Here is the crow feather which I found Sunday. I was able to add it to the frame of an art piece (an ATC or Artist Trading Card) given to me by my friend Tracie. The artist, Marzanyta Gerwoloyeva, is Russian. The title of the drawing is "Please Don't Speak".

Perfect.

I am still working on my art journal and will post some soon...maybe this morning.

Meanwhile, please visit my daughter's blog for a look at my grandchildren flying home during the Inaugaration. [Scroll down on her post below the rice pudding!]

Also, please be kind and leave a comment for her!

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I have just posted some art journal pages here.

A sunny Sunday! Hanging out in our town....

Having lots of "good" energy this morning, we attended some church services....

Before heading to our award winning library (photo above) in the early afternoon, we walked around a local park. Many people were out walking and walking their dogs, others were playing tennis or shooting basketballs! It is almost a mile if you walk the trail around the park...being winter, the flower beds are mostly resting....we saw some nandina, some ferns. One end of the park has a spring and a "castle" of fantasy shapes for children to climb on....it was designed by local artist Frank Williams.

In a few months, the bare trees will come to life with white blossoms and the flower beds will bloom again....all with the help of our wonderful city parks crew!

As we reached our car, I looked down and found a crow feather right in my path...I considered that to be a good omen for my creative spirit. [Yes, I will be doing pages in my art journal before the day ends!!!]

Off to Cut and Paste and draw and paint now.....that is after we have our spagetti and salad for supper.
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I want to thank Julie (Celtic Lady) for giving me a special award.....and once I have some art journal pages to post, I will post the award also!!! Thanks, Julie!

One way to find JOY....

do some collage art!*

I love this lady's smile!!!! ...... the crow is the Native American totem for my birth month.

Oranges, browns and blacks hold this all together. The art quilt designed by Susie Swan, is from a Matisse called "The Amber Necklace". Her quilts were featured in a recent Home Companion Magazine.

On the flip side of the quilt is a guide to doing a deep and healing "inner" smile from yogo teacher Lilias Folan. [ I remember the wise man in Bali telling the heroine of "Eat, Pray, Love" that the secret of meditation was easy, it was to "smile"...."smile with your liver", he said.]

* Just before bed last night I picked up a book I read from once in a while, "Spiritual Housecleaning" by Kathryn L Robyn. (subtitled, "Healing the Space Within by Beautifying the Space Around You"). The page I opened to (without "thinking") was a section called, "Alone, Not Lonely: Solitude".

She talked about spending quiet time on READING....literary novels which will help "grow" your
heart...not newspapers and magazines, technical manuals or professional journals. She also said,
"People used to make art to call upon the sacred self...Sitting alone, or even quietly in a group, carving, sculpting, painting, sewing, weaving, quilting, etc., is often the best way to take yourself to the inner place of connection.......try making a collage, cut out pictures that represent who you are deep inside. Or who you once were or dream of yet becoming. Glue them on a sheet of poster board and hang it in your bedroom. Rekindle your sacred spark!"

That was synchronicity for me! I had thought the book would say something like, "clean out the basement", organize your linen closet... ( she does indeed cover these things in the book and goes much deeper into the depths of cleaning than most of us are aware of! LOL!) but the page that opened for me last night said to make collages! So I am affirmed in my cut and paste journey!