This page didn’t turn out how i wished but I still like it. It was inspired by this lovely piece of art. I still need to work on my doodling and making smooth lines. It just doesn’t come naturally to me. When I watch others do it with so much east, I am always awed.
I think I used the neocolors on this page too. watersoluble crayons and then some gelatos and pencils on the background.
the prompt says: today i know what it feels like to envy
I wrote a lot about how grateful I feel and putting everything in perspective.
Today I Know is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
And finally the first assignment in the Life Book class. This is my inner artist guardian. And the little birdie is the animal for my 2014. I like how they look like they are perched and listening.
I made her face with the RH Pigment sticks and the rest is the Montana paint pens and some watercolor pencils. A few stencils and stamps for background and it’s all set.
I want to remember that there’s always a little bird on my shoulder whispering me to listen more, listen closely, listen bravely.
Remember This is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
Since this month’s goal is to be deliberate, I felt like choose was a very obvious intention to set for this week. One of the crucial parts of being deliberate is exercising choice. If I don’t get to choose what I am listening to, I am using the verb passively, I am listening to what’s louder or more annoying or shinier, or whatever is catching my attention for some reason.
Choosing implies that I am paying attention and making an active decision to listen to something particular (over something else.) I might choose silence. I might choose music. I might choose Nathaniel. I might choose work.
It doesn’t matter as much what the choice is, as the fact that I am doing the choosing.
The power is in the act of choosing.
This week’s lettering is from here and the sketch is supposed to be the corner of a compass. I chose a compass because compasses help tell direction. My intent is for my core desires and “the important” to be this week’s compass.
Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
When I decided I was going to do this project, I went through my site and printed a bunch of photos that I’d taken over the years that I liked. I figured I would use them over the year. This page was my first attempt. It was trickier than I’d anticipated to come up with a way to combine the art and the photo but I do like the idea of this one even though the execution isn’t all that excellent.
I used the Neocolor ii watersoluble crayons to make the flower on this page.
The prompt says: today i know that i am very good at…
And I wrote about how if I decide to do something, I do it.
Today I Know is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
Here’s another one I made for My Mind’s Eye.
This page says: you are confined only by the walls you build yourself.
Ain’t that true?
I find that I often tend to think that there’s only one way forward. What I would like to remember instead is that there’s no one way. And that there’s no forward. Life is a winding path. What might look like “forward” might be a detour and what might look like a detour might be the real path to joy. Not that there’s only one path to joy. or success. or bliss. or whatever it is i am after that week.
Regardless of the notion of path or not, it is important for me to remember that I am free and not confined by anything except for the restrictions I am creating for myself. Being free and whole is a core desire for me. To feel whole, I need to remember to tear down the walls I create.
Here’s a photo that shows off all the shine in this page:
Remember This is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
A new month means a new intention. After January’s intentions to be calm, I thought being Deliberate would be lovely for February. My intention with being deliberate is about taking ownership and control over my life. Even though listen sounds like a passive word, like it’s something that’s happening to me, I think of it as a very active word. When I chose listen for 2014, my intent was to move into the realm of listening actively. I think the word deliberate lines up wonderfully with that overall intention.
My intention this month is to really pay attention to what and who I am listening to and be deliberate about those choices. I think that if I don’t pay attention, I won’t notice, and my hunch is that I am listening to what’s urgent (or what feels urgent) over what’s important.
So time to get deliberate.
In this week’s sketch, I used a little lovely angel for no reason whatsoever except that I liked it. I wanted her to have some shimmer so I added some stickles after I colored it. The lettering I used is from a computer font called Feel Script.
Here’s to a month of listening deliberately.
Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
I pinned this doodled dress such a long time ago and I guess its time had finally come. I will say that this page took a long long time both to draw and to color. I did the coloring with watercolor pencils and then added a little water soluble markers.
The prompt says: today I know that I would never be where I am without…
And i wrote about how lucky I am for my parents’ support and generosity. and how it’s thanks to them that i am where i am. i am so very grateful. thank you mom and dad.
