"Awaiting Dr. Chen..."

...and viewing an eye chart from a whole new perspective.

“Language shapes the way we think,
and determines
what we can think about.”
~Benjamin Lee Whorf

"Line Dancing..."

...all throughout the day and all through the night...

in Summer Sunday Zen style!

“While I dance I cannot judge,

I cannot hate, I cannot separate myself from life.
I can only be joyful and whole.
That is why I dance.”
~Hans Bos

"An Encore View..."

...to delight your Muse...reappearing here today as a bit of

Summer Sunday Zen.

“Nature has neither kernel nor shell;
she is everything at once.”
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"The Art of Waiting..."

...is the art of "cooling it."...the skill of dilly-dallying...

the choice of sticking around with a purpose.

The art of waiting

is the art of consciously pausing time

without knowing whatsoever what will happen next.

It is both the anticipation of a question and

the expectation of its answer.

It is a pregnant pause...

a lingering...

a wondering...a biding of time.

We can do this waiting, artfully, in silence...still and pensive...

or we can be more animated

and fidget...

or tap...or pace...or doodle...or wring our hands

with nervous energy.

We might just wait a minute...wait for hours...

or wait forever.

Sometimes we even "wait and see"...

or we wait

until we feel like we really can't wait one second longer!

We can hang around, hang out, hover over,

put on hold,

hold our horses...hold the phone...

hold on...

or, believe it or not,

often choose to hold absolutely everything!
Super humanly, we keep our shirt on, mark time, sit tight

while we simutaneously

lie in wait, lie low, and look forward to.

We might wait for...or wait on...

or wait until.

We might wait alone, or we can wait in a crowd...

or we might wait alone in a crowd.

We can wait at a bus stop...or wait for the mail...or wait by the phone.

We often wait until the second shoe falls...

or until the cows come home.

Some think they can wait until hell freezes over.

The art of waiting

can potentially paint away the painfulness of predicaments

and create a canvas of peace.

So...

may whatever it is you that might wait for today...

bring you

the answers you are looking for

or simply the

serenity you just might need.

“The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension

waiting to be struck.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The China Pattern..."

...on my bread plate

at the historic El Tovar Lodge

seductively enticed me to capture her in my Zen journal.

The El Tovar, opened in 1905, as a Harvey House

and

is picturesquely situated just a mere

twenty feet from south rim of the Grand Canyon.

The hotel is one of only a handful of Harvey House facilities

that are still in operation,

and

it is an wonderful example of

National Park Service Rustic architecture.

Our table, dressed in crisp white linens, was fireside.

(Ahhh...so romantic!)

Crystal glasses, white china, and silver flatware

sparkled in the sunlight.

It was like stepping back in time.

The room was quietly bustling with activity.

It was elegant, yet, familiar.

Lyrical sounds of various foreign languages

could be softly heard here and there.

Our table instantly became

a welcome, warm and cozy respite from

our hiking along the rim.

It was a

a place to linger...and imagine...and wonder...

about the stories of the travellers

who, decades before us,

sat in our very same places...and, like us,

came here to

enjoy the majesty and inspiration of the canyon beyond.

It was an amazing experience.

We wanted to stay and continue to soak it all in.

I just had to have something

to take back home with me as a remembrance.

Hence, this simple drawing.

She was drawn "ink straight in" (a bit wonky in places)

during our wonderful little lunch and,

by the date,

you can tell that it was made

last fall when we visited the Canyon.

I cannot believe it is just now that this piece

is seeing the light of day!

November seems like eons ago...

funny, how this drawing brings back memories

that feel like

they happened only yesterday!

Time certainly has her way with us!

"Faith is trust

in what the spirit learned
eons ago."
~B.H. Roberts

Some More "Sunday Summer Zen"...

"The way is not in the sky.
The way
is in the heart.”

~Buddha

"Finding Inspiration..."

...in the art and the architecture on the grounds of

Frank Lloyd Wright's

Taliesin West...in Scottsdale Arizona.

This art deco styled mandala was drawn "ink straight in"

and graces the pages of my Zen journal.

