The Gypsy on Adventure

On-line Art Conference

The 3rd Annual Wizarding Artist Society Conference was Thursday, October 1 through Saturday October 3. Each day there was a 3 hour live zoom class. Some of the exercises were easier than others. It is designed not to finish all the work during the 3 days, but that inner perfectionist is annoyed I couldn't complete it... Here are some of the drawings...from Saturday, I haven't taken photos of all of them. I also want to finish them more. I had a real problem with one drawing just because I am dyslexic...so I will try it again.  

I have been doing Tangie's lessons for years! And always have fun! If you are interested:

https://journalingthemagic.com/

These made me so happy! You can tell they are a time spinner! What I love about Tangie is she gets us to play, and she had us using pen to draw these...no pencil first except the hour glass. So there is wonkiness but I love it!

And the Dapple Grey Mare on the candy is my Patronus. These are still in progress but a lot of fun! We HAD to have chocolate because of the Dementors we were drawing!

The technique for the Dementors is something I REALLY need to practice, but I am loving the journey!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deliberate steps...

What have you been doing to get through this shitstorm of a year? For me, one of my greatest joy's is watching our wildlife around our home. And I have become fond of the Jay birds. This one is having issues, I think she may have broken her leg. But they look better than they have in the last 3 days. I make sure to have water and food she can reach on the deck and she is surviving and still flying.  And the sweetest was the mate came down on the deck and fed her a worm! Super sweet to see. They are taking care of each other! I really hope she makes it! (you can see him flying off on the right side...he didn't stay still long for me).

Dealing with the smoke:

We have been doing this with our box fans the last 3 days and it has helped. My eyes and ears are still itchy though. But I am glad we are doing this, it has really helped...we are not coughing as bad as we were.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/how-to-diy-an-air-purifier/

Tarot Spread for New Moon in Virgo

The tarot spread layout was in one of my online classes, by Shinjini Mehrotra, you can find her on her website: https://moderngypsy.in/free-classes-resources/ 

My draw today:

 

 

 

 

 

1: The World

An Auspicious period. You have achieved success in your endeavor. Walk in harmony with Mother Earth. Gather your Tribe and give your best.

2. Justice

Principle of consequences. You reap what you sow. Reclaim your power. Take an honest inventory of your life, acknowledge your successes and defeats.

2. Princess of Swords

Dazzle in the delights of your ambitions. Pay attention to your surrounds. Question your reality. Keep an open mind.

3. Judgement

Heading the call of a higher purpose. A resurrection, the rebirth of a new personality. Forgive yourself and other. Be the visionary you were made to be.

3. Queen of Pentacles

Nurturing yourself and the environment around you. Be open to the needs of others. Distribute the wealth you have equally among others. Channel your gifts to create new life.

4. Queen of Cups

Open to sensuality. Seeker of desires and potent pleasures. Rich empathy, creativity and understanding. Emotional intelligence.

Oh and what card did I pull again from the Oracle deck?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Denial....hum...what is this about?

Art:

I noticed today a new watercolor class on roladex cards. On https://lexigrenzer.com/ website. I love Lexi, when I met her, I swear we were like family! I have cards, and I just have not started to art yet. So I am heavily leaning towards the class. 

 

 

 

Are you missing art festivals where you can find really beautiful handmade items for Christmas? My friend has you covered!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2637208759850849/?ref=share

The password to get into the group is Hallmark

Friendship:

Ah to end the day with a good friends phone call! It is great to hear from her, you know how life is just busy, and this being a rotten year, it is nice to catch up with those you love. So ending the day on a high note.

 

Starting where I am.

Begin again.

2020's shit storm and learning to live in a pandemic, civil unrest, crazy politics, and California wild fires, and the hardest, isolation for the last 6 months. I am on a news moratorium...stopping the doom-scrolling, but anxious that I don't know what is going on too. It is a balance.

It is time that I just start again.

I have been journaling, and playing in my Hobonichi planner...doing some drawing but not a lot. I need to pull out the canvas and start painting. Fling some paint in my yearly journal. Find my passion again.

Today there was a small improvement that is giving me hope. We have lived in heavy smoke since August 17th and I have not seen a clear sky since then.

It has tipped the isolation into another level of not coping well. So I decided to begin again. I am pushing myself to start again. Start the blog. Start painting. Start writing. Start living my life again that I have seemed to have lost since isolation.

Right now I am grateful for new beginnings.

Today I received the Oracle deck from Cre8tive Cre8tions. They are beautiful cards, she has been working on them for quite a while. I think I ordered them before the pandemic. My first pull was the card "healing" ... I had a chuckle! Beautiful card.

