The Clean Rinse by Naomi Shihab Nye

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Hawaii, Naomi Shihab Nye, photograph, poetry, quotes, The Clean Rinse

I read this poem today. I really love it. I hope you enjoy it too.

Prompt Stomp: Lights

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Boston, Cee's Photo Challenge, Christmas lights, dahlia, Delight, gratitude, Hawaii, Light, photography, photos, Sunset

“I want to see 3-5 photos, showing us what lights up your life.” This is the challenge from The Hood: MLJ Photos. Cee was participating and inspired me to join this challenge.

I struggle with depression and the darkness of December in Wisconsin can be a challenge of a different kind. Last winter I stumbled across the idea of looking for delight in the light to be found in this darkness. Of course the light of my life is captured in this fun holiday light extravaganza and is the perfect place to start this journey.

We are not big on decorating our house with a lot of Christmas lights, but for the past few years we have gone to these outdoor lights festivals as part of our holiday celebrating. I have enjoyed playing around with trying to capture the lights and with getting interesting effects with photography of lights while on a horse-drawn carriage ride.

If you have been following my blog for any length of time you know that I love flowers. I paint them, doodle them and photograph them. I am learning that natural lighting can be such an asset and can be the upside of insomnia. Now when I can’t sleep on a weekend morning I wake up my husband and we jump in the car to get some early morning photos of beautiful place. I love the earth sculpture labyrinth that was home to this dewy blossom.

My younger son is going to college in Boston. The first time we went there with him I fell in love with a lot of the architecture. The library had such fabulous ironwork and I particularly loved these light fixtures.

On that same trip I took a self-portrait that I was quite happy with and it involved the light fixture in the beautiful old hotel we were staying in.

Last winter I was so very fortunate to go to Hawaii to see one of my good friends get married. The light in Hawaii was so lovely. I could post 20 photos of it to demonstrate it, however given the limits of this challenge I will only post this one. We were watching for the green flash as the sun went down. I didn’t see it, but certainly enjoyed the time to focus on the sunset. That was one of the things that I really loved. Every night crowds of people stop to watch the sun set. That doesn’t happen in small town Wisconsin. Aloha.

What brings you delight? I hope you have a beautiful day.

Hamsters, Hawaii, and Zentangled Flowers

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100 Mandalas, flowers, hamster, Hawaii, Mandala, red, zentangle, ZIA

Here is some miscellaneous art I have just completed. I will update my gratitude journal tomorrow. I started the painting of the flowers during a fun painting class on Friday evening. I had the idea of Zentangling the center flower and finished it this morning. I was inspired by the Diva’s (Not) Challenge this week and the design for the flowers came together quickly inspired by that prompt. The prompt is based on the current Zentangle newsletter from Rick and Maria. They each have their own style of the tangle pattern flux and I used a little of each in this Zentangle Inspired Art.

This mandala came from a silly series of facebook posts. The Hamsters and Hawaii Mandala.

For more from the Diva’s Zentangle Challenge see

Hawaiian (Aroma)therapy and Wedding Mandalas

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100 Mandalas, altered art book, aromatherapy, art journal, bride, collage, flowers, gratitude, gratitude journal, Hawaii, palm tree, watercolor

So here is a mandala created from a amalgamation of a whole bunch of ephemera from my trip to Hawaii.  The facing page is a copy of the mandala I created as part of my wedding gift to my friends who got married superimposed over a photo of a banyan tree that I journaled on and a photograph from the sunset my first night in Hawaii.

Here is a closeup of the wedding mandala

The theme for week 8 of the Journal 52 Challenge is Aromatherapy. Hawaii is all kinds of therapy. The fresh sea air disguises the fact that you are in a large city. There are flowers and green growing things everywhere. Coming from a place of -10′ to this island paradise is such a relief to the entire body, not just the nose. Seeing great old friends and making wonderful new friends is balm for the soul. Taking hundreds of lovely photographs and collecting lots of fun ephemera is fuel for the creative generators! One day I sat at a picnic table on the beach and painted a palm tree while enjoying the sights and sounds of the park around me. Later I journaled on the page. The facing page is composed of some of the flower photos I took and photos of the lovely bride I went to see. She really rocked that dress. The blue hexagons are from a journal page that I painted and then cut out different sized hexagons to carry the same color scheme from the facing page. Here is a closeup of the bride mandala

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to go to Hawaii. I’m grateful to my friends, Anne and John for inviting me to their wedding there and providing me the impetus to go. I’m grateful to my husband who delivered me to the airport (more or less) and made it possible for me to escape grown up life for a few days. And I’m grateful to the hundreds of people who work in the airports, hotels, shops and restaurants, ect. that provided me with everything I needed. I am so blessed. What sources of therapy do you have in your life? My cats, art, friends, family, books, and therapist provide me with all kinds of therapy when I’m not running off to distant islands. What about you?

Cee’s Which Way Photo Challenge Hawaii Edition

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Buddhist Temple, Cee's Photo Challenge, Hawaii, photography, Sunset, Surfer

Aloha! I’m back! I haven’t sorted all of my photos yet, but here are a few I took with this challenge in mind!

I got some nice sailboat and sunset pictures, but the paddle board seemed the even more idyllic mode of travel.

Wave and sunset with sailboats and surfer

The path to the top of  Diamond Head – see the tiny people?

Honolulu street

Haiku Road – how poetic! The funny thing was, we had just been talking about Haikus and there it was!

Byodo-In Temple  – I’m so glad I made it here!

Mahalo!