I have been feeling entirely overwhelmed ~ but in an entirely good way of course. Since my website popped ‘live’ I have been incredibly moved by the e~mails from everyone regarding my new space for ‘Persisting Stars.” Your heartfelt and generous well wishes came from such an unbidden and generous kindness, it meant more to me than you can imagine. In particular it made me feel so happy for Kerstin as her creative energies have produced such a perfectly perfect ’space’ for my little stars to persist as I settle in with delighted contentment.

Today I wanted to chatter about my new photography e~course I am offering ‘Bones of a Poet ~ and the wonder of seeing.’ This course is a series of five classes specifically designed to help shift your way of seeing the world around you. I designed this course from several years of photography workshops at Emily Carr, and reading countless books of the long list of photographers I admire. It is an odd course in that for the first few lessons you will be engaging in assignments that break photographic rules so that you can ‘closes your eyes in order to see’ so to speak. Every now and then I fall into a bit of a funk and I return time and time again to a variety of these challenges to refresh my eye and remind myself that in order to ’see’ I truly have to get out of my own way. In this course for the most part you will not be capturing beautiful pictures in the usual sense of the word, yet you will dramatically alter your way of seeing and through this experience….stumble upon some happy accidents. I have taught these classes to children in a Fine Arts Program as well as adults in community programs and the course works wonders in a very playful, and at the same time informative way.

Following “Bones of a Poet and the wonder of seeing in Photography’ i will be following up with an e~course very close to my heart “bones of a poet ~ yes!” In my last post I touched on the potent life of art in all it’s forms whether it be photography, writing, music, drama.

Art in all it’s forms of self expression is constant…it is movement…and is, in itself, a living thing ~ and therein lies the possibility.

The image you see in this layout for Life Images Magazine is a photo I actually shot for my private journal. In my journals I quickly discovered the magic of illustrating my thoughts with images from my own imagination. Somehow it seemed to make them burst into life and carry an extra gust of possibility into my words. When the editor of Life Images magazine asked me to write something to go along with this image for their publication I simply sent them along a very similar piece that was in my journal.

Through my illustrative journaling I have learned that you can say ‘yes!’ in your art that quickly turns into a surprising magic to manifest your dreams in your everyday life. And in the the classes ‘bones of a poet ~ yes!’ we will be exploring just that ~ our deepest ‘imaginings’ and finding ways to create images that reflect them. I am very excited about this course as it is a course that encourages you to ’stage’ powerful images that carry beautiful metaphors as seeds for your dreams.

So ~ I am more excited about my new adventure than you can possibly imagine and I promise for the very brave souls who sign up for my ‘first’ course ~ a lot of joy and shared inspiration:)
And if that wasn’t enough I have another surprise up my sleeve but you will have to wait until the weekend for that one:)

have a most beautiful day:)

oh oh oh! One more thing…almost everyone who wrote to me asked that my comments be re~opened pointing out that they loved having the option of sharing thoughts on my posts …so I will very shortly I promise:)

and ... a simply beautiful film