Haiku My Head, I mean Heart…

Why do we choose wrong

Mean mates, credit card debt, fried rice

When we know better ?

I guess all we can do is show compassion for ourselves when we do,

dust ourselves off,

pull up our socks,

drink some ginger ale with our Advil,

and

promise ourselves we will try better next time.

(Note to self – Overindulgence is not necessary, moderation is your friend. Let’s try to remember that, okay ?)

For more (and better !) haiku, head over to see my beautiful friend rebecca at recuerda mi corazon.

Happy Friday !

A Tale of Royal Joy–Share the Joy Thursday

Our joy story begins with a happy Queen of Arts with the full day in front of her to create !

In the morning of her special day, the Queen played with spray inks, Golden fluid acrylics, plain old craft paint, stencils, sponges and paintbrushes.

And lo and behold :

Two square 6X6 canvases with awesome backgrounds appeared before her !

The Queen was thrilled beyond belief that her playtime had been so fruitful after a dry spell of well over a month!

After the morning arty play time, the Queen returned to her duties of fulfilling the needs of her Royally Cute Subject as well as her own heart,

and took a walk…

After a lunch of an exotic, rare Montreal bagel that the Queen received recently as a gift, with light cream cheese, tomato and turkey breast,

the Joyous Queen returned to the studio to continue her artistic pursuits.

“This square shall be the one.” she declared.

And with some well-loved Royal tunes filling the space and with the castle windows opened wide for fresh air,

the Queen set about creating her piece for this special day.

She drew a figure on to a page of an old dictionary,

painted it with Twinkling H2Os and Inktense watercolor pencils.

She outlined in India Ink Faber Castell artist pens and white Gel pens from Sakura.

The figure turned out to be an angel with her hand outstretched.

It was cut out, glued onto the perfect canvas background and coated with a light coat of semi-gloss gel medium.

This all but ruined the entire thing as the details of the figure smeared with the gel medium !

The Queen lost it momentarily as she had worked on the figure for two hours !!!!

But then she gave into the process, let the gel medium dry and added some details on top to “fix” the angel figure.

Then came the decision about what the angel would be holding.

“A heart ?” thought the Queen.

“No, too cliché and simple here.”

Out of nowhere, like many brilliant Artist thoughts, the perfect idea came to the Queen.

“A stack of rocks, just like my Father used to carefully pile here and there on his journey through life !” rejoiced the Queen, “And I am a Rock Fairy after all !”

The Queen cut her rocks from the old dictionary pages, looking for just the right spots to feature on their surface.

“This looks awesome.” thought her Rocking Majesty,

“but it needs a word somewhere…”

The word “Balance.” came to the Queen’s Libra mind.

Could it be possible that the word would be at the top of the page in her dictionary, and therefore be just the font and boldness that she needed ?

The dictionary was French. The French word for balance is “equilibre”. But alas, the word did not appear on the top of the page.

The Queen looked to her old, 1920’s English dictionary for help.

Instead of balance, she looked up “equilibrium” – a richer word somehow, in the Queen’s Artist mind.

And there at the top of the page, in the perfect font and bold type was the word the Queen needed !

“A gift from the Arty Gods !” thought the happy Artist Queen, “The piece is complete !”

She glued the word in place, signed her Royal signature to it,

and happily headed out to get Chinese food for supper, as the best place in the realm does not deliver.

The next morning, puffy from the salt and MSG in the Chinese food,

our Queen decided to tell her story and even add a final step to her creation.

She added the balanced piece to a bedhead Royal self-portrait, where she is really very happy

though she looks a little vacant and grumpy (and definitely puffy !) in the shot.

Balancing “Equilibrium” on her hand was a pretty cool idea though, don’t ya think ?

And this brings us to the end of our long-winded tale.

The Queen went on to drink lots of water to get rid of the puffiness, to avoid Chinese food again for a good long while,

and to live joyously every after in this very moment !

The End

for more share the joy stories, head over to visit Meri and the joy-filled gang.

Big Love !

“Just Me” Time fit for a Queen !

So my dear friend, Suzy, the Garden Goddess, has gone home now. We had a sweet time together in Wells, Maine. Gorgeous weather, beach time, campsite chats, shopping and just Being.

I didn’t even take any pictures. I was just trying to Be where I was.

Yesterday, after Suzanne left, I was lucky enough to go and celebrate a birthday (Yay, Barb !) and the joys of summer at my friend Patti’s Poolside Paradise for the afternoon.

Yes, I know I am a lucky chickie!

The sweet hubby is actually away this week at a class in Princeton, NJ.

This is the first time in about 7 years that I have been alone in my house day and night.

I am usually the traveller and David is the one who keeps the home fires burning.

So while I miss the guy a lot, I admit that I am kind of enjoying this little visit back to the “Just Me” life.

You know, where you decide when to get up (even though I got up at 6:30 this morning !), when to go to bed, when and what to eat, and whether or not to leave some dishes lying around just for effect…

This Me time is coming at a good moment as I am struggling with keeping the “icks” out of my head, and staying focused on the present moment and what is right.

So my plans for the next few days of Just Me time include trying to be really nice to myself,

trying to nurture the good stuff, and trying to keep the negative, mean messages at bay as much as possible.

