WILD

  Earlier this year I was very fortunate to complete a series of workshops, of varied and differing content exploring a wide range of aspects of the Feminine Journey.  These classes were offered by the most amazing array of very talented and compassionate and creative women from all over this great big blue ball of ours that we call Earth. 

  One of these classes was called Primal PoweR with the lovely Lisa Dieken of Wild Creative Heart, whom hosted the wide array of classes in a Ning site called WILD. I truly had the most amazingly insightful and creative experiences while working my way through the smorgasbord of classes.  I met truly compassionate and gifted women from every continent, many of whom I've formed the loveliest and most supportive of friendship with via this amazing technology we now so take for granted.

  A little while after the completion of the workshop Lisa floated the idea of me writing a guest post about my experience completing her workshop.  I happily took up her generous invitation and I share my experience and the art work that I painted in response to Lisa's class. I also share the 2 paintings my daughter created along-side of me.  The content of the course inspired my 10 year old to join in too and it truly was a blessed experience to see the course through the eyes of innocence.

So please grab a cuppa and take a moment to pop over to my post titled "Elements and Grandmother Moon" and I'd love it if you left a comment too, if you feel called to.

Wild-ly watching over me.



Artist~Healer Circle

Early in 2011 I 'met' Hali Karla of  LilyWheel Slide Studio through my Painting Tribe.

Hali is a member of this amazing on-line network of ladies and fellow artists whom have completed BIG with Connie Hozvicka of  Dirty Footprints Studio  that you have, or no doubt will, hear me talk about in real life and here on my blog. This sister-hood of like-minded ladies has become a pivotal, nay, essential part of my life.

I've been blessed to play along with Hali in a number of e-courses, and painting groups (I'll give you more insight to these another day).  In the time we've spent together painting and exploring, we have come to know each other as kindred spirits and formed a very bonding friendship.  I was granted the honour of creating a painting for Hali in a fun 'Secret Santa Art Swap thingy' that some of the artists in our Tribe chose to participate in last year. Creating for a fellow creative is a story in and of itself, but I'll leave that for another day....



Secret Santa paintings for Hali 2011.

Hali floated the idea of a link between healing and art within our Painting Tribe some time last year.  Hali herself is both a Nurse and an Artist, so naturally she saw the very strong and powerful bond between the two crafts.  I too felt that there is a strong link and put up a very tenuous hand of interest in the idea, seeing myself as an Artist, but not as a Healer, but, recognising the very important connection between the two.

During the course of this year Hali has had some 'blow-your-sweet-little-booties-off' type of amazing guests post in this series on her blog at LilyWheel Slide Studio, so many 'aha' moments have been experienced while reading their posts or watching their videos. So when the email arrived from Hali declaring my 'due date' for my post to the Artist-Healer Circle, I froze. I felt fraudulent. I felt unqualified, a phony, a charlatan, an impostor.  I expressed this to Hali, and in her compassionate, loving and insightful way (that I totally adore about her) she gently encouraged me to share my story, reminding me that no matter what, through my sharing, somewhere, someday, someone, who NEEDS to hear just the words that only I can say in my own way shall read that blog post, and maybe, just maybe, through my words, through my story, I can help another soul on their journey. 

So really how could I back out..................?

I invite you to grab a cuppa and a cosy chair and please come over to Hali's blog with me, read my offering and dive into the amazing offerings by other Artists and Healers. Also, while you're there do your eyes and soul a favour that they will be forever grateful for and explore Hali's amazing art works.

Artist~Healer Circle Guest Post

 

"Seeds of Change"

 

Meet Gibblewort!



"Gibblewort the Goblin" by Victor Kelleher and Stephen Michael King

Are you familiar with Gibblewort?

 

The 'Anti-Everything-Aussie' Irish Goblin from the imagination of 
Victor Kelleher and Stephen Michael King.

Well, he is exactly what my FEAR GREMLIN is like.

