Category: Thoughts On Beauty

Does It Still Feel Like Play?

10/16/2015

DOES IT STILL FEEL LIKE PLAY?
Sometimes when you think you're following your heart, you realize that your head has quietly stepped in and taken over command of the ship. Sometimes the "want to"s sneakily switch to shoulds without even asking, and "play" starts feeling suspiciously like "work".
This, I believe, means only one thing: you need to switch it up, baby.

My tenacity and productivity can sometimes turn on me, making 'following my heart' into a task-based, goal-oriented production.

I swore I wouldn't do that with these cards. So...it's time to switch it up! The website is still up and cards can be ordered at any time. I will be posting when I feel truly inspired. I am giving myself permission to let go of outcomes, and I am returning, somehow, in a yet to be determined way to my heart.

Goodbye "shoulds"; hello "play"!
(now I can cross writing this post off my list :))

To order cards at a price that YOU determine, go towww.astrongdesign.weebly.com. Payment through paypal, visa, cheque, cash, barter. Cards can be shipped anywhere in Canada or the US.

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Life is Change, Buttercup*

10/16/2015

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First of all, I didn't actually use the pencil crayon...taking the photo was my creativity for the day. I did lay the pencil crayon suggestively beside a blank piece of paper afterwards, but it just stayed there mocking me.

I have always defined myself as someone who shows creativity through doing art. Even as I sit in a park writing this I have beside me a shoulder bag containing pencil crayons, art paper, pencils, and watercolour paint. I keep heaving these things around, thinking that at some point I will sit down, pull them out, and revel in artistic outpourings.
But it is slowly dawning on me that this is not, in fact, something that I really want to do. This is hard to let go of, probably because it has somehow become part of the definition of "me",
the persona, that I have always presented to the world...along with "Arjenna is someone who likes going to art galleries" (it was with great surprise that I realized this past year how much I actually dislike going to art galleries).
We all have subconscious ideas that define us - some of these come from our hearts, some from our families, some from the past, some from a picture of who we think we should be or want to be.
Sometimes pinning things down gives us a sense of security, and yet...life is change - who we are and what we love is constantly in flux, and that's ok.

I keep thinking I love to draw, but actually...
I'd rather play with photos, and make websites.
And sometimes I don't. Sometimes my creativity is organizing closets. Sometimes it's cleaning, or giving somebody flowers.
And maybe there will be a day when I do want to draw again.
Or not.

There are no shoulds with creativity. We all know this, but sometimes the shoulds creep in like silent ninjas.

What makes you feel alive today might be different tomorrow, and that very fluidity is what makes life beautiful and unexpected.

Keep your eyes and your heart open...who knows what will be created through you! It might not be what you were expecting.

* "and anyone who tells you different is selling you something!" (The Princess Bride)

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September 09th, 2015

9/9/2015

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What can you do when the sky looks like this above your garden except stop and stare?

...and when you have no words, Mary Oliver does.

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It Is a Kind of Love, Is It Not?

7/22/2015

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Let me introduce you to my new thrift store pottery coffee mug. I've always felt the act of drinking coffee to be a ceremony of joy for me...had never thought of it as an act of love from the "inanimate" object's perspective. Love the beauty of this poem by Pat Schneide, passed on by the beautiful Amber Jane..."The Beauty of Ordinary Things"

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The Insta-Beauty-Photo-Taker-Max (waterproof version), Aka: Beauty is All How You ‘Frame’ It

6/23/2015

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There are many challenges in life. One of mine was the year I spent two days a week from September to April taking small homeschooled children out into the woods to explore for the day. Sound easy? You try it.
Though my intent was to allow freedom, wandering, and imaginative play, I also began to find it increasingly necessary (for my own dwindling sanity) to find meaningful activities that would engage them (preferably for large chunks of time). One evening, as I beseeched the inspiration gods to help me, I was struck by an idea (I actually believe it was Joseph Cornell’s idea, and that I had read it months previously in a book, but I’d like to say it was mine). I hastily grabbed an old piece of cardboard, cut a small rectangle in the middle, covered it with packing tape so it wouldn’t get wet, and hey presto! The Insta-Beauty-Photo-Taker-Max (waterproof version) was formed.

How to Use It:

METHOD A: With a partner, decide who will be the ‘Camera’ and who will be the ‘Operator’. The ‘Camera’ holds the cardboard Photo-Taker frame in front of his face and closes his eyes. The ‘Operator’ finds something that is really beautiful that her friend hasn’t noticed,then leads her friend to the correct spot, positions him, positions his hands so the Photo-Taker will frame the beautiful thing correctly, and then taps his shoulder. The ‘Camera’ opens his eyes, sees what is in the frame, and then quickly shuts his eyes again (like a camera!). The picture is now ‘taken’ in his memory.

METHOD B: On your own, walk around slowly with the Photo-Taker frame held in front of you. Notice that when you hold it close to your face you see a whole scene, and when you hold it at arm’s length you ‘zoom’ in on a detail. Use the Photo-Taker to frame something that you think is beautiful, perhaps in an unusual way that draws attention to something interesting or previously unnoticed. Show a friend! (I had the children show their finds to the fox puppet who was our mascot, which was a big hit. The fox almost burnt out trying to respond to all the requests to ‘come see this!’)

I remember the execution of this activity to be hectic, scattered, and a bit stressful. The day was cold and damp. The kids were all over the place.
Ironically, when I look back at the photos I took of the children ‘taking photos’, I find that my own camera allowed me to come to the same conclusions I was hoping the children would come to.
I see frozen moments of beauty, a re-framing that allows me to notice how beautiful the experience actually was. In the midst of multi-tasking and chaos, the camera helped me notice the beauty of the moments.

And this is what I love about the symbolism of the Insta-Beauty-Photo-Taker-Max.

The ‘camera’ or frame helps us zoom in on life. It helps us notice. It makes us see things differently. Don't fear...it doesn't actually eliminate the ‘bad’ or the ‘ugly’ – those things are still there – but that’s no longer ALL we notice. If we zoom out, we see a bigger picture. We notice how the colour of the sky balances out the greens of the trees and that that one spot of red from the flower in the left corner stands out. If we zoom in we see the shiny trail of the slug that zigzags across the leaf on the tree we thought was dead. We see the one crocus bud where previously we had assumed there were no signs of spring. And if we move the frame, we find that shifting our perspective helps us see that things we thought were inconsequential or ugly are actually incredibly striking or interesting.

Life may not seem beautiful all the time.
But guess what?
It’s all how we look at it.

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May 26th, 2015

6/19/2015

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Taking photos always makes me slow down and notice the beauty in everyday things, in the tiny things, in the things that I would ordinarily have steamrolled by. But what if you couldn't see?
It would seem that, whether we're blind or sighted, it pretty much comes down to the same principles: paying attention, noticing, appreciating, experiencing joy. This short 2 minute video interviews four blind people about how they experience beauty in their everyday lives.

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May 19th, 2015

6/16/2015

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The view from where I'm having my coffee, combined with a Ray Bradbury quote that came across my path this morning.
Oh that we can enable each other to let the beautiful stuff out, and that we can be brave enough to see the beautiful in our ugly stuff!

For some more quotes about life by the sci fi master, go tohttp://www.notable-quotes.com/b/bradbury_ray.html.

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Does It Still Feel Like Play?

Life is Change, Buttercup*

September 09th, 2015

It Is a Kind of Love, Is It Not?

The Insta-Beauty-Photo-Taker-Max (waterproof version), Aka: Beauty is All How You ‘Frame’ It

May 26th, 2015

May 19th, 2015

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