Athena Dreams Design

Spring .:. Corner Views

Spring always seems to arrive in fits and starts. One minute warm, sweet breezes are blowing and showy, breath stopping flowers are popping out all over; and moments later cold winds from the north, some hail and more rain drops. But here is what spring has looked like in the past week in one northern California town:

 

A little madness in the Spring
 Is wholesome even for the King,
 But God be with the Clown —
 Who ponders this tremendous scene —
 This whole Experiment of Green —
 As if it were his own!

-Emily Dickinson

For more Spring views, visit here.

Things for a Thursday

 

If you make a little trip over to Gypsy Girl's blog, you can leave a comment to win Brené Brown's new video The Hustle for Worthiness (it seems to be all the rage across the blog-iverse). All you have to do is leave a comment on Gypsy Girl's post saying "I'm worth it!" and you're entered. And P.S., whether you win or not, keep saying "I'm worth it" to yourself, it's incredibly moment changing.

 

Kate of Your Courageous Life has lots of things going on, but most especially check out her e-course which is starting 28 March... yes, you too can commit to living Your Courageous Year, or spend some days commiting to radical creativity. 

 

Candy Glendening, one of The Meetup girls has written an amazing post all about how she runs her own creative business, works a full time job, and keeps her family together. Have a visit and read about how she is Making it Work.

  

And finally, I cannot say enough good things about Erin and Jaime and their company Bakery. I recently finished the latest round of their e-course - Bakery's Half-Dozen: 6 Weeks to a Tastier Business -  and I heartily and thoroughly recommend it to any and all of you who are struggling with things like: a business plan, a marketing plan, how to talk about your business, your work, branding, multiple businesses and how to approach each one etc. etc. ... the list goes on and on. Contact them to find out when their next course is starting! They are warm and helpful and a ton o' fun!

Into the Flow

Beginnings, 2005 

There are those sublime moments in time that possess an ease of movement, a flow, a stream that takes me on a gentle ride through all my moments, all my days. And then there are other times when everything feels jagged and forced, and so very UN-easy. I just had an ease-filled week, and so I am thinking about those weeks, that don't flow so easily. Wondering how I contribute (or don't contribute) to the ease or the un-ease.

My week before last was chock full of deadlines, of meetings, of time being accounted for on a number of different projects, and as one meeting fell apart, another one that I didn't think I'd be able to do, took its place, and when I was running late with one project, another project got pushed off till later, and like an easy ride on the bumper cars, I managed to just glide right through the center all the way to the other side, a few near misses but not one collision, no one irritated, everything flowing along.

So, I started thinking about how that ease could be re-created, how I could have more weeks like that, and less of the other kind. I am not sure that there is a formula, not sure that I can just snap my fingers, not sure that the perfect blend of the elements - timing, energy, happenstance and serendipity - can be engineered or forced to happen. But man, I'd like to bottle that blend of magic and send some to all my friends and loved ones, and save a few for myself...

What I can say "outloud" is that I'd like to have more Flow Weeks. In fact, I'd like them to occur more regularly. Not every single week, because then I would lose appreciation for the joy of the flow. But, I am saying that I am open to weeks filled with flow, where I merge off and on the highway of my life, with no jammed up brakes, no curses hurled out windows from another car hurtling past, a few potholes here and there, but overall more road side stands selling fresh fruit smoothies, and no lines to wait in.

I put great stock in saying things outloud. I believe that when we put our wishes and dreams out on the table: telling a trusted friend a wish or a prayer, telling our own selves what we are hoping for when looking in the mirror, singing our dreams to the sky, that those words spoken outloud can start the magic flowing. 

So, I am hoping to welcome the flow of ease, and beauty, and magic, and beauty into my work like, into my whole life, on a more regular basis . . .  anyone with me?

  
  
 

Dance because it's Spring

The first hints of spring seem to bring out the extrovert in me, does it in you too? Don't you just feel like dancing in the warming air, shaking your hips, and raising your arms to the blue blue sky? Happy almost spring!

Visit the artists and photographers and their wonderful dancers, here.