If you are interested in getting one of her decks or taking one of her on-line classes, they are worth it! She is amazing. You can find her here.

https://andrea-gomoll.de/

MARS day 3

The last day of the retreat is always hard, do a little work then clean up and leave...Saying good bye to everyone and going home to unpack.

I have an art hangover. And my body is vibrating and trying to put all my art supplies back where they go and do some art is hysterical! Not able to focus! (my word of the year) So its time to kick on some show and chill.

Sun filled joy tending day MARS Day 2

For the last nine years we were at camp in the mountains here, and so for the first time, I woke up out of pain! I actually SLEPT at MARS! I got up had a REALLY nice shower and everything was CLEAN! I am not a camping kinda girl, and even though we were in cabins with twin beds at the old place, ah, hotels are my preferred camping! LOL Hey we all have our style! Plus I am so excited, that we could actually SEE because there was enough light in our great room to art without being too dark, even with Ott lights! The building we were in for arting was big enough for us, yet intimate and wonderful. We had a commercial kitchen no stove but a large refrigerator so all my prepping and food was accessible and made it successful for me too. They did have a microwave so if you needed to heat something up you could. Yogurt, berries, my chicken, salad, roasted veggies, angel food cake and truewhip! I was in good shape!

I enjoyed today SO much! I could talk to people and hear everyone and felt like a communion of artists. I know that we all get so inspired by being around each other. AND we share things, and just love on each other! Other experiences were disconnected by more than half the room so this is really cool.

MARS Retreat

Before I could get to the retreat, I am grateful for my tax return, because it paid to finally fix my Monte Carlo! The damn thing had an ignition switch problem that screwed up my heating and air! So I couldn't defrost or cool myself off! UGH AND I am grateful it wasn't the blower! 

The guy at the dealer took a double take on the mileage! He was like, REALLY? Its only at 54K and its a 2000, he said it is in great condition. I told him when I bought it 2009, it was at 12K and he said, so you haven't put much on either! LOL I guess not. A couple of issues but nothing that has to be addressed right now! I told him I always think of it like a Grandma Car...he said, um, no this is a little hot rod! I said, um no! My Torino IS a hot rod!  WGB always tells me I underestimate the car, I just feel CONSERVATIVE in it.

But now I am no longer dependent on WGB to drive me around! AND I get my independence back! I hate to have to rely on anyone! I am happy to share my life with him, but like my independence!!!  Plus I forgot how to drive!  Not really, but its been way too long. So I had a little stressful start to the weekend but grateful to have my car back and fixed! And looking forward to driving!

This morning I finished prepping all my food, and buttoned up the packing. It's Retreat time! Twice a year my art tribe gets together and puts on the Mountain Artist Retreat Sleepover! This is our 10th year!!! We do it Bi-Annually and this year we are Uptown Girls! We lost our normal camp and decided to upgrade to a fancy hotel with a conference room! Best decision ever!

I brought less stuff than last time, each one I learn to bring less and less! AND my suitcase was half full for the clothes and shoes. 2 bags of supplies to create. And 2 bags of food. Next time I am aiming for 1 bag of supplies. (lucky I live in town!) WGB went back home picked up my computer chair and brought it back for me, it saves my back. Sitting in tiny chairs that are uncomfortable all weekend would have me hurting too much. SO grateful for my boyfriend, the love of my life. Even my tribe noticed I was cutting back on what I brought! Living closer makes it SO much easier! If I really need something, I could go home and get it!

I am still storming, grappling with all the stuff coming up since January. I am really tired of repressing my anger, disappointment, the fact that my soul was torn in savage way that I did not deserve. My inner soul is bloody, raw, ugly, torn and broken. And in the midst of that, I have not addressed the grief of losing my brother. 

I am truly trying to F E E L what I need to F E E L. Every day I still pull my Tarot card for the day, and I have to say it has been right on each day! Feeling more comfortable with my deck again, its been too long since I practiced. I am enjoying this journey. It is following all the storming I am feeling. I know that this will change me but I am no longer dreading it, or fearing it!

And for my 100 Day Project Watercolor washes and quotes, my talented friend Lindsay taught me Colusa Skies! A watercolor technique she does and it is perfect for my watercolor washes and quotes. This is why I love getting together with the tribe, we inspire each other, encourage one another, and love each other! 

I have to say I love these watercolors as well! They are quickly becoming my favorite for washes! They are creamy and large enough to fill my brush easily.  

Remember we are all working on things we want for ourselves, and I am remembering that this month my job is to confront and Grieve my Grief!

I'm blogging along with Effy Wild in April. If you'd like to join the Facebook group to read the rules, go here!

