What would happen if you gathered up all the projects you’ve worked on in the past year to two? You might be pleasantly surprised! Stack all your knitting, gather all your sketches, print out all your poems. Let’s open a gallery!

a selection of my collages, with ideas for supplies

There’s a lot going on over here, and even now I hear the sound of my hubby vacuuming —unbidden!— downstairs. While he does the IRL housekeeping I’ll do the virtual stuff. Here’s what’s going on today in Magpie Girl world.

Soulsisters!
Are you coming on the Soulsister’s ‘09 Retreat? Do you wish you were? Do you want to form your own tribe of soulsisters (or soulsiblings?) Follow our progress and learn our hopes here.

Fun & Helpful Twitter Play-a-Longs
Do you Tweet? So do I!  I’m starting some fun new trends on Twitter.

• #gigglepics: photos to cheer you up or soothe your soul via TwitPic.
• #dailywhimsy: cheeky little tweets about the playful things we do to embrace whimsy.
• #dreamboards: do you dreamboard? share your results using links to your blog, Flickr, or Twitpic.
• #soulsisters: for those of us attending the first retreat and dreaming or forming the next one.
• #doless:join The DO LESS Revolution and learn to do what Leo Babatua calls “the fine art of choosing the essentials,” and achieve what I call “concentrated living.” (Plus, just feel better!)
• #soultribes: follow the “How to Build Your Soultribe” series and share ideas and plans with others.
• #*8Things: to share your weekly *8Things and see what others come up with. (It’s fascinating)

Wreck this Journal
Over at Starshyne Productions, my soulsister Jamie Ridler offers The Next Chapter — virtual book clubs for the arty at heart. Right now she’s encouraging us to make a mess with Keri Smith’s   Wreck this Journal. Eden, Cate and I started wrecking ours two summers ago. But I’m working on finishing the demo now. Here’s my page for this week. The instructions were “cover this page with white things.” It’s doubling as this month’sdreamboard. My theme for the month is “be still. be now.”

Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday. Don’t do too much housekeeping…go outside and do something whimsical!

Love,

Magpie Girl

Photo by: Silvia at DreamerGirl. (blog:art work)
Song by: Me by the Sea, Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians (listen)
Love for: Miss Lynette F, emailer extraordinarie

I have new friend over in Finnland, the creative and lovely Miss Silvia at Dreamer Girl. (With a blog name like that we had to be mates, yeah?) Silvia and I follow each other on Twitter, and when she tweeted a postcard exchange I rushed to join. Late, as always, I’ve only just packed mine off to the post office, but I think they turned out rather fun and quirky. Take a look. Oh, and if you get inspired to send me Me ME a love note on a handmade card, email me and I’ll gladly send you my digits. ;-) Cheers!

I am coming to the realization that I have two functional weeks a month. Otherwise the pain level is too severe. I can’t write well when I’m this foggy.

For awhile there, for a beautiful hopeful season, I was in better remission and I had most of the month free and clear. But now, it’s back to just two weeks. If it gets worse, if it gets to be more than this, I’ll have to fly home and see my super special Dr. Woo-Woo and get back on top of this. You all have to hold me accountable to this okay? If I’m out of it more than two weeks a month you have to say, “Rachelle, it’s worth the money. Fly home. Spend a week or two on Dr. Lewis’ treatment table.”

Chronic pain is such a complex creature. It is a large part of your life, but it is not your life. It is a big part of you, but it is not who you are. Living within those paradoxical realities is challenging, perhaps as challenging as figuring out the physical bits and pieces of it–the medicines and the food allergies and the exercise and sleep needs and all the more attainable nuts and bolt-ness of it all.

I’ve wanted to write something about this for while. Something like Nicholas Wolterstorff’s Lament of a Son which not a self-help book, but the author’s story about the death of his son. The telling itself though, is helpful. The telling itself is the companionship for the journey.

In the beautiful children’s book Frida, the author says “she turned her pain into something beautiful.” I’d like to do that. I’d like to tell true things – stories that are also helpful.

I don’t know why I always leap to the idea of a book, when clearly articles and essays are my most natural length. (I just get so distracted by sparkly things, and without a real deadline I skip from project to project. This is not a boon to my agent.) At any rate, maybe an article would be more reasonable here….maybe something for The Sun. I have a couple little bits that might turn into something. This one for instance, or this artsy bit here, or here. Or maybe these more practical stories. And then there is what I wrote this morning, based on an image that came to me while I was doing Shavasana on the living room floor:

I offer this pain to you on a gilt platter.
No, held aloft in a silver bowl.
I give it to you coiled, or swirling and boiling.
A dark depth. An oily surface.

