Unabated Joys

Sunshine, water, family..
unabated joys. ❤️☀️️

Drunk on Sunlight

"I am alive, and drunk on sunlight."

~George RR Martin

Get Together, Choose Love

we are but a moment's sunlight fading in the grass

Evening runs are my favorite. If I can see a sunset over some water, my day is complete. 

Spectacular Sunset

Last night’s sunset was spectacular. One of these days I will head out with my good camera and lens just to capture the sunset, but for now all I had was my phone shooting from the passenger seat of a moving car. 

Early Morning

Quiet, early morning. No one here but me and the birds.

My Vision Quest

Last weekend I went on a Vision Quest with artist, teacher, mentor Whitney Freya at my local home away from home art studio Art More Place.. the entire thing was just so magical and amazing that I have been trying for a full week to come up with some words to describe it.. any words.. I just can't do it.

I finally just decided that none would be right. To meet Whitney is to fall in love with her. To paint with her is to learn to fall in love with yourself.

I do not have good words to describe any of this. But I will try to show you the steps I took on my canvas along the way..

The first layer was all water. Beautiful blues and purples and teals, around and around in a flowing circle, om symbol at the center. I joked that I could take it home as is and hang it up because I loved it, but also said that I couldn't wait to paint over it (thank you 30 day painting challenge!!)

Layer 2 started with a glaring orange sun stencil which then became yellow and orange and reds all over, continuing in the round, circular pattern I'd started on layer 1. I added black arrows as marks and wrote blood & fire in large bold black letters. This was my invocation of the fire element (and also my 90s Indigo Girls).

Of course I couldn't wait to cover all of this up again!! I next drew circles everywhere and then surrounded them in white, added some black and gray circles - this was my air layer. I then started to turn the painting into an elephant. God, I wanted an elephant so bad! It just wasn't happening, no matter how hard I tried or hoped. Then I hoped she could be a deer.. She wasn't a deer. Others suggested a fox, maybe she could be a cat? I added some more black arrows around and around while I hoped and waited for some guidance, maybe some divine inspiration. Finally walked away and quickly looked back at my canvas and realized she was an aardvark. FINE, she can be an aardvark. This was the end of Day 2, and we left the studio for dinner, and I left an aardvark on my canvas.

Day 3 - I woke up down, headachy, sad, not really sure where to go with my painting or if I'd even want to, which was so unlike the energy I'd had and felt the day before. I moped around a bit, and Dave even said "Isn't this the opposite of how you're supposed to feel? Aren't you missing the entire point of the workshop?"

I finally decided to just get in the shower. While in there, I rememered the Rainbow Warrior card I'd drawn the day before - Active Wisdom - which mentioned that I need to calm my reactive energies. I had wanted an ellie SO BADLY that my reaction to that want was to be down about what DID show up. As I washed my hair I thought about what an aardvark means as a totem or spirit animal - the answers lie beneath, right? Keep digging, right? Thinking about it I realized that I hadn't invoked any element of earth at all. I'd forgotten the original flow and energy of my round, circular pattern. Realized I'd used almost no green. I'd forgotten all of those arrows I'd drawn around and around.

Suddenly I had an idea of where to go .. serenity. 

Calm the lotus mind. 

Round and round.

Like a drishti.

A yantra.

Wordless Wednesday

(These photos were all found doing a simple google images search for serenity)

My Very First Etsy Treasury!

And of course it's ocean-themed.

It expires on Sunday morning so check it out while you still can!

Here is the link for it, and from what I understand, the more unique clicks and views the treasury and each item in it gets, the better chance it has to make it to Etsy's front page!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday is a new tradition around here. 

It's not about words, hence the 'wordless' part. 

It's all about imagery and feeling. Enjoy.

(These photos were all found doing a simple google images search for ocean)

Latest Creations: Charm Bracelets

One of my favorite things to make is charm bracelets. I've had a few listed in my store recently and even sold one. Hooray!


This past weekend I made two more and today I finally got them listed. I LOVE these! Let's see what you guys think!

Siren Song - mermaids, sea glass, pearls, agate, amazonite

Charm Beach - similar to my other Charm Beach bracelet 

but very different in its own way as they're all 

one of a kind!

Tempt Me Tuesday!

I am all about temptation. And anticipation. I heart things, add them to my favorites, drool over them, and dream about them in the hopes that one day I will sell enough to be able to buy them. Here are a couple of my latest drool-worthy daydream inspirers:

Sea Dream fine art photo by Leaping Gazelle

Seashell Purse Key by Dean Designs

Bronze Age Bowl by Paula and Kate Studio

Mermaid Goddess Sisters by Dark Water Images

So tell me, what's tempting you today?