 

 

Storming, Meditation and Acknowledgement

I get annoyed when I face the same issues over and over and over again, maybe in a different form, or a different human being, and I think why is this coming up again? I have done the work. I have done HARD work. I am vigilant about making sure I don't get stuck in one place. That I grow. That I learn. That I let go. That I encourage BETTER within me.  And I was talking to a friend about this a couple of years ago. I was blown away by what she said.

I am always in my head and I was talking to her about some painful memories and how sick I was of dealing with this shit every few years. She was SO wise! She told me her theory, that every time we see the issue again, we are seeing it from another angle, we see more of the lesson we learned, a deeper meaning, a deeper healing. That was an AH-HA moment for me. It made sense and it resonated with me.

I am just seeing these things at another angle...

As for my grief...I saw this and it resonated.

 

Storming and facing Grief...Trigger warning

In the class I am taking, Moonshine, the Tarot card pulled for the month of April was the 3 of Swords. Another reminder that I am NOT facing all of my grief. The biggest fear is that I won't be able to bear it. Which is stupid because my entire life has been about bearing grief. I have a right to my pain. I have a right to make decisions based on the VERY REAL reality of things that were done to me. I have a right to self-care and I make VERY SOUND decisions, I weigh things out, I research, I put an inner light on any issues. I CAN TRUST MY DECISIONS.  You may want to bypass reading this, I am basically writing it out to work it out again.

Excitement and Prep

Recovery day with a little self-care. Pain patches, hot coffee and checking out my birds this morning and the woodpeckers were being jerks today! But then I got a visit from the sweet and calm yellow bird.

 

Spent the day doing my Sweet Trash Journaling, making sure all my class notes are in. And reading, reading, reading. Tomorrow I will spend some time actually doing some work in my journal, like painting!

I have been prepping for my bi-annual MARS retreat, "Mountain Artists Retreat and Sleepover", we spend 2 nights and 3 days together where we all art it up and enjoy each others company! This time, we have so few ladies, we are going to be in a local Hotel and have access to the pool! So I am bringing my swim suit!  Relaxing. Drinking some wine, and painting! We meet up at Noon on Friday and don't go home until Sunday afternoon. I am SO looking forward to this! I am just going to pain in my journal and do some embroidery if my hands behave.

There is nothing better than art friends to lift your spirits, provoke you to be more creative, and laugh. I need to do some reflection on my grief, and see if I can get it to pour out of me this weekend, and really address it rather than deny it.  I have really been afraid of "going there", like I won't be able to stop the flood once it starts. 

I have been sketching out some new Mind Maps...as a pre-plan for all my goals...and how to get through all I want to get through this year with my art and my health. So I may focus more on that during the weekend if I have time. All I know is I need a big reset! 

 

 
I'm blogging along with Effy Wild in April. If you'd like to join the Facebook group to read the rules, go here!

Head Games - and not the Foreigner song!

I have been on a journey of getting healthier since June of 2018, I joined WW and I am grateful for their workshops and app, I have been able to lose 27 pounds so far. I am back in my normal fat clothes and I am so excited about that. I tried losing weight on my own, but I have no thyroid and I struggle. I have always eaten really healthy, I love vegetables and fruit, but I also love Cheetos! LOL I haven't had any Cheetos and I gave up my Dr. Pepper. (that addiction was lifelong) But I really want to age as well as I can. My stats are all great, my blood work is good, and I FINALLY found a doctor who is willing to test my thyroid levels every 3 months to make sure my meds are on track!

Today I had a huge moment of "OH SHIT I am an imposter"! I get so excited with everyone sharing their lives in the workshops, some of my friends were doing a 5K and I signed up for my first 5K!!!   I can walk 2.5 miles without too much pain but then I hit my threshold and pain grips me. So of course today I am all up in my head, worse case scenarios storming! The walk is on Sunday morning! The nice thing was when I mentioned this several friends said, that's ok! I will walk with you! So I am doing it! Putting my pain patches on, wearing good shoes and getting out with a group of other women working on themselves so I am doing my first 5K! Who the fuck am I? I would have NEVER have signed up for a 5K before! I have to say with all the head games my inner critic sends me on I am enjoying learning about the new me!

Every thing I love to do, draw, paint, knit, sew, bead, journal all involves sitting. So I have been really trying to incorporate more movement into my life. So today, even though I feel like an imposter, I am proud of myself for trying something new! And I am laughing at myself because I am still paying for the gardening I did on Saturday!!! I hurt! LOL So Sunday is going to be a mindful walk, meditation that I can DO HARD THINGS!