art, creativity, inspirational

Do you feel inspired?

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Do you feel inspired today?  I can’t say it’s a day I’m raring to go in my studio this afternoon. Sometimes it feels as if I’ll never be inspired again, but that is never the case. 🙂

It usually means I got stuck in my habits and forgot to look at the world with wonder.  Habits are inspiration killers. It’s so easy to get stuck in the mundane.

Here are a few ways I get out of my own  lack of inspiration.

  • I like to go to the library and look at those big art books.  For one thing, the silence and the people reading and sitting at the computers feel like companionship, and just mingling with others can spark inspiration. Besides, I LOVE those beautiful pictures of famous art.
  • I go out in nature. The shapes and the colors are always new and if I pay attention I always see something I didn’t notice before.
  • Hang out on Facebook for a while looking at art in all the art groups I belong to.  Such wondrous variety!  There is the danger of getting stuck on FB though.
  • I do a lot of research on the Internet. I find that the Internet is a great source for how-tos. I really like it, but it’s easy to get stuck there too. There is always an upside and a downside to everything, right?  Say you want to know how an ocean wave really looks before you paint it. You search the term and gazillion pictures come up. That is genius at our fingertips.
  • Friends to cheer me on! Especially other artists.
inspiration
Inspiration
  • Visit some local art gallery.
  • Give yourself a challenge to paint something different, using a different color palette.
  • Go shopping for art supplies. Yeah!
  • And, last but not least, just ignore any feelings of lack and paint anyway. Ugly is okay.  Art journaling really helps too, or plain ole journaling to get that focus back.
  • You can talk with some naysayer in the family and get inspired to prove them wrong! Anger and disgust are good action propellers. 🙂

I would love to hear what you do when your inspiration is flagging.

Have a wondrous creative weekend!

xo

Maria

P.S. I could use an art sale about now, and I have many pieces to choose from in my etsy shop. HERE.

 

goal, life, motivational, success

Big or small goal?

Basically, there is no difference between a big or a small goal. The only thing that separates them is a person’s mindset.

If you have a big goal, you must have a mindset to match. So if your mindset can only hold a small vision, you will get a small vision.

There is nothing wrong with having a small goal as long as you pursue and accomplish that goal. Otherwise, it will fester in your mind.  Accomplishing small goals will lead to bigger goals.

The only way I know to make a your mindset expand is to do things you don’t normally do.  Examples would be to visit a Ferrari dealership if you want to live a swank, rich lifestyle, or spend some time in a five star hotel.  You could have tea and cucumber sandwiches there while you admire the crisp linen and the polished silverware.  Get the rich feel of things.  Expansion is endless as long as you prove to yourself that you can do it.  People jump out of airplanes to prove to themselves that they dare to do something scary and outrageous.

I just watched a video of a man walking a “slackrope” across two buttes somewhere out west. One misstep and he would plunge to his death.  Not something I would do EVER, but I have my own small world to deal with. Challenge creates resistance and resistance stops us from moving forward.

If I want to paint a mural but only paint small canvases, say, 8X8″ inches, it would be hard to paint a mural. Not impossible, but challenging for sure. I would have to research layout and perspective and how to transfer a small image to a larger size.  That is just the technical side of things.

Would I dare to paint a mural that depicted people or flowers?  An abstract yes, but something realistic would be a real stretch.

But now I paint 8X8″ up to 36×48″ canvases, and painting large opens up to a freedom I don’t feel when painting small.

The point here is to actually DECIDE on a goal, small or big, and go for it. Don’t let anything distract, especially the naysayer within.

Why play it so small when life could be so much more? I ask myself that question every day. Since I’m aware of it, I make conscious choices to stretch my boundaries.

The gain: I have noticed that when I’m with people they often ask me for help or want answers to questions to things I have done, and they haven’t. I don’t mind sharing, and that also shows me that every small goal I have accomplished has a great impact. Results  accumulate quickly.

When you don’t stop and look to see where others are at, you blaze your own trail. The longer you’re blazing away, the farther you get, and that’s when people start asking your for help.

Working with increments really make a HUGE difference.

You accomplish a big goal as easily as a little one–in increments.  What is the biggest goal that you can dream?

reaching a big goal

A big stumbling block to achieving a goal is:

board-786119__180
Just do it now even if it’s not perfect

Just go for the goal and worry about perfection later (as in never.)

Have a creative Wednesday. xo

Maria

healing, intuitive, life, self help

Healing through self love

I’m reading the book Healing by David Elliott and it’s fabulous. There is a free PDF download on his website HERE.  You have to register but then there is a library where you can download the book.

I resonate with his statement that self-love is something we all fall short of, and it is also the healing force for pretty much everything. There are some exercises and questions to answer to see where you lack the self-love needed for transformation.

David-Elliott-Healing-1571-157x205
Healing, David Elliott

I took the following description from his website to give you some more information.

What if you could heal yourself of any illness, addiction, or chronic condition? How empowered would you feel if you had the keys to healing, not only on the physical level, but on emotional, mental and spiritual levels as well?

HEALING, the second book by healer and author David Elliott, is a comprehensive and thorough exploration of the limitless potential within you to discover the healing you have been searching for.

