Category: Contemplations

Art JourneyContemplationsGrandmothersSuperPower Path

From vulnerability… strength!

Posted on by sue boardman

Let’s be real!

I have more practice at feeling vulnerable than I’d choose, if I could.

Not emotionally or artistically vulnerable, though I know about those, too. Physically vulnerable. Yesterday was one of those days.

First, the good news! I woke up in the morning having actually slept well! A more successful experiment with a new weighted blanket helped. Also, I suspect, having pushed save on a big chunk of a current writing project!

Tea helped. And a bath/shower with sea salt in the water.

Then the phone rang with the decidedly unwelcome news that the elevators were out in my physical therapist’s office building. Eight flights of steps, up and back, was waaaaayyyy more adventure than I was up for! We re-scheduled.

That left me with some un-expected Santa-time. Also known as makin’ a list and checkin’ it twice.

Well, maybe 87 times! It has to do with my planned trip to France this summer. Never mind that I don’t speak the language. It’s the there-and-back part that scares me!

Which is part of the whole physical therapy thing in the first place!

I briefly contemplated going for a walk. I mean, it was pretty outside. Nothing falling from the sky except 20 tons of pollen! And the shiny red rollator-walker thing commonly referred to as the wheelie-go-dealie, or Sarah, was ready. A lot like its Newfie namesake who was nothing if not ready for walks.

Then, I thought again.

Using my new mobility toy helps me keep my balance while I walk and is much easier on my painting wrist than the walking stick. It also makes me feel vulnerable outside, walking around alone.

Part of that may be too much CNN. It’s also really good hearing and the challenges of our very urban village.

So, more tea. And a handful of emails to our County Commissioners with – you know – an opinion or two on a big decision they’re about to make for the neighborhood I already feel vulnerable in.

And, another idea!

Socks and sneakers in place, I headed off in the car to Kudzu… our local enormous vintage & collectable indoor garage sale. Actually, it’s a whole lot fancier than that! And, they have kind people working there who know me. And ramps!

Yep! Laps!!! Or, em-power-ment shopping!

First lap, pretty fast.

Second lap, a bit more relaxing… with sight seeing!

Then, another half lap, just because I could!

By the time I got home, I was tired. And proud! And, quite probably, stronger!!!

Is it the solution to all the problems in the world? Nope. Not even all the problems in my world.

Is it better? You bet!!!

Which, when you get right down to it, isn’t a bad day’s adventure.

And, in a whole lot of ways, easier than the – gulp! – photo shoot which someone had also placed on my list for today. You see, I have some more adventures in the works and I’ve noticed that a dose of anxiety often goes with adventures.

All things considered, though, it beats playing small! And, if you’ve been watching the news, it just might feel like it’s time for adventures among people of good will!

What’s on your list???

ps… what if the shift you need to get where you long to be isn’t as obvious as a rolling walker thing? I can help! The first step is you, me, and some actual or imaginary red thread in a Zoom room. 45 minutes. My gift. Just ask the calendar elves to hook you up!

pps… you know that trip to France? I’m going to need to pack. Light! And I’m packing stuff I designed!!! Come check it out!!!

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He is Risen!

Posted on by sue boardman

Wait, please!

You know how – once you see something new – you can’t not see it in the future? Well, today is about that, in ways which may be new for you, too!

You see, our title phrase, for much of my life, has meant exactly that, on this day.

Easter. Jesus rose from the dead. Hallelujah!

And, yes, I know the stories. And all the words to the hymns. They matter, in so many ways.

Our traditions matter, too.

There are also other stories which matter. Ones I knew less well. Perhaps you knew them less well, too.

But, first… yesterday! I was doing what we preacher types have done on the Saturday before Easter for ages and ages. Makin’ the list and checkin’ it twice.

Weather. Food. Music. Flowers. And a story. Preferably a really catchy one. (There might be visitors!) Things, however, are a little different in my world, these days.

Gratitude for a new roof in the pouring rain… check!

Roses blooming/dripping in the garden… check! (And the merest hint of hydrangea blooms on the way… check!)

