A muse visited me this morning

This muse visited me this morning. I initially was intrigued by some green netting from a bag of avocados. I went to my art table and begin opening the little drawers in my plastic storage chests. I wanted to find some trinkets to put on netting and then take a digital.

In these little plastic storage chests I store all the interesting junk I collect: buttons, metal, paper, dress tags--anything that I find inspiring.

I opened one drawer and there she was. I created a crown for her: plastic autumn leaves and pretty coral colored roses. I placed her on a nice textured piece of recycled upholstery material. Presto! My muse appeared! Enjoy...when does your creative muse visit?

I read an interesting article about a jewelry artist who said that the muses visited on some days but not every day. And, that was OK...

This enormous work I've tried to accomplish is

to rediscover the child I was...I walk around those places where I grew up.

Things come up.
Some are still painful. But most are just interesting.

The difference begins when you stop suffering from the past

and begin to look at it with
wonderment.

Louis Malle, director (1932 - `1995)

His movies include: Atlantic City(1980), Damage(1992), and Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)

My cat Jimmy is recuperating with me. I have been on the mend now for about 4 weeks. I had a Total hip replacement done at the end of March. I am mending nicely. I took this picture of my cat one morning. He is also recuperating. Doesn't he look snug and cozy under the covers?

Meditation: visualize yourself as mountain

Picture a majestic mountain, any mountain that you can clearly visualize -the more detailed the visualization the better. The mountain is standing tall and strong. The mountain has been there for thousands of years. All around the mountain the weather changes from beautiful sunny skies to hurricane force winds to snow and ice. But, the mountain always stands firm - the activity just whirls around the mountain but does not affect the mountain day by day. Now, sit quietly and focus your breath going in and out - relax and breath...as the thoughts come in and out of your mind, picture yourself as the mountain. Sit tall and strong like a mountain, firmly grounded to the earth. Let the thoughts and stress and anxiety whirl around you without affecting you. The thoughts of people and situations that are pressuring you are just thoughts and you are a mountain, sitting strong. You are who you are, who you have always been, regardless of the "weather" happening around you. Sit with that feeling of power and majesty, breath in and out slowly and relax for as long as you feel comfortable doing so.

***Happy Easter*** I decorated some eggs based on a project that I discovered while watching the Martha Stewart Show. You use recycled 100% silk in the form of boxers, blouses, vintage scarves. Below is the link to this website. The patterns from the silk bleed onto the the egg surface; the designs are really unique and beautiful. This is really a fun project! The photo below shows my project results. I used vintage silk scarves.
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/silk-dyed-easter-eggs?lnc=4ef2dc5bfca40110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=showarchive_tv_show-archive