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…
DetailsHi 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?
DetailsOne 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.]
DetailsAs 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.
DetailsThis 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.
DetailsI’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).
DetailsI’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).
DetailsI 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.
DetailsAfter 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…
DetailsHi 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!
DetailsHi 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…
DetailsDo 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.
DetailsYowza, 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 🙂
DetailsI 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…
DetailsFor 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.
DetailsIt’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
DetailsWe 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, ______.
Detailsou 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.
DetailsIt’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.
DetailsToday 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…
DetailsAfter 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…
DetailsThere’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…
DetailsHi 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…
DetailsWoah. 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…
DetailsYesterday 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,…
DetailsAfter 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…
DetailsI 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…
DetailsI 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…
DetailsI’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…
DetailsSpring 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.
DetailsTruth 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…
DetailsAs 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…
DetailsI 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.
DetailsThe 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.”
DetailsI’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.
DetailsWell, 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.
DetailsOh 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. …
DetailsToday’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.
DetailsWow. 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.
DetailsWell hello there and welcome to Day #2 of the Blog Love Affair!! Whahoooo! First of all THANK YOU for all the sweet comments yesterday. I didn’t even consider the ripple effect this little love affair might inspire, but I am so stoked to hear that some of you might join me in re-igniting your blogging relationships.
DetailsI was originally going to call this little experiment my, “30-Day Blog Challenge” but after some consideration, I quickly realized that calling this challenge a challenge would only make it feel, well, more challenging. So, I’m doing what any firm believer in the Law of Attraction would do, and calling it what I hope it will become a good ol’ fashioned love affair.
DetailsBloom True the E-Course starts TOMORROW!
Kick off your year by treating yourself to this very special gift.
Five weeks to tune in, get messy and connect with your true self.
It’s a course about intuitive painting. But it is so much more than that.
Details“This class was just what I needed to get painting again and try acrylics. Flora taught me to see all that is perfect instead of the faults. It’s been so long since I’ve enjoyed painting this much!” Cinda Bauman
Do you want to access your inner creativity, feel more connected to your life and feel confident to express your true self on canvas? Bloom True might just be for you. Take a look at these paintings created by participants of the class
Details“This class brought a whole new level to my artwork. The color, layering and freedom bring pure joy along my artful journey.” Marji Thompson
A lot of people take ‘Bloom True the E-Course’ expecting how to learn how to paint with acrylics. Of course they learn that, but more importantly they learn how to paint like THEM. Like their true selves. And how do they do that? By learning how to tune into their intuition like never before. This course is not just about painting, it is about life, and it is a revelation. Look at the gorgeous images which emerged from class participants. If you want to join us for the next session of this extraordinary class (beginning on January 28), find out more and register here.
Details“My “breakthrough” piece. Happened freely following the images that emerged. I call it Shamanic Dream because it looks like shamanic journeying with dream images.“ Christine Kennedy
Let go. Be bold. Unfold. That’s what the Bloom True class did back in September, and look what beauty emerged.
DetailsWe called it, “Bloom True Moves.” It was an experiment in collaboration. It was new territory. And it was deeply healing. From our opening circle it was obvious that this group of 18 women were ready to step into something new. The feeling in the room was palpable—the feeling was one of readiness.
Details[Image: Zipporah Lomax] Wow, first of all, THANK YOU for all the lovely comments and positve feedback on my last post. It really means so much to feel all the love and support as I lean into my own vulnerabilty more and more. It’s also very motivating for me to keep diving in (to the…
DetailsHi. I'm so glad you are still here even though I've been such a "bad blogger" lately. To be honest, I've had this snarky little voice running through my head whining, "I don't wanna blog. I don't wanna talk about my life online. I only want to ride my bike through Portland's sunshiny streets and…
DetailsAnother batch of paintings and testimonials from my online course. Next course starts on June 11th! "Learned a lot about play,play, play..and let go! That is the right path I would take. My paintings came to the surface float without any effort. Thanks!" Yvon van Bergen -Yvon van Bergen "I work in collage and…
DetailsContinuing to share some of the work produced in my first Bloom True online course. The next course starts in just eight days, and there is still time to join! "Learning Flora's intuitive painting process has been quite profound. It re-connected me to the most important part of my being-my passionate, creative heart. Incredible!" -Loren…
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