Local, sustainably raised chicken in the fridge, preparing to be roasted… check!

The need for a blog post… check! (Blog posts are stories, too!)

All of which led to a hike down memory lane. And that led to wandering through pictures in my phone.

I found the ones which were whispering to me in the 2018 part of the files. The girls were here for Easter. Baskets. Colored eggs. The not-quite-traditional-but-big-fun trip to the aquarium! Dearer memories, still, because they’ve been in Portugal for the last week!

For a few moments, I was going to share them all with you. And then I remembered that the focal points of those visual memories have reached their teen years (!) and like to have photo approval for publication!!!

I did find one I can share with a clean conscience! The one at the top.

It’s very early layers of my very first Muse painting and, it feels Easter-y to me in a way I never noticed before!

Probably because the context is different in these days!

I’m incredibly aware of the confluence of Holy Week and Passover and Ramadan this week. Of all the stories and traditions people dear to me are remembering.

And, I’m more aware than ever before, of the people who were somehow erased from the old stories I learned. Many of them women. And women’s voices. And now I do, indeed, know more!

So, yes… in my heart, He is Risen! means more. More than a sentimental lesson in historical vested interest. More than a way to decide who’s in and who’s out.

Here’s the best of my understanding…

Jesus of Nazareth – Yeshua – was crucified, dead, and buried. On the third day, he rose again. And he lives on – not on a cloud with pink cheeks and a shiny halo – but in the hearts of all who welcome him.

Caution… we’re about to go off script!

I believe he lives on in us so that we can learn more and love better and include more truth in our journeys. And I believe that now is a very good time for a whole lot of that.

One of the ways I’m still learning is through the practice of following a paint brush in my hand, the way the Muse taught me. (It helps a whole lot with the noticing and wondering, which helps even more with eyes to see and ears to hear new truth!)

Which is, I suspect, a very Easter-ish sort of thing!

There’s also Daphne, who was just fine with having her picture included in this story on this day!

It’s not my only prayer for the world. It is a pretty good start!

And one which I believe, with all my heart, is heard by all that I hold Holy.

So, Hallelujah! And, so be it. For all of us who hold love to be Holy, whatever our stories and traditions.

May we have ears to hear!

And breath to tell the stories!

ps… and, paint, too!

pps.. the kids did, indeed, make it home safely!

Art JourneyContemplationsGrandmothersSuperPower Path

We’re off to see the Wizard!

Posted on by sue boardman

Do you remember, back in the dark ages, before streaming tv and dvr’s – even before vhs tapes – when the Wizard of Oz was an annual event?

I looked forward to it every year.

Well, most of it! I will confess to being terrified by the flying monkeys!

And, yes, as lectionary passages go for this time of year, this one may seem odd! There’s a story, though. A story from yesterday. The first Tuesday in March. Also, locally known as Mattering Matters day!

First, a bit of an intro…

Mattering Matters is new offering for Intentional Creativity® Guild members. (Think the folks who have been around long enough to collect a few badges for their Scout sashes!)

My dear friend and sister-in-creating, Natalie Moyes, and I are the leaders, and we are – to put it mildly – still learning!

Yesterday was our third gathering… in the land of Zoom.

We had a plan!

We posted invitations and reminders in all the usual places. We practiced the second camera bit. The Legendary Husband checked the previously cranky mike.

We got lots of wish I could comments from sisters with Spring Break issues.

We showed up.

The mike did not, in fact, do the thing. After time out for laptop fetching and lots of hand signals from Atlanta to the US West Coast to Canada, we were finally able to see and hear each other.

All four of us.

It went great. I mean, we painted. We wondered. We laughed. And we all cried… which is a really good sign in this kind of work!

And we all claimed the magic we had been doing, in a new light! (Thank you Frederick Buechner!)

In short, we mattered! Which, when you get right down to it, is a pretty good day’s work!

A bit more mattering happened in a meeting with a new friend, struggling with a big message.

Then, at least at my house, more regular stuff happened. Dinner. Jeopardy. Sorting. Hatching. Planning.

More news than might have been optimal for sanity’s sake. Then, blessedly, Stephen Colbert… playing – in my opinion – the part of the Prophet crying in the wilderness!

