ANYway... with a mind to the upcoming and ever-popular Hallmark holiday of hearts and flowers, I was noodling around in the studio and came up with this series:
Which of course lead me to question why it is that we feel the need to set aside only ONE specific day a year on which to tell people how special they are to us, and how loved? Shouldn't that be the goal pretty much EVERY day - to take a moment's pause and shower the people we love with love? (with apologies to James Taylor for the blatant rip-off). One of my official "New Year New Start" promises to myself was to take more time for doing just that - sending more love out into the world, intentionally, thoughtfully, and with no expectation of reciprocity or acknowledgement. It is tough to resist getting caught up in the "daily grind" - old habits die hard, I suppose - but I really do *want* to live a more intentional and meaningful life.
I've also been working to expand on my "you can do hard things" line, because I am madly in love with it. It's not a bad thing that I currently have a studio full of these that I get to look at every day... LOL
I also had a commission earlier this month - a great big Serene Buddha piece (20"x20") that took me forever because the tiny town I live in did NOT have a Buddha head that I could cast a mold from for the faces. (Well, the fact that I live in the Bible Belt may also have had something to do with that - I suspect there are not too many Buddhists lurking around in this particular corner of the sandbox). I did find the perfect thing on Etsy (yeah!!!) from which to make a mold just the right size, which I have been playing around with in other pieces to find something that works the way I wanted it to. I'm not quite there yet, but I've had fun "doodling":
Fighting the urge the last couple of weeks to hibernate - it's been very cold lately, and all I want to do is huddle under my electric blankie and watch my backlog of recorded episodes of Project Runway. *sigh* I'm really ready for a girl's trip somewhere warm and toasty, to thaw out my spirit and reconnect with the people who know me best - asking the Universe for some unexpected abundance to help facilitate that!!