My Green Cauldron
Making the world a better place through love, plants, and a little magic.
Townsend Park Visit
This past weekend, my fellas and i went for a walk at Townsend Park. it was a beautiful day and we had a fabulous time. As i tend to do on any walk you take with me i talked about plants, how to identify, usage, fun little facts, and new plant admiring. Well the fellas told me on this walk that they already know all the stuff i’m gonna say. i don’t have to keep telling them about the plan ts because they know. So i guess i need to dive a bit deeper and find new info (folklore, mythology maybe) for my fellas. the n maybe the walk talk won’t be so redundant to them. LOL!
New for Me
I have never used the app to write a post. I prefer to use my laptop for this kinda stuff. I decided to step into a new realm, learn/try something new. Big deal, right!?! For me it is, I usually do a lot of editing/deleting when writing. This feels more of the cuff, not something I’m usually good at. So here I go
These are for the year long Mandala Magic Alignment with Julie Gibbons. They were made with the intention of cutting for paper beads. I had so much fun making these. It is very freeing to do art you know will be dramatically changed in another process. Thing is all that loosey goosey free playing made these beautiful pieces!
Lesson learned! It’s all about the process. It’s all about being you. Feeling outside the lines, cares, and ideas. It’s about you being you and having fun! Let your inner child out to play!
Are you being the truest you when playing with art?
Finishing & Beginning Again
To Me, You, & Peaches too
It feels like things should be winding down… Lammas has passed and i am in harvest mode. The cooler weather is not helping at all. This winding down feeling has me thinking of finishing up some art projects and getting my stuff out of Hubby’s garage. There is one project i am ready to get done. i can tell i am in the finishing stages because i am dragging my feet. i don’t want it to end and i am not fond of the ‘finishing’ aspect. This means that i will probably spend the day painting boards and mounting artwork. fun…not really.
once this project is done it has been suggested i apply for an art show. i’m not sure about that, but i am curious as to what folks do with their art once it is done. this project has produced 9 14×14 pieces of art!
I also started another spin off project from the Alternative Universe Project, it’s working title is Alternative Landscapes (clever, huh?). There are 2 different projects to this one, one involving plants (imagine!) the other using salt (no, not from my tears….although what an interesting idea….hmmmm). the two projects are about, of course, landscapes. one is a view from above the other is looking at horizons. I’m still practicing techniques and experiment with the mediums and tools. so much FUN!! it is hard to focus on the finishings when these project is right there waiting.
I’ve also found this fun, plant based watercolor project that i am enjoying. i really haven’t fun an art medium that i haven’t liked. these are so pretty and they can be very meditative to add the extra watercolors later. This is where the idea for alternative landscapes began!
I have also been keeping up with my Meditative Art Journaling. i am loving it and it is my favorite time of the morning. Music, coffee and art what could be better….heck when that is also your self care to work through some of the shit, that’s what makes it better.
We also had a visitor in our mudroom. a very big and pretty moth. i haven’t looked into what kind it is but i think it’s pretty.
I have also been trying to keep up on the morning card readings. here are a few from the past week. interesting to see if there are any patterns and correspondences in life.
so that is what has been going on here. just trying to keep busy while we have this covid thing going on. This situation has really effected everyone, and in different ways. we are all trying to carry on as normal with all these new restrictions and mandates. The tensions is palpable. fear, anger, anxiety are all energies filling the air. i hope everyone is taking care of themselves.
spread the love.
Blessed Be
Leslie
Imposter!
HA! how many times have i heard that in my head? more times than i can count, let me tell you. i was thinking about this today and yesterday after an internet influencer mentioned that she had imposter syndrome when it came to her art. mind you she has written a book, is all about body positivity, birth choices and womanhood, but she struggles with the syndrome when it comes to her art. when i read this is was a little surprised. the first question in my head was, who are you making art for? (i’ve had these feelings myself. i struggle with questioning my own skills in anything really. so when this person said this it really struck a chord, hardcore.)
so i dive into my own self, to see how and why i feel the way that i feel. i love making art, all art. i am finding that i like the art i make too. so that’s fun. mind you it is not all good art, some i call practice so it gives Little Leslie the ability to play, play, play. In that play Big Leslie is learning how things work so we can put them together later. when i get the feeling that i am not good enough….or that i am a crafter not an artist (i have a theory as to way this makes sense to me and it is about the importance of art and craft in my family as i was growing up) i have realized (through journaling, arting and all) that the voice is the Big Leslie trying to butt in. it is the filters that i have been given that i look through as an adult. The filters that tell me what art should be, who artists are. they are the structures that teach technique but not passion. i am the only one that is calling out Imposter! it is because i am not meeting the expectations that i have about what art (or whatever) is.
i was listening to a webinar this morning….you know the ones, here are a list of tips/hints/shifts to get you going in whatever direction and at the end they are selling you a course or something. in the one this morning the talk was about taking your art to the next level; from hobbyist to selling/showing artist. which is funny because it goes along with this post. She (kelliedayart.com) said this quote that really struck a chord, “Being good at art is not about how ‘good’ you are {at art} but how good you are at being you.” WOW! i mean think about that for a minute….how good are you at being you? at allowing yourself be you? not the roles you have, not the titles or labels or EXPECTATIONS….but YOU? when doing art are you trying to be good at art or be good at being you?
when it comes to the label Imposter, i have found that it is one that i have given myself. it is also a good place to dive deep into that because it seems that i am holding my art in comparison to something. whether it is what i think art should look like, or what art will sell or people will like, i have to ask why am i making art and am i being the truest me i can be when i am creating? because when it comes right down to it my art is for me. i create because it makes me feel good and there is no imposter in that.