Finally, bed. And my new weighted blanket which is, indeed, helping with the whole comfort and sleep thing.

(We’re still working on temperature management!)

A reading from Kathleen McGowan’s The Expected One, which is my other lectionary text for this season. The first Holy Week.

And, eventually, dreams.

Grandmother Moon, it seems, is also friends with the good witch, Glinda!

You know the scene.

Dorothy. Sparkly, red magic slippers. Trying so hard to get home.

And this:

You had the power all along, my dear!

You do, too!!!

Not necessarily the power to be magically transported to Kansas, but the power to find your home. Your center. Your place to matter.

It’s a journey the world needs lots and lots of us to make!

So, blessings, whatever your tradition. And an offer… 45 min. My gift. We start plotting the path to your vision of mattering. Click here, and the calendar elves will hook you up!

ps… the small original mixed media work in the photo above is available for adoption, and there’s only one! Fabulous, empower-ing gift for yourself or someone who matters! Click here for the close up, with the whole quote! (There’s a sale going on!)

Art JourneyContemplationsGrandmothersMedicine Basket

a, b, c, d, e, f, g…

Posted on by sue boardman

Just between us, I’m dog paddling pretty fast in a sea of alphabet soup right now.

A deeper sea than usual!

And, yes, I’m painting, too.

And the paintings have a whole lot to say!

In the land of Intentional Creativity® we have an interesting custom known as handing the pen to the painting!

Laugh, if you must… it works!

At the risk of spoiling the mystery, it works by accessing different parts of our consciousness by doing something which feels a lot like playing and is actually magic!

And, today, we have a volunteer! (Well, actually, she insisted!!!)

I am not who I was supposed to be. At least not according to the path laid out for me.

My journey began with the Red Madonna in The Forest of Grandmothers. I had a whole 48″ square canvas! There was lots of drumming. I was excited!

Back then, I looked like the photo way up at the top of the this page. Dots and handprints! Two of my favorite things! (All that pink was a bit of a surprise!)

About then, things got different. Sue had one of those things she calls a hypermobility flare which seems to mean that she hurts a lot and everything gets harder.

After I sat in the studio corner for a while, we decided I could be just as much me on a 24″ square canvas and it would be easier to have fun. It was!

We wrote a whole lot more than we painted in those days. Crone Moon posts, which had a lot to do with being Grandmothers in this world. And we wrote a Manifesta, which means saying what we really think, out loud.

Now I feel more deeply rooted in our lineage than ever before. In those who came before us and those who are coming after.

Which, since I get to tell the truth (!) is feeling more complicated by the day. Around here, we have 2 granddaughters growing up in this world, but all those other Littles are somebody’s too, and they need to matter, too — even to people who think they’re more important than everybody else because they get to make the laws!

I think that’s why there’s a lot of circle calling going on around here. I get to help with my drum!

And we’ve started a new Red Madonna painting called Sanctuary. It’s one of those Medicine Painting things!!! I’m sure there will be lots more to learn. For now, though, I really want to remind you about the Manifesta. It seems like a really good moment to claim these things again! Sue agrees!!!

Here’s your link for the Manifesta!

Whatever else is going on in your world… whether you’re a grandmother or not… it’s a pretty good place to begin!

ps… intrigued by Sanctuary??? You can still sign up — even if you’ve never painted before! And, really, how will you know if you don’t check it out? So, deep breath! And click to learn more. It just might be exactly what you’re longing for in this world, now.

pps… you can get a really snazzy copy of the Manifesta, perfect for framing, if it’s calling to you… just click here! It would be a great gift! Or even an Intention!!! Oh! wander a bit while you’re there! There are leggings like I used to look!!!

Art JourneyContemplationsGrandmothersMedicine Basket

What do you see?

Posted on by sue boardman

Really! I’m curious…

Some of you will see colors. Probably red and blue, with hints of pink and yellow and purple. Even a spot or two of orange.

Perhaps the feng shui book you read years ago is making suggestions! Things like exciting, uplifting, wisdom, spirituality…

Perhaps you see prayer dots. (Me, too!)

