Sacred Women’s Time.

The other morning I sat in a tea shop, aside from mellowing my mind- It was rather insightful.

I noticed a group of women who sat together in excitement and celebration, they told stories just of simple things but what i liked was the Joy that each lady omitted while joking and laughing which then bounced off the other women. I also felt infected by their Joy: a feeling that women and men feel alike when in the presence of their good freinds, but here I wish to speak of women.I have had a few very special moments with girlfreinds recently, one being my Hens weekend a couple of weekends back. A whole weekend with women is nourishing, I had only done it exclusively with girls back when I was 17. I will never forget about this sacred time my freind’s created for me, just before I set off on a brave leap into marriage!

But today I wish to share my gorgeous experience with Women at an incredible workshop I took with Tracy Verdugo . I have known and admired Tracy from the age of around 14, when I met her in her Artspark creativity classes for teenagers. I was drawn to her warm, wise soul and of course all the colour’s that surround her; in clothing, her nature and her paintings alike.

We got on well then,  similar in many ways ( dreamy, spiritual and sensitive). So when I reconnected with Tracy last year over email with the offer of working with her- I nearly wet my pants. And that was even before I knew the extent of what she had been up to and how far her determination,  will and belief in her own dream had lead her. So to make a long story shorter I began working with Tracy and after 6 months or so of being her assistant- I had the chance to sit into her workshop:  Paint Mojo ( http://bit.ly/OqU0ia) !

Paint Mojo for me was about learning new ways of being creative, inspired and intuitive in strategy and in life. But in experience of the workshop, It was the sense of calm and ‘letting go’ you felt in those two days whilst creating that was the bliss part for me.We started off with a meditate and from that moment of inhalation and exhalation on- I allowed myself to just ‘be ‘ in that room as a intuitive being. Working large and with plenty of colour was unusual for me, but it was about being aware of the processes carried out for me over the weekend and not the finished product.

We all continually cast judgement as somebody looked at our work, apologising for something. But Tracy was close by to hush out the critical voice and see the light and possibility within our works.

I felt an air in that community hall that was supportive and also healing. And at the end of the two days we regrouped into our circle and we all listened to one another’s experience of the workshop. I noticed the confidence and contentment in most women that came from exploring their deeper story ( with symbols) and seeing their unique marks made. Everyone students works were different and unique and collectively we all applauded that.

Its a beautiful thing to be guided by someone with such a heightened imagination, who has a love for the written word as much as the visual, whose perspective is bright/bold at the same time as cradling the sensitivity within each of us and who radiates a support  that only a leader would.

Tracy Verdugo :http://on.fb.me/1mYzt0r

Written with Gratitude for this experience,

Cinnamon girl x

Honoured to have further learning possibilities.

The idea of writing a 10 thousand word thesis, is the last thing I feel like doing amidst end of session climax of Major essays and projects.

Although the innerworkings of the Honours proposal I am currently putting together, excites me greatly. The research will examine the ways in which traditional categories of Japanese taste and beauty (with emphasis on wabi wabi),  are recalibrated by a set of artists based in the Asia Pacific region, including the incredible Tim Johnson (featured above).

Tim Johnsons fuses the spiritual and cultural aspects of Australian, Buddhist and hindu histories, into warm paintings, which are formally unified but culturally heterogenous (a variety of components). The connected creative project will engage in processes that are mindful of the challenge of visually suggesting the metaphysical on the one hand and the politics of representing the physical world through the ordering classification and categorisation of nature on the other.). This  shift to a hybrid culture and world,  is what energises me about the nature of the art world today.

The Japanese traditionally maintain that we have been given a standard to use:”things as they are, or nature itself, nature should be our model, we are to regard it, to learn from it”(Higgins, K 11). A wise premise, I hope to be inspired by.

Fingers crossed my application goes through and I can explore these intriguing ideas with the support of a fantastic supervisor. Very grateful to live in a country with endless possibilities for growth, exploration and enjoyment!

Cinnamon girl x

Higgins, K 2008, “Refined Emotion in Aesthetic Experience” in Aesthetic Experience, Routeledge: New York, 117

To have an Outlet and make the most of its benefits.

     We all have an activity or pass time that allows our mind to rest, to day dream and to exist in a sanctuary of peaceful reflection.

