Drawing On The Moon

New (to you) Drawing

2012-02-08T14:28:00.012-05:00

This drawing is about 22 inches by 30 inches. Done in graphite. With a very pointy pencil.

"Imagination Is More Important Than Knowledge" - A. Einstein

2011-05-29T22:37:00.032-04:00

Professor Einstein is always a special featured "guest" at my "Enhance Your Creative Power" talk for artists and solo creatives. He will be there this Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 6pm
Linger Cafe and Lounge
533 Atlantic Avenue
between 3rd and 4th Avenues
http://lingercafelounge.com/

Albert Einstein, as we know, was a scientific genius. He was also a very, very creative person. As a youth, he had a reputation as a troublemaker and delved into a variety of careers that included vaudeville comedian and solo symphony violinist! After some meandering, he eventually found his way back to his true path which was science and math. He is known for many wonderful quotes, among which is one that I really REALLY like! "Imagination is more important than knowledge." This is an amazing quote, especially coming from a scientist!

But we're talking about Albert Einstein! He used his imagination to turn science on its head .... I'm sure he had a storehouse of knowledge, from his education and his work and his research. But knowledge alone couldn't have served his purposes for what he was trying to discover. He knew that it would take stretching beyond what was already known to come up with a theory that would explain his hunch about space being curved, thus developing his theory of relativity. He pictured himself riding a light beam through space and this imaginary journey led him along a curved path. He then used his mathematical wizardry to prove how that could happen. Pretty creative, right? At the time, there was no evidence anywhere for such an idea.

Using his imagination and his other skills he found a way to prove something that must have seemed impossible at the time; that reality, on a certain level, exists on a quantum level, and has properties that exist in a very different way than we perceive with our senses!

He was at times a misfit, even a ne'er-do'well in some people's eyes. Someone who, as a child, did not speak fluently till he was twelve years old and had been thought to be mentally impaired and yet became one of the most revered scientists of the past century. Ask yourself, now: What seemingly impossible thing you could start to investigate using your imagination to picture it and your skills to bring it into being?

The Best Little Appliance In The World

2011-05-28T13:17:00.005-04:00

I am a vegan. And for a while I described myself as a raw vegan. I always feel really good on a "high" raw diet of at least 75% raw fruits and vegetable. Excess weight drops off and I have a lot of energy. To be a raw vegan, the most basic and indispensable food preparation appliance is the blender. There are other things that come in handy in the raw vegan's kitchen but the blender is the first, best and most versatile kitchen appliance. You can literally whip up some AMAZING dishes with the trusty blender. This past year I have been living SANS blender and while I missed having one, I just didn't get around to getting a new one. During this time I remained a vegan, but I was eating a lot of cooked vegan food. I knew having a blender would make it easier to make a huge variety of delicious raw concoctions, thereby making it easier to maintain a high level of raw-ness in my diet, but I still didn't get around to it. Until last week, that is. Last week, Wednesday to be precise, I finally bought a new blender. I can't even tell you how exciting it was. Before I rushed home with it, I stopped off to get bananas, strawberries and some other goodies to make a smoothie with. Then I rushed home and promptly did just that! It was one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted. I'm having amazing smoothies, at least once, sometimes twice a day now, everyday....I will run some delicious smoothie recipes in a future post. For now, I am just happy to be able to say that I am back to being a mostly raw vegan again....and it feels good.

Trying Too Hard

2011-05-25T18:49:00.001-04:00

Just last night, I was thinking about the term "trying too hard." Often, when you keep "trying" to do or get something and don't seem to succeed, people will recommend that you stop trying "too hard." This is one of those ways that deep spiritual concepts show up in many people's everyday thoughts. Without realizing, perhaps, what they are referring to, they are acknowledging that when one "tries" to do or attain something, one is actually affirming their feeling separate from what it is they desire. The advice to "stop trying too hard" is a "disguise" for finding your oneness with everything. That is the "secret" to attaining your hearts desires. When you want to lose weight, find love, achieve in your career, build relationships...all these things elude the person who sees them as separate from themselves. If you see them already as a part of you, you relax into that knowledge and your behavior will demonstrate that you have indeed stopped "trying" too hard. Grasping for anything, in its various permutations is usually considered socially unattractive, but underneath that is the truth that it demonstrates a belief in lack and separateness. Next time you feel that familiar tension that means you are trying hard to "get" something, relax, rest in the knowledge that it already exists in your world and trust it to move toward you when you stop trying "too hard."

Crazy Nicknames You Give Your Cat........Here Are Mine

2011-05-19T11:36:00.009-04:00

The photo above catches all three of my cats. As you may have read in my previous posts, I lost 2 of them this winter. 99 (who sits in the light beam in the photo) had cancer and I had some time to prepare for her passing in December. Less than two months later, Mr. Sweetie (who is probably chasing a piece of tin foil behind the garbage can on the right) fell ill. There were so many complicating issues with his health that I had to make a sudden, very painful decision right there at the vet's office. I miss them. To celebrate both of them, this post is actually about their surviving sister, Saturn (who is in the foreground of the photo.)

