Jul 22, 2015 | Global
Here are the moments in between.
The ones of traveling to Philly, to Chicago, to Ghent…
The ones of art musuems and christmas tree’s.
Of reading days and out of town weddings.
The moments of working and relaxing.
Of coffee and flowers.
Shadow and light.
The in between…
-I have gotten so out of the habit of just posting about life- normal life.
The small adventures we make as humans. The little beauties of hometown loving.
When art becomes your full time job, personal posting falls to the back of the line.
So I spent some of this week gazing at blogs I love, something I used to do a lot…
It re-inspired me to add a little more of my outer life on here- not just the inner life.
The above collected moments have happened over the course of the last 6 months.
Jul 20, 2015 | Global
Ask me more.
Go ahead.
Ask me…
Ask me…
What makes me comes alive?
What makes my heart quicken?
What turns me on?
What makes my blood boil?
Where do I go when I need home?
Where do I wander when I need space?
Where in the world shall you explore next?
What is my relationship to money?
What is my relationship to my body?
What love stories have I lived?
What books have transformed me?
What experiences were transcendent?
Who are my people?
What have I lived through?
What passages have I walked through?
What wisdom do I know?
What fires have I risen out of?
Where are am I going?
What motivates me?
What nourishes me?
When do I feel seen?
When do I feel heard?
What makes me nervous?
When have I embodied my truest nature?
What treasures do I fill my home with?
How do I deal with depression?
How do I deal with anxiety?
How did I mend my broken heart?
How do I create boundries?
Go ahead ask me…
Ask the questions.
All of them.
The ones that we don’t ask.
The one’s we wan’t to know.
Explore me like the dense forest of answers that I am.
Jul 20, 2015 | Global
Here is where gratitude becomes my teacher.
The way I see.
The way I find my way back to the beauty within and without.
The way he walks in with flowers in hand.
The way after a hot, hot summer this cool July day whispers of autumn to come.
The way we found the skull of a muskrat sitting at the entrance of a path watching like a guardian.
How one day I found a nest on the side of the road by wild flowers. The next day I found a blue spotted shell sitting on the edge of a golf course. Then today with her, just before getting in the car, there it was. A bluejay feather. How I had looked for one for months. Like bread crumbs, following them, learning to keep my eyes open for what that day has to offer. Knowing I will always find what I seek, plus some.
How magnolias have blossomed like a birth, hanging on it’s gigantic tree like many full moons in the night.
How afternoon mist clings to my skin, cold air fills my lungs.
Talking on the phone with one of my heroes in writing and femininity, Jalaja Bonheim.
Wearing a long maxi dress and how I feel a comfortable lusciousness in my own skin.
Lake Drummond and it’s 800 year old tree.
Watching lightning storms on the beach talking about the difference between belief system spirituality and religion with my love.
Discussing the great divorce by CS Lewis and the possibility of reincarnation.
Finding the remnants of a beautiful butterfly urging me to continue to transform reminding me that life and death are sisters.
These and much more is what delights my heart these days.
Jul 17, 2015 | Global
This woman! The one who gave so many of us platforms to shine and start from! She truly is a gift collecting and curating so many wonderful artists and books. She created A World of Artists Journal Pages that I spoke about here, she is a woman I have long looked up too, for her creative fervor. I am delighted to have Dawn DeVries Sokol today.
Dawn DeVries Sokol is an author, artist and art journaler. She’s written and illustrated several books on doodling, including Art Doodle Love, Doodle Diary, and Year of the Doodle, to be published Nov. 2015. She loves that after creating, she can close up the journal and put it on a shelf, that her journal is just for her and no one else. She lives in Tempe, AZ, with her husband, and dog-child. Her most recent book, A World of Artist Journal Pages, displays more than 1000 diverse journal pages from more than 200 artists worldwide.
How do you start your day?
Once I put our dog Lola out, I grab some breakfast and we both go to the studio and settle in for the morning. I might surf the internet and answer emails for a while, but if I’m on deadline, I’ll work on that project. With books, it’s either writing, painting, designing, or doodling. Sometimes I have to get ready for a gallery show, and then I’m painting on wood panels. Other days, I’ll take an online class and learn new techniques. Every day is different. Lola curls up in her studio bed at my feet or spreads out on her bench in front of the studio window so she can watch what’s going on in the front yard.
How has your experience as an artist changed you?
