Category: Filters

Well, a whole lot of things! And, frankly, a bunch of them are bumping into each other in my head just now.

Blame it on the news… or perhaps my over-consumption of the news… if you like. And the memories bubbling up inside me in the context of the news!

Back in the mid-80’s, when I was a young single mom, I began my second job as an RN.

Surgery! And, as you may recall, I got really tired of being told I didn’t get paid to think! So, I got busy thinking about what I was going to learn next.

Mind you… having a 4 year-old and student loans and a rather socially limited perspective of the world meant that the options felt limited.

The first hurdle was accepting my sense that my childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian didn’t seem likely to happen for me just then. It was hard. I’d fought for that dream for years.

And, I let it go because my world had gotten more complex.

Feel free to laugh at this next bit!

Two of the paths I considered were becoming an accountant or an attorney! Blessedly, I paid attention to the very vivid nightmares I was having and decided my first intention needed to be a Bachelors Degree.

Six years later, I was graduating from Seminary!

The world – and my living in it – have changed a good bit since then!!!

It is, however, Sunday morning, and I do have things to say! Bits and pieces of what’s bringing me comfort and hope in this moment…

Mental quilting, if you will.

Mostly with paint!

You see, what I discovered this weekend, as three paintings clamored for attention and energy and space, was that I am claiming my truth in liquid acrylics!

Yes, there are external plans and intentions. Fabulous guidance from all my chosen art-mamas. Like more context!

And there’s also my growing awareness that my heart – my dreams – my history and my hopes – are guiding my brush. (And my fingers!)

I’m experimenting!

And comforted by the deep knowing that I can learn new things. I can change my mind. I can be me.

Not simply on canvas, but in my being!!!

And, it’s still Sunday morning. So, conscious of the context of the news, garbed in my favorite red thread paint shirt, and barefoot (Gasp!), a message which feels helpful and empowering and eternal from my heart (and one of Kathleen McGowan’s books) to yours…

…this is all so simple. It’s about love and faith and community. And that’s it… The only piece of spiritual wisdom that really matters… It’s this: you can throw away the entire Bible if you just keep what Jesus tells us in Matthew 22: 37 – 40. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law of the prophets. Done. Finito. That’s all you need to know… we can make Bible study courses three minutes long, because that’s the entire teaching right there. Everything else just gets in the way and obscures the message.

May it be so! Preferably, NOW!!! And, as another of my teachers – Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes – would say… A-men, a-men, a-men… and a little woman!

ps… the quote is from The Book of Love. The character speaking is Fr. Peter Healy. Thanks, Kathleen!

pps… just in case you suspect you hear Filters at work here… You’re right! Want to know more??? Check it out! (The elves are, indeed, at work!)

ppps… looking for an amazing paint adventure??? Have I got an invitation for you! It’s the next part of the journey we Intentional Creativity® folks refer to as Red Madonna. Specifically, a call to explore the Divine Mother and the Tree of Life through Painting, Community, and Sisterhood!!! Just CLICK HERE (Soon!!!) for all the details… The charming glimpse of a hopeful being, above, is a peek from our current exploration…

I’ve spent a whole lot of time flinging red ink around the world.

It’s often called editing and, back in the dark ages, when I began doing that sort of thing, we really did use red ink.

It all began with yearbook staff when I was in high school. I got named head of the grammar police!

I don’t know why I’m good at it. I just am. And that may be helped along by the fact that my brain hears what my eyes read!

So, I’ve needed a good bit of virtual red ink this week. Here’s what happened…

A week or so ago I had a conversation with a paint sister. One thing led to another, as things often do, and I ended up agreeing to shake an idea out of my head and into a form that could be shared. With more people.

Gulp!!!

That meant fluffing some not-quite-current things here on the website. Which meant adding a recent book title and replacing a couple of photos, and the kinds of really tech-y things for which I need – and am blessed to have – serious help.

And, while all that was going on, I was wrestling with a painting. Flow Nouveau!

I spent much of my weekend flow-ing. And it was fun. Except for the part where the next right thing totally didn’t work for me! A couple of times!!!

All of which made it kind of a miracle that I got any sleep at all.

Then, Grandmother Moon showed up early this morning, to help. (And, yes… I was getting nervous!)

Along with the usual whispering in my ear, she left a story under my pillow. And, oddly for me, a glimpse of an image in my head. A glimpse of the next right thing for my painting.

Story first!

My son is mostly colorblind, which I didn’t know until he was about eight!

The new eye doc with the fancy kiddie-cartoon tools figured it out and a whole lot of things made more sense.

One of those things has kind of taken up residence in my head. It has to do with Dave’s first grade teacher. You see, Dave made lots of marks in the way the world refers to as backwards.

Math was a struggle. I asked for a meeting with his teacher.

I tried really hard to explain that when he made numbers backwards it didn’t mean his answer to the math problem was wrong!

I begged her to use a color other than red to re-draw the number in the more usual left-to-right fashion.

And, yes… it was about two years later before I learned he was colorblind. Which gave both of us more information for learning!

I even tried editing my work in other colors for a while, but my brain understands “fix stuff in red” so I mark my paper stuff up that way. Still! Also, some of the professional projects I help with. Book drafts and such.

I did a bunch of red ink stuff this morning and things are way better. So much so that I pushed the button and sent the thing and set up a meeting. (I’ll keep you posted!!!)

Then, I took advantage of that rare inner glimpse of an image

And I spent a bunch of my day helping my painting make its way back much closer to where it was when I fell in love with it. It wasn’t that I did it wrong. I just didn’t know where I was headed!

There’s more to do… fixing the fixing, if you will. And then a few finishing steps I didn’t quite make it through, before. Kind of like the undo button!

It FEELS so much better, already…

If you squint a bit, you may notice that the paint – much of it red – is still wet.

And I have huge hope!

ps… these days I think of red ink – and red paint – as symbols for the red yarn which connects us with all those who will be important in our lives, if we’re willing!

pps… there’s one more thing I’m done editing! It’s the first thing you’ll find when you click here and it’s really, really cool!!! Go for it…………………… (The other stuff is really cool, too!)