Dreamy San Miguel de Allende

Hi friends….and greetings from beautiful San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

I’m in the midst of fulfilling a dream I’ve had for awhile to live and paint in this magical mountain town, and I’m happy to say it’s finally happening!

This is not my first time here. For the past two years, I’ve taught workshops in San Miguel, each time craving more time to soak up the colors and vibrant culture here and to translate this inspiration into my own paintings. I’ll be teaching here again next week, but first…some me time.

2013 :: Thank You + Good Bye

I’ve always had a thing for New Year’s Eve. Even when I was little, I felt a strange mandatory pressure to stay up until the apple dropped in New York City…while the rest of my family was fast asleep. Alone with the T.V., I would do a little New Year’s dance, watch the crowds of…

Embracing awkward

Question: Is there something you have always wanted to do that lingers in the back of your mind…whispering? I actually have a bit of a choir going on up there, so much to do in this one short life. But I’m happy to say I just checked off one lil’ desire: TRAPEZE & AERIAL…

Give the Gift of Creative Freedom! 2 for 1 E-Course Special

Hi friends.! Just a quick note to make sure you know about the special offer I am running on my Bloom True E-Course right now. If you register for the course before Dec. 19th, 2013, (that would be this Thursday), we will send you a gift voucher for another spot in the course. You…

Online Mini Painting Sale Tomorrow!

One of my favorite conversations to have with people is about what REALLY lights them up. It is one the most direct ways to understand a person’s heart and soul-calling and often leads to the kind of juicy conversations I love the most.

My “light up” moments usually happen when I’m painting and connecting with people I am truly inspired by. So, for the past year I’ve been combining these passions by exploring collaborative painting, and guess what? I love it.

Introducing: “Heart to Hand: A Love Letter Project”

I love this time of year for all the obvious reasons…the coziness, the boots and scarves, the deliciousness of gathering with friends around a fire, the steamy drinks. You know, all the usual suspects. However, the real magic of this time of year comes for me in the form of gratitude and time for deep soul reflection (i.e. getting my priorities straight). I’ve been doing quite a bit of both lately.

*Winners Announced!* Brave Intuitive Painting JOURNAL (it’s new!) Give Away + 20% off Gratitude for YOU sale!

*Thank you ALL for your heartfelt comments and kind words. I appreciate hearing from you so much.*
Congratulations to the following (randomly selected) winners of my new Brave Intuitive Painting Art Journal Give Away! I am so happy to pass along my new art journals to you all. I hope they offer lots of new inspiration in the new year…

Saying YES, feeling CLEAR, and making RAD stuff

As you likely know, I’m a big fan of collaboration, so when Matt Butler, the dynamic conductor of the amazing Everyone Orchestra, asked me if I’d be interested in painting a tuxedo jacket and matching hat for him, it was a very clear YES.

Let me start by saying that I totally dig the whole concept behind the Everyone Orchestra. Their positive high-energy shows blend a unique line-up of different (always uber-talented) musicians and there is no “Set List” … only improvisation, talent and trust.

On Letting Go

One of the big changes I made to my current Bloom True E-Course was shifting the theme of Week Two from ‘Play’ to ‘Letting Go.’ The other week’s themes — Intuition, Your Inspiring Life, Being Brave and Blooming True — remain the same, but there was always something about ‘Play’ that never totally resonated with me.

And then it hit me. ‘Play” is simply one way of letting go.

Prettiest holiday cards EVER

OK. I’m admittedly not being very humble here, but seriously you guys, these new holiday cards designed by Papaya! are so GORGEOUS…so much so that I’m actually feeling inspired to send holiday cards for the first time in, like, fifteen years. Perhaps they will inspire you too? We are selling packs of five (of the same design) for $20, and packs of ten (one of each design) for only $30 (shipping within the US is included).
Get your holiday cheer on today!

Life Book 2014 Give Away Winner Announced

Hi all. Just a quick note to thank you for your wonderful comments about why you would like to participate in Life Book 2014. It was a pleasure to read them all and feel your excitement. I’m happy to announce that the winner of this year-long art making extravaganza is Maureen McCauley of lightofdaystories.com. Congrats Maureen! Hope you enjoy the journey that is Life Book…

A Give Away to Life Book 2014!

