Soul Whispers... Life's better...

It is my belief that messages from the universe speak to me and remind me of something that is inside of me. When I first see them, I often don't even know what is really being advertised. Instead, the message conjures emotions or thoughts relating to something that is going on within me; in my heart, in my mind, in my soul. I see them on billboards, in magazines, store windows, church plaques...everywhere.

I secretly call them soul whispers.

The messages are all around us

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I saw this message more than once this past week.

It is part of a new advertisement for a major bank branch.

And, the best part...

I never noticed the words at the bottom

until I really looked at my photograph.

Universe, you work in amazing ways.

I love this message,

Life's better when we're connected.

It caught my attention in light 

of everything happening in Boston,

and the increased police and

 armed guard presence

 that has returned to NYC this past week.

It made me think about all the people

that are important to me.

I smiled each time I saw the message.

Days later, I took this picture 

and then saw the smaller words;

to potential

to possibilities

(I'm not sure if there are more words

this is where I unconsciously cut it off).

This made me think more.

We all have potential

and, honestly, I believe that 

possibilities are endless.

So, I want to encourage you 

to become connected

to what your heart and soul

see and feel as your potential

and then see what possibilities you have.

Life's better when we're connected

to potential

to possibilities...

WOYWW - Art Journaling

Fellow WOYWW bloggers and followers, thank you for all the love last week!

Here is my desk (after many piles were moved). 

Living in a 320 square foot apartment means that my desk has multiple uses and for the past couple of weeks it has served as a collecting space for mail, magazines, collected art supplies, and other random "I'm not sure what to do with this" stuff. (Secret, I finished my sketchbook by creating a workspace on my bed.)

So, here is my desk this week:

I recently purchased a journal at a discount and I decided that my first page was going to be a reminder to myself. This journal is going to be a place for me to play with paints, inks, stamping, etc.

Be Brave

I'm not sure what it is about the blank page but sometimes I can stuck on it. 

Does a blank page ever intimidate you?

By the way, if you missed my post on Monday you can find it here. Monday was my 300th post and I'm giving away one of my photographic prints to one of you who comment on that post. So hop over and leave a comment. 

I'm linking up with Julia's WOYWW. I encourage you to visit a few desks for inspiration.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone.

I hope your day is filled with family, love, and joy.

Love Notes Postcard Project...

I'm participating in Jennifer Beltoff's Love Notes Postcard Project during three weeks in December.

As she so beautifully put it in a post on her blog:

"The Love Notes Post Card project invites you pause, sink into the moment, and write words from the heart ~ on an actual piece of paper.  Words that will brighten someones day and spread sunshine to all those hands it passes through." - Jennifer Beltoff

Her prompts are beautifully written and inviting. 

During the first week I sent off a postcard with the message.

This past week the prompt was a series of words and we were encouraged to pick the words that spoke to us. I decided to use a tag, stamp a few flowers, and this week mail it in an envelope. (I also sent one off to Jennifer to say thank you.  I might as well spread the love, right!) 

Specific words spoke to me, they whispered to my soul, as rewrote them in my journal and then I played. I put tracing paper over the words and rewrote the ones that spoke to me. When I pulled the tracing paper away I was left with just the words that I needed.  

I continued to play, wrote and rewrote, chose to keep the words I found in order, added little words like with, and, in, and finally settled on what is below:

travel openly

with grace

create willingly

with heart

find celebrations

with laughter

be blissfully in love

with gratefulness

feel alive

with a sense of being

be a knowing teacher

with magic

grow and shine

from the shadows

I do hope that it brings a smile and warms the heart of my love note participant.

I think I will work on creating it larger with fun handwritten fonts.

Be sure and pop over to Jennifer's blog and sign up for her love notes newsletter (there is a button on the right hand sidebar) so that you can play along next time.

As always, thanks for visiting.

Shared Messages from the Universe - words...

It is my belief that messages from the universe speak to me and remind me of something that is inside of me. When I first see them, I often don't even know what is really being advertised. Instead, the message conjures emotions or thoughts relating to something that is going on within me; in my heart, in my mind, in my soul. I see them on billboards, in magazines, store windows, church plaques...everywhere.

I secretly call them soul whispers.

The messages are all around us

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The past couple of weeks have been filled with planes and trains as I have traveled a lot for the day job. This means magazines and newspapers are often my inspiration. This is where the universe reminded me about needing a word for 2013.

