by Kathleen O'Brien | Aug 9, 2015 | 4 seasons
Harvest Days, Doodle Days
For fun I am doing Mountain Mermaid Studio’s Doodle Days. I love it because it takes hardly any time and it allows me to reflect on the highlights of a day, at the end of the day. She provides the templates for us to draw within. Printing them out on HP premium presentation paper is a good support for the Caran d’Ache luminance pencils that I have mostly used in these first few days of the project. Starting to post early in the month, I’m adding the pages till the end. (more…)
by Kathleen O'Brien | Jul 29, 2015 | 4 seasons, art shows, studio updates, talismans, works in progress
Celebrating Mid-Summer, Studio Update
Now that the mad garden rush is settling down to merely processing tomatoes (the good news and the bad news) much new activity is going on in the studio.
Thank you St. Joseph East Hospital for promoting this philosophy; “Art has the power to heal the world through the eyes of the heart.” Through a recent call for art, they purchased my Song for Superb Parrot to display for patients and their families. It will be displayed in a public area to promote a calming and healing environment. It fulfills my mission as an artist for my work to be experienced in a place that brings a bit of cheer to people who are suffering. (more…)
by Kathleen O'Brien | Jul 8, 2015 | 4 seasons
Making Flower Essences Begins August 7
‘Tis the flower season to be jolly about engaging in friendship with flowers of many sorts, wild and cultivated. By caring for flowers and plants we can develop a sensitivity to communicating similar to our treasured friendships, a pleasant giving and receiving. The nature spirit residing in flowers has much to share to with us to support growth on spiritual, emotional and mental levels, we need only to listen (in our Heart Chakra) and follow through. And there is much we can give back to the flowers – what is your gift to the earth? I have enjoyed teaching Making Flower Essences since 1991, and will present this summers’ installment as a Sunwise Celebrations. (more…)
by Kathleen O'Brien | Jun 27, 2015 | 4 seasons, inspiration, mediums
Summer Sojourning
Summer is here, a time of minimal online interaction because so much is calling me elsewhere. It is a time of external growth in the garden and internal slowing down long enough to allow new ideas to steer my direction. I have joined Cigdem Kobu’s Summer Sojourn, Slow Down and Get Spacious, a 21-day virtual retreat that guides you to slow down, feel grounded and recharge. Based on benefits from her programs, like the Winter Joy Retreat and as member of Progress Lounge, I look forward to allowing creativity to percolate in expanded ways. (more…)
by Kathleen O'Brien | Jun 10, 2015 | 4 seasons, works in progress
Spring Lineup of Art in the Garden
Most creative efforts for about six weeks have been in the garden. Like most people, I adore flowers, food for the soul. We also grow food for the body. We get so excited when we see the first flowers, daffodils. When they fade my sadness is brief, as the next and the next show up attracting our and the bees’ attention. I can’t help but photograph them to share their beauty with you. (more…)
by Kathleen O'Brien | May 27, 2015 | 4 seasons, artists, videos
Looking Back on Lilac Time
The cloud people were so generous with their raindrops this spring that the lilacs responded in multitudinous wonder at Sunwise Farm and Sanctuary. All I could do was sit next to a bunch and breathe. To date it is the most uplifted I have felt from “my” land. All I could think of was to call my friends and coax them out of their frenzy to take have an afternoon tea next to the west porch hedge. Or lie with the blossoms that were draped over the hammock. (more…)
by Kathleen O'Brien | Apr 29, 2015 | 4 seasons, artists, studio updates
Celebrating Mid-Spring, Beltain, Studio Update
It is hard to believe we have arrived at the mid point of Spring, for many of us the sweetest most favorite evening of the year tomorrow, May Eve, Beltain, and the beginning of the light half of the year. It is a joyful time to give a surprise bouquet to loved ones. This lilac picture is my bouquet for you. And click here for a video, Full Circle Tour of Lilac Lane April 20, 2015 Sunwise Farm & Sanctuary. It is kind of long, but we just couldn’t stop filming the thousands of blossoms exuding their fragrant invitation to linger and love the sight of them along with the innocent sound of birdsong. Perhaps in our life time someone will invent a way to layer the sense of smell onto the visual, audio levels.
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by Kathleen O'Brien | Apr 22, 2015 | 4 seasons, Art Farms, inspiration
Finding Purpose
guest post~by Fox Hutt
Over the years the first person I think of to call with gardening question that will be answered from a holistic perspective is Fox Hutt. She kindly shares some of her philosophy here, and in a few weeks at the next Sunwise Celebrations event “Spiritual Gardening”.
“You and your purpose in life are the same thing. Your purpose is to be you.”
~George Alexiou
Being of like mind with Mr. Alexiou, I am glad that a good share of my purpose in this incarnation is being “me” while in my garden. A lovely rain shower just brought me in from my flowers and vegetables where I once again felt that wonderful deep sigh, that release that comes when I stand up from my work and look across my garden and pond at the radiant vital beauty around me, and know Satchitananda, which, in Sanskrit means “Awareness of Being is Bliss.” (more…)
by Kathleen O'Brien | Apr 15, 2015 | 4 seasons
You Are Welcome to Visit the Elemental Shrines During Sunwise Celebrations
For each of the four seasons we invite you to celebrate the essence of the season, Sunwise Celebrations, with an event that will inspire a deeper connection with the earth and your creativity. Last winter we dedicated shrines to each of the four elements as places for contemplation. The winter was long, but quite beautiful for photographing them. (more…)
by Kathleen O'Brien | Apr 1, 2015 | 4 seasons, art shows, talismans
In the Talismans exhibit, there are four gourd rattles for shamanic journey work. This Saturday I am bringing some rattles from my collection to the gallery to show you. Rattles are an ancient healing instrument used to clear energy in a space or around a person’s body. The sound inside the gourd imitates the sound of rain, a cleansing element. Other materials are sometimes used in making rattles, like rawhide and turtle shells. Traditionally they are associated with the season winter, and the direction north. (more…)
