Do you like photography?
Are you interested in the nature of humanity and equality?
Then you might like to get involved in a collaborative photo project.
Eddie is one of the artists involved.
And you're invited to join in.
It could inspire an interesting conversation in the tearoom at work this week:
"What did you do last night?"
"I was involved in a collaborative art project while I was sleeping!"
:-)
Worry dolls & chatterboxes
One day in the tearoom I told a work colleague about a certain shop in Melbourne that has the coolest unique gifts. I mentioned these cute little "worry dolls" I'd seen in their catalogue, and we had a joke about them as developments in our workplace had been quite worrying.A couple of months later I was retrenched from that workplace. With no time for farewell teas, speeches or gifts, it was the most abrupt and stressful workplace departure of my career.
Shortly after, I received a package from that 'tearoom' colleague. My very own little worry dolls. According to Guatemalan legend, you share your worries with the dolls, then while you sleep, they take your worries away.
The fact that my previous work colleague had remembered our tearoom conversation was touching. The fact that she went to the effort of ordering them for me, even more so. Tears of happiness mixed with tears of loss and grieving, and threatened to drown my poor little worry dolls on their first outing!
The dolls now sit on my bedside table as a visual reminder to leave my worries there and not take them onto the pillow at night.
Five days into my new role at the regional art gallery, my brain is suffering from information overload. It's not worry that's keeping me awake at night, but mental chatter. So I'm going to put the dolls' box to good use. It has just been christened the "chatter box". I'll write down my chattering thoughts, put them in the box and shut the lid.
Here's hoping I get a good night's sleep tonight.
No worries
No chatter
My brain needs the downtime . . .
The truth about art
The aim of art is to represent
not the outward appearance of things,
but their inward significance.
~ Aristotle
Art Attack: Mandala
Mandala is a Sanskrit word. Some translators say it means "circle", while other translators say it could also mean "spirit.” The truth is probably somewhere between the two as mandalas are commonly referred to as a healing circle. Circles are universally associated with meditation, healing and prayer. Creating mandalas can be a very meditative and centering process.
Whirling Dervish, mandala by Kel
This month's art attack invites you to create a mandala. Start by drawing a circle, then fill it with the colours, shapes, patterns or symbols that arise for you in the moment.
Whirling Dervish, mandala by KelThis month's art attack invites you to create a mandala. Start by drawing a circle, then fill it with the colours, shapes, patterns or symbols that arise for you in the moment.
Remember: Don't think too much, just work intuitively and quickly. Name your creation, and if you would like, post it on your blog and share the story. Then drop a comment here to say you've just had an art attack. As always, it's not so much about the end result. I hope by my examples you can see that! It's more about the process (what you experience in the creation of it) and the insight you may gain as a result.
Venetian glass earrings
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and now for something completely different . . .
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Venetian glass beads, Swarovski crystals & lampwork beads
Earrings designed & handcrafted by Xfacta Kel
and now for something completely different . . .
.
Venetian glass beads, Swarovski crystals & lampwork beadsEarrings designed & handcrafted by Xfacta Kel
New job newsflash
Considering my recent art attack, the following news is even more serendipitous.
Next week I start a new part-time job in arts administration at the regional art gallery.
Guess what the exhibition is that opens next week? 40 watercolour botanical paintings of Banksia. There's even a workshop where kids get to make their own banksia men!
Next week I start a new part-time job in arts administration at the regional art gallery.
Guess what the exhibition is that opens next week? 40 watercolour botanical paintings of Banksia. There's even a workshop where kids get to make their own banksia men!
warrior woman
put on the warpaintthere's a battle to fight
stand up for your own truth
this is your life
creating the life you imagined
Our creativity does not consist of being right all the time,but in making of all our experiences - including the apparently
mistaken and imperfect ones - a holy whole.
~ Matthew Fox
I am a writer:
Creating a first draft can be infuriating. After many hours the only visible result is a bin full of scrumpled up paper. The mistakes, the imperfectly worded pages. But I know that sometimes, not always, I have to go through the full-bin-stage before the finished product is to my liking.
To get that perfectly crafted page of words, a certain amount of push and pull must occur. Wrestling with ideas, phrases, the sound and rhythm of the words as they spill out and cover that once blank white canvas.
I am an artist:
Ah yes, the fear of facing a blank white canvas. Of making the first mark. What type of paint, which brush, big broad strokes or little bitty dots. So many options, too many choices. And another fear raises it's ugly head - the fear of failure.
To get that perfectly executed image. Wait. What was that word? This is not an execution! No-one is going to get shot. It's simply a canvas, some paint and time to play in the studio. To create something that may or may not be a masterpiece. But nothing will be created unless I go into the studio and start splashing some paint around.
