This week we start a new cohort of a module called “can we design a better world?”. This is an experiment in interdisciplinary learning with students from all faculties at anglia ruskin university. It’d a huge chalet e and as … Continue reading
This week I was supposed to be in Edinburgh with the Infinity of Eight exhibition at Dundas Street Gallery. If you are in Edinburgh please drop by, it’s full of magic, dance, visual intrigue and wonderful art.
Alas, I could not juggle so many dishes and I am here instead helping my dear friend artist Lesley Longworth with her art/history/nature event A Portrait of a Village on the 9-10 of September here in Westbury Leigh. She has been working with the community in collaboration with local historian Lilly Monday documenting and portraying the life of many of the dwellers in this picturesque village. She has gathered an army of collaborators from the community eager to share their knowledge and expertise in different fields, from historical architecture, to the links with the army in history, to glove making and wildlife. There will be tea and cake and talks and lots of fun.
Continue readingIt’s been a while since my last blog post and so many things have happened: upheavals, changes, moving. Indeed this weekend assertion of home has been to get the newspaper and read it through, find the scissors and cut away.
This week starts with “an eye for everything” which brings us to slow down abs open our eyes around the nice things about us. Gratitude is a powerful force and when is done with a true heart it can lift our spirit. If you are still on holidays and the weather keeps nice it may be time to go “back to nature”… which is something beyond the physical space, although surrounding ourselves of nature always help… but sometime it’s all about listening to our own nature, our natural rhythms, our inner voices and cycles. We change with the seasons and yet we insist in our routines and schedules, even when we are melting in the heat.
There is something special about summer: it feels like an endless succession of long nights, of swimming in rivers and seas, of ice cream and walks in the fields. We know that it won’t last and there is a need to “feast greedily in the present”.
The bottom half of the hexagram is a bit more subjective, intimate and it echoes that need to be back to nature and protect ourselves. This is very important because we tend to lower our guard, we seem more tolerant to “odd” comments and behaviours, but beware, if it feels odd is probably wrong. Keep safe.
The other interesting line is the “disappointing start” that may looks ominous but bear with me, because any creative endeavour goes through a lot of disappointments. The trick is to keep going and not let the disappointment -which normally is associated to the high expectations we put o to ourselves or our work- to drive you. In fact I would welcome the disappointment as part of the restive process. Because once we start there is not return! And that’s the spirit.
So for this week creative challenge I invite you to welcome disappointment in the creative journey. Look at the work that has disappointed you and try to find something, anything redeeming. Be kind with yourself and try to overcome the ego and pride to I close playfulness and folly in your work. Once we take off the “seriousness” of art or creativity we truly open the gates for exploration and development.
How to do this:
1- start and ugly drawing, a poem or a knitting. Let it go. Be grateful.
2- think about how disappointment shape your work. Does it make you to give up? How you get back to your mojo?
3- talk to yourself as you would be talking to a best friend or a child… muster all the compassion you can give to yourself and start again.
Share your disappointments in social media and how you overcame them
Creative ideas for Keeping
our calm in the midst of chaos. Continue reading
This oracle is inspired -amongst many other omens- in the iChing, the Chinese book of wisdom. After counting sticks or using three coins combinations you get an hexagram: six lines compounding one of the 64 signs of the I-Ching. The way it’s built is from bottom to top and normally it comprises two figures based on the natural or domestic world: lake, force, sun, wind, wood… and the metaphors and visions those combinations create.
So let’s start today with the bottom aspect: ‘an amazing job’: how many times we have done just that and we have said it loud? Do we celebrate our own well done triumphed, our personal or emotional successes, the huge little jobs that make up our lives? One of the daily practices of successful / happy people is to take time to celebrate a job well done!
This takes us to the second line (bottom up) of “mystery no more” this is an intriguing line: something will be revealed in the week. Open your senses because sometimes mysteries don’t make a big fanfare but are subtly revealed… what would it be?
That revelation may open new windows of opportunity, but you need to be ready. What are those paths that are announcing? And how can we “open to a move”? Moreover how can we prepare for a move? It can be small or big, but a move can be as refreshing as a change.
The oracle definitively points a move, a change, a mystery revealed, and the line of “I decided to draw” makes me think of how we can bring those changes to the fore through active drawing as a sort of visual manifestation.
The following line may resonate with many of us, where “ageing well” is not only about the physical sides and the acceptance of age, but rather a celebration of the things we know because of age. What are those things you celebrate now?
The top line is all about the return from holidays, from resting or a hiatus with a splash: “back with a bang” incite us to go all the way, drawing upon the wisdom of our age, the openness to a move, and the general feeling of knowing we are doing an amazing job!
So for the creatiBe homework this week i suggest you to have a little drawing of the things you want to get, to do or to be. Don’t worry about how good the drawing is, it’s only for getting the “magic wand” dancing. Be as detailed as you can: if you want a new house, how will it look? How many rooms? If you want finding love, how would that feel? Or a new job, how much will it pay? What will be the balance of work and life? Be as detailed as you want, go crazy, go wild, let your dreams roam free and high. Share your drawings in social media with the hashtag #creatiBegym. Let’s see what it comes!
In this easter Monday we have pairs of odd feelings. Gratitude and happiness for the time rested, and a bit of sadness as it has come to end. In the christian story, we have also the miracle of the resurrection, … Continue reading
Getting down to Easter week emotions run high. You make plans, holidays carefully planned and expectations of a slower time. But sometimes things don’t go as planned, long lines of traffic, plans altered and all look a bit chaotic. In those moments is where love needs to be invoked and “shower them with love”. I mean, in this times of pandemia (we are not really out of the woods) is so important to shower people around us with love; not only it is a nice thing to give, but emotional investment Pat high dividends.