I think that anyone who has a cat and who loves them in that crazy way that cat owners do (you know who you are!) probably has a lot of names for their cat beyond the "official" one. For example, my remaining kitty's name is Saturn, but here are some of the other names she is called on a regular basis (in no particular order):
Fluffers
Fluffernutter
Noodle
Noodlehead
Button
Chunkster
Mook
Mookie
Mookster
Monkey
Monkeybutt
Monk
Monkster
Chicken
Cuddle Bunny
Cuddle Monster
Cuddle Bug
Bunny
Bunny Cat
Cuteness
Sat Sat
Satty
Saturnia
Satty Watty Doo Da
Satski
and
Butterball

I think that covers it. And may I add that I am totally UN-apologetic about this. Do you have some nicknames for your cat? Let's hear 'em! Feel free to leave them in the comments below!

A Listening Meditation For Artists and Solo Creatives

2011-05-09T14:03:00.001-04:00

I've always loved just going into parks and sitting quietly with the elements of nature around me. Even if I was still right next to a busy street! A few years ago, I began to develop a "listening meditation" while sitting in the park that I realized was fun as well as calming. I found it to be a great way to take a breather from intense work or when feeling anxious, tense or in need of a break in general. It is the kind of meditation that can really deepen the more you do it.

Read through it first. This is a long description, because I wanted to describe the subtleties and nuances of it. But the actual meditation is simple and easy to do.

First of all, start by going for a walk. That is always a great way to decompress from tension or worry. Breathe deeply from your belly. Walk to a place where you can be in nature. This can be a park, even a small one...You can actually do this anywhere, even a coffee shop, but it's especially nice out near some trees. Just be sure you can sit quietly without being disturbed. Let your eyes focus in a relaxed way as far into the distance as you can, such as at the sky, down the road to the furthest house you can see, or at the tops of trees. We usually do work that is close up, so this distance-focusing will help balance and relax the eye muscles. Be very gentle about it.

Keep breathing in a relaxed, yet deep way, down into the belly. Whenever you feel ready, start to listen to the sounds around you. Very slowly, and with gentle attention, begin discerning what you are hearing. Use your attention to distinguish the different bird calls you hear. You may be very surprised to realize there are quite a few different birds in the trees around you, all making different sounds. Then focus on what else you hear. Is there a road near you? What sounds are there? Different motors from trucks and cars, the sound of brakes or car doors? How about human sounds? Laughter, babies, women, men? How many dog sounds can you hear? There are also things like tree branches rustling, a paper bag blowing by, a chair being scraped across concrete. See if you can give your attention to actually counting the different sounds you hear (this is just a guide, no need to try to be exact!) Just sit quietly, listening and gently attentive for as long as you like.

This meditation can have a few benefits.
- It quiets the mind (in spite of being about sound!)
- If you feel agitated or anxious, it gives you something specific yet calming to focus on outside of yourself.
- It demonstrates the incredible abundance that is all around you all the time. All you need to do is draw your attention to it.
- It can give you a tremendous appreciation for the subtleties of the sense of hearing.

That's it! I hope you enjoy playing with this "listening meditation." Let me know what you think after you've tried it by leaving a comment. I would love to hear how it worked for you.

Creativity, Taking Risks and Fennec Foxes

2011-05-04T16:31:00.005-04:00

This animal is called a fennec fox. And this drawing was part of a talk I gave to artists twice this week. The talk was entitled "Enhancing Creative Power For Artists and Solo Creatives." One of the points of the talk was about the need to be willing to take risks, to maybe even look ridiculous. Case in point: For literally eons, Mother Nature hasn't seemed to worry about looking ridiculous at all when she designed the many incredible, yet real, creatures on this planet. In fact, she seems to throw caution to the wind. Mother Nature seems to believe that, like trying on clothes at the store, you just can't really tell till it's on. So elephant noses, hippopotamus heads and fennec fox ears demonstrate that you just never know. I did this drawing of a fennec fox for my talk, so that the little critter could be a symbol - the poster child, if you will - for taking risks and letting the results stand on their own. Here's to you and your creative experiments. Take risks, climb further out on that limb and give that crazy idea, whatever it is, a go.

Love and Drawing and Understanding

2011-04-29T17:34:00.002-04:00

One night, some thoughts about drawing came to me, just as I was falling asleep. These words ring true for me as an explanation of what I love about drawing:

Drawing is like love. If you look at something, it's like touching it when you draw it. It's like the book "I Am That" (which is a book of conversations with Sri Nisargadatta.) One time when I was in a spiritual bookstore, a customer picked up "I Am That," and asked a clerk, "What is this book about?" The clerk replied, "I am that. The whole book is about that thought." In other words, you don't even have to read the book, just understand the title.

Drawing is like that. Drawing is an exercise in "I am that." Drawing is a meditation. You take yourself out of yourself. It relieves stress. You focus. It can help you lose weight! Drawing gives you inner calm which is a form of self esteem.

