Leanne Shawler, Artist

I finally succumbed and picked up a copy of the Bella Grace magazine , because the photos and art looked so peaceful, so mori girl . A special way to treat myself away from the rush of the day. More than halfway through, I realized something: this magazine, this journal, was bringing grace, beauty and peace into the world. Sure, it occasionally got hung-up on pedicures as being something worth having, but it lingered on summer evenings and sunrises and cups of coffee (or tea). Pauses throughout the day. And then I realized that all these authors were bloggers, like me, living their ordinary lives, but unlike me, actually documenting it.  Yes, in a beautiful Instagram way that I could never match (nor do I want to), but I found myself comparing this blog to their writing, to what I proclaimed back in November : "I am going to be blogging about peace, love, light, joy and transformation, and my struggles to find the same. I figure by sharing struggles and learnin...

My posh "Call the Midwife" look :) I know, I know, I go through periods of posting and then ... crickets. My hope is that I'm about to embark on an extended period of posting. I'm watching CSPAN right now (after watching the House sit-in via my representative's Periscope!) ... and it feels like history (although I've learned that sit-ins have occurred twice before and the Senate filibuster earlier this week was, well, a bust as all the gun control bills were voted down) and while I wasn't intending my first post to get all political, it's what's happening and here we are. But I'm not coming back to write about that. There are things I want to write about and this summer, I hope to start the routine of writing again regularly. I will write about art, theology (of various sorts), and life in general. This has come about because Claudia of Mockingbird Hill Cottage made a remark in a recent post about how much she appreciated her webho...

I've participated in Where Bloggers Create a few times, but not the last few years. If you want to see those, you can click here: in  2009   in its barest of bones (I didn't participate in the blog party, but wanted to show in 2010 how my room, which is a small third bedroom, had looked before.); in  2010  which is like a complete reveal with an additional post on my  homemade hanky curtains ; in  2011  after an overhaul of the closet (the doors fell off); in  201 2, where I decided to show some "for real" pictures. and in 2015 , ditto "for real" pictures I've played with various arts and crafts over the years: jewelry making, psanky, painting bird houses, etc and so forth. And I've settled down to three: art journaling, icon writing, and I'm currently exploring painting large canvas.  I discovered that I didn't have enough space on my desk to art journal (the current one is on the large side) and write an icon. I could set asid...

1. I can still obsess over something.  Like, really obsess, lose all track of time forget to eat obsess. I spent the Memorial Day weekend emptying out most of my art room so I could reorganize the furniture to better do what I now want to do art-wise. The whole weekend, until I nearly dropped with exhaustion and then pushed through it. (I finally stopped Monday afternoon for a shower, movie and dinner out.) I still have some tweaking to do because I ran out of time, so the grand reveal will have to wait. 2. This icon of Mary (follow the link, I couldn't find a public domain image of it) is one of the oldest surviving icons from the 5th century (the 6th century saw iconoclasm and the destruction of icons). Its tradition is that this is the first icon Luke painted. This exact one. Although most date it to the 5th century, the nuns claim it has been carbon dated to 100 AD, give or take. I find her beautiful and haunting and she's going to be the next icon I write...