Being an artist has changed my life in every way. It’s allowed me to continue working at home and express myself even more through my work. I’ve met artists from all over the world and feel I have some strong connections, even if I haven’t met them face to face. But it’s also made me even more of an introvert. I try to meet up for coffee or lunch with friends once in a while because I just need to break out of the hermit phase, and I remember that it’s gratifying to have conversation with like minds!
When have you been unexpectedly vulnerable?
Honestly, I’ve learned that I should always expect to be vulnerable. As an artist and author, I continually put my work out there. It never fails that I hit some ruts in confidence. It’s inevitable, but part of the process. Recognizing a rut is half the battle. You can’t worry about it, you just have to go with it.
The lesson in my life that keeps repeating is….?
That you can’t please everyone. Not everyone will like your art, or like your book, or like something you post online. There’s always someone in this crazy technology-driven, faceless society who will try to beat you down for no real reason. You have to let all of that go and keep moving forward and doing what you believe in.
How do you make space for play? What is your favorite form of play?
I love to play in my journals or on a wood panel. Sometimes it’s just something I feel I have to do at that time, or maybe I need to work out of a rut, or try something totally different.
What does being brave look and feel like? Example?
Being brave is putting yourself out there all the time. It doesn’t feel pretty at times, but you just have to do it. It’s easy to doubt your ability or vision. Believe me, I doubt myself all too often. It’s easy to listen to that little monster. But you just have to tell that voice in your head to shut up because you love what you’re doing.
What is pulling you forward? Your motivation for what you do? What do you wish everyone to know?
My motivation comes from inspiring others. I love to hear from someone through my blog or through social media that my art or words have encouraged them or triggered something within them. That is the greatest reward.
I want everyone to know that we are all artists. I always used to think that an artist had to be someone who draws realistically. That just isn’t true.
How we see the world around us, that’s what comes through our hands onto the journal page, the canvas, or whatever substrate we are using at the time. That’s special. That’s what makes your art magic. No one else has your eyes, your mind.
If you want to paint, do it. If you want to draw, do it. Some people just seem to do it easily from early on, others have to learn and practice, but it doesn’t mean those people aren’t artists. We just have to hone our craft. Pick up a pencil or a pen and make a mark. Make some more. It takes time and patience. I have learned patience through art. I have also learned about myself through art. And that’s the best lesson to learn!
Describe a time when you walked through the doors of passage?
I feel like I’ve walked through those doors a lot! But I think of them more as windows. I usually have to climb up and out through them. I love when I see a window opening. It’s usually when a door closes. I like to keep open to possibilities. You never know when a new opportunity will pop up. It’s all about having your hands in many different pots, and knowing when your heart isn’t into something anymore. Admitting it can be difficult, but once you do that, another opportunity will blossom from one of the other pots.
What lights you up? What are you saying a big YES to these days?
Exploring new subject matter interests me…finding what I feel is “my style”. I still don’t feel like I have a particular “look” to my art yet. As a former art director, I can look at someone’s pages or artwork and know pretty much who it is just by their line, color palette, and subject matter. I want others to look at my artwork and know that it’s mine like that. I want to be able to see that in MY art!
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild precious life?
Hopefully, I will inspire others to create as I cover the world in doodles and paint!
Also besides grabbing a copy of all her other lovely books Dawn Devries Sokol’s next book, Year of the Doodle, comes out via Abrams and STC/Craft in November!! It will be a journal for those who wish to doodle something different every day for one year. Pre-order a copy HERE!
Jul 10, 2015 | Global
Stopping to smell wild flowers with petals of golden yellow and blood. Collecting them in small handfuls, as cars stream by in blurs.
Finding a nest… just then… at my feet. Small and fragile and perfect.
Wine… Good Wine. With a name like Apothic… inspired by the “Apotheca,” a mysterious place where wine was blended and stored in 13th century Europe.
Tasting mystery on your tongue.
My father in laws gift of 6 point antlers the color of carmel. And how he thinks of me even when we are not around.
Seafood dinner with loved ones and small walks for Italian pastries.
All day store hoping with my mother, drinking coffee and searching for treasures.
Thunder storms… all of them. Crackling through the sky with electric heat.
Here… Right now… and how the time moves quicker than it ever has in my life.
How looking at him, his eyes, his smile, reminds me how long we have already been together and how really it hasn’t been long at all.
Breakfasts with dad and how you never really feel too grown to have dad and daughter dates.
How abundance comes in many forms. Like dinners given when we most needed them.