Today I Know is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
This page says: What is it like for this person?
Yet another gem from Tara Brach.
There’s some journaling here too and it says:
Because we are conditioned to pull away from suffering, awakening a compassionate heart requires a sincere intention and a willingness to practice. It can be simple. As you move through your day and encounter different people, slow down enough to ask yourself a question. “What is life like for this person? What does this person most need?”
How is that for a reminder? I love this thought and I love how it’s serving me and others.
I am not a huge fan of how this page turned out; it’s messier than I’d like but I still love the sentiment and it’s something I need to remember. I want to remember.
In the end, that’s what matters most.
Remember This is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
We’re still continuing with the monthly intention of Listening Calmly. As I thought about what it means to listen calmly, I knew that one of the things I can try is the opposite of what I mentioned two weeks ago. Instead of taking a walk, I can try to be still. I can try not to move, talk, react. I can try to not even make an effort to breathe. Instead, I can just be still. I can get really quiet and be in this moment. I can listen to what my body is feeling, what thoughts are coming up, what feelings are trying to take over. I can pay attention to what’s going on and I can be curious about my “reaction.”
With being still and paying attention, I will also allow my higher thinking to kick back in and instead of judging myself for feeling a certain way, I will just be with it and, hopefully, I might be able to watch it disappear.
Being still, like with calmness in general, has never been my forte. But I know it has tremendous value. I am hoping that setting it as an intent this week will help me intentionally choose to be still more.
Let’s see how it works.
The lettering I used on this page is here somewhere and I chose to use candles because somehow I always associate being still with candlelight. I love going to other people’s houses and seeing lit candles but I never really use them in my house. Maybe it’s something else I can try this week.
Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
This week’s page is inspired by Joanne Sharpe’s Color Love class I took a few years ago. The flowers are drawn with a Micron and then I colored them using watercolor markers. Then I went to town on the journaling.
The prompt says: Today I know that I have sacrificed a lot for
And I wrote about how it felt to choose to work from home when Nathaniel came along and I decided not to go back to the office. A lot of learning.
Today I Know is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
This is another page I originally made for My Mind’s Eye. It says: the most important thing is to remember the most important thing.
Another quote from Tara Brach and one that I want to remember.
I actually wrote a longer blog post about this one a while back. When I was talking to my coach, I had this idea of a pie chart showing what I care most about if everything I care about could fit inside a circle, how big would each slice be?
So this is my visual. It’s a bit less like what I originally imagined but I still like it.
The sections I have are:
- creating
- health
- read
- friends
- work
- service
- family
I think this one might be worth doing again at some point. I feel like the categories might be slightly different even now. OR maybe not.
Either way, for now, I still love this. It helps me keep things in perspective. It helps me remember to prioritize what matters most.
Remember This is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
Still continuing on the monthly intention of Listening Calmly, I decided to choose the most basic and useful of intents this week: Breathe.
If only I could learn to breathe.
Like taking a walk, taking a moment to breathe is a simple trick to get your body to pause long enough for your prefrontal cortex to come back online. And breathing is much less conspicuous. It can be done in a meeting. It can be done while on the phone or at a restaurant. It’s hard to walk away when you’re sitting at a coffee shop but it’s easy to take a moment and breathe.
I feel like if I could get better at breathing and choosing to breathe, the words that I say would be much kinder. The actions I take would be much less rushed and the mistakes I make would be much fewer.
All in all, seems like a plus-plus to me.
Like most new habits, breathing will also take time and practice (it seems silly to say that we need practice to learn to breathe since it’s something we do all the time anyway but this is more about deep breathing, or breathing at a particular time. Almost synonymous with pausing.)
So that’s the intent for this week.
I couldn’t find the lettering I used here, I will come back and link to it when I have. The sketch I used is from here. I used the image of a dandelion because it reminds me of letting out your breath to blow on it. Breathing out.
Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
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projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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