~ ~ ~
Perhaps you don't practise an art form - but you do live a life. And living your life is an act of creation. Seasonal options. Weekly decisions. Daily actions. Moment-by-moment thoughts. All these things go toward creating the life you live.
Perhaps like me you get frustrated when the bin is filling up with crumpled paper. That's where I'm at right now. But hang in there. Sunday night is bin night. So it's about to be emptied. Offering a fresh start beginning this week.
I might even invest in a round bin and call it the holy whole.
Sustainable living?
In a society where it’s becoming increasingly trendy to be eco-centric, the mention of sustainable living conjures images of passive-solar home design, rainwater harvesting, chook pens and veggie gardens.
Dinner party conversations on the topic might also include discussion of the following:
Food
If you can’t “grow your own”, then one should try to source supplies from local farmers or stores in an attempt to keep the “food miles’ down. Food miles – or perhaps we should call them food kilometers – are what accumulates as food travels from its source to the table. So indulging in imported chocolate from Switzerland is now more of a sin than before L
Someone who tries to eat this way – seeking out locally produced food - is called a locavore. The New Oxford American Dictionary chose locavore as its word of the year in 2007.
Energy
Most utility companies now provide consumers with choice for their electricity supply. Pay a bit more for your bill and they say the power you use will be sourced by renewable energy sources.
For the past two years my husband and I owner built a house. We designed it ourselves, based on passive solar principles. As we are heading toward our first winter in the home, it is working a treat already. We come home at the end of the day and the house is lovely and warm, having caught the sun's rays through the mostly glass wall on the north (sunny side in the southern hemisphere).
Dinner party conversations on the topic might also include discussion of the following:
Food
If you can’t “grow your own”, then one should try to source supplies from local farmers or stores in an attempt to keep the “food miles’ down. Food miles – or perhaps we should call them food kilometers – are what accumulates as food travels from its source to the table. So indulging in imported chocolate from Switzerland is now more of a sin than before L
Someone who tries to eat this way – seeking out locally produced food - is called a locavore. The New Oxford American Dictionary chose locavore as its word of the year in 2007.
Energy
Most utility companies now provide consumers with choice for their electricity supply. Pay a bit more for your bill and they say the power you use will be sourced by renewable energy sources.
For the past two years my husband and I owner built a house. We designed it ourselves, based on passive solar principles. As we are heading toward our first winter in the home, it is working a treat already. We come home at the end of the day and the house is lovely and warm, having caught the sun's rays through the mostly glass wall on the north (sunny side in the southern hemisphere).
Today when you buy an airline ticket, it often comes with a carbon offset option; you pay a bit extra and they will plant some trees to make up for the carbon your trip on that plane will generate. While the theory behind carbon offsetting is good, one wonders about the reality of the difference it makes.
Some companies proudly advertise that carbon offsetting is included in the purchase of their product or service. It doesn’t change your choice of travel method or production, but it helps you feel less guilty, or more smug, about your purchase. It’s not actually changing your buying habits, it’s just cashing in on your guilt to make you feel better about it.
While these things may make a difference to the way resources are used on the earth, and contribute savings that benefit the environment, and our conscience; to focus on these practices alone should not fully define sustainable living.
Some companies proudly advertise that carbon offsetting is included in the purchase of their product or service. It doesn’t change your choice of travel method or production, but it helps you feel less guilty, or more smug, about your purchase. It’s not actually changing your buying habits, it’s just cashing in on your guilt to make you feel better about it.
While these things may make a difference to the way resources are used on the earth, and contribute savings that benefit the environment, and our conscience; to focus on these practices alone should not fully define sustainable living.
In “The Next Green Revolution:, Alex Nikolai Steffen wrote, “You don’t change the world by hiding in the woods, wearing a hair shirt, or buying indulgences in the form of 'Save the earth' bumper stickers. You do it by articulating a vision for the future and pursuing it with all the ingenuity humanity can muster. Indeed, being green at the start of the 21st century requires a whole hearted commitment to upgrading civilisation.”
Upgrading civilisation sounds like a mighty big task. But if we break the macro utterance into micro behaviour, perhaps it might just be achievable. Behaviour modification should go deeper however, than what type of light bulb you use or where you buy your food.
In "I Believe This”, Andy Griffiths writes, “I believe it's never too early - or too late - to start asking the questions: "What is it that really absorbs me?" and "What am I uniquely suited to being able to contribute to both my life and the lives of others?" - and then to have the courage, patience, and persistence to act on the answers as if your life depends on it. Because, in a very real sense it does."
