Teachers Are Gifts That Come in Different Packages

Lesley Riley's Compose+Yourself online course is quite a fascinating experience! Each lesson aligns with lessons about life which makes each area we learn about sink in even deeper. Ever notice how a concept or perspective in life is introduced to your awareness and suddenly you start to notice it all over the place? This is how this course is affecting me. Here my grandkitty has helped me better understand the Fibonacci Spiral composition awareness just by taking a nap! Thank you, Lesley...and Pixel!

Happy Holidays! And may all your days in 2013 be wildly creative ones (that include naps)!

Starved for Some Comic Brilliance

I don't know about you, but with all the political fighting going on and Mother Nature making her statements pre and post-Election Day..I'm starved for some comedy. I went on an internet search for some and found this lovely creative gem that I'm posting before Election Day just to lighten up moods during the worldly craziness. Happy Election Day. Please vote. And many prayers for safety during the tests Mother Nature is sending.

Lady Gaga's Been Wearing Babyshoes!

In fashion school we were taught that a trend goes to the extreme before it disappears. Can this type shoe evolve any further? When the wearer has to take ballet lessons on pointe to be able to wear these, I wonder. 

What an interesting walk the wearer has when wearing these shoes!!!! Can you imagine how attractive that walk would look at a party or if someone were making an entrance in a crowded room or on a stage in these? How would they be running to catch a train or driving a car?

Another thing discussed in fashion school...how the state of the world is expressed through each design. What does the way these shoes make the wearer walk say about the state of the world!???!

Any thoughts?

************
10/13/12
I just wanted to thank the many who have shared their thoughts (offline) about the statement these shoes made to them! Thank you to the commenter who sent me this link update that was posted after this blog entry posted. It's about the designers of these shoes and the meaning behind them!
http://shine.yahoo.com/the-thread-how-to/scariest-shoes-time-173900092.html;_ylc=X3oDMTNtOHVmMnFkBF9TAzk4MDc1MTA1MARhY3QDbWFpbF9jYgRjdANhBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi1VUwRwa2cDNTg3NzhkN2UtMWUwNC0zOGVkLWEyNmUtNzBjODRkNTEwZjQyBHNlYwNtaXRfc2hhcmUEc2xrA21haWwEdGVzdAM-;_ylv=3

The Thomas Ashman Dremel Experience

A very brief stopover to take a class at CREATE this past summer.  There is an art gene we share in my family, so 3 generations of us like to take certain workshops together.  We all had Dremels, but didn't know how to use them that well, so we decided to take "Have a Dremel Day" taught by an amazing instructor who will remain on the top of my list as one of the best instructors ever! 

His name is Thomas Ashman. The first thing that jumped out at me was his passion for art and his deep gratitude that we chose to take his class out of the limitless multitude of workshop choices on the planet. He didn't just talk about his gratitude, but truly showed it by getting down in the trenches with each of us beginners to help us make sure we understood every detail of using a Dremel.  No beginner question was too unimportant to respond to either. It felt so safe to ask whatever crazy question arose.

We brought projects we were stuck on or materials we were curious about transforming with our Dremels.

I always study the energy of participants and their body language in any group setting. It's all that coach training, I guess. Note the lip-biting here....revealing a creative brain being stimulated to figure out how to problem solve using the new skills just learned. We three honestly walked out of that workshop feeling, "What can I put a hole in, polish, cut or sand/grind smooth now? Watch out, world. I've got a Dremel and I know how to use it!"

 Thomas' parting words to our class were so touching and heartfelt about how much he appreciated our participation in his class that tears came to many. I highly recommend the Thomas Ashman learning experience. You will not feel invisible in his class, but truly empowered and psyched-up to play with all the new skills that were so thoroughly explained in detail. Thomas knows his stuff and it shows how much he loves what he does. Check him out here:
http://www.blacksheepartist.com/home
As for we three....no knitting around the fireplace this winter....we'll be cozying up to the fireplace with a Dremel, some safety glasses and some Dremel attachments.

Tick...tick...tick!

 Last month my little flower turned 30! Pretty miraculous since I've been 29 for so long. Time sure flies!

