the dreaming Press.

intoxicating expression and the art of *seeing*

 
Well, well, well.  I found a delightful little book!  Summer is my season to get down and dirty with a stack of books so...I went out in search of a few titles. Some came my way by chance also from my mother (love her SO!) and some just magically fell into my hands once I spied them on the shelf, as a magnet is drawn to steel. {pick me! pick me! they seem to whisper}

So delightful is the one book I chose in fact, that I read it nearly cover to cover yesterday and it was full of intoxicating goodness; words as wine upon the lips.  It is Photography and the Art of Seeing: A visual perception workshop for film and digital photography  by Freeman Patterson.  A must read for any creative person.  As this book wakes you up not only to the creative potential in your photography but would do the same for any avenue in your life as an artist or otherwise.  There is a zen about this book that I just drank up. This is but one of quite a few the author wrote so I plan to load up on them all.  'Cause it's a season to be intoxicated with wisdom, words, wine & spirit.

Speaking of intoxication; WOW to this photo (aptly named The Dreaming, coincidence I assure you...!).  I'm happy to have stumbled across this gentleman's flickr stream.  I always wonder what treasures lie in flickr, and this is such a gem.  Colin Vincent you are a genius.

Photography is expression, so when done with soul and passion that will shine through.  I believe that with everything that I am and over a plate of lime toast and coconut coffee this morning I perused another form of expression...that which I found in my friend Patty's blog-"inside the makeup case".  This woman has impeccable makeup everyday, she rocks the wildest colours and coolest ideas you've ever seen on a face and makes it look perfect.  She is "whiplashes" on Instagram so give her a follow.  She's not just a pretty face; she's a photographer too. (p.s. Patty and I met in esthetic school and she had a different colour of perfect polish on her nails everyday.)

Oh how could I leave out a crazy fun evening at the spa we have coming up? I almost forgot...Firefly Creative Writing is coming July 12 to Dance That Pen! This is a sweet little workshop for women who want a juicy date with their creative side. Together, we’ll create a fun, inspiring space to fill pages with words — tiny stories and micro-memories, rants and letters and questions. Come expecting to laugh, share, surprise yourself, and support others on their own unique creative paths! If you are in the Toronto area and wish to sign up for this event, simple click the above link and follow the trail of breadcrumbs.  We'll have a howling good time with Chris Kay Fraser she's a crazy gal! She'll help us get intoxicated with wicked words and wonderful stories...we all have them inside so let's get them out.

With so much intoxicating goodness from the buzzing bees outside my window to the carafe of wine decanting for tonight's supper, I'll leave you with a song that will surely lull you into a deep summer complacency. 

SEE with your eyes, express yourself through your life be that with a camera in your hand, a pen or a makeup brush.  Refuse to stop seeing and start expressing.

xoxo

*photo of my young daughter running taken by me yesterday afternoon during a game of Man on the Moon ;)

Monday's magic of hearting things. {Or, how to *draw* things into your life.}

 
 
Do you write in a journal everyday? If not, you may want to start.

I write in my journals everyday! The subject matter isn't always epic, but it is the small details that make a life.  So I record my stuff down daily, and with that I usually illustrate the few odd points that my visual mind thrives on.  These personal & meaningful {not precise or perfect} ideas spring off the dusty shelves of my imagination especially if they've been sitting without attention for some time. They just need life themselves, these tiny *sprout-like* thoughts I have. Illustrations really give structure and shape to our thoughts.  They must be included! I also be sure to include my hopes & dreams in there.

I think of it as a kind of spiritual practice; placing whatever it may be from thought to paper henceforth releasing the idea itself and giving it wings. It is interesting to go back, not in a few weeks or in a few months even...but years back to read what was going on then.  You see the emergence of patterns, whereby YOUR thoughts become the things that are your life.

