8″ x 8″ watercolor and ink on paper. It’s so fun to play with pattern and color. I love how this watercolor pattern in my 365 Cups series turned out.
Creativity
More in the 365 Cups Series!
This one was really fun! I kept feeling that it needed some words along the bottom section but couldn’t find the right ones. Would you put words in and what would they be?
Friday reads – books that spark my creativity this week
This week’s reads. Just finished the novel Britt-Marie Was Here and starting Troubling Love.
Really enjoying When Strangers Meet – very important message for us now as we need to focus on our common humanity and not differences being used to divide us. Loving how Ways of Curating is making me think about art differently.
Beautiful Money is helping me keep my financial game healthy and happy. Urawaza is odd, funny and useful. The Island Japan book is a great way to see an illustrated adventure.
The Art of Vinyasa is my teachers’ book that I got last night at their signing. Can’t wait to dive in. What are you reading today?
Read This: Marina Abramovic’s Memoir: Walk Through Walls
I read Marina Abramovic’s book Walk Through Walls in three days. I couldn’t stop reading the story of this fascinating, powerful performance artist. Marina, from Yugoslavia, has traveled the world as an artist and explorer, collaborating with the likes of Tibetan Monks, the Dalai Lama and Willem Defoe.
Her performance at MoMA, The Artist is Present, gave her greater renown. She’s developed her own method of getting present for the sake of higher level of performance….or should I say more depth of humanity and truth. I’m inspired by her boldness, creativity and collaborative spirit.
Marina reminds me to dig deeper, be braver and stretch beyond societal boundaries. Thank you, Marina.
Going on a caffeine cleanse
First day without coffee! So far, so good. Maybe making coffee art will supplant my desire/need for drinking it! ☕️
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Thank You, Barak Obama
Thank you Barak Obama for being a true leader who cares about the world. I will miss you, your intelligence, and your grace.
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Video: Peek into one of my 2016 Sketchbooks
A quick peek into my recently finished Sketchbook. Full video on YouTube.
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Artist's Tarot by Cynthia Morris
At the suggestion of a friend, I made a set of cards for the suit of cups in Tarot. Tarot is a card game that is often used for divination.
In the Tarot deck, the suit of cups pertains to the water realm, ruling the emotions. My cups suit depicts the emotional journey of creating. Cards one through ten lead us through the creative process and the Royal cards serve as guides. Making this set of cards was fun and I hope you enjoy.
Happy New Year!
My prediction: 2017 will bring out more powerful art than ever. At the suggestion of a friend, I made a set of cards for the suit of cups in Tarot.
Tarot is a card game that is often used for divination. The cups suit pertains to the water realm, ruling the emotions. My cups suit depicts the emotional journey of creating. Cards one through ten lead us through the creative process and the Royal cards serve as guides.
I’ve been using tarot for many years to guide me. Making this set of cards was fun and I hope you enjoy.Let’s start with one. One – The singular clarity of a new idea strikes like a bell. This feeling of creative inspiration gives us great joy and exuberance. 2017 is a 1 year, a time to initiate and act.
What will you make this year?
The singular clarity of a new idea strikes like a bell. This feeling of creative inspiration gives us great joy and exuberance.
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Celebrate your creativity this holiday season
The holidays are often stressful, with too many social obligations, too many presents to buy and too many conflicting things vying for our attention. We often come to the end of the year and feel disappointment for all the things that didn’t happen.
But what if we reframed it? What if this time of year were the chance to get really clear on what’s important to us? That’s the theme of holiday classic movies like It’s A Wonderful Life. What if we didn’t need a crisis or a holiday to live every day as our wonderful life?
For creative people, this can be a great time to assess our creative vitality. What did we put energy into? How did our actions fuel our creative work?
Take a look at your daily activities. Check out:
• what you ate
• what you read
• what you listened to
• who you hung out with
• what activities you did in your town.
Do these things align with what you care about and what you want to create? This isn’t meant to be an opportunity for your inner critic to bring you down; instead, an opportunity to recommit to doing what you can to craft an environment that serves your creative vitality.
When I did this through my annual review process, I saw a lot of things that contributed to my life as a creative adventure. And there were some things that detracted from my satisfaction with my life and work. It’s a chance to commit to new things next year that feed my soul and art.
Do you take good care of your creative self? If so, make this holiday season a chance to honor your creative exuberance. Whatever you did this year to write, make art, and make yourself the best version you can be, celebrate that.
I celebrate you and your creativity wholeheartedly. I’m raising a toast to you from Denver!
