HEY, FLORA! WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO YOUNG ARTISTS?
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.
During one recent conversations about what really matters in life, I found myself talking about letter writing. I was wistfully lamenting the lost art of the handwritten letter, or any letter that ends up in an actual mailbox for that matter. I used to love sitting down to write heartfelt letters and like everyone, I love receiving letters. However, I honestly can’t remember the last time I wrote a real letter…until this morning. Enter in my latest brain child:
Heart to Hand: a Love Letter Project
I’ll admit, I have a thing for projects that are contained within time frames. Likely due to my wildly unpredictable schedule and lifestyle, I enjoy building myself walls to operate inside of…for awhile. I think they make setting myself free again that much sweeter.
For example, when I first moved to Portland, I created, “The Thirty Shows.” I asked 30 artists to create 30 paintings in 30 days. We sold each painting for 30 bucks to raise money for some groovy causes, and the whole thing was a huge success. Last April, I embarked on my “Thirty Day Blog Love Affair” writing a blog everyday for a month in order to kick start my relationship to blogging again. Also…a winner.
This time around, it’s all about letter writing which also happens to be all about slowing down, mindfulness and gratitude. So, for each day of December, I will write a hand-written letter to someone I love. I have no list of people in mind to receive these letters. Instead, I plan to sit down everyday, meditate for a few minutes and allow someone I love to float into my heart and mind. Today’s first letter was written to one of my dearest friends and teachers who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Spending an hour writing a letter to express my gratitude and love for this friend was so healing. I’m already looking forward to tomorrow’s letter!
If you are feeling inspired, I would love to have you join me in this project. Whether it’s a month of letters or just a few, let’s all take some time to sit down, slow down and express our love and gratitude to the people who mean the most to us. I’m pretty sure this is a REALLY good way to spend some time. If you join in the project and do any posting about it, let’s use the hashtag: #hearttohand. It will be fun to see everyone’s pics in one place.
And, if writing on something really pretty will help the words to flow, I just so happen to have some lovely new holiday cards created by Papaya Art for all your letter writing needs. All these cards and, well, EVERYTHING in my online store is 20% off until tomorrow at midnight, PST. Just use the coupon code: GRATEFUL4U to receive your discount. Cheers!
Happy writing. Happy loving. Happy slowing down!
xo flora
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I love your idea of handwritten letters! I too used to write a lot and loved receiving also……but have not mailed a written letter in A LONG TIME. Too Long. So…….. I will also attempt this with you. Thanks for the inspiration!
Lov to you,
Judy (“Jude”) Groves
I love your idea of handwritten letters! I too used to write a lot and loved receiving also……but have not mailed a written letter in A LONG TIME. Too Long. So…….. I will also attempt this with you. Thanks for the inspiration!
Lov to you,
Judy (“Jude”) Groves
I know I will not be able to write a letter everyday, but I am going to try to do as many as possible during the month of December. Count me in.
I know I will not be able to write a letter everyday, but I am going to try to do as many as possible during the month of December. Count me in.
I love this idea ♥♥♥ I will do my best to do it every day….it will be a struggle but I’ll try hard.
I love this idea ♥♥♥ I will do my best to do it every day….it will be a struggle but I’ll try hard.
I’m in! Thanks for the prompt Flora! I am a huge fan of snail mail and all the beautiful accoutrements that go along with letter writing – crisp, brightly coloured envelopes, pretty stamps. Your cards will be on my wish list.
I’m in! Thanks for the prompt Flora! I am a huge fan of snail mail and all the beautiful accoutrements that go along with letter writing – crisp, brightly coloured envelopes, pretty stamps. Your cards will be on my wish list.
A project after my own heart. Yes, if like to joking in! I’ve been contemplating just such a project, myself for months now. I adore handwritten communications and little surprise care packages in the mailbox. These were regular occurrences among my friends and I not all that long ago and I am missing those days sorely. So glad I happened upon your Instagram post on this tonight! Also, I, too, have a thing for time-sensitive projects (I guess forms it’s because I have a strong tendency to procrastinate and I find these projects, especially when committed to in public, very helpful in keeping motivated. I’ve got several in process, or in the works, right now – for instance my A-Book-a-Week project (in hopes of it helping me get through the too-many books I’ve amassed in my bookshelves. Lol! I’ve also got one-thing-that-scares-me-a-month planned for 2014. It just makes things more fun to make them into game or experiments!