Hopefully, this summer I will be able to visit several

of the amazing homes he designed here

in the midwest...

and leave with a sketchbook filled with his spirit.

May you find beauty and inspiration where ever YOU look

today.

Happy Cactus Monday all...:)
(Click on images to enlarge if you like)

“The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes.
If you foolishly ignore beauty,
you will soon find yourself without it.
Your life will be impoverished.
But if you invest in beauty,
it will remain with you all the days of your life.”
~Frank Lloyd Wright

"Summer Sunday Zen..."

...a healing mandala...from my zen journal.

"A gem is not polished without rubbing...

nor a man perfected without

trials."

~Chinese Proverb

"Form Vs. Function..."

...my newest tree of life-illustrated in my Zen Journal...

drawn "ink straight in" and digitally flipped.

The inspiration for her

came from a wonky week of days spent dealing with

kidney stones, migraines, CT scans

and

and medical appointments.

I think
things are on the mend...I have a follow up

appointment today...

guess I will have to wait and see (hear)

what the good doc has to say.

Definitely not in blogging mode...funny how

quickly I can get thrown off my

game.

"The art of medicine

consists in amusing the patient

while nature cures

the disease."

~Voltaire

"Colored Memories..."

Here she is...

"Seeds, Sprouts, Stems, and Swirls"

all blinged up with color just as you all suggested!

The original B/W illo can be seen here...:)

♥

I am posting this here specially today

in memory of my

Uncle Al...my mom's brother...who passed away

when I was only 10.

Today would have been his 85th birthday!

I find this fact VERY hard to to wrap my head around.

I remember him as a really cool young man...

an adventursome favorite uncle,

filled with wanderlust...

who had an avid love of trains, music,

and

the romance of the old west.

He was someone who trusted me

to play with his phenomenal model train set

all by myself

when

I was just a very little girl.

And, of course, he spoiled me like no other. :)

I remember taking a special train trip,

just he and I,

on the Milwaukee Road train Hiawatha route

to Milwaukee.

We sat in the domed train car,
had lunch in the "fancy smanchy" dining car,

and took pictures from

the special curved glass club car

at the end of the train.

What an adventure for my young imagination.

Now, as I reflect back I simply wonder

in astonishment...

where have all those years gone?

They have passed by in a blur...like colorful scenery

viewed out of an old train window...

unstoppable,

and, yet forever impressed in one's memory.

So...today

let's celebrate those favorite family members,

those unforgettable experiences,

those bright, colorful impressions of our youth,

and

even those flips in our perspectives.

May these kinds of experiences

continue to enhance the chapters of our lives

and help our spirits bloom.

Happy Blooming Tuesday All! :)

♥

"Seeds, Sprouts..."

...Stems and Swirls...drawn "ink straight in"...

lead free,

classic in black and white.

Now..."to color?"...or..."not to color?"...

That is the question! :)

Any thoughts?

"Drawing is feeling.

Color is an act of reason. "

~Pierre Bonnard

"A Desert Mandala..."

“Passion is energy.
Feel the power that comes from focusing
on what excites you.”
~Oprah Winfrey

"Attempts At Containment..."

....each and every day...

...and each and every night...24/7.
Recovery efforts
and attempts to control the unimaginable
are becoming
increasingly exhausting and seemingly endless.
With unearthly power,
Mother Nature

released herself from her Tectonic containment...
spewing about
natural, human, and nuclear
devastation and destruction...everywhere:
lives taken...hearts broken...families shredded...
a nation in crisis...spirits in distress.
A new normal
will now haunt the future of Japan's people
for years to come.
The grief of her people is unable to be contained.
Yet,
like a slim crack of bright sunlight piercing through
dark and ominous clouds
Hope has appeared unchained, unfettered.
She rises and stands boldly
stretching her comforting wings over the hearts and souls
of an entire nation of people....
Her strength and will bolstered daily
through
the millions of prayers and
generous acts of goodwill being offered worldwide.
Be a part of it.
Pray for Japan...March 2011.
♥

"My Day With Dad...

...last Friday began predawn when Scott and I

left Surprise

and headed for mom and dad's

arriving

bright and early at 7:00 am.

