath

Explore your problem by imagining solutions in your mind’s eye. That exercise can make the difference between solving the problem or walking away in defeat! It is commonly understood that artists create by holding images in their minds eye. But the mind holds more than visual images. Did you know that musicians can hold the sounds of melodies and musical compositions in their minds? Dancers practice the muscle movements in their heads to develop kinesthetic skills. Athletes have been known to improve in their sport just by reviewing and feeling their movements in their mind. Whole books have been written on holding the taste of madeleines (Proust in Remembrance of things Past) or chocolate in Laura Esquivel‘s book, Like water for chocolate!

I can recall my Sicilian grandmother making the steamy fragrant honey lemon tea when I was ill with measles, the fragrance of her hand nurtured gardenias, her  plain and simple S cookies wafting their fragrance from the oven. It has been noted that the sense of smell is very effective at triggering memories.

I have drawn on these memories, triggered by fragrances, to make a series of paintings drawings. This mind imaging in ALL senses improves as you use it, similar to exercising muscles.  It just takes practice.

If you want to accomplish or change something, just imagine it, with one or more of your senses. You will be amazed!

Start with small things. Imagine what you will do when you get home from work. Imagine taking a walk past the fragrant lilac bush on the next street.Feel the sea breeze softly sweep your hair back from your face. Engage in the energy that surges through you as you walk briskly through the neighborhood. Suddenly, you are ready for your walk!

Choose to hold things in your mind’s eye every day. That tiny action will transform your life image by image.

Oh yes, and let me know what happens!

An amazing and true art/ business connection! In a blog from U.S. News, On Careers, Miriam Salpeter discusses the importance of observation skills, referencing my post on increasing your observation skills in 6 steps. I love how she so clearly explains the connection betweens between eye, hand and mind as enhancing practical life skills in the marketplace.

Oh yes, it is true!  Many of my best ideas have begun by making a mistake. If I am afraid of doing something incorrectly, I feel inhibited about making decisions that are unusual or different. When I prepare myself the best I can and then go forward with courage, I find I gain a new way of looking and insights. Consequently I am able to to paint in a new way!

Does that ever happen yo you? Making a recipe, following directions, making decisions about moving, choosing a job ? How do you feel about realizing that you made a mistake? If you get angry or nervous or upset, it is perfectly understandable. I’ve been there, believe me!

It’s what you do next, that’s important.

I love this video about “being wrong” by Kathryn Schulz. Gets right to the essence of  ”what this can tell us about human nature” and why feeling “always right” can impede us in our life growth. being wrong

What do YOU think?