Hi everybody. Have you heard about Life Book yet? It’s a really lovely year-long mixed media online art class put together by Tamara LaPorte. I had the pleasure of meeting Tamara last year in the UK and she is super fun and dedicated to spreading the joy of creativity far and wide. Life book offers creative insights through video lessons, prompts, images and writing by 22 amazing teachers throughout the year. What a great way to learn some new approaches and techniques!

Life Book 2014 registration opens next Monday. Join us for the adventure?

Edge-pushing + the *re-creation* of my online course

One of the most challenging things I’ve ever done in my life was to step in front of a video camera to create my Bloom True online course. It pretty much brought up all my deepest fears:

The fear of being seen. The fear of being heard. And, the fear of being judged.

[yep, triple wammie…and one that I wrote about right HERE.]

On *not* going to Burning Man

As I sit here in my neighborhood coffee shop in Portland, OR, there are 60,000 plus people gathered in the Nevada dessert celebrating creativity, community, art and radical self expression — yep, pretty much all my favorite things. I do not hesitate to say that these lucky people are attending the best party on Earth right now and that party is called Burning Man.

Joying Up!

This post is part of my friend Hannah Marcotti’s The Joy Up Stories Series. The Joy Up begins August 1st (that’s tomorrow!) with hundreds of women who are ready to claim their joy and deepen love, ritual, trust and rhythm. Join in the joy by clicking here.

Late night inspiration + bloom true mini lessons

I’m happy to say I’ve been on a bit of a painting roll over the past few days. My inspiration has been striking late at night when it’s super quiet and cool and my intention has been to explore new territory, have fun and play. Aaaaaaaaand, guess what? Every time I approach my work with this attitude (ie: not making it MEAN more than simply playing with colors and marks), rad new things seem to transpire. (note to self).

Introducing Soul Shine Studio!

I’m happy to say I’ve been on a bit of a painting roll over the past few days. My inspiration has been striking late at night when it’s super quiet and cool and my intention has been to explore new territory, have fun and play. Aaaaaaaaand, guess what? Every time I approach my work with this attitude (ie: not making it MEAN more than simply playing with colors and marks), rad new things seem to transpire. (note to self).

I Heart Bali.

I seriously cannot believe I have been home from Bali for almost a month already!

Woah….life….moves….fast.

However, between jet-lag recovery, a sick week in bed, a rare five-day visit from my best friend and a week of catching up on piles of life and work, I guess it all pencils out. In some ways, the trip feels like a distant exotic dream at this point, but every time I burn one of my treasured Balinese incense sticks, I am magically transported right back to my tiny beloved island on the other side of the world. Swoon.

Uniquity + the Declaration of YOU!

After a pretty major spin around the world (aka: my trip to Bali), I am now cozied back up in my Portland studio — favorite mug in hand, favorite tunes playing on my ipad and an epic amount of stories and thoughts to share…soon. As I allow my experiences in Bali to sink in a little more deeply, I want to take a minute to share with you a very special book.

The Declaration of You!, is written by two superstar ladies (and lovely friends of mine), Jessica Swift and Michelle Ward. I’m really proud of them for putting together such a beautiful and important book, because it dives right into the heart of a conversation I seem to be having so much lately. It’s that one about…

Blooming flowers + blooming true (E-Course giveaway!)

Hi ya’ll. Thought I’d share a little eye candy with you today. I seriously cannot get enough of the magical blooming flowers in Portland these day. The latest gorgeousness courtesy of POPPIES and IRISES. Thank you nature for all the inspiration!

Vulnerability—the new “keeping it cool”

Hi ya’ll. Look at me…writing a post AFTER the 30-Day Love Affair is over! It’s true. I feel I have officially transformed my relationship with this lovely blog. Dreading my “blog homework” has now been replaced by thoughts like, “Write a blog? Sure. Totally. Why not? No big deal. Sounds fun.” So, that said, I’m officially popping in to say hello and to thank you for your ah-MAZE-ing comments in response to my last post about my name change. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend reading the comments—so moving and inspiring. Reading your comments reminded me why…

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #30 Whohoo!

Do you have a cup of tea? You might want one for this post…it’s a bit of journey in and of itself. I promised I would go out with a bang, so here goes. May I present…the never before told story of my most daring and life-changing act to date…

The story of changing my name.

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #29!

