Getting Unstuck Exercise #1: Doodle

Dear readers, I'm sorry for the delay in posting!

Life has a way of getting away from you sometimes, you know?  ;)

The doodle project was fun!

Since it had been a long time since my last doodling session, I felt a little awkward at first and was slow to start.  

Still, I enjoyed myself and switched from a pencil to coloured felt pens.

As I went along, little random phrases would meander across my mind.  So I began to incorporate them, too!

Getting Un-Stuck

Luckily, the blog is fully functional again.  (Thank you, mighty goddess of the internet, thank you!)  With the help of the new Blogger template designer, I've also added a few layout updates.

In my June 23rd post, I alluded to a major life shake-up.  Indeed, this thing has plucked me up, tossed me about and strewn me out like a Yahtzee game piece.  My husband and I, now three days from our sixth wedding anniversary, have separated. 

Yeah.

Sad.

I am tremendously grateful that Kye and I have been such close friends and are able to remain so now.  Certainly we still love each other, but perhaps we will come to see that our friendship matters most of all.

Heartbreak.

No other sting so deeply pierces the soul.

This past week has seen the beginning of our separation.  I've found myself stuck.  There is so much that I must accomplish (you know, little things like finding a job and a place to live).  All I want to do is play in my studio - but its door looms with such melancholy and regret, harsh with the reminder of its impending abandonment.

I'm 'putting it out there in the universe' that I'd so appreciate to find an affordable, rentable room large enough to accommodate a bed and a work space.  Yet the practical voice in my head assures me that's a tall order for Vancouver.  Still, I'm determined to find shared accommodation near the flamboyant diversity of Commercial Drive.  How I love the poetry slams, art shows, international foods, colourful characters and rich, bohemian spirit of the place.  The rent is higher there, for sure, but the neighborhood hums with an eclectic mix of art and culture (not to mention fresh produce) that sings to my spirit and beckons me home.

(Oops, I hadn't intended to ramble on so.)

Rather, I wish to share with you these lovely leaping off points from Eccentric Spirit.  Today, I'm thinking that I really need to motivate myself into action.  To help me, I'm going to follow Eccentric Spirit's 10 Ways to Get Unstuck:

1. Doodle
2. Do some contour drawings
3. Splash on some colour
4. Fingerpaint
5. Consult an expert
6. Empty your head
7. Artistic cross-training
8. Go for a walk
9. Hydrate
10. Blast some tunes

Click on 10 Ways to Get Unstuck to read her notes on each suggestion.

As Eccentric Spirit notes, her ideas apply equally well for those with artists' block as for those of us stuck in the mire of life change.  And more importantly, it just sounds fun.

So, for the next ten days, I'm going to follow and post about one prompt every day.  Try it with me, if you like!

"Life is about change, 

sometimes it’s painful, 

sometimes it’s beautiful, 

but most of the time it’s both."

(Smallville) 

A Whirlwind of a Weekend...

You may have noticed my short absence from the Blogosphere...

It happens that my life has been swept up and throttled about during a whirlwind of a weekend.  It is amazing how incoherent one's life can become over the course of a few short days.

Of course, major life events often herald the good as well as the bad.  This is true, despite the difficulty that one frequently encounters when attempting to glimpse the sun through the murkiest shroud of pitiless cloud.

So let us look to something cheery, today.  Let us turn our eyelids to the sun and squeeze supple blades of grass between our toes.  Let us lose ourselves in our dreams... and envision their transformation into a bold new reality.

Feed Your Soul

I highly encourage you to visit Liz Kalloch`s art on indiefixx.com/Feed_your_soul and print off this beautiful artwork.  (Trust me, this small attachment doesn`t do it justice!)

Mount it in a frame or add it to your inspiration board - love it and enjoy it.   

Kalloch`s piece reads “We are most alive in this world when we bloom with total abandon.”
         

I had just finished reading this post  at Sharon`s Jewelry Garden when I happened to click on an old bookmark.  Although I didn`t recall at the time where the bookmark linked to, it was in a Creative File I`d labeled “Inspirations.”  (Do you collect gazillions of Creative bookmarks like I do, or am I a lone virtual pack rat?)

It seems to me now that it was wonderfully serendipitous to have come across this beautiful artwork and its inspirational inscription at precisely that moment.

 
Remember that you can accomplish the most amazing acts and become capable of unknown abilities when you let yourself free of self-imposed boundaries.

Please print it, love it, enjoy it.