The theme was Proportion and in contrast to last week’s Origin theme we were once again asked to think bigger and think about wishing for something to happen in our lives and how our ‘believing mirrors’ can both help and support us in our artistic journey. In pairs we discussed the questions that Julia Cameron poses about our childhood background and whether we had or didn’t have parental and family support for any artistic aspirations. We were asked to think about any early artistic interests that were shelved or discarded perhaps reluctantly.
As always, there is just never enough time but as I told the minister in consideration to the tai chi people who follow us at 1 p.m. I was more conscious of the time factor and stayed ON the clock still allowing some time to have a bit of cut and paste play time making or just starting an Artist Trading Cards. Some participants made a card in the about 15 minutes alloted and some had a do-able make and take project to take home with them. In Mexico, when my group met right in my living dining room I had my dining room table all set up for weekly art/play time which sometimes lasted the rest of the afternoon after the 12 to 2 session.
In any case, because of the off site location I told the participants that I would offer an optional 50 peso (approximately two twonies/4.) OR bring an art supply to share Friday drop in Artist Trading Card drop in workshop at my residence in South Nanaimo. I hosted these drop in workshops in my apartment in Ajijic where we had lots of fun and laughs. I supplied coffee, tea and snacks and sometimes we went for lunch or dinner afterwards.
In terms of the weekly format approximately half the session is the check in time telling the group their very personal and individual experience with the three basic Artist Way Tools of Morning Pages, an Artist Date and an Artist Walk. I shared my Osho cards so we picked a card with a word that miraculously matched our state of mind or reminded us about one of our current life issues or whatever. So even though the check in is a constant anything can and sporadically does happen which might make the thematic part of the session shorter or adapted.
Since I built in some brief ATC making time I condensed and shortened two of the three tasks from the chapter to fit the time constraints. NEXT week, after a brief inspiration card sharing we will flip the order of the last two weeks and start with the them of Perspective so that we can give it our full attention and thoughtful consideration.
And finally, you can look forward to getting the disposable fountain pen that I told everyone I would include with the course. Personally I just love these pens, love to write with them and somehow the words just flow better. I had thought I needed to make a trip to Victoria to Opus Art Supply store (which is kind of a finanacially dangerous place haha) but lo and behold Bic has come out with a disposable fountain pen and it is available at Staples. So you will get your first disposable fountain pen as promised and you can use it or not…but do try it out and see if it makes a difference in the flow of the morning pages.
It does for me but I’m kind of a retrogrrl and this kind of pen reminds me of first learning cursive writing in school which in those long ago days was actually carefully taught and graded. In fact, I loved cursive writing so much I think I entered my handwriting in some competitions winning some ribbons or something like that. However, looking at my handwriting these days you absolutely would not believe this. When I had to teach handwriting to Grade 3s in my ‘previous life’ I had to really reteach the proper stokes myself first.
Well, perhaps I’ll post some additional content tomorrow after church but for now a Quentin Tarantino movie awaits from THE number one video store in Nanaimo conveniently located close to my suite called Film Buff Video owned by Clinton who goes to TIFF/Toronto Film Festival each and every year and lives, breathes, sleeps movies and is a bottomless well of movie info both serious and behind the scenes trivial. And his memory! He can quote movie lines from movies he’s seen years ago even the more obscure ones. IF you still like video stores and are mourning their ‘drive in’ like disappearance do stop in at Film Buff Video on Tenth Street at South Gate Plaza South conveniently located right beside Serious Coffee.
And speaking of which here is my Artist Date for the week. I usually have more than one but it bears noting that Serious Coffee has live music on Fridays and Saturdays from about 5:30 p.m. until about 8 o’clock and since I was accidentally in there checking my email on my smartphone I hung around for a bit. Excellent band with a wide repertoire was playing to a smallish but appreciative crowd of locals from the ‘hood. Well worth checking out on subsequent weeks when I am at loose ends and feel like a no cover music venue. I simply must add before I sign off for now that I am quite impressed with the live music scene here in Nanaimo!
Hasta domingo/Until Sunday…
Joanne
Nanaimo Artist Way Group Blog 