Time To Listen

Looking at this composition I can't help but smile at it's meaning.  There she is, on top of a beautiful fluffy flower, pure and white.  She's gone as far away from the voices, the nay sayers, the stress, the life she was in the middle of living to be alone.  To sit and listen.  To find her own voice.  To enjoy the calm. 

We all need this type of escape to allow ourselves the opportunity to recharge our creative energy.  I've found running to be this time for me.  It's a wonderful way to really listen and find that creative voice.  So how do you find your center?  How do you channel your creative energy? 

Listening

I'm sitting in the studio, it's late.  But I can't sleep for some reason.  It's really eerie sounding out tonight with the wind rustling the wet leaves.  The seasons are slowly changing here in Georgia.  Seriously slowly.  One more day of flip flop weather and I am cutting off my jeans into "Daisy Dukes".  Yep, that'll be a lovely site. 

For some reason, I am feeling like there is newness on the horizon for me and my paintbrush friends.  I've taken some serious leaps of faith with the business side of Mattie.....I can't wait for you to see where she'll be appearing.  And art shows are so close I can taste the cotton candy.  Billy and I are out of a hole we never thought would end, and honestly, life couldn't be any stronger for either of us. I couldn't help but laugh out loud as I was cleaning the kitty geriatric messes and he was reading the stupid Club Penguin Book with Mailey tonight.  And this was after a 2 hour gun safety and shooting class with the kids.  I mean seriously?  Comic penguins?  AND gun safety in one night?  Anyhoo.....Billy turn 43 tomorrow.  He doesn't read my blog, so he won't be embarrassed that I am telling you his old age.  I am a good bit younger mind you......I was in junior high when he graduated high school.  hehehehe cradle robber indeed!

Sometimes I do I good job of listening, other times I talk too much.  I know this about me.  Hey, at least I ADMIT it.  The past few days have come and gone so quickly that I don't remember much of what anyone person said except the doc saying, "the margins are clean" and the car shop repairman saying, "this belt needs replacing Mrs. Horne".  I think I cried when both things were said.  What crazy things to compare, right?  But my point to the whole matter is, I am listening.  I am listening to what doctors say, what friends are saying, what friends are not saying, what car repairmen are saying, what the gun safety man is saying, what my Girl Scout Troop leader is saying, what my child's teacher is saying, what fB is saying, what my Mother is saying, what my children are saying, what my husband is not saying and yet saying, what my Mother-in-law-is saying, and last but not least, what my heart is saying.  And that is this.  Eliminate.  Take away.  Get rid of.  LISTEN to me.  Start fresh.  And listen to your heart.  Hey, the head says what you want, the heart what you need.  So be on the look out.  Mattie's Social Circle is beginning to encompass a new boundary.  And I so hope that you will be joining the journey and encouraging the circle's growth.  Because it's going to be good.

Listen to Your Heart

Have you ever noticed that when you listen to your heart to make a decision it makes your tummy do somersaults? Mine sure does. Lately I've been doing a lot of listening and decision making about life, family, finances, my business and relationships with friends. And boy you'd think there was a circus going on inside me! But seriously, when you make decisions based purely on what your head says is right, sometimes it's a little too black and white. When you listen to your heart to make a decision, it's a bit more painful. And almost always is a longer lasting decision. One that can potentially affect your path from that moment on. Because when you throw in a dash of passion with any decision making, someone always gets hurt....always. So, I guess I've been laying a new path this past week with my hearty decisions. And although I never meant to hurt anyone along the way, sometimes it just happens. And I guess this emotion is coming out in my work. As I sat back last night and studied the new paintings laying out in the studio, and my jewelry, I noticed a common thread. Words are everywhere. And I never put words in my artwork like this. Maybe a cute quote or a little word cut from an old book, but not like this. Large words are masked into the paintings......listen.....nurture....play.....embrace..... inspire... Maybe, just maybe my creative heart has a new voice that really wants to be heard.

Or maybe it's my way of saying something to myself that I wasn't really hearing until right now.