Yowza, Day #29, ey? I have to admit that all day I’ve been a little stressed about what I would write today. The “second to last day” of this month-long experiement seems like some kind of big deal that deserves some kind of amazingness. I even considered making a little video for you to really prove how brave I am (ha ha), but after investigating iMovie for about ten minutes, I gave up. My truth tonight is that I’m tired, my hair looks like shit, I’ve been on my computer waaaaay too long already today and I’m definitely not feeling very inspired or inspiring. Huh, I think my shoulders just dropped about two inches after I typed that. The honest truth will do that to you 🙂

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #28!

I realize this might verge on giving away the ending of a book, but I am going to risk it and share with you the list of “friendly reminders” I offer on the final day of my online course. I hope you find these reminders helpful, and if they leave you craving more elaboration, my next online course starts in one month. I would love for you to join me on the adventure!

I also want to share with you a few of my latest paintings in progress…

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #27!

For my entire adult life, I have lived communally (yep, like a true hippie) among diverse and wonderfully inspiring groups of creative folks. Over the past four years, I’ve lived with a mandolin player, a photographer/videgrapher, a raw pie maker, a bike shop owner, a massage therapist/gardener and a shaman-in-training. Our house is now famous for it’s house concerts, potlucks, art nights and backyard sauna parties. We have 15 bikes parked under our hand-built bike storage area right next to our front yard food garden. We don’t have chickens anymore, but all our neighbors do, so the air is still filled with the sound of clucking. Basically, we are our own little Portlandia episode around here everyday.

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #26!

It’s ‘Sweet Reminders Friday’ brought to you by two of my favorite wisdom keepers…

All the possibilities of your human destiny are asleep in your soul. You are here to realize and honor these possibilities. When love comes in to your life, unrecognized dimensions of your destiny awaken and blossom and grow. Possibility is the secret heart of time.— John O’Donohue from Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #25!

We have an event here in Portland called the Last Thursday Art Walk. It started fourteen years ago as a sort of the rebel offspring of the First Thursday Art Walk held in the downtown galleries. It is truly a renegade DIY event in every aspect of the word—equal parts carnival, garage sale, art fair, burning man, protest, karaoke, dance party, art experiment, parade, ______.

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #24!

ou asked for crush details, so I’m going to be brave and spill the beans…at least a few beans for now.

If you have been following along in my world at all, you have probably noticed that I never, like ever, talk about my romantic life. In fact, up until this lil’ blog experiment, I’ve talked very little about my personal life off the canvas, AT ALL. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that I have a story about keeping things private online which is really interesting because I’m really quite the open book in real life. The other reason is that I’m totally scared I might jinx a good thing.

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #23!

It’s crazy beautiful today in Portland and my spirits are flying high. I spent the day doing exactly what I love to do: painting and connecting with awesome people. My friend and peer, Rachael Rice (aka the Cosmic American) came over for a painting date. We rolled out a big drop cloth, flung open the studio door, cut up some potato stamps and went to town. Our conversations drifted between blogging, boys, current inspirations and our mutual love for fluorescent pink. Rachael is a new friend but hanging with her is always super effortless and inspiring—exactly what I’m welcoming into my life these days.

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #22!

Today is Day #22 which means I’ve now written 21 blog posts in a row. Wow. What an interesting journey of the soul this has been! I was telling a friend of mine a little bit about the process today and he mentioned that it is supposed to take 21 days to create a new habit. Aha! This totally resonated with me because I can honestly say I feel like writing this daily post has officially become a part of my everyday experience. It is no longer “something I think I should do.” Instead, it is “something I actually do”—everyday. In other words…

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #21!

After yesterday’s thoughts on how I find inspiration directly from the creative process and taking risks, I thought I would give a nod to some of my more obvious sources of inspiration today. Although I find plenty of inspiration from things like textiles, graffiti, shamanism, tribal patterns, personal transformation and music (hmm, that sounds like…

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #20!

There’s a question that seems to come up in every single interview I do. It’s the “Where do you find inspiration?” question. It’s easy to answer this question with the obvious: nature, color, form, movement, trips to the woods, looking at other people’s art, etc. But, when I really get to the heart of…

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day 19!

Hi ya’ll. I thought I would allow myself to do a little *shining* today and share with you my feature in the most recent Where Women Create Magazine. To say I feel honored to be included in this publication would be a serious understatement. A more accurate description of my feelings would be something…

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #18!