Many of us are going through changes: big or small. It can range from changing habits to moving homes, starting new projects or redefining our career or emotional paths. We may be feeling: “it’s now or never” in order to gather the energy to take the plunge. Although there is always a “tomorrow” this attitude can be a good propeller for those changes.
This week the astrologists are talking about ab auspicious conjunction of planets in which every encounter counts: “dates with destiny”. By the same conjunction, it seems that this is a time for rewards and recognitions: at work, in o it social group or even our own self “recognition at last”. It’s all about “searching for sparkle” in our everyday lives. Which ties nicely with last week homework of keeping a diary of joy.
This time the idea is to consider every aspect of our lives as “material” for creative endeavours. We are a rich depository of experiences and emotions, all unique and special. The talent of writers and other creatives is to find that sparkle in the quotidian, in conversations and in our own perception and experiences. These materials are all about us: the experience of the spring light shining as it was a new solar star; the tender conversation between friends you spied in the bus stop; the images of a colourful dream; the phrase that can inspire an entire new project; the emotion awaken by the memory of a smell…. It’s all material!!
So the creative oracle homework today is to have a diary of “materials” . Just keep your eyes and ears alert, everything counts. Keep your diary and take notes. A tip for this is “do not judge”, this is to stop your inner judge/editor from disposing of what could be a good morsel, just because at first it looks I significant or even silly. The purpose is to gather material: phrases, images, our own feelings, conversations, everything counts!
As ever, please share your “material”‘in social media with the #creatiBeoracle #crearibehomework
April! Where does time go? The oracle merges the new moon in Aries – awaking the impulsive, the irrational and the strength of the ram- and the promises of spring. So brace yourself my dear readers!
The top half of the oracle invites us to catch that train! It’s about big dreams, to start the days afresh, and to push for further change. Yes we have achieved a lot, working hard for our projects, surviving covid (which in the uk is rampant!), and trying to find our feet with projects, threads, social life and opportunities. For many this has been a time for new enterprises, projects or jobs; for others; it’s been about adjusting to new realities and testing our resilience. In both cases we have done our very best and we deserve further changes.
This is something to celebrate. And the reference to Bridgerton factor evokes floral arrangement, colourful dresses, balls and marriage, with a pinch of welcome diversity. It makes me think of the effects of color and texture in our lives, and how some few changes can change our personal appearance or home atmosphere, it’s all about beautiful living!
Ultimately, the whole purpose of the hard work is to experience joy. And that’s something we tend to “avoid”, as if the joy we feel -subtle or overwhelming- was something to be avoided. This week I was surprised by my own emotional reaction about kindness, as if it were something unusual (it is and it isn’t) and how I felt both happy and shocked. Brenee brown in her fantastic Atlas of the Heart, talks about foreboding joy, that feeling of “avoiding joy” as if by experiencing joy we are tempting fate. Indeed part of the meditation or the visualisation exercises is not only to envisage but rather to recall the experience of joy. How that feels? Where does it feel? Close your eyes and take a moment to remember that moment of joy….
And by that note, the last line invites us to bring in some few treats into our lives. My week happens to include not feeling but several treats, a welcome change to the endless zoom meetings and to do list.
Ok, here is the “homework” of the creatiBe oracle for us this week: make a lost of the things that brings you joy. Each of them need to be “felt”, that means the tots not just a mental list but a somatic list, with your whole body involved in the experience of joy. Take pictures, draw those joyful moments and share them in the social media as #creatiBeoracle #livingbeautifully #bonitoliving
This week when we are counting the days for the Easter break we may be trying to pack so many things up. It is tempting to lose the way and the zest of what we do. What the oracle calls: … Continue reading
The oracle this week reminds us about the wisdom of not knowing. That feeling of uncertainty that can free us from what we think we know and invite us to hone our “sense of the unknown”. This is a good beginning and it continues with the possibilities of being a “groundbreaker” and not to be afraid of showing it. “Too good to hide” encourages us not to hold back, to second guess or to doubt. Sometimes we -women, ethnic minorities- are afraid to show how much we know, or to reveal our opinions or assertions. But what do we have to lose? Really, think about it!
This takes us to the second half of the oracle. Which is particularly interesting for artists and creatives, but also for trailblazers and innovators: the portrait of an artist, is that door to become/embrace that creative self. Creativity is very much about giving ourselves permission to imagine, to be curious, to think differently. And also to keep our faith on the process. Yes it’s not a recipe, or a method, but the whole process of keep options open, question and imagine can truly allow us to “reap the rewards to keep that faith”. This faith is also something that can helps to keep our head amid the mayhem.
Comment for action
For the oracle this week, I would like you to find out “What is that little glee of faith that keeps your head from spinning?” It can be something small as a daily routine, the moments that you take at sunrise to be grateful, your bullet journal, your creative practice, that secret project you’ve been beavering about… whatever it is give it some specific time and recognition.
The other challenge for is this week is to date to show our worth. We are too good to hide, just for a dare, show your opinion, talents, opinions, ideas this week… don’t think so much just go for them… see what happens and let me know. You can share your experiences in social media #creatiBeoracle #creatiBechallenge
Artist and Educator 