Water...

I am taking a step aside from design, art, and even introspection to discuss something well, basic- water. Today is Blog Action Day-( http://blogactionday.change.org/) and bloggers everywhere have been requested to put something in their blogs about- you guessed it! Water.

It is something that most of us take for granted because frankly it is readily available to us. What if you didn't live in the United States- where we indulge in and take for granted this precious resource. Here are some facts and figures that might be of interest-

3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease.

The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.

Poor people living in the slums often pay 5-10 times more per liter of water than wealthy people living in the same city.

An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than a typical person in a developing country slum uses in a whole day.

It seems to be true that the water in the Roman Empire was actually safer for us then all we have with our water filters and technology. It seems we unconsciously use this resource and squander it. In my house I yell up the stairs "safe some water for the fish!" when my children are in the shower a little too long. Today my perspective has changed- today I realize that this resource is literally dripping through our fingers- we are giving away our future by our indulgences and not taking care of our fellow human. Water is a basic need that should be available to all...

Lack of available pure water kills more people then guns and bombs- think about it. Save some water for your fellow human-

Change.org|Start Petition

slacker

well.... I am quite the slacker it seems. I haven't visited my own blog in a month... pretty sad. I think I have allowed too many things to get in my own way. So my message today is simple, yet not really unique. If you have stuff in your life that is clogging up your creativity, your success.... GET RID OF IT.

Perhaps it is self doubt, or clutter, or fear- whatever it is, you deserve more. I assure you- You were meant to mark this world in some wonderful and unique way. So do it. Stop holding back, don't be afraid. What is the worst possible thing that could happen? You won't have total success? you will learn and grow... and ultimately do it better next time? That doesn't seem so bad.

So... take out the garbage my friend, no more room in slackerville - touch the stars... they hang just for you.

blessings,

Susan

Just jump!

Well, I cannot say I have exactly been the world traveler this summer. I love to travel, but it wasn't in the cards for a variety of reasons. The last few weeks however, I have been to the wonder known as Niagara Falls twice. Go figure! Now, before you get excited, I live a mere 90 miles from the lovely Rainbow Boulevard in Niagara Falls, New York. The trip is quite doable, just to pop up to see the colors on the falls, and be deafened by the power of the water.

During those trips... I have learned some significant lessons. One of which is to upload your precious photos and NOT mess with the settings on your digital camera while taking more photos. I lost a mere 1100 photos to that process. That lesson was painful. Very painful! I don't think many of the replacement photos were all that wonderful, but I sure do appreciate a successful photo now. (I am learning to place them on my hard drive as soon as possible. )

The other lesson I learned... is that life is in the moment. Which is NOT to say... do not think about the future, but it is to say, appreciate the here and now. Taste every flavor available to you right this very moment.

So... that said. I am in exploratory mode. It's amazing. My camera has become my best friend... my vision has increased ten fold since exploring with my camera. I see things differently through the lens. All the lessons I have learned about life, about art, about photography are all coming together. I breathe... think and see imagery in a totally different way. It's wonderful, passionate. I am blessed.

The theme of this blog is about breathing... about doing. I have to tell you that listening to the power of that water flying at incredible speeds is exhilarating.... it reminds me of how much power is in something so simple. So... i believe it is time, to get moving... to breathe, to flow like Niagara falls... good luck.

I dare you...

This week has been an interesting one. I have been faced with failure, sadness as well as success. I have been inspired and exhilarated, as well as discouraged... There have been really positive moments, amazing gifts of creativity and a deep sense of helplessness at times. lucky for me, tonight? I feel blessed, I feel gifted... and I hope you do too.

I think that we are the sum of our experiences. I also think that each of those experiences regardless of it's negative or positive origin have something to teach us. So here I am. I am knee deep in learning, growing and pushing beyond who I am. It's not easy, but somehow I think that it is the right place for me to be. Artistically I have had some defining moments this week, personally I have found that even in the deepest sadness comes the opportunity for joy and gratitude. So here I am. Swimming in a sea of challenges and mountains to climb, somehow finding the strength to do both.

