Athena Dreams Design

The Unveiling .:. Corner View

The word Veil always makes me think of belly dancing, and my brief career segway onto the dance stage when I was living in Athens - once upon a time, a long time ago. 

My housemate was a belly dancer and she taught me enough hip shaking, snakey arm moves to use me as a shill in the audience in order to make the tourists at the taverna feel like they too could get up on stage with her and, for lack of a better phrase, bust a move.

These days I dance in my living room, not with any skill or nuance, but just to dance out the day, and get up from my computer and move. These days as well, the veils are less literal and more figurative: I spend more time working to part them, to brush them aside, so as to be able to see life a bit more clearly, a bit more closely and a bit more keenly.

And so we part another of these shimmering layers, and come upon our rings which we will be exchanging next weekend in a ceremony that will not replace, but will enhance, the one we performed with just the 2 of us on a beach in Maui 11 years ago. This time we will not be on a beach listening to the whales singing, but will be back east with our families to celebrate the parting of another veil in our lives, and step through to yet another layer of the journey, just as beautiful and mysterious as all the others we have passed through, together and individually.

For more Corner Views visit Jane in Espagna.

Place of Reflection .:. Corner View

Just as some of my best thoughts come to me in the shower, my best reflecting happens when I am out walking on the mountain. The air is sweet, the grasses rustling, birds in conversation, the sky opening out in front of me, and the dusty trail keeps my feet on the path. I usually bring a small notebook or sketch pad, and write down ideas for paintings, possible solutions for a design job that has been troubling me, or just some words about the present moment. These thoughts and reflections that happen when walking, almost always get used in some way, shape or form.

Some days the skies are clear, some days the fog is laying gently on the hills, and other days there is a misty rain: but each and every day that I make it out onto a trail, my day is better for doing it. Getting away from the phone and the computer, and my never ending to do list, and the general distractions of a life; and putting one foot in front of the other, moving through the landscape, and remembering that breathing is essential for keeping my head clear and my heart light, then let the reflecting begin.

Now if only I could develop a waterproof pen and paper that is impervious to water, and all my great shower thoughts could be remembered in detail instead of forgotten in the foggy midst of waking up in the morning.

Where do you do your best reflecting?

For see more Places of Reflection, visit here.

June to July .:. Monthly Goals with Modish Biz Tips

So June was short and sweet. My focus was working on promoting the etsy shop, and my work. 

JUNE Goals:

1. Look for some more ways to promote my shop that are not the paid for kind. Send out more e-mails to folks asking them if they would be interested in writing about my work.  
2. Website Re-Design, back on again, third time's a charm (?) 
3. Develop editorial calendar with regular column ideas for the blog

#1: I sent out e-mails to 15 blog sites that cover art/artists, and got responses from all but one that they would have a look at my work and get back to me. Nothing for sure, but it was a really good start I think, and I am feeling more comfortable approaching people and writing some words about my art and my work.

#2: Website. Got some ideas together and realised that I want to re-think how I want/need to use a website to show my artwork. There are a lot more questions I need to answer for myself before I jump into a big re-design. And, this is not a stall. I realised as I was sketching up some ideas  that the whole time I was sketching, I was thinking to myself: what is the web site for, and I couldn't answer the question. So, more questions to ask of myself.

#3 Blog. No streamlined editorial calendar developed but a bunch of ideas for topics I want to start doing as series. 

JULY Goals:

1. Send out 15-20 more e-mails to blogs who cover art and artists
2. Work on developing web site that will work for my art as well as tying together etsy shop, and blog 
3. Work up ideas for the 3 different series of posts for blog: goal is to launch first series in early August: So You Want to Be a Freelance Designer 
4. Write and send out my first newsletter by 15 July. Plan ahead, and send out once a month at mid month
5. Create 3 new card sets for the shop.  
6. Update the shop with new prints of paintings 
7. And finally, remind myself in the lulls of activity, that there are so many others out there doing and trying and experimenting and learning and working with their art, with their craft, with their skills and with their full hearts... I may not know them all by name, but they are out there, and there is huge comfort in that.