Possibly stars.

Many of you will see Intentional Creativity®. And, some of you will suspect you see the beginning of my Red Madonna Sanctuary painting.

All of those things are true.

And, as is so often the case… other things are true, as well!

On Sunday I began this Sanctuary medicine painting. The beginning marks on the first canvas of a year-long journey to places utterly unknown as I begin.

It looked like this:

On Monday, seven people lost their lives in a school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee.

Since then, I have been alternating between staring in disbelief at the news and avoiding it all together.

I cried. I swore. I prayed. I signed petitions online. I cried. I swore. I prayed. I texted my granddaughters, not so much older than the three 9-year olds who did not get home from school two days ago.

I also edited a couple of book chapters, went to some meetings, watched Stephen Colbert, and took care of me.

And, while all those things were going on, I listened.

And then it came.

Stars. The big dipper. And the North Star.

The one that helps us know where we are and how to get where we’re going.

And with the North Star came the big question.

What is my North Star? What do I use to navigate my journey?

I have an answer. Actually, I have several! And they all come together in a place you’ve probably guessed if you’ve been reading along for a while.

I have 2 granddaughters growing up in this world!

That is the reality which holds all the other answers together for me.

The reality which gets me out of bed on the hard days.

The reality which compels me to vote. And write. And plant my garden with signs which lean heavily toward inclusion and human rights.

I also have faith. In my version of the Divine… of the Creator who dwells, still, in and among us. Between us, even, in the spaces where our versions of the Divine may be different.

And I have faith that, while lots of days will still suck, walking the path where my faith leads beats the hell out of not walking it.

What is your North Star?

And what helps you follow it?

If you’d like some ideas, some company on your path, I can help! Just ask the calendar elves to find you some time!

For now, I have more dots to make. Dots for humanity. And sanity!

And Sanctuary.

Art JourneyContemplationsGrandmothers

It’s ALL now! (or, Stick With Me – And You!)

Posted on by sue boardman

When our Dave was in middle school, he started reading Stephen Hawking, about time.

Truth… I didn’t read much of it. (I was planting a church!)

At the time, all that research seemed to have a lot to do with convincing me that his homework couldn’t possibly be late because time didn’t exist!

(If you’ve ever been a nurse, this may seem as hard to wrap your head around as it did to me…)

Oddly, I feel kind of like that in this moment. (Whatever moment means!)

You see, there’s a whole lot of stuff from different decades of me, playing bumper cars in my head, becoming something new.

As we go on, it would help if you’d use your imagination, please…

You are sitting in a chair, looking at a cooperative red leather sofa with quilt fabric strung all over the back of it, trying to figure out how it will all fit together into – you know – a quilt. (The liberated kind!)

I spent a lot of time, back in the day, doing just that. Stare a while. Move a piece and stare some more. Repeat until all of me went ahhhhhhhh…. And, only then, start cutting and sewing!

These days, that tends to happen more with paint.

Yesterday, The Legendary Husband and I took the new piece who christened herself Revelation! off to hang with my friend Barry at the place known as Scan Camp. (Read that, magic I don’t understand which results in extremely high quality images and takes long enough for me to get homesick for the new creation.)

It turns out, though, that she’s only elsewhere geographically!

You see, I’m writing a chapter for a book project which will be known as turningpoint2 and all the things I learned painting Revelation! clamored to be invited into print.

Hence the bumper car bit going on in my head. Or, perhaps more accurately, in my being!

For better or worse, the external stuff keeps going on, too. And I am coping by rationing my news time!

And by hatching ways to share what I learned at my easel with my corner of the world.

Which does, indeed, feel awe-some, in the way that spring time and mountains and new babies do!

Meanwhile, my various layers of consciousness seem to be quilting. Here are a few of the scraps, summoned from beyond…

First, an old Facebook post. Words from one of my favorite teachers, Walter Brueggemann:

There is no final reading of the text. We will always read it again, and it will always take us somewhere else.

Turns out, Uncle Walter was way more right than I realized!

