Taexalia

wild.life

Creative Play

I made a conscious effort today to have a newsfast. It's just too easy to get sucked into the negativity *out there* and I always try to be aware of my own tendency to get hold of a bone and chew on it until I reach emotional exhaustion. I could drown in information overload about depleted uranium for instance, but I've done some info-trawling and I've put my thoughts about the use of the Solway in writing in all the directions I can think of. For now I have to let go and accept the boundaries ... read more

Random Divining Rod

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Sleeping Bear Dunes ~ Michigan"][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Sleeping Bear Dunes ~ Michigan"][/caption] Found these pictures from my trip to Michigan last year ~ am noticing the theme of steep drops into water in the pictures I'm finding in my computer this week... Am I teetering on a cliff edge afraid to move? Or am I pausing, flexing, ready to dive in? It's so hot tonight, close, like ... read more

Stasis

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Cliff Edge ~ Mull of Galloway"][/caption] I am feeling a little stuck today... perhaps it is just that pause before my moontime drifts into a brand new cycle... perhaps it is a lull after the creative surge of painting Totem... I'm kind of frustrated by the length of time it takes to dry the painting and the fact I have nowhere else to keep it other than the easel - I would quite like to make marks on a new canvas now... This weekend ... read more

Totem

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Totem"][/caption]

*satisfied ... read more

Work In Progress 2

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Work In Progress ~ Totem"][/caption] I think I'm working backwards! I think that if I paint Crow again, which I might, I would begin by making the sky and the standing stone and then add the crow - but I live and learn. I painted out his feet and legs and am in the process of re-working them. The sky is sort of blocked in and I am hoping for a fairy visit overnight. He will be finished tomorrow and I want to start a new canvas right ... read more

Work In Progress

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Work In Progress ~ Totem"][/caption] This is how my painting is looking tonight. I don't think the details have photographed well, but the painting itself looks great. Hmm well Crow looks great but the background details haven't fully formed in my head. I've learned two things whilst trying to plot the background... either leave the background until the bird is finished, or do it first and let it dry a bit. I suppose it adds to the ... read more

Diving In

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="386" caption="Diving In"][/caption] When I was in primary school two things happened that I am remembering today... Actually I'm not sure about the first one because I might even have been in nursery still... I painted a train and I don't remember all of the details, perhaps I should phone my Mum and prod her memory, but my painting somehow got entered into a competition. I don't remember painting the actual train but I remember we had to find our ... read more

Feeling Alive Again

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="*sigh*"][/caption] It's been a down and up week for me... Last Friday I got my annual migraine as I was travelling to the storytelling workshop "Animal Magic". Despite the fact I couldn't see, I managed to get some pills from a pharmacist and take them before the pain set in - I was absolutely NOT going to miss the workshop. My vision cleared soon enough and although I felt a little spacey, I was able to participate and I got a lot ... read more

Finding Water Check-In

This week I get a gold star! Morning Pages - every day Artist Date - Storytelling Workshop Walked - Saturday for one hour A definite sense of walking forward, listening to the signals and following my passions. There's a lot of bird energy around me... in my dreams and in waking life and my wings are spreading and I'm freeing myself, exploring and taking steps to bring some of my creative dreams into this realm...

Out of the Comfort Zone

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Hermit Crab ~ Coming Out Of My Shell"][/caption]

Coming out of my shell

Random conversations can lead you to the most interesting places... Yesterday a friend posted on a forum asking about Rumpelstiltskin - she had come across a little figurine that looked like him and wanted some advice. It sent me off on a lovely tangent recalling the story and in the end she concluded that the little figure must ... read more

A Baby Step for Writerkind

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Altered Waterfall"][/caption] Aside from my Morning Pages, I had fallen behind a little with Finding Water. I'm going to be gentle with myself about that since I had a whole week of chaos when the heating was being replaced, followed by a week long Artist Date/Artist Walk in the Lake District. So the last few days I have been doing a little catch-up with the Divining Rods. I wrote on Sunday about the wee revelation in my Morning ... read more

A Sneaky Predator

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Herdwick Sheep"][/caption] Here's one of my holiday snaps - aren't these sheep just the cutest? They are Herdwick Sheep - a hardy breed found in the Lake District in England. These were about 2 metres away from us with no fencing - they are intently watching our Gemmadog - who paid them no heed whatsoever. I'm not sure, but the one on the left may have a lamb or two in that belly :) I am so enjoying my Morning Pages - I don't even ... read more

Picking Up The Pencils

My hand made sketch book sat on my desk for most of the day. I picked it up occasionally and marvelled at my creation, felt good about the fact that I had motivated myself to just make it. The cover looks too white and tidy, I want it to resemble the tattered old sketchbook I made many years ago and filled with bits and pieces of ideas, but I want this one to be filled with better drawings. As thrilled as I was with the idea of the new sketchbook, I didn't go straight to it and begin drawing ... read more