PS. Originally we had a bit of a problem with the audio but now it’s all sorted! Thank you for your patience.

This morning it was the oddest thing to wake up and not step right into preparation for the BtS. I didn’t choose my earrings or my sweater with thoughts of how recently you’d seen them on the show. I didn’t brush my teeth thinking about what we were going to talk about today. I felt a little at a loss about what to do with all of these ideas and wonderings as they emerge. You know how I love to share. So today I’m writing you a little note from my place to yours, a “studio diary,” if you will. I’m recording it too, in case you prefer to listen. I hope some of today’s little tidbits will inspire something in you and your studio.

Since one of the things I’ve wanted to make room for is my writing, when it came to the time when I normally record the BtS I thought, I damn well better write! I noticed that I quickly got all tangled up in: how should I write, what should I write, where should I write? I started on the computer and it just felt too brainy and so, instead, I pushed the keyboard away and pulled out my current “work in progress” book. I opened to the first free page, set a timer and for a half an hour I wrote. With joy in my heart I wrote.

The quote on the cover of my Work in Progress Journal:

“She is proud and wild and beautiful. Her anger is terrible to behold.”

H is for Hawk quoting Humphrey ap Evans’ Falconry for You

I hung out with Escher a bit this morning. He is starting to spend more time relaxed and open to cuddles and less time running away and raising his paw (though he still does plenty of the latter). Today as I sat with him in the seat by the bedroom window, I felt dreamily like a 16-year-old girl communing with a wild animal, in complete wonderment at the connection. I feel like I am learning a new language with Escher. I think he is the very definition of a highly sensitive being. When he finally does allow you to pet him, he feels so excitable it’s like he’s gong to jump out of his skin. When he simply can’t take it anymore, he runs away. How are you with receiving attention? How are you with holding pleasure?

At lunch I bundled up and took a walk to the post office to put more Give a Girl a Journal journals in the mail. They’re starting to know me at the post office now. They know the mission that I’m on and they try to help me make sure I’m shipping the most affordable way possible. I so appreciate their magic.

And speaking of magic. I couldn’t believe the art I saw along the way! Clearly this sidewalk blessing is a sign for us and our journal girls to reach for the stars! And I plan to do just that. I love looking for blessings and signs! I also love looking for shapes. I’m never without my camera and shapes are one of the things I love to gather as I go. Here’s one I love that I found today.

I think this caught my eye because I have been talking to several clients about the “pie” that makes up their business and that was the shape I saw when looking at this church window from a distance. I keep a sketchbook journal that I fill with drawings of shapes like this. I just load them up on the page and enjoy the randomness of how they come together. Leaves and a boat. A window and a whale. The number 3 and a poppy and a dog. I love looking back over them and drawing and redrawing shapes that I love over and over again.

And speaking of love…

My sister Shannon has recently moved into a new place and this past weekend she had all of the things she’s had in storage for two years brought to her new home.  She’s been letting go of some things and enjoying being reunited with others and is letting her decisions on what to keep be governed by what she loves. Today she posted this vibrant shot of an in-use candy bowl and I could just feel the happy. It’s motivating me to look at all of my own things through the same lens.

What a rich day! And here are a couple of odds and sods, as my dad would call them.

Excited About…

As I find new channels for my creative work, I’m excited about:

• Writing a Book (or two… or four)
• Starting a Journal Club in March. (Join the studio if this feels like something you’d be interested in)
• Offering a new class about Uncovering (or Recovering) the Story of Your Creative Heart (watch for that in April)

Thinking about…

“Art, especially the stage, is an area where it is impossible to walk without stumbling. There are in store for you many unsuccessful days and whole unsuccessful seasons: there will be great misunderstandings and deep disappointments… you must be prepared for all this, expect it and nevertheless, stubbornly, fanatically follow your own way.” Anton Chekhov

Today’s Prompts for Your Studio…

• Set a timer for 30 minutes and write.
• How are you with receiving attention?
• How are you with holding pleasure?
• How will you reach for the stars today?
• Look for signs & blessings.
• Gather shapes with your camera.
• Gather shapes in your sketchbook
• What are the pie pieces that make up your business? Your life?
• What if you went through your things and decided to keep and use only the things you truly love?
• What are you excited about?
• What are you thinking about?