The Evolution of An Ancient Practice Helps Keep The Apartment Clean

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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

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

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

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

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

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!