 

I feel like Victor and Stephen plucked him straight out of my mind.

They look alike.

They sound alike. They smell alike.

They have similar bad habits and both whinge ALL the time.

 

 They are both always looking at the storm cloud,

and never seeing the rainbow appearing  faintly in the distance.

Even before I read these fabulous books to my kids at bedtime,

I KNEW that Gibblewort inhabited my world.

He hides you see.
He doesn't like the light.
He hides in the dark and whispers in my ear.

He's very convincing, right at this moment,
he's on my shoulder telling me:

"No one will read your second blog post, you just had beginners luck....."

"Everyone took pity on you, that's why they visited or commented......"

 

"You're getting too big for your boots. You know what happens to tall poppies....."

"Best throw in the towel now, before you make a fool of yourself!!"

 

"You live in a small town and everyone you know is laughing behind your back, right now!!"

Oh! he so KNOWS how to press my buttons. You get the picture.....
I'm guessing you've also heard these whispers,
I'm guessing you've got your own Gibblewort.  
Your own Fear Gremlin.  Your own Inner Critic.

If you've read any of the Gibblewort books,
you'll be familiar with his style of adventure. 
Even the other goblins get jack of him and ship him off.
And so, too, I get jack of MY Gibblewort.

 

Some days he wins.

 

I give in.

 

 I don't follow that dream, that hunch, that gut feeling or that yearning. 
And then I reside in a town called REGRET.
It often all comes back to bite me on the bum and rub my nose in it!! 
I imagine you've visited there, at some stage too?

I'm sure my Fear Gremlins skips away, 
 snorting and snickering as he rubs his grotty-warty hands together all smug....

But other days I win.

I DON'T give in.

I STAND my ground.

I FOLLOW that heart's desire, that gut feeling.

Some days it might be a fight to the death between 'ole Gibblewort and myself,
rolling and tussling on the ground with hair-pulling thrown in for good measure.
He doesn't go quietly!

Some days, I may argue 'til I'm blue in the face,
winning in a war of words, rather than fists.

Some days, I simply stand my ground and refuse to budge an inch.

Refusing to listen to his barrage of abuse.

Some days, I'm sneakier....

 and wait until he's preoccupied picking the grime from under his fingernails,
 I slink past,
then I run like a spooked fox sprung in the chook pen.

Some days, I invite him in for a cuppa and a biccie and a civilised chat. 
 

 

Oh, he whinges about the tea being too weak,
the biccies too hard,
and the cushion too soft,

 but sometimes.....sometimes, he listens,
throws his hands in the air and says;
 "Why do I bother, you'll do what you want anyway!"

 

These are the days I feel taller. 

These are the days I feel wiser.

These are the days I feel stronger.

These are the days I feel braver.

 These are the days I follow my Inner Wisdom. 

These are the days I follow my hunch, my feelings, my heart's yearnings, my dreams.....

These are the days that I decide:  

"Yes I will frame that painting I put my heart and soul into and hang it in the exhibition
in a week's time while the framer is 2 1/2 hrs drive away
and it's all a crazy, mad dash!" (phew)

 

 

Or the times I decide:  
"Yes I will offer my paintings to a Doctor's surgery to display and sell even thought they are
6 hours away and framing and transport are a nightmare." (phew)

Or the times I decide: 
"Yes I will accept that offer to co-ordinate a collaborative  public art project in time for a
state wide conference on a crazy deadline." (phew)

Or today when I decided:  "Stop fussing with this post, and just press the 'publish' button."

(Are you seeing a pattern here? I am. Hmmmmmm....)

 

That's when I beat the Fear Gremlin. 
That's when Gibblewort hides in the shadows mumbling to himself
 that next time he'll stop me,
next time he'll protect me from myself.

See he's only trying to protect me. 

Poor thing,
he thinks he's doing the right thing with his 'tough love'. 
 