Six years before I opened my business, I drew a picture of a Balinese Buddha and above it the word "SPA".  Underneath I wrote a blurb about how I would open up a spa to focus on personal wellness & the health of beauty. {This was five years before I trained to be an Esthetician.} I put it on my cork board in my office, surrounded it with magazine cutouts of beautiful images of fonts, colours, people...and just left it. {Cue the Incan pan pipes...! The magic began at that very moment.  Like a magnet, the things I desired were made manifest in my existence. Wheels were turning, tides were ebbing & flowing and storms were brewing. All to make room in my life for the things I wanted.} What I never realized at the time was that in doing such a thing I had created an invitation for those particular things to come into my world.  I had created a vision-board.  YOU can do the same thing.  It isn't for one person, all of us can do this!

If you had asked me back then what I was doing pasting all those images and words and ideas on my office wall, I couldn't have told you.  I would have just thought I was making a pretty picture of an idea I had.  But it drew into my life just what I had asked for, every minor detail was present in my current life.  How it went from A to B is unknown.  I couldn't have forseen all the changes and undercurrents that had to flow all around me in order for this to come to fruition.  But that isn't my concern.  The thoughts went out, the dream came about.  Simple as that.  I love this kind of magic, because it thrives and gleams around every corner, every facet of YOUR life too. 

Journalling plays a huge role in dream creation.  Because by writing daily what you end up creating is a daily vision board. Pages in the instruction manual of your life. Now instead of wondering what will happen to you, you can attract it in on a daily basis.   Thereby consciously creating your entire life.  So when you sit to put words on paper, choose your words with care and proper thought.  Be sure to vent if you must but always always include on those pages what you do want.  Because you will be sure to get it.

Basic ingredients for journalling;

Blank journal; lined or unlined {your preference}

Coloured markers

Black pens

Stamps, glitter, glue sticks, images you love, ideas from your heart

 

Go to town!  Start today and see your dreams unfolding before your very eyes. You needn't write a novel either.  If you have a sentence or two to illustrate then do that.  If you have more to share then do that.  It is open to your personal interpretation and there are absolutely no rules! You do not need to be a professionally trained artist.  You were born an artist and your life is your work of art.  This is merely an extention of that gift.  This is like taking the steering wheel and driving as opposed to bobbing along the river and having no particular direction.  This is your compass & your map to creating your destiny.  It isn't art to sell.  It isn't art for your walls.  It is for YOU. It is a tool.  You will love it.  It will change your life! And like knowing the secret...it is free to use.  It is something you can do to create beautiful and positive change. 

Life will always be 20% circumstances and 80% how you react to those circumstances.  It's time you took control of your circumstances. ;)

xo

P.S. Calling all women in the GTA~! Our next Girls Night Out at the spa {yes, the spa of my dreams!} will be a creative journalling evening..."Drawing in your Desired Life"...sign up for our newsletter if you want to be part of this wonderful magic!

Date: May 26, 2011

Time: 6-9:30 pm 

Your investment: Bring your willing heart & brilliant ideas for what you would like to draw into your life!

 

All the supplies you will need to get started with this project will be provided, we ask only that you sign up for a seat when you receive the newsletter.  Come for a few hours to bond with like-minded women, enjoy some snacks & drinks, & leave with fresh tools to govern your own lives with! This first class is no cost.  Subsequent classes will be charged a small fee to cover the cost of materials.

Looking so forward to creating some magic with you!

Last but certainly not least, today is Free Love Day.  Draw a heart on your wrist to bring attention to depression and suicide issues.  It is our responsibility to create a world where everyone feels welcome, and feels as though they matter.  Join in the movement to better our planet.  Help is available, just ask.

 

Inside you is a story; allow your inner writer to tell it for you~

 

 One glimpse of a small area inside a rather large city; Amman, Jordan.  Think of all the thousands of stories here. Wouldn't it be amazing to hear them...?

NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month...it begins this November 1st.  You need to write your long awaited novel, 50,000 words in a month.  Can you do it? It's time to get the actual story out; not the time to write about your artistic process or writing process!

This woman did! And so did this woman.  Why not give it a go? {You know you want to} Think of all the stories you hold inside that the world is waiting to hear.

I have a few to tell myself, and I can't wait to begin writing just one...the hardest part is holding out until November first. xo