Front Door .:. Corner Views

I couldn't just photograph the front door, not when there is a peach tree in bloom at the bottom of the front steps. OK, so now the front door...

We actually have 2 front doors, the double door red one, and then the big wooden white one, inside the front porch. Isn't it funny when you start taking photos of something that you see all the time, and you realise that you haven't been actually "seeing" it in quote some time. I realised we still have flattened boxes and just plain junk, on the front porch, that we haven't dealt with since we moved in at the end of September... some happy porch making must commence now that it's getting warmer. Love those red doors though... and now for some more peach blossoms...

Have a visit here for more Corner Views.

11 Weeks In

• More sun than rain, and spring breezes wafting sweet delectable scents into the atmosphere of my life.

• We adopted a cat, she looks like a little gray bear, and she's afraid, a lot. I have rarely if ever met an animal that didn't totally trust me pretty quickly on, so this is a whole new experience for me. Giving love does not always engender immediate trust.

• My mum came for a quickie, impromptu 5 day visit from back east, and we packed hours into minutes, the house seems so quiet now.

• We replaced a toilet in our upstairs bathroom, and the old one is still sitting in the walkway outside, awaiting a trip to the dump, inviting many ridiculously funny comments about our upbringing.

• We did the ubiquitous clock change this weekend, and as usually happens, we were clueless, until sometime late on Sunday afternoon, when suddenly we realised it was 6 o'clock, and not 5, and were totally late meeting some people. The longer light is wonderful, but man does it mess with my already wobbly internal clock.

• My little red squirrel friend now has another little red squirrel friend, and they wrestle and roll around on the garage roof... reminds me of being 12 and liking a boy.

• Remembering to honour my own feelings and instincts, and give less weight to what others think I should do/feel/be.

• So in love with all the flowering trees these past weeks, they are so free and sexy. I have painted so many magnolias already, and many more to come, along with quince and peach and plum and apple and . . .

 

A Dramatic First Act, and some Flowers

I've never really thought about putting human moods or emotions to seasons, but if I did, I'd say Spring was a drama queen. I mean, let's look at her: there's rain and big dark clouds, there's warm sun and cold winds, there's the occasional hail storm while flowers are opening on all the trees, there's some thunder and then some more sun, and greens and then flowers popping up in seconds all over the place. 

I think Spring enjoys making her grand entrance, she doesn't need any red carpets, or orchestral strings soaring, or even a trumpet fanfare, she's got so many bigger and better things making her entrance known.

I am thinking of sandals and skirts, and hikes and picnics, and putting my feet in the ocean, and beginning the season of living more outside. It's time to Bloom .  .  . 

March 2010 .:. Monthly Goals

Oh February, I can't in all honesty say I am sad to see you go, but there were some lovely positive moments in amongst all the other ones. And so, gently we glide into March.

Things for February:

1. Bakery's Half Dozen course - and it looks like it's starting off BIG, with the Biz Plan - who else in this group is doing the Bakery course? - it's got me thinking and doing!
2. Continue researching galleries - got more on the list
3. Same as last month: PAINT YES!!
4. Focus Focus Focus: what is my next destination with my art/design/writing? A vision in my own mind needs to be conjured up. Less metaphorical rushing around putting out and starting fires, and more clear and focused thinking - Good ground covered, and this needs to continue
5. Decide what classes I want to take at Squam this september. Registration is OPEN as of today.  YES!

Which leads us to March... 

1. Finish up the Bakery course, and then start implementing all the new tools. Many of the self promotion tools as well as the foundation in creating a biz plan and a marketing plan, are really going to come together to help me with the planning for gallery and shop outreach (see below)
2. Gallery research to continue, and expanding to research some local shops
3. PAINT
4. New spring product for the shop - my goal is 6 new prints and 3-4 new card sets.
5. Putting up the first of the informational posts for THE Meetup (look for communications from me to some of you to ask you about writing a few pieces on the topics you mentioned you'd like to write about!)
6. Lastly, keep remembering to laugh (or at least breathe and giggle) in the face of the things that I cannot control, or solve right now. 

Happy March to all you Meetup-ers, and to everyone else... here's to some much needed sunshine in my corner of the world, and more growth on all levels.