Drawing is very, very special. It's not "playtime." It's magic. It's profound. You're creating something out of nothing. You're creating something that's never existed before in any shape or form - your interpretation.... from your eye to your mind to your hand.

It doesn't matter if it's what's considered "good" drawing. It doesn't have to look like what you were drawing. It only has to capture an essence of what you were drawing. And that's where the experience of understanding and love come from. The communing with what you're looking at and the recording of it in this never before existed expression. Never existed! Ever, anywhere....the lines that you put down to express this experience. It's beautiful. It's beautiful.

Looking Inward. . . Creative Introspection

2011-04-22T21:56:00.006-04:00

I once worked as an Assistant Art Director for a magazine that did interviews around the country. When the reporter came back from doing the interview, we would discuss which photos to use. Once, a conversation between a writer and myself revolved around deciding which direction we should face a portrait photo on the published page. Should the person face left? Right? We were going back and forth about it and he joked, "Why don't we have him look down?" Pretty funny statement for the dry material we were dealing with. To which I replied, "Why don't we have him look inward?" Ever the unwilling mystic, these kinds of statements would slip out of my mouth at times.

Up to about a hundred years ago, people were very, very busy growing their own food, protecting their homes from wild predators and making their own clothes and furniture to think about much else. That kind of focus then was applied to our jobs in the factory and office as culture shifted in that direction. Up until relatively recently in human history, there were usually just a few, isolated individuals who seemed, by some stroke of fate or luck to be able to not have to worry about the daily grind and could indulge in creative and quiet observations about human potential and higher concepts. They were assigned the societal role of "creative type." Yet they were simply doing what we all, always, have had the potential to do, if there had been any energy at the end of the day.

Often, "looking inward" involves prayer or meditation, for which people have traditionally had leaders that taught them how to do those things; what to think about, what the mantra was, who the ultimate hero in the story was, what your focus should be etc etc.

Clearly this is changing. We live in a beautiful new world which is becoming more so everyday, where each person can be their own "guru/priest/teacher/healer" going on their own inner journey to find their spiritual and creative gifts. This is fantastic. Still, it doesn't mean that we don't need teachers or guides. Taking that journey and looking inward has, like it always has had, a lot of ins, outs, ups and downs. It can be good to have a guide or teacher, or more than one at varying times in life.

But one of the most important things to remember when seeking a guide is that the seeking begins within you.

The questions start with you.

The answers will ultimately be found within you.

You may think that looking within yourself is too "simple," or too "close" for it to be significant on a journey as epic as your own life. In truth, inside is where the most promising treasures are waiting for you to discover them, as your true life journey unfolds.

Drawing of Fanelli Cafe, Soho, NYC, Mixed Materials

2011-04-20T19:27:00.004-04:00

The title says it all! 9 x 12 inches, acrylic paint, ink, colored pencil, graphite on paper

Beloved Cat, 99, The Love of My Life, Gone But Never Forgotten

2011-02-28T15:52:00.000-05:00

This is from the summer of 2009 of my beloved cat 99 looking out the window. What I love about the video is that the bright light coming through the window throws everything into shadow making a symphony of silhouettes accented with that patch of blue sky right at the top. (....and my studio, instead of looking just messy, looks interesting and mysterious....)

What I also love about the video is that I even took it. Because about 15 months later, last December 23, 2010 (a year almost to the day that this video was originally posted to Youtube) I had to put my most beloved cat 99 to sleep. She had an aggressive cancer, which she was able to live with for about two months after being diagnosed. This gave me time to spend with her and to adjust to her eventually being gone, time I really needed with her. 99 was a special cat... very smart....and there was a very special bond between us. She found me in 1995, on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, as a 6 week old kitten, and it was true love ever since. It has taken me over two months since her death to even speak of it online, but there you have it. The video is over a minute, and being almost without any sound (the sound was on, there simply was no sound around us during the taping) it has the quality of being like a meditation.

Bird Song in Winter And a Typing Lesson

2010-11-26T11:32:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday! I did less eating and more painting this year....:) This week, I did a painting of a beagle which I will be posting soon. Till then, here is a chirping bird. It's painted on a page from an old typing lesson book. Thus the title "Clickety Clack." The paper took the acrylic paint really well. This image, along with a few others is available as a print on my website http://harrietfaith.com/shop-prints-and-originals-by-harriet-faith/

And, ok, sorry, this post is not an actual
typing lesson, per se.

Recycling Makes Me Happy

2010-11-18T09:32:00.000-05:00

I am vegan. And I try to eat raw food as much as possible. One of the most thrilling (yes, thrilling) things about a raw food diet is: there's no packaging waste! I love that! There might be a banana peel or an apple stem, but that stuff continues being extremely useful in the world of decomposition.

