mission fig watercolor

Sitting in the garden and drawing what I see is very meditative.  Unpacking my new paint set and mixing the colors is where the challenge lies.  Finding the right shades of green and mixing just the right size "puddle" of paint so that the greens will be consistent takes patience.

Next time I'll take a shot at the bright blue pot the Mission fig grows in.

eucalyptus watercolor

My pen and ink watercolor class is a total delight.  The group is small, the teacher inspires me, and (bonus) it's an easy bike ride to the Park Blvd studio.  I tried a Eucalyptus branch first. Next week we're going to sit in a University Heights coffee shop to sketch what we see.

I hear there's an urban "Sketch Crawl" that meets up every week here in San Diego, based on the work of Danny Gregory - I'm putting it on my list of new things to try this Spring.

folk song circle

The Mission Hills Artists created a beautiful holiday event this year! It's not even Thanksgiving yet I am so grateful for the opportunity to explore musical expression in this community of fine artists, craftspeople and musicians. The local song circle gathered in the afternoon for a sing-along and Tony's wife was kind enough to capture a tune on video. << Click on the link (in blue) to roll tape!

like you wrote it

Playing and singing with Mara Cooper at Radiance Yoga last week was great fun. She has this powerful classically trained voice and can really rock a Joni Mitchell song! I may follow her lead and try singing "Carey" for my final song in voice class this term. It'll definitely expand my range.

"Know it like you wrote it" says Dr. Chagnon. Know it like you wrote it. Fabulous advice for any performer, and this applies to all of life, no? Live it like you wrote it, because you did, or you are writing it now, or the big consciousness that connects us all holds the truth, so connect to that eternal thread and be present. My second song "Sunshine Again" allowed me to hit the higher notes with more confidence. I wonder what song number three will reveal?

Now it's time to get back to being measured for costumes and running through the script for the performance Jeff and I will be participating in, to launch Laurel Corona's latest novel "Finding Emelie."

small beginning

In July, this groundbreaking performance with the Mission Hills Artists was the first time I played and sang for an audience. Making music is a really interesting process. Once I have the words down, plus whatever instrument I might be adding in for texture, it's all about telling a story. I have an enormous amount of freedom to explore because my husband is carrying the melody, and he's super-flexible and spontaneous on stage.

My voice teacher Dr. Chagnon is encouraging me to write out every song like a poem, so I can see the story in front of me. Then I create a fictional story about what series of events led to the moment in time expressed by the song, and a backstory for the character, bringing singing into the realm of acting where I have much more ease.

For my first solo in class last week, I sang the old Irish tune "Down by the Salley Gardens" with my lovely accompanist Woan Rong. Neither of these were tight performances, but they mark the beginning of a journey. In the words of Henry David Thoreau, "There is no beginning too small."

summer afternoon

Summer afternoon - Summer afternoon... the two most beautiful words in the English language.

- Henry James

she likes to draw

I'm a student of graphic design, exploring the edges of creative freelancing.

["Freelance Dance" postcard from Carolyn Sewell's awesome collection Postcards to my Parents.]

It's the first week of a new college term and I'm always up for learning something new. When I landed in my first graphic design course on Tuesday, I had a super-grounded feeling. Like when this little girl said she wanted to be a cartoonist, she knew she'd come back around to drawing, one day. That day is today.


From my "School Years" book, it looks like I was keeping "secretary" as a back-up plan, no doubt influenced by the times. I mean how weird is it that there are "boy" choices and "girl" choices? And it's a pretty narrow list on either side of the aisle, right?

I'm starting with learning the Adobe Creative Suite of software, and getting right back to Amy Becraft's Typography course at City College, once I get my digital toolkit together!

it comes in waves

Every day is an adventure this year. One day it's perfect laid-back happiness (as usual) and the next I'm hammering out a big recording project or building relationships with email marketing and I hit the pillow with puffy eyes. So many good and interesting possibilities to explore...

What I really want is to get back to this blog and to get back to the beach and to get out there and weed the garden. Joy is always there, waiting for me to return.

I'm drawing inspiration from a beautiful blog called "Sweet Sweet Life". Take a peek at the beauty and color over here.

the Zen of acting

Ben Kingsley was interviewed in the newspaper this week about his upcoming role in the Scorsese film "Shutter Island" and talked about how every detail of his character’s costuming is important, because if he looks down at his own shoes (even if they’re never seen by the audience) and they’re not appropriate to the character, or period, or conditions, his performance would suffer. It is an enormous investment to think through all the personal choices his character would make, but through the process, I absolutely understand that he comes to know his character, to become intimate with him, and we all benefit from the richness of his investment. He says that before every take he goes “to zero. Then I’m ready to receive all the energy of the set, the lighting, especially completely open to the other actors, uncluttered, no preconceptions, know my dialogue backwards. I find that a very gratifying and joyful way to work.” Man, I love him for saying that! Is there any better way to be in the world?

Regenerative and peaceful, new world order

Today we participated in the repair of a very special poetry bench where people gather in Balboa Park on the first Sunday of each month at noon to read poetry aloud in community. Architect Candy Vanderhoff is the inspiration behind the clay plaster bench installation, and she has committed to teaching workshops on natural building, and planning rainwater and greywater collection systems until we all have the skills we need to live in rhythm with our precious planet.

I shared the Rumi poem that is guiding me through 2010:


Birdsong brings relief
to my longing.

I am just as ecstatic as they are,
but with nothing to say!

Please, universal soul, practice
some song, or something, through me!


If you live in San Diego, Candy of RainThanks is teaching a greywater workshop on January 30 or 31, and you can help build a schoolyard pizza oven on February 6 and 7. The oven will be used by school age students to bake vegetables from their garden and bread made from their wheat field.

it's all art

I've been thinking lately about the importance of art and how many pathways there are for authentic personal expression.

Something from Buddhadharma's winter issue, attributed to Dogen and expanded through commentary, says this:

"We should reflect on our one-sided way of seeing and investigate ways of expanding our vision and experience of the world around us. [...] A good portion of Western art produced over the last thousand years is overtly religious in content. It expresses the artist's sense of the divine. It is, in fact, possible to say that all serious art is, in some sense, an attempt to articulate the ineffable. Taking this further, we can say that everything we do is part of that artistic expression. Liturgy is artistic expression. Oryoki [Japanese Zen ceremony], the formal taking of a meal, is artistic expression."

My friend Sharon often says that dancing, healing arts, and creative arts are all part of the same flow. I have to agree. When we live mindfully and with intention, everything we do can be an expression of our divine nature.