This is what little flower is currently working on and since it has to do with kitties....there's no way I can avoid talking about it!

I just love when creative people use their talent to do wonderful things for the world!

Check out their ongoing progress here:
www.facebook.com/meowhausproject

If you feel moved to help out these lovely students and support their way cool project....check out this site:
/www.indiegogo.com/meowhausproject (donation deadline is looming!)

I was going to say these students are humanitarians (which they way are), but when I looked it up that has to do with humans...so I express my gratitude to these thoughtful catcare-atarians.

I approve this message!

Kitty TV--the Real Reality Show!

July started with a visit from the Power Outage Fairy. No electricity, water, TV, or internet for close to a week...and for a while no phone either.  The local grocery stores also had to toss a lot of spoiled food, as I did. It was kinda cool to not know what was going on in the world in this info overload age we get so addicted to.  I didn't mind living off of rice cakes and Perrier for a week. What most upset me was that I'd have to miss the Indy Day Twilight Zoneathon. 

Knitting way proved itself to be an art form that defies power outages. Here, one of my over-heated kitties helps me keep the yarn supply tangled before he falls asleep.

 I've read that windows and screened-in views are TV for kitties. Since I couldn't watch TV, I decided to check out what my kitties were watching on their TV. It turned out to be far cooler than the Twilight Zoneathon!

Not everyone sees our artwork as art....it may just be a great place to find material to build a nest.

 Kitties started hissing at something walking by the front door, so I came running with a camera...

Kitty TV is far more surreal than Twilight Zone reruns!  

With all the sensationalized news going on out there in the world I witnessed that there's enough sensational news going on right in our own front yard!

Culture Fix

The need for artistic inspiration is best fulfilled by a quick trip to the cultural mecca of NYC. One highlight was seeing this Schiaparelli/Prada exhibit at the Met that is going on until August 19th. Not only are there gorgeous and ahead-of-their-time designs from long ago, but there are ongoing film discussions between Schiaparelli and Prada about the design lifestyle. Then Prada takes cues from Schiaperelli's creations and does her own take on them. Very cool!

After the exhibit has you flying, then a cool place to visit is the Met roof where the views are exquisite!  The sculptural roof structure on the Met roof makes for an even more thrilling exploratory adventure.

In NYC, artistic opportunity and inspiration are everywhere you turn! From this shop entryway that lures in customers anatomically....

... to artists performing in their medium during a simple walk in the park!

Jenny Divine's energy in her Donna Summer memorial was an entertaining treat. And our own hotel room brought such breathtaking views I spent more time enjoying fhe view than wanting to sleep.

The full moon made things surreal!

Even the trip home...which unfortunately took all day because of a missed connecting flight, had art in it! I was very happy to have a bubblegum pink suitcase in the sea of mostly black ones. Even tho it was a day of flying from city to city until I could get a flight home. No such thing as waiting if you sketch, so there was lots of sketching opportunity all day long.

Though I love gorgeous views....I accepted this as the view from my flight, so I could finally get home!

I loved the artsy trip, but was happy to be on the noisy prop plane home because I know that any experience we have is enjoyed in the present, but enjoyed with even more depth through memories. 

Highly recommended if you're looking for a sparky cultural museum visit...the MAD museum of art.

 The current show gave artists a requirement that the materials used be dust or dirt only. .http://collections.madmuseum.org/code/emuseum.asp?style=browse&currentrecord=1&page=seealso&profile=exhibitions&searchdesc=Current%20Exhibitions&searchstring=Current/,/greater%20than/,/0/,/false/,/true&action=searchrequest&style=single&currentrecord=2

The Cindy Sherman exhibit at the MOMA was fascinating! I believe it runs until today. She portrays a character in each of her pieces. It's very surreal because you never really know what she looks like as herself. Her exposure of how humans try to portray an image...or how we cling to our youth by using whatever methods we can, kept haunting me way past the exhibit and I started looking at myself and people I passed by in a whole different perspective. Here are a few of her pieces...http://www.google.com/search?q=cindy+sherman+gallery&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvnso&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=LzvWT_DiJtKf6QHRpJSDAw&ved=0CGAQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=799

Every human needs a change of scenery for sanity sake and for creative inspiration and I hope this little visual blog entry trip has brought a spark to you as much as it did to me.