However, I do sometimes have packaging...as in a plastic pouch or deli-style container - see photo above - and whenever possible, I wash and use and re-use that plastic thing over and over again. I store my cut onions and tomatoes in them. Or I pack my lunch into various components in them. They stack beautifully in one's back pack and some styles of these containers, if sealed properly, are pretty much water tight. I save money by bringing lunch and by not buying any new plastic stuff...and best of all, it gives me the feeling of being a citizen of the world and a friend to nature. All that from re-using plastic containers!

Have you tried re-using the many forms of plastic packaging that come your way?

What's Your Favorite Dog Breed?

2010-11-17T20:19:00.000-05:00

People have been saying nice things about my dog portraits. I did the boxer above (and the Italian Greyhound from another post) as examples of pet portraits. But I think people are finding the idea of a pet portrait a little too extravagant these days, so they have more often asking me for a generic, yet favorite breed. What is your favorite breed of dog? Leave a comment below!

Create, Rest, Repeat

2010-11-09T08:48:00.000-05:00

Haven't been eating great lately (lots of coffee and sugary stuff) which is easy to do when I get too busy to prepare good food for myself. So I took a couple of days off to do a fast. Just hot water with lemon for a couple of days. Gives the body a complete rest. And is gonna feel good when over.

A beautiful Photo Taken At Sunset Tonight...

2010-11-05T20:42:00.001-04:00

.....from my apartment window. I was sitting at my computer and looked out the window...the light was extraordinary. It was overcast and grey, but the sun, setting on the opposite side of my building, was being reflected in the window across the street and was very bright. So gorgeous! I jumped up and took this picture:

Introducing 99, Saturn and Mr. Sweetie

2010-11-05T20:29:00.000-04:00

It really is time that the world got to know them, so here they are. Doing one of the things they do best...sleep and/or lounge around. The first photo with the mannekin is Saturn and 99, in a synchronized lounging position, with a symmetrical twist. The second photo has 99 and Mr. Sweetie in a nearly perfect yin yang configuration of sleep. I will be posting more of these lovelies in the coming days.

Photo of the Day on marketsofnewyork.com - It's Me!

2010-11-04T13:58:00.000-04:00

Back in September, Karen Seiger came by my display at the Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park in Brooklyn and took some pictures. Next thing I know, I'm her Photo of the Day for today. With a photo of this dog portrait I did. Thank you Karen!

Hi It's me!

2010-11-04T10:19:00.000-04:00

Hello!

Yikes. I do realize it's been a long time since my last post. I vow as of today to update with a piece of art and a post daily. Ok.....go!

The drawing above is a detail of a larger pencil drawing done in 2003. It is of my cat Saturn. She's a very friendly, 13 y.o. girl. I have a new website with my portfolio on it. Please visit harrietfaith.com where you'll see this drawing and a lot more!

2010-04-06T21:25:00.000-04:00

Hello out there! Above is one of my small watercolors. That is, it is 2.5 inches wide by 3.75 inches high. It is of the top of the Empire State Building, looking north from 14th Street in Union Square. I moved downtown from in front of the Met and have been selling my artwork at Union Square. It is fun, interesting and lots of hard work! Just wanted to check in. Pretty tired right now and have to get up early tomorrow Wednesday. It gets really crowded because Wednesday is a day when the food vendors are there, so more artists show up to sell, expecting a bigger crowd.

I Draw In The Sunshine

2010-03-09T18:08:00.000-05:00

We had gorgeous weather this past weekend in New York City and on Sunday I did something that I have wanted to try for a very long time......I set up an easel in front of the Metropolitan Museum and sold some little tiny watercolors. If you want to know how tiny, look at the photo above. You will see a hand holding the watercolor. That is how tiny. It's about 2.5 by 3.5 inches. This one is of a building I could see from where I stood on Fifth Avenue in front of the Museum. It was fun and I met a lot of really great people. I met artists, non-artists, art-lovers, art collectors and various permutations of these. I displayed watercolors that I had already and also managed to do about 4 or 5 new watercolors while I stood there which sold as well.

Had three pieces up at the Dumbo Arts Center Pop Up Fundraiser Show last weekend. They were fairly large for me - all approximately 21 by 24 inches. (Will be posting images soon!)

Also, finished the No Impact Week with Colin Beavan. Well, didn't actually finish it. It was a group of great people and apparently there are plans to meet for a dinner in a few weeks. I can say that my awareness has been raised by leaps and bounds, and in a future post I will talk about some of the changes that have come from that new awareness.

Food Choices, Fossil Fuel And Gratitude

2010-02-23T22:28:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was so proud of myself for not taking a plastic bag from the cashier to carry my avocadoes and onion home with me from the supermarket. However, later I realized that those avocadoes and some oranges that I bought were from Mexico and California respectively. Meaning they had been transported over large distances, which involves trucks, fossil fuel, possibly some electricity. And that reminded me that I had also committed to at least trying to eat only locally grown foods. I was struck with the enormity of the task at hand....how does one NOT take part in anything that creates a carbon trail? What CAN one eat if one wants to pledge to eat only locally grown foods, and it's the dead of winter in your town? These are questions that beg to be answered. And I will get back to you with that information. In the meantime, I realize that it is ok if I eat avocadoes. If I think about the truck and the driver and the fossil fuels involved, I could even be grateful for all of it. Those marvels of science and technology make it all possible for me to eat such a delicious food in February in New York. That kind of awareness makes a huge difference. Gratitude for the things that make your food choices possible is powerful energy. Working out the issues around eating local food will happen in its time. Check back tomorrow for more of my adventures participating in No Impact Week.