  Which is so unique to everyone…… where some use film or a novel to escape, others who run or use the intensity in lifting weights, some find utter grounding in a bush walk or a few hours in the ocean, even if a wave is not caught and while others use creative outlets: sculpture and pottery, drawing, painting, cooking or gardening .

  This interests me terribly, I have lately appreciated the channel used by certain people close to me. I watch my partner water the garden, in such peace and return from a dive for fish, with a similar peace of mind that is reached after a session of meditation. Where my Pop uses his hands in the shed woodturning or fixing something and as Grandma and I discussed, he does not like to be interrupted, as though it’s an act of zen to him.

  I have recently realised that the act of watercolour painting is my space of quiet. One that involves my utter patience, as I have recently been working small scale ( which is MINIATURE for my big hands), each application in a certain area needs to be left to dry before adding another and the applications are done with small brushes, which for me means forms are carried out slowly.This has been the best move for me, linking so deliberately and undelibertely with the meaning behind the images.

Forms that communicate on the necessity of mindfulness; a focus on the present for recognising the parallels of human nature and mother nature; with its similar traits of vulnerability, decay, resiliance.

These notions of mindfulness, are looking at the enhancing the present, which in turn is reinforced in the gratitude and awareness of a nature based presence. And hopes to encourage the viewer/audience to retreat to these places of calm as rejuvenation and in order

to really ‘see’ life.

I hope you will think about your spiritual place and I invite you to share what it gives you.

Cinnamon Girl x

Its okay to be Multi-titled, even complex.

 

Recently on a visit to Sydney to spend time with a girlfriend, we spend time at a bar with some of her colleagues- a conversation came up about the un-qualitative measure of the question “what do you do?”….

 A question we conversed over as being one that gets over used in the meeting of strangers (especially in the city, perhaps it comes back to the ol’ networking mind, always being switched on) and we found consequently it is not a good or interesting conversation starter. As a very good friend of mine who beside having a “successful” job, is also a creative person- having a practical discipline and parallel’s herself to other pastimes and also doesn’t feel a job is the signifier of a person. I find this to be a very refreshing perspective.

I then recently came across a chapter “Cultivating meaningful work”, which looked at the struggle to define who we are and what we do in an honest way. It looks at how most people have many job titles in life, for an example I would already highlight many titles; artist, partner, creative thinker, student, sister, daughter, waitress, cleaner, philosopher, gardener. As all of these things make up who I am, so the question seems to be a very tricky one- were you either give a very long- winded answer and confuse the person or you share how you make money, which I find to be rather impersonal.

The author Brene Brown, of this insightful book: The Gifts of Imperfection, introduces Marci Alboer’s idea of one person/multiple careers, which is a winning model for a lot of creative people.  

This slash effect is a beautiful thing and I don’t think it should be looked upon with any less respect. Some examples that are given in this book are lawyer/chef, management consultant/ cartoonist, surgeon/ playwright. Which on reflection, I understand many people I know have attained multiple careers but don’t admit to it as being a “career”, with little money being attached to the role.

My dream slash would be artist/yoga teacher/curator…. but my mind and ideas are still evolving and in the process I will grow to understand myself as a curious person with many interests.  

I like to think of other more connecting conversation starters like… “How was your day?” or sharing some gratitude with the new friend like “How beautiful has the Weather been?” or “That’s a beautiful necklace, is it handmade?”.

Its nice to see the multi-dimensional aspect to people and their life, even if they don’t see it. It turns an expected bit of small talk, into an interesting/ maybe even insightful conversation. Here’s a fitting quote id like to sign off with,

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, an go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive” Howard Thurman

 

Finding calm.

When you are brushed with awareness that inspire you to be calmer and more connected. Moments that sway against you like a refreshing Southerly breeze on a Summer’s day.

I actually had a few of these, just last week. Such Moments are very subtle, but if you are really intune with your surroundings and engaging in a mindful mental space you will be open to them.

The first encounter came about when i had one of those afternoons in the Uni library, were I was full of information and self induced pressure. I realised this, after i moved from task to task. I pulled my head in by organising my notes and taking a walk outside.

I passed a tree and instead of pacing past it back to my desk. I stood there. I took in the orange seed pods silouetting on the dusk absorbed sky. In just focusing attention on the stillness of nature we are able to take our minds out of overdrive. Even a minute of calm can lead to greater clarity.

Cinnamon girl x