No snow lately....

 It wasn't a white Christmas here...

No snow, but lots of cold water....

And I have been thinking of my plans, and my word of the year for 2015. 

In 2012 I tried to find a BALANCE in life.
between work and play
between highs and lows
between creativity and calm
 

In 2013 it was FOCUS
to focus on what was important
and to focus on the goal instead of reacting
 

then 2014 was AWE

I spent  a lot of time being aware of the awe I feel for things in nature,
 and the little small parts of my life that I am thankful for.

I have decided on COMPLETE for 2015.
 I am taking many meanings of the word...
 first of all I plan to complete the projects I have started instead of moving onto something new whenever I get the whim.
Plus I will remind myself that I am complete as is,
nothing I need to do,
 nothing I need to try,
nothing I need to become.
It's all OK as is!

but to help with all those ongoing yearly words I still have a list of things to try to achieve in 2015.

I think it is all but impossible for me not to make resolutions for New Years Day.

But instead of saying I want to diet or to lose so many pounds,

I am saying I will try to eat better.

It seems easier to achieve that way

eat more vegetables and less sugar

hike more

do taichi and yoga more

finish the novel

finish the children's book

be thankful more

notice beauty more

pay it forward more

laugh more

spend less time on the internet

clear out clutter

simplify

Happy new year!

paint and Palette

Here's a few pages from my book of days... I did a spread of my goals and resolutions in circles, and the next pic shows my "palette" as I usually have only a few minutes hear and there to paint instead of a few hour stretch, so to save time and make it easy to pick up if I have to quit... I just paint right out of the bottle caps and mix colors either in the caps or on the painting. If I had longer I'd use better paints and a real palette, but for now it works!

(linking to paint and palette, you can click on the side bar to see more palettes)

This photo is of another page in my altered book that fits the theme at Butterefly effect of "Into the Woods".  When I heard the theme I expected to think of fairy-tale forests, nature goddesses, fairy houses, sweet dappled woods and such, instead I actually thought of a very real, very clear forest, the forest I seem to have designed in my plan for the year. Somehow I think I expected to write out my goals and they would appear, but now...

I've mapped out the woods, each tree by tree, yet I haven't seemed to have suddenly started to do Yoga more, or eat better or any of those things...

so how to enter the forest?

 that's my dilemma...

I guesss I just need to walk in,

one step at a time...

tree by tree...

Joining

photo.JPG, a photo by lelloavengers on Flickr.

I tend to want to join every site I see on the Internet, do every challenge, pin everything onto my pinterest site.... It gets overwhelming actually. and at home, I think I have to do everything, fix everything then when I can't I get stressed....

But I'm not feeling as frantic as I was a week ago. For one my husband, the rock, reminded me that it's all ok. he's very good at that actually. And secondly I joined the free e-mails from Goddess leoni and listened to her meditation and felt better! Just one quick meditation, no big deal buti haven't done that in awhile and it reminded me it helps.

I'm adding a link to her site on the side bar where you can sign up for free e-mails or buy all sorts of products...

I' m also adding a few other new links, which would seem like I' m continuing to try to do too much but the two new links "book of days", and "52 play dates"are both free sites where you will find weekly inspiration on art journalist and I' m hoping it will inspire me to art journal regularly which was going to be one of my resolutions. I may give up trying to do challenges with given themes and I may even quit my etsy shop, haven't decided on that....and just work in my art journal. Effy Wild's book of days, asks you to get a new book ready and pick a word for your year.... to center your art around, I didn't even have to dwell on that one.....

I need to find BALANCE. My word for the year.

So here's another few of those little happy thought paper dolls I've been painting with my new word! Sorry it's at touch blurry...

I.m linking this up to butterfly effect as their theme is resolutions, and I plan to make an art journal page with all my resolutions soon!

Illustration friday-Resolutions!

Hello, here's a very quick submission to Illustration Friday. It's 5x7 watercolor with a tiny touch of colored pencil. I spend a lot of time thinking about resolutions and make a ton of lists, these are my top three.

Happy New Year!