Happy Thanksgiving, sip by sip!
Giving thanks with each sip, every day. I’m so grateful for my life and my art and the people in my life who love me and contribute to me. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Photo taken at: Denver, Colorado
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Lost in the coffee maze!
Since I’ve been doing this 365 cup series I’ve consumed a lot of coffee. I’ve also learned a lot about coffee and some days I feel like I’m in the coffee maze. Soon I will be adding other beverages to my daily mix.
Lost in the coffee maze! Since I’ve been doing this 365 cup series I’ve consumed a lot of coffee. I’ve also learned a lot about coffee and some days I feel like I’m in the coffee maze. Soon I will be adding other beverages to my daily mix.
I stink, you stink, and here's why…
I stink, you stink and here’s why.
Sometimes I get to the end of the day or week and think, what did I do? My mind searches for some meaningful action and all I can think of is the many times I refreshed my email inbox or the times I popped over to Facebook and Instagram to see who was loving me.
I think, well, I stink. This week stunk.
Happen to you, too?
It turns out this ignorance of what we did is completely common. In her book The Progress Principle, Teresa Amabile shares how her research revealed that people who kept consistent track of what they did at work were happier and more satisfied with their work. People tracked their thoughts and feelings on a daily basis, and Amabile discovered that seeing and acknowledging these small wins contributed to a greater sense of satisfaction.
Sounds good, right? You probably already know that having a relationship with your inner self through writing gives you a greater sense of satisfaction and control in your life.
But what if you don’t pay attention to your daily and weekly small wins? You can go around feeling like you kinda suck. Any negative thing that happens to us – a harsh word from a boss or colleague, a negative review (or no review) or your work, a nasty altercation in traffic – these negative things carry more weight than positive instances. [Read more…] about I stink, you stink, and here's why…
Third Time's a Charm: Interview with author Jonathan Fields
My friend and mentor Jonathan Fields has come out with his book How to Live a Good Life. I’ve been part of Jonathan’s world since I stalked him and wanted to hire him to help me publish my novel Chasing Sylvia Beach. Back in 2011 when said stalking was happening, I had no idea that I would become a participant in his Good Life Project Immersion program and go on to become a faculty member of the GLP team.
Jonathan did help me with my novel, but he also helped me with so much more. Before I knew him personally, I saw the savvy and successful businessman. I remember being on one of his free Tribal Author calls. When he said ‘There’s never been a better time to be an author’ I shouted with joy. Here was someone finally focusing on how much creativity and power we have, instead of how challenging it is to get a book published.
As I came to know Jonathan more, I have seen more than just his savvy. I’ve seen his deep care and commitment to the creative process. I’ve witnessed how much he contributes to those around him – helping us have more self-awareness, more self-confidence and more joyful action.
His book, How to Live a Good Life, brings much of what he has been teaching and learning into one place. Insights from his research, from his podcast interviews and from his role as a perpetual student are bundled into this book that I know will change many lives.
After more than four years deeply immersed in Jonathan’s world, I can say that I have definitely benefited from his business savvy and that my business is stronger for it. But the real benefit of learning from Jonathan is that he continually points me toward being and expressing more of me. To full-on, unabashed sharing of my gifts. To recognizing that all of me, even the goofy parts, deserve a turn on the stage. When you pick up a copy of his book, look for me in the chapter Dance Like No One’s Watching.
Jonathan agreed to an interview for us, and while there is a lot I could ask about the contents of the book, I wanted to focus on his unexpected path to writing How to Live a Good Life. Enjoy this conversation about sticking with it even when you don’t know how.
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Finding permission to change
Back in 1995, I worked through The Artist’s Way. As a result of the exercises in the book, I took all kinds of art classes. Drawing. Calligraphy. Dance. Singing. Acting. Painting. And of course, writing.
I loved all these forms of expression, but it didn’t take long before I realized to make any decent progress, I would have to commit to just one medium. So I chose writing.
Later, as an entrepreneur, I saw this notion that you can only be known for one thing reinforced. Apparently people would get confused if you were both a writer and an artist.
But the truth is, people change. My whole business is built upon helping people change. I even love calling myself a change agent.
For years, though, I hid my artist from the public, fearing that if I stepped out as an artist, it would somehow cancel out my writer and my writing coaching. A friend said, “I wouldn’t hire a writers’ coach who doesn’t write.” I felt I wasn’t allowed to change, and that because I’ve been a writer for 22 years, I better keep on being a writer.
Have you felt this? A desire for change can be squelched by the status quo.
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