No Plastic Bag For Me, Today, Thank You

2010-02-22T13:50:00.000-05:00

Yesterday at the first meeting of No Impact Week with Colin Beavan and Leah Mayor, one of the things that I agreed to be concious about this week was not buying anything with packaging. That is a the usual for me, being that I am a mostly raw vegan. In fact one of the most amazing things about living the raw vegan life is that you realize that you are definitely NOT contributing to landfills...... with your food at any rate. Jumping off from that point, I wanted to push the no impact envelope a bit. I went to the supermarket for some avocadoes and an onion. And I forgot to bring a cloth shopping bag with me. Yet I also refused a plastic "t-shirt" bag that the cashier packs your groceries into. With that change of habit, I had a new experience of avocadoes and onions. I saw that they each already come in their own bag, right off the vine/tree/earth clod. "How clever" I thought of that lovely old Mother Nature! I carried three avocadoes and one onion in my hands and there was one more avocado in my coat pocket. And I went home and had a nice salad.

No Impact Week

2010-02-21T21:15:00.000-05:00

Today was the first of the 6 meetings that make up Colin (No Impact Man) Beavan's first live, in person No Impact Week Workshop. It is a beta version of a program he conducts online and is based on his one year experiment of reducing his family's carbon footprint down to ZERO! I was amazed when I came across Colin's experiment. I found the goal to be so admirable and his and his family having achieved it to be extraordinary. I was eager to join this group because I wanted to meet Colin, meet other like-minded individuals and see what new, interesting things I could learn and/or be inspired by. Anyone is welcome to join in for the balance of the week, so if you think you would like to see what we are doing and you are in the New York area, please contact me at drawingonthemoon@gmail.com. Below is a brief description of what the first meeting was like.

This first meeting of a handful of serious and thoughtful individuals was well planned and Colin, along with his co-facilitator Leah Mayor, of the Cloud Institute, kept the material moving along at a good pace. It was a small group, but each attendee took part in the discussions and overall it was a very exciting and energizing two hours. Both Leah and Colin asked thought-provoking questions which gave each of us the opportunity to decide what low- or no-imprint actions to take. There was no guilt-tripping or pressure in any form. And it was exciting to be part of a new program that can help other people and help the earth.

We each made commitments in each of the following three categories: consumption, trash and travel, which are assigned respectively to today, Monday and Tuesday. There are four other categories which we will discuss and prepare for at our next meeting on Tuesday.

There was so much much material, that I will go into more detail about what changes I agreed to commit to on in a future post.

Divesting Stuff and Discovering Magic

2010-02-19T15:55:00.000-05:00

Well ok haven't written for a while, but I've been so busy....as you will see below.

I moved twice since December. (The why's and wherefores of that are a story for another day) In preparing for both moves, I did a lot of purging, what I like to call "divesting" stuff.

Two blogs that have interesting takes on the subject of reducing one's possessions and from whom I've gotten a bit of inspiration (even though they are both more advanced compared to myself)
http://rowdykittens.com
http://www.farbeyondthestars.com

There are many, many more people out there in cyberland who are teaching and practicing this new way of living the good life, but these two are the ones I first came across on the contemporary blog scene and have learned a lot from.

For me, it is still the beginning of a journey to "stufflessness." In the meantime, what I continue to discover is that by divesting myself of stuff, I truly do experience:
A) a sense of liberation
B) a clearer mind
C) a feeling of being energized

It does require some courage, though, because the mind is tricky and will make you think that you need the thing you are about to purge. If you can just be strong and either throw it out or give it away, you may have some wonderful experiences such as I have had on this adventure. Well, they are wonderful after a brief period of them being perturbing. But the wonderful part that comes after the perturbing part is really, truly wonderful. Here is one example:

Let's say that you have something you've been saving because you tell yourself you might need it someday. You've had it for years and haven't ever found a need for it, yet you struggle with some anxiety in getting rid of it. You finally find the courage to throw it out. Ironically, a day or two later there actually arises a circumstance where that thing finally would have come in handy. This is the part where you find yourself feeling somewhat perturbed, anxious or something equally uncomfortable. You thought that throwing the thing out would have settled the initial anxiety, but here it is again.

Try this: Sit still with the feelings that arise with this experience. Feel them. Feel how they are making their presence known through the sensations in various parts of your body. Give this a few minutes. You will be surprised how quickly they pass if you give them some breathing room. Then, tell yourself that you will come up with a more creative way to solve whatever problem that thing was going to remedy. And then try to keep track of the next few days, because what will probably happen is that the need you thought you had will actually dissipate without you even noticing. You might not even be able to remember what the thing was that you threw out!