He's trying to stop me going out into the jungle, by myself,
 to be eaten by the tiger he imagines is lurking, waiting to get me. 

He hasn't stopped to LOOK at me,
really LOOK at how I've grown. 
He thinks I still need his protection.

Sure, sometimes I probably do need to think things through from every angle,
to prevent me making a silly decision that really could end me in strife. 

But I AM a big girl now and can make my own mind up. 
And hey, if we don't take risks, if we don't experience failure or disappointment,
how do we learn?
How do we grow?
How do we develop the courage to try again?

See, now when I stop and look inside,
listen to that Inner Wisdom,
really LISTEN....

I AM BRAVE enough to press the "publish" button.

I AM BRAVE enough to share my thoughts with the Whole Big Wide World.

I AM BRAVE enough to show the world my art, my photographs, my words.....

I AM BRAVE enough to be, ME.

Boots and All ....

 

Friends have been urging me to take the plunge,

and dive into the world of blogging ....

to share my journey.

 

Just the thought of doing this put me in a tail spin,

CRIKEY!,

who'd want to read about my life?

 

It's certainly not 'extra-ordinary', not the stuff of 'best sellers',

but hey, as I tell my children, 'normal is boring ....'

so maybe my life isn't so boring afterall,

because it certainly ain't the norm!!

(whatever that may be?)

How do I give you a peek without boring you to tears?

what parts of my life do I share?

What would interest you?

What do I feel comfortable putting 'out there'

for all to see?

Daunting, trying to decide ....

Ahhh ..... I'll share through my photos,

through my art.

 

So here I jump, boots'n'all .....

 

 

I grew up in a regional Australian city

but now I'm blessed to live here .....

 

 

 

I may live more than a stone's throw from a city now

but on the frequent long drives

we're blessed with the amazing Aussie landscape .....

 

 

 

 

 We might not take many holidays,

but we are blessed to visit this magic spot yearly ....

 

 

 

 

 

We may live on a farm in a rain shadow

with fog patterns that bewilder the meteorologists

and frost in the winter

and wild wind in the spring

and scorching hot days in the summer

and unforgiving floods

but we are blessed by the majesty this creates ....

 

 

 

 

We may experience the trials and tribulations of raising a 

differently-abled child ....

but along the way we meet the most amazing people;

children and adults alike

who humble us,

make us laugh,

make us cry,

who lift us up,

and inspire us,

and teach us,

remind us of what's important,

what's truly important .....

 

My life path may have taken odd twists and turns ....

that I could never have predicted

as a wide-eyed high school graduate,

thinking I had it all mapped out!!

I won't sugar-coat things,

there are days where I want to throw in the towel,

exclaim it's all too hard,

dwell in self-pity,

sit and just cry,

but ...

 

 

out of all struggle comes insight,

out of dark days comes sunshine,

out of loss comes understanding,

and Love is the pathway.

 

Each and every one of those tough days

has helped bring me to where I am now,

where I am on my journey.

 

I by no means have the answers.

I'm still on the roller-coaster,

gripping on tight,

screaming on the descents, 

and giggling at the twists,

gasping at the view from the top,

holding my breath at the turns

and bracing for the curves ahead.

 

 

 

Still learning to be;

a 'city chick' in the bush,

a life-long companion to my best friend,

a Mother to 3 gorgeous children,

(one of whom just happens to walk a different path)

Still learning to BE ......

 

 

Part of this journey involves me embarking on;

re-exploring my creativity,

re-discovering my femine wisdom,

engaging with the world in new and varied ways,

saying YES to new pathways,

saying NO to what doesn't feel right or true,
making adjustments and changes on the run,

and saddling up to 

what ever else life throws my way.

There are more of curve balls coming,

I'm sure ......

 

 

 

but it's a very blessed life ....

All words, photos and art work are copyright,

please respect my work and do not copy or re-print without permission. 

 Original Artworks, Original Photographs and Prints are available for purchase.