Woah. This week has been so weird. Everyday has turned out to be so different than I expected. Another way to say that would be: I cannot seem to get anything done! All week, I have been battling my own procrastination monsters, along with what seems like a constant string of interruptions (some created by…

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #17!

Yesterday was my sister’s birthday and this is my Ode to her. Erin is three and a half years older than me and lives with her husband, Jeremy (he is an amazing painter…check him out!) in Minneapolis, MN. There are a few words that definitely come to mind when I think of my sis: smart,…

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #16!

After the heaviness of yesterday’s news, I’m going to keep today’s post pretty and sweet by sharing a few photos I took today on my annual trip to visit the blooming magnolia trees in Hoyt Arboretum. There is a very special window of time when the entire grove of magnolia trees is exploding with pink…

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day 15!

I spent a decent amount of time this morning thinking about happiness, contentment and connection. I was pondering how to cultivate them, how to recognize them and how to maintain them. And, then I heard the news. Another bombing and this time at a freaking MARATHON, a place where people come together to express their…

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #14!

I mentioned a couple days ago that one of my words for 2013 was EASE. Since I can never seem to settle on just one “word of the year,” I thought I would share my other word with you today… COLLABORATION Why collaboration? Well, ya see, I’m kinda tired of doing…

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #13!

I’ve been thinking a lot about DREAMS lately…not so much the kind I have in my sleep (although that might be a whole different post..woah). I’m talking about the kind of dreams I have in my waking hours. “Daydreams” if you will, but not the kind of daydreams I have while I’m staring off into…

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #12!

Spring has definitely SPRUNG here in Portland and it’s all I can do to not drool all over the amazing flowers blooming everywhere. I rode my bike across town today listening to Sigur Ros on my headphones, allowing my intuition to lead the way. I have an exercise on my online course called, “Intuitive Wandering” that is all about wandering (walking, biking, even driving) without a plan.

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #11!

Truth be told, I’m not really in the mood to blog today. There, I said it. So, I’m going to take the road of EASE (one of my words of the year), and simply link right on over to another blog. Shazam! So easy. I’m actually really happy to…

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #10!

As I type this, my friend Tara is across the street on a massage table receiving an hour of healing energy work from one of my healer angels, Mandy. I gifted this session to Tara because I believe so much in this work and there is nothing I would rather give…

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #9!

I woke up yesterday to a text message from one of my oldest and dearest friends who lives in Boston. It read, “Can I come visit you…like tomorrow?” I would be lying if I said this was totally out of the blue, as we’ve been hoping to make this visit happen for awhile now, but WOW, it was suddenly happening…like tomorrow, which is now…like today. Of course my answer was a resounding, “YES!” and in about three hours, I’ll be on my way to the airport to pick Tara up.

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #8!

The image above is just a small bit of a painting that I’m working on right now, but I decided to post it on Instagram last night with the caption, “Digging more quiet space in my paintings these days…perhaps a reflection of what’s goin on inside? Probably so.”

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #7!

I’m reading two books right now that are totally rocking my world, and I’d love to share a snippet from each book. Both these passages stopped me in my tracks while I declared something like, “ooooh yeeaaaah…that’s good” to the quiet space around me.

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #6!

Well, well, well…what do you know? Seems the topic of shining and celebrating (ala yesterday’s post) was a topic many of you could relate to. It was awesome to read all your supportive comments and it got me thinking about this SHIFT that appears to be happening.

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #5

Oh my. This has been a seriously exciting day. Two pretty major things happened today, both in the category of “dreams coming true” kinda stuff. Interestingly, I’ve been feeling this low grade stress (beneath all the happiness, that is) regarding how to share all this goodness without sounding “braggy” or “too happy.” Blah. blah. blah. …

30-Day Blog Love Affair:: Day #4

Today’s post will be short and sweet—just a little peak into the current state of affairs in my studio. There’s a lot going on in here! I’m experiencing one of those rare and precious periods of time when my inspiration is flowing effortlessly and everything that is emerging on my canvas feels new and exciting.

30-Day Blog Love Affair::Day #3!

Wow. Can I just say how much I am seriously falling in love with my blog…it’ true! I’m actually a bit floored by how EASY this is feeling, and not just easy, but exciting and soul-filling…like I’m looking forward to writing everyday. What a turn-around.