And, kind of obviously – for this moment – a thought from my time at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Brace yourself…

We get to choose our beliefs!

All of which calls for big doses of integration, with thanks to a Facebook person I don’t know:

Along with all the growth and healing, remember to give yourself time for integration, which is a fancy word for “ALLOWING SHIT to SETTLE.” It looks like doing nothing. This nothing is NECESSARY! – Emily McDowell

I can’t wait to hear what comes up for you as you ponder your “quilt” pieces! suesvoice@gmail.com

For this moment, the last words go to Dave’s hero, Stephen Hawking:

Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet!

ps… the painting at the top is known as She Takes Her Place Among the Matriarchs. I’m pretty sure this is what reading again & choosing & integration look like!

pps… need a reminder? Put your cuppa to work! You matter!

Contemplations

NOW she’s done! I think ;)

Posted on by sue boardman

So, back in the day, when I was hanging out in nursing school and hospitals, if I had said what I’m about to say, here, out loud, a whole team of my colleagues would have mouthed psych consult at each other and reached for the phone!

Deep breath, please. I’m fine. In fact, I’m a great deal more fine in this moment that I have, perhaps, ever been before!

And, I’m going to tell you a story…

If you’ve been reading along, you’ve heard me musing about a painting called Apothecary which I’ve been in the midst of for a bit, now.

It started out feeling comforting and familiar. Intention. Lots of fun drips, hither and yon, as I turned the canvas. (I like drips!)

A line. In my case a dark, jagged one, kind of like a lightning bolt. The line of unimaginable tragedy.

Eventually, we got to the part about vessels.

Think Apothecary as in remedies for ailments. Kind of like a pharmacy. (An open-minded one!)

The books appeared, first. Books are vessels, too!

Paint, of course. Teal blue for voice and truth!

And a medicine basket! Red thread, obviously. Roses and rosemary and thyme.

Then, after a busy night dreaming, the stock pot, over to the right. This isn’t new for me. They show up predictably in Legend paintings, for I am a boiler of bones.

And, since I have a huge thing for dots, the night sky. There are favorite constellations, and spatters – which are huge fun – and about a zillion dots for courage. A fabulous moon. And yes, my version of a Phoenix rising right out of the stock pot, complete with a bay laurel leaf!

I felt safely en-courage-d that far. Then, things began to get interesting.

An alabaster jar, which is a sign that my collection of sacred stories and symbols is growing.

The face and the arrow on the stockpot, which some of you will recognize as having to do with something nicknamed Filters. Familiar, for sure, but – ironically – completely new in this context!

Frankly, I was starting to get a bit anxious. And, there was still something missing.

Yep! The circle, on the stockpot, with six thumbprints.

A six-petal rose. Right there, where my map of reality belongs! Utterly by choice!

Tears. Relief. Hope. A whole new world, in many ways.

And, I thought I was finished. But the painting was not done speaking to me.

Yesterday, she announced her name.

Revelation!

Truth tears. And I thought I was finished. Until I went to the first Red Madonna circle of 2023.

It was fabulous. Which was predictable!

And then, in a conversation between the leaders of this particular band, Shiloh Sophia McCloud and Havi Brysk Mandell, I learned a new word!

The one most of you didn’t notice or couldn’t read in the photo at the top.

It’s a Hebrew word which I didn’t know before. (I wasn’t a very good Hebrew student!)

Pronounced hee-NAY-nee, it can be translated in different ways. In our circle, today – and in my heart – it means Here I am!

And, of course, it insisted upon appearing in the palm print of my hand, which meant a bit of editing.

Hand, by the way, also means power in Hebrew or Aramaic, depending on who your teachers were.

I think the painting is done now…

I, clearly, am not! And, just between us, that feels pretty damn good!

ps… there is still time to join Red Madonna Sanctuary! We’re going to do some deep painting, too! All the info is here… and there’s a place for YOU along the Red Thread! (Standing and dancing will be involved… figuratively, at least!) Take a deep breath and check it out HERE!

pps… Revelation! is already plotting new things. If you’re feeling the vibes, let’s talk! The calendar elves will hook you up with 45 minutes as my gift.