I give it to you as an offering because it is a part of me.
Because some days, it is all of me.
I give it to you as a gift, you who the wise ones says want all of me. (Though perhaps they are not so wise.)
I give it to you as a gift to see what you will make of it.

Will you touch it with a long-nailed finger and turn its surface to silver? Sprinkle it with some earthy magic? Feed it drops of Lucy’s cordial? Will you blow on it and part the waters; wave a hand and vanish it all; speak and make it to run clear; drink it down within yourself?

What will you do then,
with this pain that drains from the trinity of my eyes and the bridge of my nose?
What will you make of this dark offering?

Play us out Sister Alanis.

May you have warm words on a cold evening,
A full moon on a dark night,
And the road downhill all the way to your door.

(An Irish blessing from an Irish lass. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!)

Here’s another little matchbox shrine for the current Creativity Challenge. This fun project is perfect if you only have a little time to be your creative self. I made this ode to Mary in a half hour, while the kids ate afer school snacks at the kitchen table.

I’ve been carrying this vintage enamel token in my pocket for a couple of months, ever since I found it at our local flea market. I’m constantly afraid I’ve lost it, until I dig through the pile of dirty clothes to find her resting serenely in some pocket or another. I’ve been yearning the past few years for more feminine images of the Divine. The BVM, or Blessed Virgin Mary, is a good stand in. While while Mary doesn’t quite fit the bill for me in that regard, (DaVinci code conspiracy theories aside), I do find it comforting to have a nurturing mother figure at my side.

I’m having fun putting together a nice little ephemera package for making tin-box shrines. It will be the prize in the matchbook shrine drawing on October 5th. Carve out a little time for yourself this weekend and indulge in some mucking about with tiny things — make a matchbook shrine. There’s plenty of room in the pool!

P.s. Do you remember this song? Sometimes it gets stuck in my head when I’m wishing for Mary…

“So if I say save me, save me
Be the light in my eyes
And if I say ten Hail Mary’s
Leave a light on heaven for me …”

-Mary’s Prayer
Danny Wilson

I was so good about advance-posting things for while I was on vacation, and now that I’m back I’ve barely had time to touch the key board. The kids are bored with thier toys and feeling twitchy about the upcoming transition back to school. I’m longing for some studio time but loath to say goodbye to the few sunny days we’ve had this season in Seattle. Does anyone else find the last two weeks of “school’s out” a bit trying? What’s your solution? Post ideas below!

I did manage to happen upon a fun summer read while on vacation, and offer it to you now as twlight read for the dog days of Summer. Check out my review of Water for Elephants over at Magpie Reviews — and enter to win your very own copy! (Ooooo, I love give aways!)

This week’s theme at Mama Says Om is “decision.” We happen to be standing on the edge of a pretty big decision. We are looking at some employment opportunities overseas. This comes up every six months or so, and up until now there’s not been a very good fit. But something new is on the horizon and we’re wondering if it might be for us.

There’s a kind of artwork that I do which I tend to think of as “art as spiritual journey.” These pieces are more craft and meditation than they are actual “art.” (Whatever that means.) I often find that they solidify a concept I’m trying to get my head around, or point me in a direction that I didn’t know I was longing for. Working on this piece for Mama Says Om helped me feel like the possibility of relocating was real, was firm. The collage embodied a concept in a way that my mental imagination alone could not. Now I feel like if we pursue this as an option it’s less ethereal — there’s something solid to stand on, and that is making me feel less afraid of the exploration.

To make this collage I used a piece of stationary with a travel theme as a background and applied a map from a European tour book. The birds are a stamp I carved out of a wine cork. The big red “you are here” arrow was cut out of electrical tape and the letters are stickers that I cut up so they didn’t look quite as scrapbook-y. Small pricing tags from an office supply store detail out the verb “to decide.” More stickers on the bottom spell out what I’d have to do if I moved out of familiar surrounds. The sentence in handwriting says “I have a fork” in Danish — the only thing I remember from the round of language lessons I took a year ago. (Actually, that’s not true. I also remember the word for apron and the word for living room … I’m sure those three things will take me a L-O-N-G way!)