INTEReVIEW with the Magical Marney Makridakis

I know of no better candidate to write a book about time than Marney Makridakis! Being a long time fan of artellaland.com and having studied in her ArtBundance Coaching Program http://www.artellaland.com/ACT.html I've always been amazed by how prolific and creative she is! In one week she accomplishes more than I can in years! Knowing what a magical manifester Marney is, I couldn’t wait to delve into her new book to learn how she perceives time.

Some of the things that jumped out most to me from reading her new book, "Creating Time---Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life" were… 

• ·      I enjoyed the way it was written using both left brain and right brain perspectives of time. This balanced way of presenting her work speaks to and includes everyone.
• ·      To observe how each contributor in the book created their own unique, artistic interpretation of her concepts and exercises was like going to an art gallery every time I opened the book. Put art in your book..and you've got me glued to you better than e6000!!! Allow diverse creative participants to interpret a theme in their own way and I’m in Art Heaven!
• ·      I got to experience Marney on a whole other level through her stories, examples and art she shared in her book.
• ·      The original Haikus at the beginning of each chapter set the tone of the chapter’s journey and were also a meditation that put out a welcome mat for the feel of each chapter.
• ·      I love how Marney reframes how we experience time, making even some of our most uncomfortable experiences of time more enjoyable. I took away some new ways to perceive my rented time on this planet.
•     Her powerful questions in her journal prompts and her creative exercises really get your ideas about time flowing!   
•        Any book and person who honors intuition, synchronicity, Divine Timing and creativity belongs in my library of inspirational books and beings….as these are concepts that can be overlooked in our fast-paced, instant-grat world.

I am fortunate enough to have a genie in a bottle who is granting me 3 interview questions to magical Marney Makridakis...and she did not disappoint!

    TiCo: You are one of the most prolific people on the planet. To observe all the projects you create and complete is awe- inspiring! To write a book on time seems in order because you are a master of it. While studying with you I was so inspired observing how you make your weekends sacred family time that I incorporated that into my life and made weekends my sacred art focus time. It has been both powerful and healthy. Have you always known the importance of sacred time for yourself, intuition, Divine Timing, flexibility and expansiveness perspective that you honor in your courses and book? Or were there certain events and experiences that made you a believer in these concepts?

Marney: I can pinpoint two main experiences that have led me to understand the role of flexibility and trust as we expand our understanding of time and strengthen our relationship with it. First, I have had chronic health issues for my entire life, and, over time, I think that this has enforced a sense of trusting time that may have been a bit more elusive without these experiences. Very often my plans have had to change because of health issues, and I’ve come to see that the timing of how things actually played out always ended up being “right”, for one reason or another. And I’ve had so many experiences where I’ve had to create time – time that didn’t seem to exist, at first glance – to attend to a pressing health issue, and guess what – the world didn’t stop turning! These repeated experiences have left no doubt in my mind that we can create time for what is important, and furthermore, we don’t have to wait for a crisis to do it. It is a great release from ego to realize these two lessons: that we are not as important as we think we are, and that divine timing trumps plans. I think these are crucial pieces in seeing time as a supportive entity, rather than something we have to “master” or “manage”.

Starting a family is what really made me realize the importance of focused, uninterrupted time…time that is not managed in tiny little segments but it expanded to be as full as it needs to be. When my son was a baby, I realized that he wasn’t getting all of me…he was getting a segmented version of me, as a by-product of “time management”, multi-tasking, and “doing it all” mentality. It didn’t take long to realize that * I * was getting a segmented version of me, too, and that something had to change. Some of the changes were drastic; for example, I went from working a 7 day week to working a 4 day week, and I now focus weekends on my family and Fridays just for me! Granted, the reality of this past year with getting the book published has meant I’ve had to often dip into my Fridays to play catch up on email and such, but they always feel different, since I am officially “off”, so it feels like I’m actually getting ahead of things a bit, LOL. And some of the changes have been subtle, like asking, “What does the clock say?” instead of “What time is it?” to remind me that the clock does not control my true – I do.