One of the things that seems to sustain me.. are my favorite places. Walks by the lake, sitting in an old cemetery taking photos of "angels unaware", the touch of a loved one, the spirit of a baby's laugh. Each takes me to places I did not expect. Each makes the sadness seem to melt away, each inspires. I think the thing about this simple observation is that there are many "favorite places." They needn't include the big mouse house in Florida, or Hawaii... they need to be that place where you look for and seek your peace, find your bliss and become more than you were a moment before.

My lesson for you? notice the little things, the way the sand glistens in the sun, the sound of the water rushing over the surf, he clarity of a photo taken twenty years earlier... the brightness of the sparkle in your loved one's eye... notice. I dare you. It will change your life.

No explanation needed....

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs;

ask yourself what makes you come alive.

And then go and do that.

Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive."

(Harold Whitman)

no hesitation

Nike has created a phrase that now rings in each of our heads, “just do it" - Most of us think that phrase is rather well, quaint. Is this merely an advertising slogan, or is it an invitation to life?

I have spent much time in life trying to decide "what I want to be when I grow up." I think that I am guilty just as many are of hesitation, of worrying that I won't choose the right thing. Perhaps I fear that somehow I cannot read my own heart and I will somehow fall short of what I imagine my goals to be. Possibly my hesitation is rooted in the reaction of others. I spend far too much time asking for permission or opinions on my next "move in life".

I think when it is all boiled down, it is time to just pick up the apple and take a big bite! If you get some seeds or a bad spot, work with that! If it is sweet and delicious- bite again! Cut it up and make a pie! Make applesauce! Do what YOU need to do. Make it YOUR own-

No hesitation- just DO it!

Inspired

I woke up this morning, much too tired to function- too many things on my mind seemed to prevent the ability to really relax last night and sleep. Not just close my eyes, but indeed rest. There are people I love in pain, and enduring great difficulties, that always weighs heavily on me. These are the times I find it easiest to be discouraged, to be sad... yet- today, for whatever reason, I feel INSPIRED!

I feel like change is in the wind, that there are great possibilities everywhere and I am merely to notice them to take advantage of them. I suppose they are always there, but today in my foggy state, I have to say I feel pretty blessed to have noticed. It's there! I am telling you... whatever you want to do, whatever you want to be- I know it is there for you- here's the trick- YOU have to NOTICE- YOU have to RISK- YOU have to DARE to be whatever you were meant to be. Find inspiration from everything around you- even it if it is "woah.... I don't EVER want to be THERE!"

In the darkest times, the light is the brightest- I promise you it's true. So if it is dark right now, where you are? Seek the light- you might have to put on sunglasses- but it IS there! Seek the light, follow the dream and make it happen.
Don’t just be.... Be INSPIRED!

one leaf

It seems that the things in life that matter most are the simple things. Recently I have begun to take a very critical eye of the possessions I am willing to hold onto for dear life. Suddenly things don’t seem to mean all that much to me. I used to blame my packratness on being sentimental. I don’t think that is fair, I think to be brutally honest it has more to do with my insecurities or need to validate. The older I get though, the more I understand that keeping up with the Jones (even though I fooled myself into thinking that I would NEVER do that) is slowly killing me. So it’s that concept that makes me want to take a new turn.

The things I treasure most have always been surrounded in simplicity. I remember a few years ago taking hundreds of pictures while hiking through a park with my husband on a crisp autumn morning. My prize for that day was a photo of a red leaf decorated with diamonds of ice crystals lying on the beach, glistening in the sun. That single image was the gift of the day- it culminated the hours we spent in the park, it was the glory of the hundreds of photos I had taken. That single simple leaf was a gift of beauty.