It's like magic. And in a way it is...it's the magic of your mind. You thought you would need it so you did. When you thought you might be ok without it, you were.

This is just one of the wonderful things I have learned on my "Divestment Journey." There's lots more. It has helped me enormously as an artist, and I will be writing that in my next post. Which will be soon!

The Evolution of An Ancient Practice Helps Keep The Apartment Clean

2009-12-21T15:51:00.000-05:00

Back in the 90's I began reading books on a variety of unusual and exotic subjects that are categorized in bookstores as Western Mysticism or Metaphysics. I had always had an interest in these sorts of subjects, even as a child. Weird perhaps, but true. And my interest was reviving itself around this time. One of the many authors I came across was named Sondra Ray and I remember in one of her books she had touched on what seemed a wonderful concept to me, that of clearing your physical space as a spiritual practice. In one chapter she encouraged the practice of picking up your belongings one at a time and asking yourself "Do I love this?" If the answer wasn't "yes," that was the cause to remove it from your world.

I really loved this idea. I discovered quickly, however, that it took more than one question to determine whether or not I wanted to keep something, so I can't say that I cleared a lot initially. A few years later, I came across another expression of this teaching in Karen Kingston's book "Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui." I had heard of Feng Shui, but didn't know anything about it and this book made the practice very accessible to a beginner. Turns out that clearing one's physical clutter in order to clear one's mind and energy is an ancient idea!

After reading Kingston's book, I did indeed start clearing the clutter physically from my life. I went at my own pace; there were some things I was able to clear right away. Some other things took more time for me to be willing (or able) to throw out or give away. And I have managed to continue periodic reviews, years after reading the book.

My newest exposure to, and latest incarnation of, this idea comes through Everett Bogue, a blogger who writes on the idea of living a minimalist existence. His writing is clear and compelling in his quest to entice all of us to scale down what we have, what we own and what we really need. He makes a strong case for keeping it light as a way to be able to do the things we really want to do. I highly recommend checking out his blog. I have been moved by his reasoning and presentation to approach this subject with new fervor again. And I think I will be writing some more posts going into more detail about it as I go along.

I really love looking at these three writers and how they have influenced me at the stages in my life when they appeared. I really like looking at how they each helped, and continue to help, me to become better at, dare I say "stronger" at, letting go of a lot of the physical clutter in my life. I also really like the way these three authors demonstrate how a wonderful concept for living has evolved out there in the world, for us Westerners especially, to ingest and integrate into our lives.

So this week, this is what I have been doing. I am decluttering. I am minimalizing. I am indeed learning to discern much more clearly what it is that I love or that serves a meaningful purpose and what it is that can go. Partly because it is the end of the year. Partly because I am moving soon. Partly because it's just time to do this. I have very much reached a new stage in my life and development and feel at ease letting my belongings reflect this.

But this can be a hard thing to do. It can be very stressful, emotionally, to go through your belongings and evaluate each one. There are things in the "to go" pile that I have clung to for a very long time. Sometimes that is because of strong emotional associations to an item. Sometimes the reasons are no weightier than that it is something that I have had for so long that it seems odd to live without it. It challenges so deeply that some objects have me wondering who will I be without that thing.

You see how it is then. These memories and associations make their presence known with a great deep bass tone that I feel in my lower back as I handle each object. There are many things about which I will have conversations with myself and through which I will feel the deep bass of memory as I declutter this week. And I look forward to the freshness and clarity that comes from this act.

Snowing In Brooklyn, Seagulls Are Playing

2009-12-19T16:08:00.000-05:00

Ok, I know it's not earth shaking video, but it is my first video. First, you need to know that I love birds. Love them!! And there are a lot of kinds flying around Brooklyn. One wouldn't necessarily know it, but there are parrots (yes, parrots) falcons (have an amazing vid of one that I will post soon) and others....ubiquitous sparrows, starlings, pigeons and then there are the seagulls. Here is a short little vid about the snow and the seagulls in Brooklyn on this snowy day. And the real snow matches the snow widget on my blog background....I like it when that kind of symmetry in life happens! Hmm, had trouble uploading video here, so I'll just put the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfhVuyO8t6Y

It's Snowing On My Blog

2009-12-17T06:40:00.000-05:00

It's early. 6"30-ish. Found this cool snow effect and decided to make my blog a little more festive for the season. I am still experimenting with the colors, so they may change. Don't forget to have a look at my etsy shop drawingonthemoon. I have some new things up there including this!

