Intention and Hygge

I've been exploring bringing more intention into my living space, and rearranging areas. As an artist, I tend to have lots of supplies, and am of the generation that tends to accumulate paper, and have a hard time passing things on! (Are artists ever minimalistic??)

Currently, my Atelier is in my dining "nook," a space about 7 x 9' which fortunately opens into my high ceilinged kitchen...

My tall easel fits under the arch. 

The living room is the length of the house, 20', with the front section 13' wide, and the back 10'  (the stairs take the other 3'  and the whole house is  950 x feet) I'm shifting the Atelier to the back half, and will move my harps intro the nook.

I've painted part of the larger area a minty green, and the window frames white (they've been French blue) Then, moved my couch to create a Hyyge corner where these shelves were. 

Hygge (hug-ee) is a Danish term, a light in the darkness, to carry us through the cold winter months...Elements may include Candles, a warm cup of tea, good book, cozy seats with warm blankets, creating a feeling of cozy comfort. My friend Jeanine has a beautiful blog on bringing more Hygge into your home.

Hygge corner

After I began rearranging things, I received a message from the coordinator of our Art Harvest Studio Tour, asking if I'd like to apply for inclusion! I'd just been thinking of the tour, and 10 Oaks Gallery is one of the event sponsors....
It looks like my clearing and rearranging is timely! It's a big commitment of time and energy, and I need to *paint up a storm* to get ready! Fortunately, it's in the fall, so I have time to prepare - and an application to write! 

Do you have home studio?
Any goals on your list you're aiming for? 

Happy PPF! 

I am from

In the red thread Circle Guide program, Shiloh Sophia invites participants to connect with our origins, and write a I am from poem. Where are you from?'

I am from sage brush, juniper and mint in roadside ditches
   Yarrow in the pasture, that I grind between stones
        Then set in the sun to dry, knowing/not knowing
              There's something more to do

I am from songs around the campfire
    Pumping water and carrying it back to camp
       Sleeping bags and clear night skies
          Waiting for the blue flash, when the lantern goes out

I am from hikes in the woods
   Little mountain mosquito bites that
      Won't itch, if I dont scratch them ....
          I scratch them!

I am from befriending chipmunks, while my mother watches for birds
    From my father's fishing pole and tying flies
         Pan fried trout, fresh from the stream
              Calling the deer, as hunters have, time behind time

I am from lonely child only child
    Day dreams and stories read before bed, 
         myths and legends
             Fuel my dreams

I am from summer adventures with favorite cousins
    Learning constellations dancing in ink black summer sky
        Milky way, a stream across the heavens
             Orion, Cassiopeia, the weeping Pleiades
          Great and little dippers, Pegasus, Leo

I am from church on Sunday, and Grange on Fridays
    From a line of preachers, teachers and farmers
          Midwives and healers stretching back across the plains
                To the southern forests, to the Celtic lands
I am from piano lessons and singing in the choir

    From drawing the neighbor's ponies, 
        Hanging clothes on the line and polishing silver
           4-H and crafts with my mama
            Oregon vacations, Reading after dark

I am from Magpie and Red wing Blackbird
     From echoing Meadowlark's trill and singing to my mountains
        While waiting for the schoolbus
             In the brisk morning air

I am from teacher's college, 
   Honors English and Music theory
      Natural history, with ancient forests and volcanoes
          Life drawing and Opera workshop

I am from a third floor dorm room and my first roommate
        She, one of ten kids, and me, one of one!
            Music Major and minor
                 Learning to bump along

I am from romance and disappointment
      From young motherhood and marriage
           Nursing and making yogurt
                Messy houses and enough books to fill a library  

I am from art and science
     Mountains and stars
          Healers and dancers
              Wise woman and mystics

I am from astrology and tarot readings
    Color and Theory
        Living in community 
             And taking up the harp

I am from a dancing dragon tattoo
    Living by the sea for awhile
        Teaching Reiki and gathering stones
             Basking in starlight

I am from here and there,
   From the songs of my ancestors, and of my grandchildren
      From asking "is there another story you'd like to tell?
         Sharing the songs of the stars
             
.... Posting to Paint Party Friday - where are you from?
            
    

RT Circle Guide

Since she was a teen growing up in California's Bay Area, Artist Shiloh Sophia has been calling circles, gathering people, often "misfits and outcasts," inviting them to belong. In her art galleries, she often set up a station to create, and invited guests to do a project in art and inquiry. 

After a brief sojourn in art school, and resulting frustration with the focus on realistic painting, and scathing "critiques," she returned to her roots and independent study with her mentor, Master Painter Sue Hoya Sellers. (1936-2014) Sue invited everyone she knew to, "commit art," and Shiloh Sophia has taken that invitation literally.

After almost a decade of offering the Color of Woman Intentional Creativity program, which Hoya Sellers helped establish, Shiloh Sophia launched Red Thread Circle Guide training.  Around 50 women from around the world who are healed enough, and ready to call Red Thread Circles in their own communities are enrolled in the training. I am excited for these SiStars, and the beloveds who will be served. 

A Chinese Legend tells us a Red Thread connects us from before birth with those we're destined to meet. The thread may twist and tangle, but it won't break, and gradually draws us closer. We each have our own piece of the thread, what is ours to cause and create. RT circles help us identify our own piece, and to connect with others in our tribe. 

I have offered RT circles for the past three years, since my enrollment in the IC Color of Woman training, and am honored to be one of those offering support to this first RT Circle Guide training. 
Last night our monthly circle included 7 sisters and two Guides, including my 13 year old granddaughter. KK was my "guinea pig" for my first Red Thread Circle in 2015, helping me practice my first offering, a Cosmic Smashbook cover. 
Our inquiry art circle was what Renewal we are seeking this Imbolc season, what are we Devoted to? What title would we put on our "book?"

We created a small book, using 1/4 sheet of 90# watercolor paper, folded the long way and torn into two strips for a 6 page, single signature booklet. We used watercolors markers, and colored or Inktense pencils to create our covers, and red thread to tie the signatures. 

Inquiries:

•  Cover - what am I devoted to? What's my new Myth? What is my book Title?
• 1/2 - What is the challenge/ old story?
• 3/4 Middle - symbol / words of transformation 
• 5/6 - Renewal, devotion, resolution

 A Nation of Women With Wings 

These little booklets are easy to create, and could hold more signatures - here's a post on making a simple single signature booklet, and one for two or more signatures. This is a great project for any age and topic! Have you made booklets?  Post a link in the comments! 

My IC Guild cohort Sepha used three strips of folded paper for her booklet (for 10 inside pages), and painted a symbol that commonly appears in her art on each page. I love that idea, and am beginning one to contain the symbols I use. Do you have symbols, shapes orcolors you use frequently?

Though Shiloh didn't originally plan to include doing a painting in the Red Thread Circle Guide program, that's so integral to her work, we are working on a canvas "after all!" Here's the beginning of mine, the circle, with symbols for myself in the center.  ... 

HåPpÝ Paint Party Friday

Vesta and Crown