During 2012 my word was B E L I E V E and it is has done well reminding me to believe in myself, my art, and my abilities. So, I want to adopt a word for 2013.

I have been seeing single words everywhere.

I am not sure what word I will embrace for 2013, yet... I'll continue to meditate on it, be present, and maybe the universe will give me my word (that is how I got believe) - I saw it everywhere last year. 

By the way, Ali Edwards hosts a class called One Little Word at Big Picture Classes. Monthly prompts and exercises, a supportive group of people each embracing their word too. It is amazing!

What has the universe been whispering to you?

Watercolors and Doodles...in the works

AEDM Day 10

I'm linking up with Art Every Day Month throughout the month of November.

Creating art each day: doodling, painting, journal making, stamping, photographing, etc.

I have been playing with watercolors. I drew 20 circles and chose 3 colors for inside the circles. I wanted to play with saturation of color - for me that means how not to make the depth of color look the same. I have a tendency to love bold color and thus I use my watercolors like ink - thick and dark. So, for me, it was a challenge.

Oh, and I chose to use colors that wouldn't normally be my first choice.

This is a work in progress. I have the watercolor all done but still need to finish the doodling.

I'll be honest, I found it challenging to not make each color be the same with the circles. See I love the dark rich colors and not the pastel ones but I do love the variation in this piece and I can't wait to finish adding more words and doodles.

Have fun creating and remember, challenge yourself to do something different. Oh, and I encourage you to play with your art supplies in new ways. 

Hop over to Leah's website and visit a few other creative soul's who are participating in AEDM.

Playing With Words

AEDM Day 8

I'm linking up with Art Every Day Month throughout the month of November.

Creating art each day: doodling, painting, journal making, stamping, photographing, etc.

I finally finished a playful project that I started last month.

I used a child's white crayon first to write words on paper.  I then painted the background with watercolors. The crayon resisted the water. I then used watercolor to add fun colored outlines to the words. I finalized it using a micron pen and adding black dots and outlines.

I like the way it turned out. It was fun to create - a very playful process.

Hop over to Leah's website and visit a few other creative soul's who are participating in AEDM.

I Believe....Doodle

AEDM Day 3

I'm linking up with Art Every Day Month throughout the month of November.

Creating art each day: doodling, painting, journal making, stamping, photographing, etc.

I enjoy to doodle.
A simple "I believe" statement in different handwritten fonts.

Hop over to Leah's website and visit a few other creative soul's who are participating in AEDM.

Shared Messages from the Universe - Forget the Rules if...

It is my belief that messages from the universe speak to me and remind me of something that is inside of me. When I first see them, I often don't even know what is really being advertised. Instead, the message conjures emotions or thoughts relating to something that is going on within me; in my heart, in my mind, in my soul. I see them on billboards, in magazines, store windows, church plaques...everywhere.

I secretly call them soul whispers.

The messages are all around us

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Forget the rules if it makes you happy...

As an artist, I take online classes, local classes when I can find one, visit artist studios, visit galleries, etc.

I love to learn.

Classes are great, don't get me wrong, but at some point you just have to create art.

Yes, as a photographer, I've learned about aperture, shutter speed, composition, but honestly no one has ever taught me to see things the way I see them. 

It comes from practice. 

During the past year alone I've taken over 5,000 pictures, many of them aren't very good but when you find one gem it is all worth it. 

Had it not been for my camera I probably wouldn't see the world around me the way that I do.

I feel the same way about my other art. I make jewelry, really simple twisted wire pendants, and then sterling silver, cut with a saw, formed, filed, and if I'm lucky the use of a torch to solder. I took a class a few years ago, loved it, and long for the day that I can have my own studio to create jewelry. I dream of taking the skills I learned there and not only make jewelry but also make big metal sculpture, too.

Lately, I've been art journaling and learning how to use watercolor paints, dylusion inks, inktense pencils, tombow markers, and tons of other art supplies. I've learned tons of technique but honestly, I have also learned that I really just want to make sure that I'm using the products correctly. 

I want to learn to use the tools and then I want to figure it out what my art will look like. 

I don't want my style of art to look like my teachers'. I don't want what I create to look like my classmates. 

I want to be unique.  

I don't want to follow the rules and paint a ladybug just because everyone else is doing it.

I want a little bit of me in what I create.

So, today, I want to encourage you to forget the rules the next time you take a class.  I want you to learn about the tools and then create from the heart and not from the instruction manual.

Put your heart into your art. (and stop thinking so much with your head)

Forget the rules if it makes you happy...