trust the ebb + flow

Well... I am trying to trust the ebb and flow of my life right now. I have been really focused on running this summer, and not so much into creating art. I never knew that I had an athlete inside of me. It feels a bit like a new relationship and all the giddiness and distraction that goes along with it. I am getting practice at not resisting or judging myself for this obsession.

That being said, I really miss the joy that I receive when I am on a roll with my art. I have been feeling fearful and scared that my artist self has vanished and that my new life is going to consist solely of calculating my running time per mile or figuring out what I want my next 5k time to be.

But, for now I sense that I am to trust the ebb and flow of my life. I believe in my heart that my running and art are somehow connected in ways that just aren't being revealed to me yet and that there is room for both in my life.

Do you know Christine Miller? Her blog is filled with her beautiful art, life and writing. Sometimes when I read her inspiring blog I feel I come away with some new insight about my life and also some laughs too. This post in particular has given me new hope this week. I believe she is a creative cheerleader to me and so many others. She is in the process of publishing her new book Ordinary Sparkling Moments. Not to be missed!

Good evening!

torchlight 5k was...

AMAZING!

I usually run by myself, so to be around thousands of runners was exhilarating and I never realize how competitive I am until I am in a race. I pushed myself pretty hard, but in a good way. I finished the race in about 31 minutes - which was better than my goal of 32-33.


Kisses to my running assistant Shawn! He carried everything for me, made sure I had water and was just a super star! Thank you babe!

On another subject all together, I am bringing some of my art out to The Good Life in Wayzata this afternoon. The owner Anne is a dear and I am looking forward to working with her!

I am grateful, grateful, grateful today!

collaging with purpose

Hello, Hello.



So as someone who is crazy about cutting and pasting, I have accumulated A LOT of magazines! I cleaned out my studio the other day and felt the need to purge a lot of what I had to create room for the new to come in, but then I had this thought that before I toss these into the recycling bin, maybe I could create some kind of challenge for myself. For each magazine, I will create a collage based on images only from that issue. I have not felt super inspired lately, so this feels like a simple and gentle practice of creating.

For my first collage, I used ReadyMade magazine, April/May 2008



Do you know Heather Smith Jones? She has some really amazing projects + collaborations going on - not to be missed! To me, she oozes creativity and inspiration!

Who is inspiring you today?

good morning

to you!

I took this just before my run at about 6:20ish this morning. For some reason I feel the need to claim my love for this sport (if you will.) I am trying to be more consistent with writing here and documenting my journey.

Completely inspired by my husband Shawn, I started running two years ago and it has been one of the hardest and fabulous experiences of my life. There have been injuries, other physical roadblocks and no matter what comes my way, I keep running. I have never been so persistent and passionate about anything in my life. In a way I guess it parallels my passion for art and creating. It fuels me physically, emotionally and spiritually. I feel strong and humbled at the same time.

Tomorrow night I am running the Lifetime Fitness Torchlight 5k with Shawn. He is a bit of a speedster, but is going to kick back and run with me at my pace - the sweetheart that he is!
I am going to try to bring my camera, which seems to be of more concern to me than carrying water. Funny.

Happy wishes for the day!

spaces*

I have found that for myself I really need images and phrases that inspire me and reflect who I am. The photo above is my office space. It is here that I work on design projects (I am a web design student) and complete "office like" things - whatever that is... I have posted this photo on flickr with notes that go with the images, take a peek if you wish!




These two shots are from my studio, I am so lucky to have so much space for all the areas of my life! I haven't been creating as much lately, my table is way too tidy. I will have to post a "realistic" shot when there is paper and paint everywhere. On my wall I collect images that inspire me and things that I want to attract into my life.


What inspires you? What do you want to attract into your life?

ahhh... the power of intention!

I found a way to do a sample playlist via amazon.com

the music behind my he{art}

1. nurturting*, 2. Coldplay GF3Q1817b:w.jpg

Hello July.... I can't believe you are already here!

Ever since the new Coldplay album was released I have thinking about how much music impacts my art. I almost ALWAYS listen to music while creating. There always seems to be a season for a certain CD, like on my winter break I couldn't get enough of the Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles and right now of course, I am listening to Coldplay's Vida la Vida. AMAZING! They are consistenly in my various playlists that I listen to while creating. Have you ever watched them perform? I am always completely taken with Chris Martin and how he expresses himself on stage. I always wonder if there is something holding him on his stool by his piano, he gets SO INTO his music I always think he is going to fly right off, and if he did like he would care! After recently watching them perform on the Today Show, I made the connection that I want to feel connected to my art/process of creating in the way Chris Martin relates to his music and how he performs. There is just something about him!

I listen to a lot of different music actually (not just Coldplay) and had wanted to form a playlist (audio samples) here on my blog, but it is proving to be more difficult than I had imagined. So I will just list a few fun songs I am listening to this week.

Life in Technicolor - Coldplay:: This is the intro to the album. It is mostly instrumental and it has a really great sound.





White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes:: I love this song! It has such a sweet melody and just makes me feel like I am in a more simple time period of life. Check out their myspace page here for audio samples.
How Am I To Be - Watson Twins:: Made famous I believe by a collaboration with Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley. This is a really great tune for summer, nice for a drive.
Antarctica - The Weepies:: Who doesn't love the Weepies, right? This is my favorite song from their release Hideaway. Here is a link to their myspace page.