Scanner Trouble, Cute Victorian Child

2009-12-14T01:39:00.000-05:00

Hey...good morning! It is about 2:30 in the morning of Monday December uh, 14th I think. I'm gonna actually go do some yoga before I go to bed, but I just wanted to check in here. I don't know about the Drawing A Day thing. Mostly because my scanner is just, well not scanning the way I'd hoped. I've only had it for a few weeks. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, I think it's just not the best scanner. Not for artwork. Guess I shoulda done my homework or something before I bought it. But I have electronic anxiety (there oughta be a listing in that big book of Psychological Disorders) and I just bought it cos it was on sale and it's a Canon and I'd heard of Canon. But I've heard of them because they make cameras, not printer/scanners. I mean maybe there is a connection, but I don't really think so now. Anyone want to buy a slightly used scanner....cheap? Lemme know. What I will do in the meantime is post this adorable pic. I scanned it in a long time ago with my old scanner which I don't have anymore. (someday I'll tell you that story)

Drawing A Day Challenge Catch Up

2009-12-10T19:12:00.001-05:00

I'm about 4 drawings behind, but I managed to do a little catch up yesterday and today. Here are 4 drawings. That will make me only one behind for today. Today, I got a few things up on my Etsy shop. Earlier in the day, I ran around the city from about 6:30 am to 11 am, going to all the stores that I know are open before 9. I'm not much of an early bird generally, but today was one of those days when I just felt motivated to get up and go. Yee hah! Ok! Here are the drawings! The first 2 are in blue and the third is in purple because that was all I had in my bag. The fourth one is black because one of my errands was to NY Central to get some things including a black micron pen. 1) girl on the train looking at her green phone intensely 2) newstand in the 50th street station on the 1 train, downtown side 3) lamp post out the window of a coffee shop I sat in while waiting for a store to open this morning 4) the top, including water tank, of a building on 37th Street, Brooklyn. Thanks for looking!

Drawing A Day Challenge, Day 5, Soul Coughing

2009-12-05T22:17:00.000-05:00

These two persons are from the cover of the Soul Coughing CD "Irresistible Bliss." I love that CD. And I always knew the cover was supposed to be kinda creepy but I never felt affected too much by it. It wasn't until after drawing these characters on their own that I got really creeped out by the imagery. It became an unexpected demonstration that art (making it especially!) enhances life! The drawing is graphite on paper, about 5 by 5 inches.

Double Drawings Today, Here is Day 4 One Day Late

2009-12-04T12:36:00.000-05:00

Hello! Well, I didn't do my Day 4 drawing so I will make up for that today......Here is one and I will have another one posted later. This is drawn from a photograph I have of five little Victorian Era babies in their little christening gowns. Even the boys would be dressed up like this. It is graphite and white acrylic paint on paper prepared with an acrylic wash. I might go back into this and bring up the colors in the baby's face, but for now I like it. It was fun to paint the gown. The drawing is about 10 by 10 inches.The original is a bit grainy and textural, but I think my scanner is not scanning in a crip manner. Hopefully, I'll figure out what to do about that. Thanks for looking!!

Drawing a Day, Day 3, Darn Cute

2009-12-02T21:04:00.000-05:00

Awww. This is my cat, Saturn. She very graciously agreed to model for me. Notice that she has very long sparse hairs for eyebrows. My Day 3 drawing. It is done in graphite pencil on paper that is about 9 inches wide by 6 inches high. I would love it if you left a comment! :) Thanks for dropping by.

Drawing A Day, Day 2

2009-12-01T20:54:00.000-05:00

This is a tea kettle. It came with the apartment I'm subletting. And today the primary lease holder told me he wanted it. He likes to make tea and he missed it. So I gave it to him. But not before I photographed it so that I could do my Day 2 drawing of it. I really liked the tea kettle too. I shouldn't drink tea....because I am pretty much 100% raw. But I do like an occasional cup of tea. I guess I'll boil water in a soup pot now. The drawing is done with a black micron pen, a black marker and white acrylic paint on a page from an old book in French that I prepared with a wash. It's about 5 inches wide by seven or eight high. Thanks for visiting today.

Drawing A Day Challenge, "Big Brother Noogie"

2009-11-30T21:17:00.000-05:00

So someone on twitter....(I love twitter!) started a sketch a day challenge for herself and I decided to copy her idea (with her permission of course) and today I started my Drawing A Day Personal Challenge. So here is my drawing for today. It is graphite and colored pencil on a sheet of drawing paper that I treated with a wash.....it's about 10 x 10 inches. I don't know how the image came to me, but I call it "Big Brother Noogie." It makes me giggle a little. btw it looks out of focus or grainy or something. There's some detail that is hard to see....I think that has to do with my scanner. Sorry.

I Am In Love With Life For No Reason Sometimes

2009-11-25T10:39:00.000-05:00

Hi people! Well, it is a very overcast, misty kind of day here in Brooklyn, NY and yet I am in the mood for this weather today so I am loving it! I had some lovely experiences this morning. After twittering for a while Follow Me I'm the Pied Piper! I worked on some earrings for my Etsy shop and then felt a little peckish. That is a cool word that means hungreh! So I bundled myself up and took a walk across the park, Sunset Park, that is, and went to a little bodega I discovered yesterday that had pretty decent basic produce including perfectly ripe avocadoes for 99 cents each! So this morning was my second trip there and I picked up a few things. After I paid the nice lady, she said to me, with a smile, "Gracias, tiene un buen dia!" The spelling may be wrong, but I know she said thanks, have a good day! And what made me so happy about that was that she actually made me feel welcome in her shop. Instead of trying to speak English and maybe resenting it or being gruff with me because she didn't want to let on that she didn't speak English, she just said an ordinary thing to me the way she would to anyone, to anyone of her neighbors and/or friends and it made my heart sing a little.