Mama Says Om is a great experiment to help creative mom’s hold on to their art-and-soul. You can play too! Just check the weekly theme, and write, photograph, paint, collage, or whatever your way to a post on the topic. Then link to Mama Says Om to inspire and be inspired. Mama Says Om is brought to you by the wondergals at Elaine and Krystyn.

Ps. Here’s some links to other art-as-meditation projects that I’ve done in the past. A little note for context…I am an ordained minister and work with artists who are trying to find a new way to practice old faiths, as well as with interfaith communities, and with women who are trying to access the feminine divine. I teach workshops on art-based meditative practices. Contact me if your interested in booking me for a conference or retreat. moi at magpie dash girl dot com.

Other Stuff
spring equinox
dia de los meurtos: derrida (by Lindell Alderman), altar for darfur
feminine divine,
ignatian examen high point,
ignatian examen, low point
thank you
perched
tsunami intercession
justice (by Rebecca Dallin),

The Ramadan Collection
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight

Oh, it’s raining again! Usually it’s sunny by July, even in our grey Seattle. But this Summer brings only extremes — 90+ degrees one week and then more rain in one day then we usually get all Summer. Both the girls woke up weepy and out of sorts today — Cate complaining of a headache and Eden saying she felt “too sad” and had to go back to bed. It’s hard on days like this to always look on the bright side of life. So here’s my list of things to revel in this Summer….maybe we’ll use this rainy day to get that day glo nailpolish on our toes!

Cheers!

The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery
Karen Michel

For those of us who are mucking about with mixed media/collage, there are a plethora of books out there. Many of them focus on using turn-of-the-century ephemera and photographs. While these are both lovely and inspiring, after awhile all the examples in them start to look awfully similar.

That’s why I was so pleased to find Karen Michel’s book, The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery. The cover art alone announces “fresh approaches to collage work inside!” The featured techniques are accessible to a newbie artist like me, but would also add to an experienced artist’s cache of ideas. Most of the techniques apply to altering photographs and Michel’s starts us out with bleach, stickers, crayons and gel pens. While the supplies might be basic the results are sophisticated and stunning.

Michel’s section on working with scanners and using digital imaging programs has lots of tips and suggestions. You could scan in one photo and try each of her techniques in turn to see the different affects. This would rapidly expand your editing “tool kit” without a lot of slogging through program tutorials or manuals. There’s also sections on altering Polaroid’s (Polaroid cameras can be easily found at thrift stores these days); basic linoleum and rubber block print making; and incorporating found object and altered images into each other to form a finished piece.

Order The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery now and get inspired, because next month I’ll be launching the First Friday Creative Challenge — a series of little assignments to help jump start our inner artists! (The book won’t be required for the First Friday Challenge, but it will help!)

Tweet! : a ‘zine for summer is finally here. It’s chock-a-block full of beautiful images, cheeky sentences, and hidden surprises. Like her cousin Hiver, this ‘zine has a secret prize or two inside. (Mmm….just like Cracker Jacks at the ballpark!) Reach for the sun with this feminine tome to the loveliness of Summer.

See more pages and order via my etsy shop, or by emailing moi@magpie-girl.com with your snail mail address.
Price: $10, $2 ship/handling

- order 2-5 copies for no additional shipping costs.
- bulk prices available for orders of ten or more.

I have to use white out on my calendar. This is not my work calendar or anything, it’s just our family calendar—like the one your mom hung in the kitchen to keep track of the soccer games and such. Ours was hung on the side of the refridgerator, right next to the door from the garage. Many were the times I would come into the kitchen to find my mother speaking tersely to one of us, usually my brother, when a scheduling conflict arose. “This. Was. Not. On. The. Calendar.”

I have always had a thing for calendars. Its comforting to me to come to a clean page at the beginning of the month and fill in a few activities on those little boxes. It fels orderly, manageable. With the advance of time and technology my calendars got an upgrade. There were computer-generated weekly schedules and palm pilots that warned me when someone’s birthday was coming up. These magic electric things could change font colors, flash reminders, and–wonders of all wonders—sync.

Then, I quit my day job. I blissfully relegated my PDA to the back of the junk drawer. No more meetings! No more babysitter juggling! No more multi-tasking! I could downsize to an Ann Taintor calendar. Life would be SO MUCH simpler.