  T: Your little sweetheart son, Kai, has been through a lot for age 3 and is profoundly wise beyond his years. In fact, there are people ten times his age that aren’t as in tune with spirituality. The stories you tell about the wisely shocking things that come out of his mouth make me both laugh and gasp in awe at the same time! I’m guessing Kai’s profound sense of awareness is a case of both nature AND nurture. What do you feel is the healthiest way to raise a child to understand the concept of time? If you were magically given the role of school system reframer what would you have the school system incorporate to teach our children about time, so that stress isn’t destroying our health? Any other principles you'd add to the school system focus that would be healthy for children to learn at a young age?

M: I think that the importance of nurturing creativity and curiosity as a process, and not a product, is definitely one of the most important concepts in terms of early life lessons for children. It’s important for children to experience creating and exploring just for the sake of doing so…without having pressure to “make something’’ or be “productive”. In terms of time, I think it would be wonderful if “learning to tell time” meant more than just how to read the numbers on the clock, but also understanding that time is a supportive force in our lives, like a special superhero partner. Children easily learn that “time” is to blame when they don’t get to do what they want to do, and this can foster an unbalanced relationship with time from an early age. I’d love for more families to talk about measuring time qualitatively instead of just quantitatively. Look at the difference between: “We have to leave the park in 5 minutes” (and the resulting tantrum) and “Ok, 5 more giggles until we get to go home. And how many memories do you think we’ll create on the way home?” I’d love to see households and classrooms have a clock that is calibrated to true time, which literally, revolves, around the things that are most important. It can be a very simple project: cutout a circle from poster board or find an old clock at a thrift store. Ask each family member or classroom student to replace one of the clock’s numbers with new images or words that reflect the things more important to him or her. After the project is complete, place this clock in plain view, to remind everyone that time is more than just a chronological construct. I’d love children to learn that we not only choose how we use time, but also how we feel about and experience time. Time is not just hours…time is ours!

T: This question may be out in left field, but one of the things I adore about studying with you is how open you are to wild, creative questions and expressions, so I will ask this….

When you were a child what were your favorite things to play, play with, and do…and how have these things shown up as an indicator of your career and how you live your life today?

M: I love this question! I think that our favorite activities as a child are often very telling, and if someone is feeling a little unsure about their life’s direction, going back to those childhood favorite past-times holds many rich clues. I recently heard that a friend from college is now a geography professor. In college he was studying to be an actor, but I recall that his childhood obsession was making exquisitely detailed maps. It seems that very often, though we may take some detours, we often do end up following our childhood passions.

As a very young child, I ‘wrote’ stories before I could actually write, prolifically dictating to my mother, who would write them down for me. I’m told that when I was a young child, I used to cry when I’d try to write stories on paper, because I couldn’t mechanically get my pencil to move fast enough to get the words out. My father, a university professor, thought to bring home a typewriter from his office, and voila, suddenly I could do it. I typed stories nonstop on that typewriter, and my dear mother has kept almost all of them in boxes. Those stories are hardly even readable, with my make-do spelling and complete disregard for the spacebar. I think that old typewriter was my first love. :-)

When I was a little older, I immersed myself in very extensive imaginary endeavors. For example, I took “playing school” to a new level. For two full years, in 4^th and 5^th grade, I "ran" a boarding school I named the Alphon Moyar Boarding School. LOL.. I handled it all -- administration, planning, execution – with boxes and boxes of meticulously-kept file folders. There were applications, entrance exams, and I knew what each kid looked like, who their siblings were, what their home lives were like, what their medical histories were like. I made lesson plans for all classes, planned field trips, made advertising flyers to “increase enrollment”. I would go through magazines and cut out pictures and to make books of decorating plans for the school’s dorm rooms. I set up pretend airline reservations (set up from actual airline information) for their trips home at holidays and summer. Every single detail was carried out to the fullest.

So I guess you could say that as a child, my favorite activities were writing as well as “running” creative enterprises – which is exactly what I’m blessed to be doing now!

 

Thank you, Marney, for your inspiring INTEReVIEW responses and for creating a book that inspires us to mold our gift of time to make our life a masterpiece!