Then, as I was walking back home, I cut through the Park and the expression on the face of a woman walking her dogs toward me made me turn around. Coming across the park was a mounted policeman (or cop, as I like to really call them) on a beeyooteeful brown horse. A very big horse, whose jaw line was above my head. I actually stopped and watched while the horse and rider passed me. It was a very unusual sight. The horse was absolutely gorgeous. The cop wasn't bad either. The sight of the two of them, together, gave me a little lift.

OK so that's it for now. Hope you are enjoying your day. And ya know what? It is your day.

Addicted to Twitter....there are worse things

2009-11-22T16:23:00.000-05:00

Hi beautiful people! I was right! I cannot stop twittering! It is addictive. I have all these followers suddenly....ok, maybe not hundreds, but 10...and I didn't know any of them before today! I love this! Come follow me! I'm the pied piper! twitter.com/paperthings

Anyway, also, very excited to report that I have two more items on my etsy shop. That makes 8. I'm still making the product and so far they are all earrings for pierced ears, but I have a couple of clip-ons planned. Have a look. Then go back and look again tomorrow. I am really excited about these lovelies that I have been busy as a beaver with in my studio. Click the photos for link to that item. Or just go to drawingonthemoon.etsy.com and look at 'em all! Or, heck, click on the ad to the right...that is a crazy free ad service that links directly to my etsy shop.

I wonder if I will be up again all night tonight......if so, you can count on a wee hour of the morning post! We shall see....we shall see.....

I Tweet on Twitter and Making a Runes Set

2009-11-22T05:38:00.000-05:00

I just started a Twitter page! Its twitter.com/paperthings

And while daunting, as most new things can seem, I am beginning to feel how incredibly addictive it will become in my life.

On my Etsy shop, I am planning on creating a Runes set using the same "Drawing On The Moon Papier Mache Technology" that I use to create the earrings that I sell there drawingonthemoon.etsy.com. In case you don't know what the Runes are, a brief description would be to say they are an ancient Nordic alphabet that was used to protect warriors, write poetry and help answer questions like where did your best cow wander off to. In modern times they are useful for understanding unconscious tendencies, the knowing of which may help in a particular, given situation. I have made a few sets out of different materials over the years and I think that a set made of these paper medallions will be cool!

drawingonthemoon.etsy.com ........My Etsy Shop

2009-11-20T14:56:00.000-05:00

Hi people! Well, I opened my Etsy shop. You can find it here: drawingonthemoon.etsy.com.
This photo shows an example of the earrings I have been making. They are 2 inches in diameter, built from scratch by me and are lightweight yet sturdy. This pair is available at the shop right now. I am excited and I hope you like the goodies. I will be listing new items daily, so check back often. See ya later!

Good morning, maiden blog voyage, my website

2009-11-15T04:07:00.000-05:00

Good morning! It is 4:06 am on Sunday November 15, 2009. I am up. Up, up, up. Not the sleepiest in the least. So, hey I thought...why not start one of those blog things I've been hearing so much about. They are all the rage, I hear.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am a visual artist who thinks very deep thoughts, am sometimes moody and brooding. But I am also a very outgoing and social person who loves comedy and can even be pret-teh funny myself at times. I will be making comments on this blog on an eclectic assortment of subjects for years to come. Please read on and be sure to come back for more in a few days or so......

Till recently, I have been pretty much an under-achieving visual artist because first of all, I almost never showed my art to anyone until this past year. And I am way up there in age, people. Had a website for years and never sent the link out to anyone! Now for all the world to see, here it is in case you'd you'd like to have a gander. http://industryh.tripod.com/

I made that site using one of the available templates on the host. Most of the templates were hideous, I thought, so I used just a plain black which I think works nicely. There is a form near the bottom of the home page where you can enter your email address and be put on my mailing list for EXCITING updates and special things just for my contact list. Visually, the design of the form leaves much to be desired, due to lack of options at the back end with the host. But it does the job, so please do fill it out and say "hey!"http://industryh.tripod.com/

Nothing lets me know you care like letting me know you want my fabulous newsletter. It will contain cool things like deep thoughts (special deep thoughts, ones that I won't be sharing with just anyone like here on the blog) and other fun and interesting things.

I am planning a new website in the near future with more recent artwork I've been doing. Plus! Within the next few days, I am opening an Etsy shop with some groovalicious earrings I am making. Etsy.com is the site for all things homemade!!! You will be able to search for me as a seller with the name drawingonthemoon.

So I'm happy. I wrote my first blog post. Thanks for reading it. Please leave me nice comments. Have a mahhvelous day!