Scott stayed with mom...taking down outside

Christmas lights

and running some errands

as

Dad and I then headed into Scottsdale

for a day of pre-admission

medical routines he had to undergo prior

to his surgery this Wednesday.

We spent a lot of time

in a lot of different waiting rooms.

We talked and waited...and laughed and waited...

and "people watched" and waited...

and

then...waited some more.

Dad dozed a bit and I drew a lot.

I even got asked at one point if I was an artist

or maybe an illustrator...

Hmmm, go figure.

I guess

it was the open sketchbook in my lap

that gave me away...LOL:)

It was a long day...and absolutely not the

most comfortable of circumstances

for my dad...

but I wouldn't trade our "together time" away for

a million dollars.

Spending time with my dad trumps all!

(This was drawn...lead free...in my Zen Journal...

healing mandala and all.

Click on image, if you like, to enlarge.)

“Time is at once

the most valuable and the most perishable

of all our possessions.”
~John Randolph

"First Impressions..."

...can run really HOT or extremely COLD.

Maybe

it's best to step back a bit and view things

from a distance...before imprinting

our brains with

with hasty conclusions.

Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression

by saying something,

and sometimes one creates

as significant an impression by

remaining silent.”
~Dalai Lama

"It's Amusing Sometimes..."

...to think about

how one thing leads to another.

That is exactly what happened here.

This started out in November

with the tree...

and was leaning itself toward a snowflake design.

Then

I abandoned her for over a month.

Magically,

she somehow morphed her way last night into

another mandala

with intertwining natural accents.

I flipped it just for fun.

I am sure my Muse was most amused...:)

Tee Hee..:)

“The most potent muse of all is our

own inner child.”
~Stephen Nachmanovitch

"From the Inside Out..."

...a healing mandala.

Drawn in my Zen journal lead free...ink straight in...

while

balancing book, pens, and composition in my lap.

This is

a first in a new series for a new year...

and

just what the (art) doctor ordered...LOL...:)
Rx: let loose...

make mandalas as needed...repeat daily...

add music if desired.

Side effects:

shapes may not appear as they are in real life:

be alert to frequent bouts of

"wonkiness"...and audible sighs of "Ahhh!"!

♥

"Feathers and Boughs..."

...are combined together in my Zen Journal to create

a twist on the old familiar wintry

snowflake.

This was started at the Grand Canyon

in November...

and just completed last night...

almost a month later!

Good Grief!

:)
And, of course...
(with the aid of Microsoft Digital Editor)
I had to flip her to enhance her more traditional
frosty flakiness.
I just couldn't help it!

“They say that every snowflake is different.
If that were true,
how could the world go on?
How could we ever get up off our knees?
How could we ever
recover from the wonder of it?”
~Jeanette Winterson

"Such Is Life..."

...sometimes we run as hot as a pistol...

seemingly unstoppable.

Then, out of the blue,

we suddenly screech to an abrupt halt

turning as cold as ice.

Sometimes we see things

perfectly crystal clear as black and white...

other times

they are hazy, foggy, and muddled gray.

I am currently

artistically suffering from a major dose of

procrastination...

trying to catch up "bloggywise"

with unfinished Illinois travel journal pages,

posting results of massive ATC swaps,

and

keeping up with Moleskine exchange intensities.

All in all it is a classic case of

"over-doing-it-ness".

I am ever eager to draw and lavishly paint...

I feel really great about that...

but

just like this drawing in my zen journal

curving its way across the page from thick to thin

I think I am doing the same.

I am running thin

on blogging energy these days...

but yet

moving ever forward to those "thick times"

when my blogging pages will be filled

once again

with artistic goodies.

As they say..."Such is Life..."

Well...enough said...

it's back to the old drawing board...

with

sincere promises to hit the old keyboard

again soon! :)

Many thanks...as always

for your visit!

"Change on the Horizon..."

...both personally and artistically.

Arizona days loom closer and closer...and new art projects

lead me in adventurous directions.

I can see it all now

getting clearer and clearer each day.

Almost ready to reveal the surprise...almost...ready...:)

"The key to change...is to let go of fear."

~Rosanne Cash