Mama Gena's School Of Womanly Arts

I am currently reading, Mama Gena's School Of Womanly Arts: Using The Power Of Pleasure To Have Your Way With The World by Regena Thomashauer. This book is new to me. It was suggested by Dr. Christiane Northrup, who I respect and love, so I had to give it a shot. So far it has been a lot of fun to read and I'm glad I bought it.

#Pleasure #Beauty #Abundance

~ Love & Light ~

Mae West: More Than A Sex Goddess

Mae West 27 years old

Those of you who are familiar with Mae West probably think of her as an American actress and singer, and you would be right. But there was so much more to her than her charm and sass onscreen. (If you don't know who Mae West is, shame on you! Now go find her film, I'm No Angel and watch it.)  Mae was also a prolific writer. In the 1920's she wrote her first play called "Sex". Mae played the lead role. The play was very controversial and Mae was arrested and convicted on a morals charge! However, she was pleased with the publicity the arrest brought with it. Nothing could slow her success.


Throughout her long career Mae wore many hats...Vaudeville performer, playwright, Broadway sensation, movie star, author, Sex Goddess...she was an inspiration during her life and continues to be today. Mae might not have been conventionally beautiful but she was herself...and confidant! Her independence and sass was infectious!

I have a little Mae West statue that belonged to my Grandmother Jernigan. I keep it in my powder room. She has a pearl bracelet draped over her arm...it belonged to my grandma too. When I am in front of the mirror, getting ready for the day, Mae West is there to remind me to be myself, and make life fun! 

Vintage Mae West statue

When Mae was only fifteen she wrote a now famous poem called Cave Girl. I think it is a fabulous representation of who she was as a person.

CAVE GIRL

By Mae West

I got my smile from the sunshine.

I got my tears from the rain.

I learned to dance when I saw a tiger prance,

And a peacock taught me to be vain.

A little owl in a tree so high,

He taught me how to wink my eye.

I learned to bill and coo from a turtledove.

And a grizzly bear taught me how to hug.

But the guy who lived two caves from me,

He taught me how to love.

Mae West is so inspirational to women around the world. I hope she inspires you to flirt with life and claim your individuality and beauty. Watch some of her films if you've never seen any of them before. You might be surprised how relevant they still are. You might be surprised how different you feel after seeing her on the screen! 

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. -Mae West

~ Love & Light ~

Rimbaud: Poems

I am currently re-reading Rimbaud: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poems). I bought this book in my teens, when I was going through my poetry phase. Rimbaud is one of my favorite of the French poets.

#Poetry #Prose  #1800's 

~ Love & Light ~

Becoming Leonard Cohen: Exploration #26

What a simple task exploration #26 from the book, How To Be An Explorer Of The World: Portable Art Life Museum by Keri Smith was.


Exploration #26


BECOMING LEONARD COHEN


Sketch or document things that you use in your daily routine.

*Musician Leonard Cohen does this regularly as a form of meditative practice.


I sat down this afternoon and did my sketching. I made sure to draw things that I use EVERY day, not just most days. I used pencil and I'm afraid it didn't show up that great in the photo. (click image to enlarge).

Pencil sketches Exploration #26

Leonard Cohen

I have always loved things, just things in the world. I love trying to find the shape of things. -Leonard Cohen

~ Love & Light ~

The Last Child

I am currently reading The Last Child by John Hart. This book is a loaner form my mom, so not one from my personal library. I grabbed it to read in the bath the other day and couldn't put it down. I don't read a lot of fiction but I really like this thriller! The Washington post described it as Huck Finn channeled through Lord of the Flies.

#Thriller #Mystery #Fiction

~ Love & Light ~

Water: Exploration #25

The twenty-fifth exploration from the book, How To Be An Explorer Of The World: Portable Art Life Museum by Keri Smith, asks you to take a closer look at water.

Exploration #25

WATER

Study and document shapes made by water. Find as many as you can. Research shapes made by water. Come up with new ones.

This assignment immediately brought to mind Dr. Masaru Emoto and his research. I wanted to stay on task, I really really did, but we all know most of the shapes that water likes to take.

Icicle...

A wave...

A puddle...

A ripple...

And snow...

I could probably spend the rest of the day researching these water shapes, but I thought it would be a lot more fun to share some information and a few videos about Dr. Masaru Emoto. Dr. Emoto is the head of the I.H.M. General Research Institute and President Emeritus of the International Water For Life Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Oklahoma City. Although his research has been met with much criticism and is thought to be "junk science" in many circles, I choose to listen to my intuition and instinct. I believe the findings of Dr. Emoto to be truth. You decide for yourself.

The following video will give you an idea about the experiments Dr. Emoto and his team have conducted.

Still not convinced? Here is a really groovy documentary about water.

