ESSENCE OF GREAT ART
Gratitude is in the air.
SOOO MUCH has happened since the last time I wrote you in these monthly updates!
So, June - I ran my first EVER online intentional art making course-workshop-class-thingy.
I like calling it my Deliberate Doodles Workshop because it's more than just passive learning, which a 'course' feels like.
You actually need to workshop through some meaty concepts - lots of self reflection as well as general, practical How-Tos of my art making process.
if you're like - ooooo that sounds totally interesting and have no idea what i'm talking about: check it out here >>> deliberate doodles (sign up for the free resources and go through the 5 day challenge where you get a taste of the process and develop your own deliberate doodles practice. nurture your creative practice in partnership with your mindfulness practice too. all with a simple pen and paper)
Anyway, I digress.
In the middle of that online course - workshop running and general hanging out with awesome students who are so AMAZING at trying something new.
Diving into my process.
Learning about themselves.
Exploring their own unique marks.
Reflecting on their own flavour of doodles and drawings.
Mindfully observing their thoughts as they went on this journey.
I had a mini family holiday / babymoon in Fiji.
IT WAS BEAUTIFUL.
And you would think that is why I'm feeling the gratitude in the air.
Which I mean, I totally am!
But there were some days, when the amount of tired whingeyness + 3 year old happiness yelling + pregnant belly painful kicks just OVERFLOWED MY CUP OF ANNOYANCE.
you know what I mean?
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IT'S LIKE, I 'SHOULD' BE GRATEFUL.
I'm in a GORGEOUS tropical island.
The weather is just PERFECT. Not so hot that you're sweating like a pig (pregnant lady sweating ain't pretty y'all)
But hot enough that I could just hang out in my travel dress blowing in the breeze.
We were walking distance to the beach where there was barely a handful of people so there was stretches of sand to just walk and daydream.
A pool and lounges to hang out in - where the only concern was: Do we have fairy floss today? Or ice cream?
ok - yeah it was pretty amazing.
My point is that, it's only when you're able to see the whole bigger picture? That the gratitude can feel so much easier. Almost obvious. You know?
BUT
again, that's not really why I'm feeling the gratitude in the air.
Indigo and I promptly got sick once we returned home. Like the usual sore throat, chesty cough stuff.
I got the usual mum version, where it's bad enough to feel a bit shit. But not enough to really take a day off to stay in bed.
Because 3 year olds with the usual chesty coughs still has THINGS TO DO and wants to still PLAY AND BE ENTERTAINED but with a healthy dose of short temper and irritation due to said illness.
So there was that.
Nothing like feeling grateful for your health when you DON'T ACTUALLY HAVE IT.
Like losing my voice the week after. After I thought to myself - Ooo I should get back to doing some work I'm behind on because 1 week of illness 'should' be over next week.
Ummm...no.
I mean, it is good sometimes (maybe not while you're in voiceless-hell where your throat is on fire) to be reminded on the things you HAD that you are so grateful for.
I am so grateful that my sore throat is gone.
I am so grateful for a loving husband who had to pick up the slack as the girls in his life wallow in a pool of self-pity and hangry moods...that could just have been me....
I'm not talking about that.
Not the 'you SHOULD BE' grateful type burdens.
Even if you DO TOTALLY FEEL GRATEFUL
but the goosebumps, sense of awe and blessing washing over you type gratitude.
The kind of gratitude that has the power in being able to change your day.
Your mood. Your mindset. The way the whole world reacts to you!
Sometimes it just strikes you out of the blue! Like a surprise knock to the head.
Other times, you have to really work at it. Mindfully, consciously, almost fight-your-own-damm-bad-mood-self and REFRAME and CLAIM that feeling for yourself.
That's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm feeling in the air. (What I'm learning to re-create in the air if I have to)
also, the way that art gets created when made from that place.
I'm thinking the majesty of the Sistine Chapel.
Van Gogh's paintings of the landscapes.
Any painting where you can almost viscerally FEEL the JOY AND BEAUTY OF LIFE pulsating from the brushstrokes.
Or like the 'Happy' song.
The beaming smile of a 3 year old when you say OK, yes! Let's get a cupcake for morning tea.
the intricacies of a baby being 'knitted together' in the womb without any conscious effort from the mother.
Or...just like our last day in Fiji. Literally the last day there. On the flight home. Looking out the window as the captain did his little speech to welcome us all aboard the flight.
Like literally as we were taking off. There was THE MOST AMAZING SUNSET we had ever seen in our lives.
The colours. The combination of colours - Like having the best photo filters over it but it's ACTUALLY REAL LIFE. The way the clouds reflected the light.
Hubby and I were trying to take photos - but in the end no camera could do the colours justice.
I could only just sit there and try to sear those colours into my memory.
It was like all of creation was singing out loud IN SUCH JOY to God at the majesty and beauty of all that we could see in that huge horizon.
Any art where you can FEEL the heart and soul of the artist and the resonance of expression for all the beauty they see in their world.
MAY THIS NEW WALLPAPER BE A REMINDER OF YOUR SIMPLE CHOICE IN ANY MOMENT OF YOUR DAY.
To choose that true sense of gratitude. Sunset or not.
To feel it in your bones, in every cell.
You could be creating your own kind of art just within yourself!
And I bet, you will see it reflected in the world around you.
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