A few things I would like to make connections about...

Every morning I receive a Native American Meditation  from White Bison and this morning I received this one..I question all the time when I'm personal away from nature how I feel so lost and disconnected and after reading this I understand why...I've always been lucky to connect to the outside even when I was little...from tending to the property with my parents, to walking the pasture at my grandfather farm in Wisconsin,  to hiking in the woods in Girl Scouts.  If' I am away to long I flatten...and I do loose the respect.  Accepting this is a big part of my inner happiness and  is something I don't struggle with it's how I continue to keep my balance and inner soul smiling.. so I share with you and continue to walk a good road.

Elder's Meditation of the Day - March 31



"The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man's heart away from nature becomes hard; he knew the lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to a lack of respect for humans too. So he kept his youth close to its softening influence."


-- Luther Standing Bear, OGLALA SIOUX


When we live in nature it's like constantly being in school. We are in an environment that is always teaching. We are constantly being reminded that there are laws, Natural Laws, which are running the universe. Once we know these laws and we drift from them, we start to live our lives in a different way. Soon we become discontent, selfish, and disrespectful. Then, we get in trouble. If our lives have become this way, it can be reversed by going back to nature to be among our teachers.


Great Spirit, teach men, again, the Natural Laws.




Today is my Oldest Daughters Birthday, she turns 26...and I'm so proud of all she is and all that she has accomplished. We celebrate simply with a nice dinner and cake and a few close family and friends. 
I love Stevie Nicks and when I was going to have her I wanted to call her Stevie and My mother in law said why don't you call her Stevie Kay and that's where it all started...so she has always been a Stevie to us...A lot of people have a hard time with the Name...they want to call her Stephie...but her Sisters Call her STEVE...to funny...They warn you when you name your child in all the society books out there on child raring that you should be aware of the name you give your child...well it's been a very fitting name for her...( little story there)

Now to some great news....Hank our Great Dane of now 9 months is so cool...I took the risk to take him to the Dog park here in Hinsdale by Katherine Legg Park and I was so scared to let him off the leash...we walked up cautiously...both of us and I watched Hank body movements and felt he was just going to have to give it a try and I let him off the leash....He ran up to a dog...Bernese Mountain Dog and they started running around and then he went to another dog and did their sniff and greet thing and I was overly joyed to see him run and be happy and not show any signs of aggression...As a dog owner of a Great Dane I'm so grateful right now..mainly because of his size I don't want him to be aggressive and bite someone or worse. I want him to be protective but yet willing to be calm...I made friends fast with a mother of the Ber. Mt. dog and she said Sam is young female and the training their going through right now is really cool too.   Then I walked away to see how he would react to that and I saw him looking for me and then he would come to me and that was cool and we walked away from the dogs and that showed me he really knows and trust me and I had to call the family back home and let them all know...we where so concerned about how he was acting and now it's just so darn cool to see him run and play...that dog smile on his face was the evidence that he was happy too. and he was a calm cool cucumber the rest of the day...ran is little heart out....

So now after all that I didn't make it up stairs to the studio I decided to walk in the woods with my other dog, Carl our Elder and he so loves the woods...I let him off the leash and he does well.  We did met another woods and dog walker with a Yellow lab that we see often...and we chatted, her lab was aggressive to Carl but mainly because of wanting to play and she shared that her Lab is like that on the leash mostly and when off the leash she's calmer...so there might be something to the leash area thing as she said maybe it's about protecting their space...but I agree to it...

Now to Julia Cameron's Famous Statement....If you want to work on your art you have to work on you life...There's me working on my life and now to the art part...

Out of Professional Artist Magazine-(formally was called Art Calendar, March 2011)  I am finally reading it from cover to cover...such a slow reader...but I've got to sit with things a bit to let it sink in...and my attention span is a bit jaggity so it's always been a difficult part of learning.. Any way...rambling here I got to reading and I like this article..."Clarifying your Business Vision"

Here are a group of questions Renee Phillips ask you to ask yourself...
1. Your choice to be an artist is part of your mission, but what kind of artist do you want to be?
2. What do you want to do with your art?
3. What kind of impact do you want your art to make?
4. If you were to write your eulogy what would it say?
5. How are you going to be remembered?
6. What values do you express?
7. How did you change the lives of others?
8. How were you unique?

Then she continues on with do you want to increase your professional and financial power? Do you want to be sure you are on the right career path" Your business vision may be the single most important ticket to transport you on your journey to financial freedom, creative independence and security.

As the article goes on you come to the part of how to....
How to begin the exercise: You  open your eyes and greet a new day. Imagine you have everything you need. Where are you geographically? who are you with? as you walk into your studio, how do you describe the kind of art you are creating? what does the studio look like? What is your current lifestyle?  what does your career look like as an artist" How many people work for you and how are they helping you? What kind of galleries, representatives and clients do you have? When you look at the cover of a leading art magazine, and see your artwork looking back at you, what does the headline say? 

Well that's a head, heart and mouthful to answer all at once but I'm going to share a little.  I remember when I was doing the artist way a while back and every time questions came up like this I always had the same answer.

I have this large homestead on lots of property and it's has a big open space a Loftand I have to say I do picture it in the log cabin texture but big and the Husband and I are living there with our dogs...a bit of mixture of dogs.   We eat our breakfast and get ready for the day..he goes to his Pole barn and starts his day working motorcycles..you see his the guy everyone comes to to have their motorcycles worked on...whiz with the machines he is..and me I kiss him and head to the Studio...jump in my old pickup truck, by this time I've learned who to drive a stick shift and I load up the dogs and we head down the dirty road...there is lots of woods, prairies and a wonderful river running through the property... I get to the studio and let the dogs out and they do their running around and I grab a few logs and bring them in to put in the wood stove.   Turn on the lights and take a look around seeing the morning sun shinning in...the dogs start a barking to come in so I let them in...I get the fire started and light a candle and turn on the music which is the sound of a Native American Flute and I take my coat off and put on my apron and take a look at my large collage on the easel that is heading into the next show which I will have to ship it out...I am represented by a few galleries and I am selling my work, I've been a feature artist in a few art magazines and I've got my work published in a few of the famous art books...My life is a simple one and the rush of packing tents and booths have passed and we live on as little as possible but stay connected to our family and the world with the advanced technology out there... Life is good and we are happy that is my business vision...

I can't help but make a connection to how I was raise to respect the good earth and how I carry that through my life and it keeps me so in balance... again a bit windy today but as I keep learning I keep sharing...just one of the traits I have..I know I've not answered all the question that where posted but the main business vision is so strong that it keeps me going.. and if I never get the that vision...I choice to live like I have it already...My rock and puzzle picking this morning brings the sayings....Let it begin with me...my thoughts, my intentions and my kind words and love...and then I picked "you are meant to shine"   and I truly believe it starts the shinning from the inside.  So as I make my crazy connections this morning...my life, my art and my way of life and how it is all so very connected I hope you are taking a look at yours and making your own special connections and shinning too!

Be gentle, be kind and be in peace.
Mitakuye Oyasin-(to all my relatives)