And how will I do that ?

Well, one thing I know is that I will be spending a lot of time in the studio with cool tunes a-playing, paint on my fingers and hanging out with the strong, brave Artist Kim part of myself.

I am almost drooling in anticipation of this…

Some Rocking walks with the Chica-dog,

eating lots of cherries (antioxidants extraordinaire that are totally in season right now),

basil and other good summer veggie stuff  (though, I just might have to order  Chinese food which David isn’t into so much as a treat for at least one night !),

watering and talking to the pretty potted plants gracing my once empty back deck (thanks again, Suzanne !), 

perhaps a late afternoon nap to the sounds of the kitty-cats purrs in my cool air-conditioned bedroom…

All of that good self-care is sure to make for a happy, healthy Queen

for her sweet, loving King to come home to…

Happy Wednesday and big Love, Beautiful Ones !

I am off to Be with Me.

 

(All of the photographs above are of my back deck right off the studio, a great place to Be, and of my latest art-journal page, “Encircle”.)

Haiku My Heart–Dirt Bliss

Her hands love the soil.

“For me, this is Zen.” Suzanne,

The Garden Goddess

 

*************************

So this summer has snuck up on me, as I have said.

The back deck finally got its table and umbrella in place last weekend.

And because many of the annuals have been marked down at this point, I was able to stretch my very limited decorating budget to buy some lovelies to fill my containers and grace me with their sweet presence.

But time speeding by, the lovelies sat in their plastic store pots, lucky to be watered each day but not very happy with their root feet so cramped.

Today, with my friend Suzy, the Garden Goddess, visiting, everyone is getting new dirt, and new homes in pretty pots !

Zen bliss for my friend today, a summer’s viewing pleasure for me !

Thanks, Sue ! This haiku from the heart is for you !

(deck photos to follow…)

Share the Joy Thursday–Walks and Rocks

I have been getting back into the routine of going on Rock Fairy walks in the mornings this summer.

With rocks filling my pockets, my camera in one hand, and Chica’s leash in the other,

I set out…

It has become a source of some sweet simple joy for me.

Yesterday’s Rock Fairy walk was all about the one word wonders…

It is amazing how much can be said with just one word, isn’t it ?

Like this little purple rock

up on the third step…do you see it?

Or these single word rocks left on the benches around my favorite park…

The park where I left a rock on this piece of graffiti on the walk way earlier in the week…

The graffiti was still there but the rock “I am here” rock was not.

So I added a new rock to the mix…

This “fine” rock was left on a bigger rock in another park close by. It is one of my favorite spots to leave a rock because it is kind of out of the way.

It never fails to blow me away that when I return there, the previous rock has been taken by some unknown person who it was meant for.

I like the stories that sometimes come from my rocks and my photos mixing together.

Like this pic of Chica, the yellow lab, where she looks like a little dog beside a great big fire hydrant…

and the rock that I put on the very top of the hydrant for someone to find !

Then there are photos that bring me surprises when I get them home and look at them more closely…

Like this shot I took of the cool shadow a leafy tree was casting…

Love it when the Universe gifts me with those hearts !

After a rocking walk, it is always a joy to come home again, too.

That is the

truth !

What will your one word of wonder be today ?

I hope it is a sweet one. Happy Thursday, Beautiful Ones !

 

For more joyful inspiration, go check out the gang at Meri’s Musings

Send out some sweet spots…

So I am participating in the

hosted by the awesome Kat of Kat’s Eye View.

Artists from all different media and styles, and from all over the world are taking part.

I had some fun going through art journal pages from Jan. – June 2011,

looking for sweet spots to feature on my postcards.

I was focusing on bits that really spoke to me. That reflect what I feel is my style at the moment.

I cropped and framed up the images, added a digital signature and printed them out on 4X6 photo paper.

Then I printed out a postcard back with my Queen of Arts logo and one of my favorite quotes onto white card stock.

I glued the photo to the postcard blank and voila, awesome postcards that liberate and accentuate my art, ready for their journey !

“My Green Angel”

“Just Open the Door”

“Be Okay Today”

plus a few more that I forgot to take pictures of !

They are all on their way to Kat now, who will address them and send them out to their new owners. Thanks so much, Kat, for all the hard work you have put into this great swap !

In return, I will receive 5 art postcards of my own, plus one from Kat herself !

I made a couple of extra postcards that I will liberate and send to some of my Blogland pals as well, just because…

I do love this generous artist community on line ! It brings me so many gifts.

***************

Another gift I am getting today is a visit from my friend Suzanne from Montreal.

I have to admit that I am very tired and burnt out with all stress and the work we have been doing to fix up our rental apartment for new tenants. It doesn’t make me the most excited or best hostess in the world!

But that is the great thing about visits from old friends who know you really well, (Suzanne and I were actually roommates way back when), and who won’t judge the dust kangaroos in your house, and who are really just coming to BE with you.

Plus we have a girls weekend at a trailer in Wells Beach, Maine  planned for later this week !

So come on down, Lovely Suzy ! I am so ready just to BE…

Happy Wednesday, Beautiful Ones !