Maybe I should have actually read the caustically funny barbs on the Anne Taintor calendar, because the whole “life is simpler” stay at home mom thing doesn’t really exist. Not then. Not now. Almost as soon as I tacked up my quaint little paper calendar, reality hit. Followed by white out. There is so much stuff on my calendar, and it changes SO OFTEN that I can’t fit all the stuff into those moderate sized squares. I have to scratch things, shove stuff into the margins, and add little extras on with florescent post-it notes. And of this calendarizing doesn’t even begin to reflect all the stuff I really do in a day…”grocery shopping” isn’t up there for instance, or “bill paying,” or “dish washing.” You get the idea.

Recently a friend suggested I solve the problem by getting a bigger calendar. Maybe one of those desk-sized calendars or a big soccer-mom style dry erase board? This does not seem like a good idea. Bigger calendar = more space to schedule stuff = more white out.

Instead, I think I’ll downsize. Yes, gentle readers, “Do Less” is my new motto. Doing less will help my kids be less stressed. It will help my brain stay out of the theta state where all the intake nerves are firing at the same time. And it will help me live counter-culturally to my experience-obsessed cohorts who seem to think their kids will end up living out of a grocery cart if they don’t have some sort of after school activity everyday of the week and twice on Sundays.

“Do Less”

It sounds nice, doesn’t it?

How about it? Wanna try? What are some of the things you need to do less of?

Read how this Irish lass celebrated here.

May the road rise up to meet you, and may the wind be always at your back!

Here it is, complete with ad copy!

This precious little ‘zine is hot off the xerox and ready to bless your wintry home. Make your hibernation place a sacred space with prayers, songs, and tiny rites. Host a mid-winter supper with comfort-food recipes and a list of tunes to defrost by. And best of all, there’s a take-away prize tucked inside! (Just like a box of Cracker Jacks!)

Twenty-four hand-lettered pages fill this 5inch ‘zine with homemade words and images. Yours for the price of a greeting card, and ever so much more nourishing!

To order:

Email moi@magpie-girl.com with your address and you’ll receive a paypal invoice.
$4.00 each (includes shipping)

(p.s. This is just the art for the cover. I’ll post a real photograph tomorrow so you can see the cunning Japanese style hand-sewn binding, complete with a twig from my Hawthorn and a tiny recycled glass bead!)

Yesterday Paul, Rebbecca, the kids and I drove an hour to the Tacoma Art Musuem to see a special exhibit of collages by Eric Carle, children’s illustrator and author. Carle’s most well known book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, came out the year I was born. I remember being exceedingly charmed by the different sized, layered pages and by the tiny worm hole that the caterpillar “chewed” through each consequtive page. (Concieved of by Carle when he was mucking about punching holes out of some paper.)

Carle, now 78 years old, comes across as being the Mr. Rodgers of the world of children’s illustrations. His gentle manner of speaking and streamlined, basic explainations of his artistic process belies many years of paitently interacting with children. Though he could easily have walked a filmaker through his cabniet of awards, a video at the exhibits shows Carle holding up page after page of paintings done by the pre-K to K set of child artist. At one point he says, “Oh! Look at this one! This one really taught me something!”

I took a lot way from the simple, colorful images and the kind words of their creators. In honor of the Creator of the Caterpillar, here’s my list of

Everything I Need to Know About Art I Learned From Eric Carle

Simple materials and techniques can go a long way. Cut, Color, and paste. It’s so easy Carle can explain the whole process with a few powerpoint-style slides. Paul encouraged me greatly when he walked me across the gallery to show me a few line drawings Carle had used as the template for one of his newest books, 10 Little Rubber Ducks. They were no more accomplished than my own new attempts at drawing, yet they were the first step for some lovely art.

Gimmicks can be wonder-full. Many of Carle’s books have a gimmick — the hole in Caterpillar, flashing lights in The Very Lonely Firefly, the creeking sound of The Very Clumsy Click Beetle. As Carle recounts the hisotry of his works, he blantanly and joyfully talks about searching for the next gimmick. He asserts that often there is nothing wrong with being gimmicky, provided that the gimmick is not a selling ‘hook’ but a means of inducing wonder.

Share your techniques. Carle gives his ‘trade secrets’ away gleefully, in You Can Make a Collage“>collage kit for kids, in his inclusive The Art of Eric Carle“>catalog of works, and through videos.

Follow your Bliss. Carle was a trained fine artist from the prestigous Akademie der bildenden Künste, in Stuttgartthe but what really “made” his career was his love of paste and colors.

Ideas may take a long time to come together. Carle once had an idea that he chewed on for 15 years before it made it into a book. (I think it was for Draw Me a Star.) Be Patient.