A project after my own heart. Yes, if like to joking in! I’ve been contemplating just such a project, myself for months now. I adore handwritten communications and little surprise care packages in the mailbox. These were regular occurrences among my friends and I not all that long ago and I am missing those days sorely. So glad I happened upon your Instagram post on this tonight! Also, I, too, have a thing for time-sensitive projects (I guess forms it’s because I have a strong tendency to procrastinate and I find these projects, especially when committed to in public, very helpful in keeping motivated. I’ve got several in process, or in the works, right now – for instance my A-Book-a-Week project (in hopes of it helping me get through the too-many books I’ve amassed in my bookshelves. Lol! I’ve also got one-thing-that-scares-me-a-month planned for 2014. It just makes things more fun to make them into game or experiments!
Jesus, there are so many typos thanks to iPhone’s ridiculous autocorrect. And I was going over as I typed, making sure all was Kosher, but it all went awry after I pressed “post comment.” I sure hope you can decipher what meant to write!
Jesus, there are so many typos thanks to iPhone’s ridiculous autocorrect. And I was going over as I typed, making sure all was Kosher, but it all went awry after I pressed “post comment.” I sure hope you can decipher what meant to write!
Hi Flora, after discovering you I was inspired to begin a 30 day project of little pictures. Just very simple ones! I like the idea of practicing something over and over to see where it leads. So thank you for the inspiration and I’m interested to hear more how the letter writing goes. Enjoy X
Hi Flora, after discovering you I was inspired to begin a 30 day project of little pictures. Just very simple ones! I like the idea of practicing something over and over to see where it leads. So thank you for the inspiration and I’m interested to hear more how the letter writing goes. Enjoy X
Several months ago, the same thing occurred to me. I was talking to a friend about how I could open a box in the attic and know instantly what friend had written which letter by her handwriting. So I wrote to my oldest friend, pages and pages on pretty stationery, and she immediately wrote back within days. We’d been really out of touch, but amazingly she had purchased a card for me the day b/4 she opened her mailbox to find my letter. Talk about being connected! I even have old love letters that can transport me to another time. I carry around one sweet note my husband wrote to me in my purse. And when my mom passed, my dad and I were going through boxes and found dozens of cards they’d given to each other – incredible cards from the 50’s for their anniversaries, etc. The letters from my dad to me in college on yellow legal paper with his familiar chicken scratch, always ending with “Love, Dad” remain close to my heart now that he is gone as well. I strongly encourage everyone (myself included!) to continue to spread our handwriting across the universe so that we may make our marks known. Little works of expressive art.
Several months ago, the same thing occurred to me. I was talking to a friend about how I could open a box in the attic and know instantly what friend had written which letter by her handwriting. So I wrote to my oldest friend, pages and pages on pretty stationery, and she immediately wrote back within days. We’d been really out of touch, but amazingly she had purchased a card for me the day b/4 she opened her mailbox to find my letter. Talk about being connected! I even have old love letters that can transport me to another time. I carry around one sweet note my husband wrote to me in my purse. And when my mom passed, my dad and I were going through boxes and found dozens of cards they’d given to each other – incredible cards from the 50’s for their anniversaries, etc. The letters from my dad to me in college on yellow legal paper with his familiar chicken scratch, always ending with “Love, Dad” remain close to my heart now that he is gone as well. I strongly encourage everyone (myself included!) to continue to spread our handwriting across the universe so that we may make our marks known. Little works of expressive art.
I love this idea!
I love this idea!
I love your letter writing idea. I am late to the project, and I can’t promise to write a letter every day, but I will write as many as I can. Your “project” ideas are so awesome. Thank you! Blessings and love, lydia
I love your letter writing idea. I am late to the project, and I can’t promise to write a letter every day, but I will write as many as I can. Your “project” ideas are so awesome. Thank you! Blessings and love, lydia
Hi Flora, I’m in. I have been loving this project. I feels really good to connect in this personal way and it is wonderful to bring pen to paper again. Thanks for the nudge xo
Hi Flora, I’m in. I have been loving this project. I feels really good to connect in this personal way and it is wonderful to bring pen to paper again. Thanks for the nudge xo
What a great idea! I’m sure your loved ones will be so excited to receive your letters!
What a great idea! I’m sure your loved ones will be so excited to receive your letters!
LOVE the idea. I am such a horrible speller and my grammar is not much better. Used to write my letters on notebook paper then revise them only to be just ok. Lot of work for just OK. Thats why I LOVE BEAUTIFUL cards then I just have to edit what I put inside them. NOT a talented writer. (Had 4 mispelled words in this comment. AND that did NOT include the word(S) mispelled.)
LOVE the idea. I am such a horrible speller and my grammar is not much better. Used to write my letters on notebook paper then revise them only to be just ok. Lot of work for just OK. Thats why I LOVE BEAUTIFUL cards then I just have to edit what I put inside them. NOT a talented writer. (Had 4 mispelled words in this comment. AND that did NOT include the word(S) mispelled.)