Find what absorbs you and what you are uniquely suited to contribute to the world around you – and there you have it. The key to real sustainable living and the upgrading of civilization all rolled into one.
Upgrading civilisation sounds like a mighty big task. But if we break the macro utterance into micro behaviour, perhaps it might just be achievable. Behaviour modification should go deeper however, than what type of light bulb you use or where you buy your food.
In "I Believe This”, Andy Griffiths writes, “I believe it's never too early - or too late - to start asking the questions: "What is it that really absorbs me?" and "What am I uniquely suited to being able to contribute to both my life and the lives of others?" - and then to have the courage, patience, and persistence to act on the answers as if your life depends on it. Because, in a very real sense it does."
Find what absorbs you and what you are uniquely suited to contribute to the world around you – and there you have it. The key to real sustainable living and the upgrading of civilization all rolled into one.
Personal energy assessment: Where do you put most of your time, energy and money? Does it tell the truth about what really matters to you?
This post was formed from the basis of an article of mine published in a UK lifestyle magazine.
On being busy
Pop quiz time.
What’s the most common answer to the question “How are you?”
The one I hear the most, and find myself saying is, “Busy!”
Granted, some people may not say it in a singular word, but the rundown we feel compelled to give each other about the frantic pace at which we live our daily lives, says it all.
Janet Ruffing, in her essay, Resisting the Demon of Busyness expresses perfectly the intoxicating addictiveness of busyness and how it impacts our life.
“When I’m busy being busy, my field of awareness constricts and I tend not to notice my surroundings or other people. I tend to be unresponsive either to the needs of those who cross my path or to my own. I lose my contemplative attitude and so deprive myself of moments of beauty, surprise, delight, or love. When I’m busy being busy, I avoid making time for leisure, for play, for relationships, for reflection. I take delight in moving fast, being caught up in the rhythm of an institution, a city, a community that runs me, that overwhelms my internal sense of self and my felt responses to internal and external events. I am actually being captivated by a “false” consciousness that is largely generated by the culture outside of me. I go on automatic while believing I am still in charge. When I am busy, I can believe myself to be incredibly important to the scheme of things. I become indispensable, necessary. My ego becomes reassured that I am productive, accomplishing something worthwhile and valuable. After all, time is money and I am spending it well. I am measuring out the least amount of time possible for each task. By being so efficient, I become free to accept more work. I’m so good at being busy I continually escalate the demands on my time, attention, and care. This illusory state of mind is continually reinforced by my social world. If I project a state of busyness, others will notice how important I am. Maybe I will appear to be so important they won't disturb me. Maybe I will appear to be so important they will seek me out for something even more important.”
C S Lewis said, “The demons of the twentieth Century (and I dare say the 21st) will be noise, busyness, and crowds.”
This weekend, may you find some space for your soul.
Some life unplugged time.
To simply be.
What’s the most common answer to the question “How are you?”
The one I hear the most, and find myself saying is, “Busy!”
Granted, some people may not say it in a singular word, but the rundown we feel compelled to give each other about the frantic pace at which we live our daily lives, says it all.
Janet Ruffing, in her essay, Resisting the Demon of Busyness expresses perfectly the intoxicating addictiveness of busyness and how it impacts our life.
“When I’m busy being busy, my field of awareness constricts and I tend not to notice my surroundings or other people. I tend to be unresponsive either to the needs of those who cross my path or to my own. I lose my contemplative attitude and so deprive myself of moments of beauty, surprise, delight, or love. When I’m busy being busy, I avoid making time for leisure, for play, for relationships, for reflection. I take delight in moving fast, being caught up in the rhythm of an institution, a city, a community that runs me, that overwhelms my internal sense of self and my felt responses to internal and external events. I am actually being captivated by a “false” consciousness that is largely generated by the culture outside of me. I go on automatic while believing I am still in charge. When I am busy, I can believe myself to be incredibly important to the scheme of things. I become indispensable, necessary. My ego becomes reassured that I am productive, accomplishing something worthwhile and valuable. After all, time is money and I am spending it well. I am measuring out the least amount of time possible for each task. By being so efficient, I become free to accept more work. I’m so good at being busy I continually escalate the demands on my time, attention, and care. This illusory state of mind is continually reinforced by my social world. If I project a state of busyness, others will notice how important I am. Maybe I will appear to be so important they won't disturb me. Maybe I will appear to be so important they will seek me out for something even more important.”
C S Lewis said, “The demons of the twentieth Century (and I dare say the 21st) will be noise, busyness, and crowds.”
This weekend, may you find some space for your soul.
Some life unplugged time.
To simply be.
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