Moon Day at the Wren

Tara's Moon , Drozda 2010

8x10"

White ink, prismacolor on black illustration board

I open the week by relating to the moon, after all it's Moonday. La Luna helps me to create and live in harmony with the phases and the cycles of nature. I love to live my life and make art in tandem with what I affectionately refer to as 'Luna See'.

There is a completely different pace when you begin truly noticing the patterns of the moon. Living by the phases is a wonderful way of relaxing time in all areas but particularly in the studio. If you visualize your kitchen wall calendar you see the days stretching out in a linear fashion that implies the need to 'Get there!' That's a Solar (masculine) way of tracking time. Obviously we need this way of moving through the world. But a glimpse at a lunar calendar page acclimates us to the mysterious (feminine) unfolding of phases and breaks the use of time into three day segments. In creating with and living with the cycles of the moon since 1989 I've come to see the balance of these two ways of moving through time. I see the moon phases as stretching time so as to allow breathing space. There are approximately 29.6 days in a lunar month and that divides into 8 phases, as was outlined here on the New Moon, April 14 post.

Currently we're in the Crescent phase of this moon cycle so the opportunity is ripe for researching whatever your creative goal is for this month/moon.

My current studio goal is to learn new techno-communication skills. To help me I've signed on for Blog Triage with Alyson Stanfield and Cynthia Morris. The behind the scenes learning, along with the sense of community, is truly inspired. The class is pushing us all in a very positively assertive and enthusiastic direction...if I might jump in and give my humble take (for all involved)... it really feels like we're learning plus having a whole lotta fun.

The assignment/research for this phase is to design a different look for our blog. One point of entry is our use of fonts and color. We're being asked to 'think gallery'. we're being asked to sync up website and blog so they are 'of a piece'.

The first action I took(reluctantly), after listening to the lesson, was to eliminate the dark gray background and white font. Personally I loved that look, however I had heard from several sets of eyes that white type on a dark ground is not easy to read from a computer screen. Alyson provided an amazing wealth of information including seven pages of lesson plan on this topic, so it will be an ongoing opportunity to change things out. For now, I've clarified my look by using white ground with black type. Simple. This is the way I started my blog and I admit I didn't feel comfortable with the 'step back' yet just a short time into the change I'm feeling more at home again. I'll continue to research fonts and link colors and over all design of the page. I am a happy learner.

2010 Treasure Map, Drozda

18x24"

collage, drawing red poster board

This is a synchronistic moment for a fresh start, a new sense of creative passion and an infusion of enthusiasm because this is the Aries moon cycle. Each year the Aries moon signals a new beginning (as nature demonstrates).  This makes for a prime time for mapping out studio goals for the whole walk around this year's Wheel of Life. Pictured here is my current Treasure Map. It helps me stay focused upon the energy and information I'm open to experiencing in the year ahead. I also keep a studio goal journal and have belonged to a weekly 'Master Mind' support group since 1984. A confidential {artist's} support group is a great, time honored way to keep track and prioritize the work.

What is your self-expressive goal for this new year's first moon cycle? And what are you creatively reaching for throughout this year? Whatever you're yearning to express and share you may enjoy the investment in doing your own version of a treasure map or mind map during the coming week.

In three days it will be time to take a specific action in relation to one of your creative goals. If you've read this far and would enjoy a gift of a 'Luna See Recipe' card let me know and I'll make that available to you.

Until next time keep in mind: when following the moon there's no reason to rush...ahhhhhhhhhh....

~Sing the Day

Celebrating the Day

I am so happy to be able to celebrate this day. Fourteen years ago, on April 7, I packed up the van with the 2 dogs, 2 cats and 2 birds and began a caravan with my partner driving the moving truck and a dear friend bringing all the house plants as we relocated from Ohio to Virginia.... moving from the glacial moraine to the edge of the continent.
Many of you have probably moved more times than you can count. Others may be like me, I'd lived in the same geographic area for more than 40 years. I traveled a good bit and felt a sense of expansiveness to life because of that but picking up and leaving it all behind was BIG. HUGE. With the move...everything changed.

                                                                  'In You Go' Drozda  Acrylic on Wood

    I'm so happy that it did. It's been a good shake up and I've loved coming to a new place to explore.

The Cypress swamp where I walk

 So every April 7 I take the day to wander and to wonder and to open to what will be coming around the next turn in the trail.

I've met the most wonderful people since relocating, and I knew the greatest folks before I moved, but one of the celebrations that is on my mind today is the amazingly rich and endless community of artists who I can visit through this medium of blogging. I love what you create and what you share. I so enjoy learning from you and being inspired by you. I'm new to it and I'm green but I am enthralled and entranced. I feel so fortunate to be in a community where beauty and wonder are so willingly shared by so many exceptionally gifted and talented beings.

I'm celebrating something else today. Every ninety days I set a goal. That takes me around the wheel of the year from Equinox to Solstice to Equinox to Solstice and round I go spiraling year after year. This quarter's goal is to improve my techno-communication skills. I felt that one way that could happen is through this wonderful art of blogging. To assist me I signed on for Blog Triage: Maintaining a Healthy Artist's Blog with Cynthia Morris and Alyson Stanfield. Today is the first day of a one month tune-up and I am rather thrilled to imagine the world of discovery that awaits me. I hope that you'll pop over and follow along throughout the next four weeks perhaps gleaning some tips that you can use....and of course, if you are here, I hope that you will comment (hint hint :-) sharing your wealth of knowledge with me too...this is exciting and I feel like such a happy learner!

At my monthly women's art group a call has gone out for books that have helped us, as artists, when we feel that the creative stream has been diverted or is drying up. What are some of your favorites? What books are beside your bed? What books do you reach for when you feel the need for sustanence? I have so many titles that uplift me but I wanted to share three today. Creating by Robert Fritz, Man and his Symbols by Carl Jung and I'd Rather Be In the Studio by Alyson B Stanfield. These are three very different books each with its own way of bringing up enthusiasm and courage for moving forward with what is. I am so appreciative that over the years the philosophy put forth in each has helped to bring me back into a feeling of strong yet gentle creative flow. I'm an Elder now. I'm considering the 'birdseed trail' that I might spread across the earth. I'm not interested in pushing any rivers but I am so jazzed by what there is to discover and share through our many mediums and their countless messages.

As I celebrate the fourteenth anniversary of my move I am also celebrating these vital foundation builders and all of you who inspire me so deeply and so wonderfully by sharing your world view with such passion and generosity of soul. Thank you so much.

~Sing the day