Sketch of a magnolia using colored pencil on black paper.
Category: Art
AEDM Day 9: Playing with Patterns
Tonight I just practiced playing with patterns and color. I’m tired and am thinking about going to bed early! What a treat!
AEDM Day 8: Lotus Blossom
Today I participated in a holiday bazaar at Namaste Yoga in Rockridge. I got to meet some other really cool women selling handmade jewelry, accessories and art. Tonight’s piece is inspired by my time in the beautiful yoga studio.
AEDM Day 7: Orchids
A quick watercolor tonight. Orchids are one of my favorite flowers. Simple, elegant and beautiful.
Earlier tonight, Kate and I took a tour of Oakland’s Art Mumur. Every first Friday of the month several art galleries near downtown Oakland have open studios. We’d never been before, so it was cool to see such a bustling creative community in the heart of the city. To top it off, Kate and I dined on some Louisiana style fried chicken and candied yams at a local dive. Yum! Definitely a fun night on the town.
AEDM Day 6: Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper
I never write in my books. I love pristine pages, tight spines and the smell of a new book. The thought of dog-earring a page or making notes in the margin makes me shudder.
That being said, SARK’s book “Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper” just beckoned for bright markers to dance all over it. So, I got some juicy pens and filled out page 80 – the list of reasons why I don’t feel like writing. There are so many things that I let get in the way of working on my book. This was a great exercise in putting it all down. I’m sure there are plenty more distractions and excuses (in fact I just thought of another one – I need to go exercise!).
I think these same reasons also stop me from doing art more often. So, I’m loving being part of the Art Every Day Month Challenge as it’s helping me to just do it anyway!
AEDM Day 5: Hue Are U?
I’m always learning new things from my clients, which is one of the things I love about my job! Today, one of my clients came over for a session and she brought along a card deck called “Hue Are U? A Deck For Discovering Your True Self” by Dewey Sadka. I’m a personality-typing nut, so I was all over this system, especially given that it’s based on simply picking colors you’re naturally drawn to. You also pick colors you don’t like (what you resist persists!).
Earlier tonight, I drew my cards. You pick your favorites and least favorites out of different groupings of colors for things like your basic motivation, how you relate to people, your hopes and fears, how you take on the world, your suppressed emotions/needs, etc. There are descriptions on the back of each card. My faves were in the green/yellow/blue family and least faves in the reds/purples.
It was a fun and enlightening exercise and I decided to diagram my results (see below).
AEDM Day 4: Having Fun With Values
What an amazing and historic night!!
Earlier today I finished my 10th collaged value card. I’ve been having so much fun exploring my values in a visual, tangible and creative way that I just had to create a card to honor my value of fun and play!
Fun / Play / Enjoyment / Experiential / In the Body
Those colorful striped tights remind me of the whimsy, adventurous spirit and independent spunk of Pipi Longstocking. When I was a kid, I used to love watching Pipi Longstocking. I wished I had her crazy sideways braids and her unusal strength!
I also found a super cute image of a beagle to remind me of how fun it is to cuddle and play with Emmett.
I’ve been really enjoying interacting with my value cards – which makes sense considering “experiential” is an one of my values! Today, I placed my deck of cards on an easel by my computer. I choose to display my value card of grace, elegance and flow as I spent a good part of today writing. It reminded me of the ease and flow I enjoy when I’m in my creative groove.
I also played around with using my cards to see how well certain aspects of my life stack up against my values. This spread here shows all of the values I’m honoring by working on my book. I’m looking forward to using this visual process to help me make future decisions, assess my commitments and align with what brings me most alive.
AEDM Day 3: More Collaged Values Cards
For Day 3 of Art Every Day Month, I made a couple more collaged values cards.
Integrity / Authenticity / Wholeness / True to Self / Integrated
Love / Connection / Friendship / Meaningful Relationships
This has been a great exercise that I look forward to continue working with more deeply. In fact, earlier tonight I coached a client who is preparing for her certification exam. To practice and get feedback, she coached me for a bit. I got some great coaching on something I’ve been stuck around for the past several weeks. By asking about my values, she helped me get clearer on some actions to take. The biggest realization for me was that by avoiding direct requests and boundaries, I was out of integrity. Not doing anything was actually not speaking my truth. And that violated my value of integrity, authenticity and being true to myself.
I love that I now have a visual reminder to help me stay connected with this value. To help reinforce how speaking my truth from my heart keeps me on my path.
AEDM Day 2: More Collaged Values Cards
I finished three more collaged values cards today. Again, I was only going to do one and then I just got caught up in the fun! Turns out I was honoring my values of creativity and flow :).
Risk Taking / Stretching / Putting myself out there / Accomplishment / Excellence
Peace / Harmony / Tranquility / Inner Life / Meaning
Learning / Personal Growth
As I look at today’s cards and my cards from yesterday, I’m reminded how sometimes core values may actually conflict with each other and how they can all be interconnected as well. For example, when I put myself out there (like I did for my TV appearances), I might disrupt my sense of peace and tranquility for a bit but I’ve usually challenged myself to learn and grow so afterward I feel great! Another place where my values sometimes rub up against each other is around creativity/expression and my need for at least some order, structure and efficiency. My value of creativity ranks higher than my value for structure, though, so usually that wins out. I know structure and efficiency are important to me though, because when they’re not there in some form I get frustrated. The key is having awareness and making conscious choices about what values you’ll honor in any given moment.
I’m really enjoying this process of exploring my values in a visual and more tangible way. I hope you’ll make some of your own!
Day 1: Art Every Day Month 2008 Starts Today!
I can’t believe it’s already November! That means Leah Piken Kolidas’ Art Every Day Month challenge has begun. I’m excited to explore art and creativity in new exciting ways each day.
For my first project I started creating collage cards for each of my core values strings. I just wrote an exercise about these values cards in a chapter of the book that I’m working on, so I wanted to experiment with it a bit.
Values are what’s most important to you. When you’re honoring your core values, you feel totally alive, authentic and aligned. When your core values aren’t being met, you’ll probably feel frustrated, angry or resentful. When you’re faced with a decision, it’s helpful to see how well the different options honor your core values. Once I have my completed deck of values cards, I’m going to practice using them to make decisions in a visual way.
I planned to just make one card per day for the next several days, but I just got really in the creative flow so I ended up doing four tonight! They are collaged onto 5×7 pieces of card stock
Beauty / Creativity / Creating Beauty / Style / Inspiration / Self Expression / Uniqueness / Emotions
Grace / Elegance / Flow
Breath / Spaciousness / Groundedness
Structure / Efficiency (Yes, I actually used labels from my p-touch because it’s just oh so satisfying!)
I’m looking forward to making more values collage cards tomorrow!