Jul 23, 2016 | Art, Global, Love, Photography, Post, Travel
There are a million gems to see and do in Asheville, let me tell you of a few we discovered during our weekend jaunt there over fourth of July weekend.
The Bywater a delightful joint where you can bring your own picnic and purchase yummy cocktails to enjoy by one of their fire pits or while your cooking out next to the river.
To sliding rock where a line of locals wait to slip and slide down this favorite natural mountain waterfall in the Pisgah National Forest.
Or you can enjoy an event put on by Asheville Folk like the one you see curated in a lovely white barn surrounded by the Blue ridge, live music, a field of horses and a rope swing.
(Who wouldn’t want to go to that?)
Go for a drive at dusk along the Pisgah National Forest, pull off at one of the many incredible over looks and watch as the mountains turn to water color paintings before your eyes.
Last but not least grab breakfast to go from Biscuit Head (You will NOT regret this choice) and walk around The River Arts District to see building after building of graffiti magic.
**If possible procure a jeep and listen to Lemonade by: Beyonce… Just sayin…
(Photo cred: Photos including me and of our pups taken by Cindi Cervone Carlson. xoxo Thank You for capturing those moments!)
Jul 5, 2016 | Art, Global, Healing, Love, Misc, Photography, Post, Travel
For years I struggled on the creative path. Going between bursts of creativity to droughts.
Feeling impassioned about my future work, to feeling like I will never make a living doing what I love.
I concluded; I didn’t have enough passion.
Passion is all you need, I heard people say… if your passionate enough they continued.
What I am starting to realize: Passion is a huge piece of the puzzle; but it is not the only piece.
Passion isn’t meant to be a constant state of “being” in love with (Said work). It isn’t supposed to be the answer, the fix all, the magic pill.
Passion will disappoint you with this kind of pressure.
Now I’m not saying you don’t need passion… Hell yes you need passion to follow your dreams.
Passion is what lights you up. Passion is a catalyst. Passion motivates. Its what gets you intrigued, gets you going and gets you coming back to your dreams over and over again.
Though if your like me, you have felt passion wane. You have felt boredom creep in, discouragement take over. It’s 100% normal.
Thats right… this doesn’t mean your not passionate about your dreams, which is what I used to think. You may be assuming passion will do a lot more of the work than it’s intended purpose. Somewhere in me believed “if I just had enough passion I would always enjoy what I was doing.” “If I just had enough passion I would already be successful.”
Successful people get bored. Successful people tackle mundane tasks. Sometimes with wind in their sails, sometimes without.
Either way they keep going… Day by day they put in the work, with or without passion.
I didn’t really understand… it’s too simple, I thought. They have too possess something I don’t. The veil between why they were successful and I wasn’t, tore when I began to met successful people.
I made excuses of why I couldn’t achieve my dreams. They didn’t. I gave up or settled when it got too hard. They kept going. I thought it was taking too long. They were in it for the long haul.
The answer wasn’t that they had more passion than I, it’s that they were committed to the WHOLE process. That my friends is amazing news.
You don’t have to feel euphoric about your dreams all the time. Say what?! This is so damn relieving… seriously!
Take the pressure off your passion… when it wanes, and it will, don’t take it personally… stay committed…
Passion + Commitment = Dreams Coming True! The magic answer. Okay, maybe not but it’s pretty close.
Jun 28, 2016 | Art, Global, Love, Misc, Photography, Post, Travel
Jacksonville Florida takes some getting used too.
But one thing is for sure, like any other place, you can still excavate beauty.
It may take some commitment. Some exploring. Some digging. Some driving. But it is there.
One of my favorite places thus far in Jacksonville is Driftwood beach.
*At sunset it’s crawling with photographers, but for good reason, IT IS STUNNING!
The glowing light dappling throughout the driftwood laden sand. Ahhh!
Every time we go it looks a little bit different, depending on the erosion, tide and storms.
Driftwood beach mysteriously shape-shifts. A tree graveyard.
Holiness. I am in love with it’s land.
Take a picnic, bring your ENO hammock with a good book. It’s all you will need here to feel like your on vacation!
Jun 17, 2016 | Art, Global, Healing, Love, painting, Photography, Post, Travel
After a day of wild painting we snuck away to Plaza Blanca (The White Place), a full moon on the rise, lighting sinking fast.
“Making bold commitments, while staying open to change.” Something you will often hear Flora say in her classes.
Magic happens in that space, doesn’t it? When you take action, going with your gut but at the same time stay open to possibilities.
This is how it is with painting… with photo sessions… with life…
“It was all unknown to me then, as I sat on that white bench on the day I finished my hike.
Everything except the fact that I didn’t have to know.
That is was enough to trust that what I’d done was true.
To understand its meaning without yet being able to say precisely what it was,
To believe that I didn’t need to reach with my bare hands anymore.
To know that seeing the fish beneath the surface of the water was enough.
That it was everything. It was my life – like all lives, mysterious and irrevocable and sacred.
So very close, so very present, so very belonging to me.
How wild it was, to let it be.”
-Cheryl Strayed, Wild:From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
You don’t always have to know where you going or how it’s all going to turn out. This mysteriousness, this wildness is the sweet nectar of belonging to life.
(All photo’s taken at the luscious and incredible Call of the Wild Soul Ghost Ranch Art Retreat by: Erin Faith Allen)
Enjoyed seeing these images? Id love to meet you over on Instagram: A Global Walk xoxo
Jun 16, 2016 | Art, Global, Healing, Love, painting, Photography, Post, Travel
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”
-Ambrose Redmoon
Misty says she used to be incredibly shy, the idea of teaching absolutely frightened her.
Yet the desire to paint was greater. The desire to create was greater.
The desire to be who she truly is, was greater.
I am filled with gratefulness that Misty had courage to paint/teach.
Her work and life is truly inspirational. Thank you dear… thank you for being courageous!
(Photo’s taken at the luscious Call of the Wild Soul, Ghost Ranch Art Retreat created by: Erin Faith Allen)
Enjoyed seeing these images? Id love to meet you over on Instagram: A Global Walk xoxo
Jun 14, 2016 | Art, Global, Healing, Love, Misc, Photography, Post, Travel
There were Indian chai’s shared with the best men and blue hued mountains to be hiked.
There were silhouettes of people I love against backdrops of adventure.
There were hours of uninterrupted time to create… collage… pour…
There were beaches of powdered sand and mountains of crystalline snow.
There were many times in the last six months where I missed home endlessly.
There were times when I was so full of the moment I lacked for nothing.
These were the moments in between.