Art Journalings & Meandering Thoughts
Dear Me, You, and Peaches too
Is time magic? thoughts that i have while creating. it is something that we have made into a precise tool. one measuring fractions of seconds. Fractions. of. Seconds.
ancestors following the sun and moon cycles, watching the changing of the seasons, and how everything spirals, the same, yet different. the natural flow of the days, cycles, seasons. i am loving The 8 Fold Year with Julie Gibbons. following the equinoxes, solstices, the natural flow of the witch’s year.
measuring time, the human structure of seconds, minutes, hours. this feels like a yoke, a unnatural structure imposed over the cyclic flow. it definitely limits time to a straight forward motion. one so measured with precision. i know that time isn’t set, that it expands and contracts.
right now it feels like a binding spell, keeping us from exploring limitlessness.
The moon is so beautiful in the sky.
Art, Peaches and Shadow work……have you started your shadow work? looking inward to see what makes you re-act, project, trigger, it’s not easy work. it’s not easy to look at your own downfalls, to look into your deep seeded fears. you cannot always see the filters you look at life through. ones that your society /culture gives you, the ones your family hand down, the ones your own experiences give you. i think now we are see our societal/cultural shadow, the dark demons that have infiltrated the overall thinking of our culture. it’s ugly head is rearing and instead of facing those demons we fit tooth and nail to shove it back into the proverbial bottle. really the work is at the individual level….we cannot fix this until we all start doing our shadow/inner work. most folks are no where near the place to start that work and that is why we continually spiral down to lower vibrations.
and the journaling from the day before spills into today’s. thinking of shadow work and what is one of the hardest aspects to it. i have found for me it is Ego. funny little buggar, here to help us run the body, to give us individuation, need to live in this dimension/vibration/place. there is a balance with the Ego and that is your spiritual/higher dimension/universe, (y)our divine being. how easily that is forgotten…Ego such a trickster….this is not about religion or religious beliefs, it is about your spiritual journey of becoming. desire is the the divine wanting to experience something, in the thoughts of spiritual journey it will lead to higher vibrations, lead to love. without the spiritual journey Ego takes our desires turns them into some thing dark and selfish.
spiritual journey takes responsibility, it doesn’t leave the work to others. no finger pointing, no trying to guilt others into actions for you, to actually turn the finger on yourself and say this baggage is mine. the best part is that once you take the responsibility you can make a change…..not force others to change, but make that change for the better within yourself.
well my thoughts are meandering into nonsense. i am just trying to wrap my head are somethings. ego, other people and why they do what they do, patterns in interactions with people, what am i responsible for, am i finger pointing or enabling….yet again i digress……
Working through it with art
I’ve been really liking the mindful art journaling. the hour or so i have to myself in the morning is the perfect time to do this. i have to admit that i am not very good about journaling although i can really see the benefit. adding the art in has been the key for me. going in with no ideas or thoughts to what will appear on the paper, i am quickly overcoming the ‘blank white page’ dilemma. i haven’t noticed any commonality between what i make only the medium that i am choosing, which lately has been pastels. the set i use is older than i am, found among my grandmother’s things. hardly used and the box in new condition, the pastels have been waiting to be used. i like using them a lot, from the blending, adding water to them, getting all messy in the process. both grown-up leslie and little leslie enjoy the process very much. (both hemispheres of the brain playing happily together).
i’ve ben really enjoying the light coming down the wireline and into the garden. fro the perpestive that i usually see it, the plants are back lit by the later afternoon sun. i could photograph this every evening and still not be able to capture the beauty of it in real life.
the garden is growing well and the harvest will be big. i have been using the flowers and greenery from around the place to make art. i like that i am using what is right here. gathering the plants is so soothing and is the beginning of the ritual of art for me. i’m not sure what i will do once winter comes!
i am still working on my second art book. what a learning process but i am happy with where i am at with it. another project that is good for both grown-up leslie and little leslie. lots of fun ‘testing’, splatter painting, who doesn’t love that!?! still have to make the decisions on the final prints for the book and i need to make some more paper. Hubby will be happy when all the paper making supplies are out of the garage. he’s been very patient with the whole thing.
keepin’ Peaches at bay
everyday
diving deep
with art
the art continues
HI, Me, You, Peaches too!
well the tech gods are not blessing me this week! i was initially going to do a video but i could not for the life of me get the voice over recorder to work……nor did my regular voice recorder. i figure it was a sign, so i am here just adding some words and some pictures.
so that is what has been keeping me away from the computer. so much to do this time of year, so much creativity flowing. the energy is intense here.
i had recently watched a ‘workshop’ on coaching using Jung and some other perspectives….the one thing that i walked away from that set of videos was this…
A desire is the Divine wishing to express itself through you!
i wish i remembered, if you do let me know!
but here’s the thing (because i know what folks are thinking) it has to be done with spirituality, within a spiritual journey, the process of becoming a better person, dealing with you shadow, diving deeply inward. it is not just i desire this/that, it’s divine so i’m just gonna do it/take it any old way……that type of thinking is NOT some one on a spiritual journey.
these are the things i have been thinking about lately while i work on my art. oh….and i am dealing with some of those impostor syndrome feelings again. i think this comes about anytime i begin something brand new, enjoy and become good at. being good, does that mean i made it? does it really matter if i ‘made’ it? ugh…..down the rabbit hole i go!
i hope your day is great.
Mindful Art Journal 1
i am trying out a new morning ritual, art journaling. it really shouldn’t be that far off from my mornings already (that’s when i like to do my art). i am excited to do this. i took a free class with WorkshopMuse.com and she explained her process of mindful art journaling. it is a new direction for me with my art making.
Energy Healer