  • Clear instruction and guidance on how to develop your own ability to heal
  • Examples and stories from David’s 20 years working as a healer
  • Over 30 exercises, meditations and numerous diagrams to help the reader

I really love this book and I can’t wait to try all of the meditations and breath work that help to open up the heart and release stuck emotions.

David-Elliott_Aspen-Grove-Creative-Healing-Arts-Center_265
David Elliott

I feel this kind of work can only help in my own journey of artful expression.  There is always more internal junk to release and I read a lot of self-help books. This is one of the best ones I have come across lately.

Want to give it a try? You won’t regret it. 🙂

xo

Maria

P.S. I have a couple of new things for sale in my etsy shop now. CLICK HERE.

art, creativity, motivational

Art as expression of the intangible

I have touched on art as an expression of the intangible before when I wrote about the masters and what they left behind that touches us so deeply.  Not just artists, but the musicians too. There were composers like Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach.  They are still popular today, and what about all the more modern music that blasts over the internet and the radio?

Those people composed because they had such a strong urge to bring it out to the world. Not that they thought about fame and fortune, but something inside urged them to bring the gift out.

When we make something special to us, we also grace the world with that special something, the intangible energy that is pure genius. We can’t all be Beethoven or Rembrandt, but we have the gift of genius as well.  Just touching ONE person’s heart is enough.

I was thinking about that when I went grocery shopping yesterday.  Sometimes the energy is drab and low in the stores, but just one smile can change the energy to something better.  One smile can change a person’s day.  So, I go to the stores with the intention of bringing a good vibe, like magic dust, spread it around and touch someone with a bit of cheer.

Everything we do, if we do it with care and with a cheerful spirit, is genius. It’s that intangible something that comes from within. The trick is to live in the moment, not in memories or worries for the future.

In other words, to become a genius and be who you were meant to be from the get go is to practice staying in the moment of now and create. A whole new world opens up.

Yesterday, I was driving down this busy highway that everyone hates around here and cars hurtled by at breakneck speeds. Usually, I feel a bit anxious about being in the middle of the traffic “soup,” but yesterday it was like being in a vision of joy propelling the cars forward. Somehow I had tapped into the universal power that drives everything, and all I could see was joyous movement.  So strange.

The moment deepens into a whole new view of the world, and when I bring that to my art, everyone loves it.  I need to be there more often. 🙂

Have you let your genius out? If not, it’s about time to allow the bigger you to play. Slap some paint around and see what happens.  Sometimes we have to break all the rules to get out of the box.

I’m not getting back in that box!  Once out, you can’t really go back in. If you do, you feel like a fool.

Going to my studio now…

xo

Maria

P.S. I have three self-study e-courses available to get that art mojo going! CLICK HERE.

inspirational, life, motivational

Waiting to start living.

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A lot of people, including myself, are waiting to start living.

After the memorial service I attended yesterday, it was brought home to me that 3D life can end in a split second, so why hold on to anything?

Why not go all out and live in a way that supports, activates, thrills, and satisfies us? That is of course different for each person, but if we follow the inner lode star (as in listening to that “small still voice”) we will make choices from a point of aliveness instead of fear.

When I forget to breathe, I have lost my center. It is a vital practice to stay in one’s center for making the choices of the soul. The soul is still, yet acutely alive, while the ego is never satisfied always grasping for more. The ego wants to win big, and then bigger. Be faster, thinner, more successful. Still, that will never be enough.

The soul abides in the stillness within, and when the time is right, inspires action that is aligned with one’s highest purpose.  Here is where I stumble a lot. I’m impatient and want things to happen NOW, so I force the action. That is never aligned.  It leads to burn out and frustration.

Soul inspired action leads to enjoyment and enthusiasm. The “wanting” and the “hustle” is gone, yet a lot gets done IN ITS OWN TIME. It takes trust and dedication to live from a soul driven life.

It doesn’t matter WHAT we do, but if we choose to do things out of fear and shoulds and have-tos, we are totally missing the point.

Soul inspired action is easy and smooth. There might be hard work involved, but it doesn’t feel like hard work, more like an immersion.

I believe it’s the new way of doing “business.” To be uniquely you in all that you do, (including when you’re doing the dishes.)  Not your personality but the very essence of who you are.  It takes practice to stay in your center.

The ego will never go away, but it can be tamed to fall in with one’s true wishes as long as it understands there is no fear or danger involved.

The thing to remember and practice is to:

BE2When we live from that point life becomes an adventure. Let go, dare to live with uncertainty, be bold, truly listen within, and trust your body.

Have a creative week, folks! xo

Maria

P.S. I have some cool self-study e-courses available HERE.

celebration of life, video

Celebration of life.

Today I went to a celebration of life service for a friend.  The church was packed, standing room only, and I was amazed at how many lives Susan touched with her sunny presence.

Susan
Susan

I was wondering how many would turn up at my memorial service.  Probably not that many… It goes to show, live life to its fullest every day. Another friend sang a song as a tribute, but I’m not sure if you can see it. The song is: I hope you dance.

So, it was a sad day, but grief/sadness opens up the heart and we are never the same.
Susan is dancing now for sure.

xo

Maria

Artist and writer