This lesson, I apparently need to keep relearning that for me, and I’d suggest for most of us, it is about that solitary leaf, NOT the entire forest. It is the deeper meaning, not the keeping so busy or having so many things that we completely miss that gift.

So again- today, my goal is to slow down- and maybe get rid of the “stuff” that is preventing me from embracing how blessed I am- breathe and find the simplicity.

Creative

Creative


When you t-y-p-e in the word “creative” Google blesses you with Four-hundred twenty-seven million results. (that isn’t just a LITTLE overwhelming, is it?)
Webster lists creativity as crea•tive (krē āt′iv)

Adjective

1. creating or able to create
2. having or showing imagination and artistic or intellectual inventiveness: creative writing
3. stimulating the imagination and inventive powers: creative toys
4. imaginatively or inventively deceptive: creative accounting

I suggest that creative/creativity is much more. Creativity is an invitation to each of us. To explore in any mode possible, regardless of how you express yourself- you have the opportunity; indeed the charge to be creative; to think about how to break the bonds of the “box” that we all seem far too willing to dwell in and really live fully. You do NOT need to be a professional or “profound” artist. You need to be a human being. (and no cracks about not being able to draw a straight line- psst- That is why they make rulers!) Creativity isn’t just a gift; it is a way of life.

Creativity breathes when you carefully create dinner out of two days of leftovers and your family thinks you have been cooking for hours, creativity allows you to see opportunity to take that dirt pile and make it into a flowering garden gifting the neighborhood. Creativity is the doodle that your father always makes on the paper table cloth in child friendly restaurants. You know the one that connects your present day to memories of the thirty five years ago when you were a little human- it’s not just a duck, it’s a connection, a bond… part of your life. Creativity is the bow you tie in your daughter’s hair, or the sculpture that is created out of found objects. It is in the pocket of a negotiator as he encourages two sides to create a more peaceful relationship, or the stylist who discovers her client’s new identity by shedding some of the hair once hid beneath. Creativity is everywhere, in every one.

The thing about creativity is that we allow and perhaps even invite too many other things to get in the way. We THINK we want all this "stuff" and then find it usually just gets in the way. I am not certain if this is out of fear (of success or failure) or perhaps it is just we do not see the direct connection between living the fullest and hiding safely beneath the clutter of life. My studio at the present moment in time is well, let’s just admit it, a total disaster! I dream of having the neat and tidy studio, with a labeled place for everything and everything in its place. You know beautiful working surfaces, and lots of opportunities to do nearly any kind of work I could ever dream of, with art supplies that are arranged like a piece of installation art.

Instead my studio is a metaphor for where I am in life, cluttered yet hopeful with countless possibilities! (if I would allow myself to take just one step at a time) So, this week is about creating a space where the ideas that have been swimming in my head can grow and bloom. One step at a time- I aim to purge, donate, and organize! I will NOT allow the clutter in my dedicated space to become an excuse to not live fully! I am excited and a little nervous about the possibility, but I know, fully know that this will allow ME to bloom and whatever comes next, will be perhaps unfamiliar, but an exciting part of the journey.

So consider this an invitation- what can YOU do to inspire more creativity in your precious life and those around you-

I’ll let you know how things go-
Be well, do good work & keep in touch
Susan

Good Morning, World!

I say this, not at all because the time of day I happen to be writing this is in fact, morning, but because I feel like this is the morning of a new life for me. In my forty-eight years of living I have walked many paths, seen and learned many things. Each one of those experiences regardless if they have been negative or positive has made me who I am today. Now the interesting thing is, assembling each of those experiences and creating a new path, an new venture.... so... here goes!

I am many things in life; spouse, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, friend, artist, …more- each relationship has affected me profoundly regardless if it is a personal relationship, professional or a relationship with the world around me. The exciting thing is that the culmination of these things flow through my veins to create the person I have become, and definitely influences the artist I am. Art- and all facets of art are what this blog will become about.

I invite you to share the journey with me….let's see where we go from here!

Good morning!