I hope some of you will watch the videos. I think the idea of water having "memory" is fascinating. The fact that we are fully conscious- living, breathing creatures comprised of mostly water lends to the idea that water holds the key to life. 

I really enjoyed this exploration and revisiting Dr. Emoto's theories. Water is a magical element indeed and the one thing we all can agree on is that clean water is vital to our survival. So grab a cup, think happy thoughts and drink up!

~ Love & Light ~

Fourteen For February

I put together a photo set in honor of the holiday. I hope these images warm your heart. Enjoy!

~ Love & Light ~

Legend Of Saint Valentine

Tomorrow is the day for lovers. Valentine's Day. A day to express love for your special someone with chocolates, flowers and fancy dinner. But why? Are we really to believe that the greeting card companies came up with the idea? There must be more to it than that, right? I mean, I like chocolate and flowers as much as the next girl but I wanted to know the meaning behind such a romantic holiday. Behold the Legend of St. Valentine. 

It turns out that St. Valentine was a Roman priest in the third century. This emperor named Claudius the Goth was persecuting the Christian church (he could basically have you killed if you associated with the Christians) and he had a rule saying that young people couldn't be married. Apparently the idea was that soldiers who were single fought better than soldiers who were married. Claudius thought his army might chicken out because they didn't want to die and leave their families behind. Well, Valentinus wasn't having it. He was devoted to the beliefs of Christ and wasn't about to give that up...even if he was threatened with death. Keep in mind that polygamy was the way of the day during that time and monogamous marriages where way outnumbered. The church, of course, believed that marriage is sacred and between one man and one woman for life. So Valentinus tried to encourage it. He set about to secretly marrying people. 

St. Valentine eventually got busted, tortured and imprisoned. While he was in the clink, a guy named Asterius, one of the men who was supposed to judge him in line with the Roman law, asked him to heal his blind daughter. He had heard that Valentinus was a skilled healer and had performed miracles. He must have been desperate to heal his daughter because he was risking his own life. Valentinus prayed with and healed the young girl. A grateful Asterius took up the Christian faith. 

Valentinus healing the blind girl from his cell.

In 269 AD Valentinus was sentenced to a three part execution. First a beating, then a stoning, and finally a beheading, all because of his stand on Christian marriage. According to legend the last words he wrote were in a message to Asterius' daughter. He inspired today's romantic letters by signing it, "from your Valentine". 

Valentinus's execution was carried out on February 14th, 270 AD. near a gate that was later named Porta Valentini in his memory. He became know as the patron saint of lovers and in 496 Pope Gelasius named February 14th St. Valentine's Day.

Porta Valentini in Rome.

It's a tragic story and not very romantic, if you ask me. I mean, sure he wrote a sweet sentiment to the young blind girl, but he was a man of God and probably a lot older than her. Gross. Also, I read that the reason he got caught in the first place is because he tried to convert Emperor Claudius the Goth. Not a very smooth move. All said and done, it is a legend and we don't know how much of it is truth. 

I take marriage very seriously and feel it is the most precious commitment we can make to another person. All that polygamy stuff gives me the willies so I'm happy that Valentinus was around to help change things even if he was a creepy old guy who was in love with a young blind girl. Happy Valentine's Day! ;)

~ Love & Light ~

Combinations: Exploration #24

It's about time I did another exploration from the book, How To Be An Explorer Of The World: Portable Art Life Museum by Keri Smith. I'm close to halfway through the book now. I know I haven't been blogging as much since the New Year and it's because I prefer to write outside and this crazy winter has kept me in hibernation mode. But, I'm back on board, I say!


Exploration #24


COMBINATIONS


Combine groups of objects for visual or emotional contrast. You might try natural vs. human-made, contrasting colors, alive vs. decaying, light vs. dark.


Once again, I wasn't instantly inspired by this assignment. I thought about the objects I would use for days and then finally today I realized that my button collection would work nicely.

The first thing I did was to divide the buttons into groups based on similar colors and styles.

My button collection.

1. The first group of buttons are the brown ones with the swirly cream colors in them. 

2. Group two are the golden color buttons. 

3. The third group are the tan/brown group.

4. Group four are the non-plastic buttons. Two are wood and two are metal. 

5. Group five are the black/grey group.

6. The largest group are the greenish/grey group. This I found to be odd because I don't really have clothes this color nor a penchant for military clothing.

7. I have two little buttons covered in fabric that make group seven, the smallest group.  

8. Pink/red/purple comprises group eight.

9. Group nine are the white/cream buttons.

10. And finally we have group ten, the blue/teal buttons.

So many buttons.

Okay. So I grouped the buttons by color. Big deal. This did not seem like a very artistic endeavor. How could I elicit emotional contrast? I thought about it and the only thing that I wanted to do was make an outdoor scene (I must really have a bad case of Spring fever). 

Tree in the night during Spring.

I hope you can tell what is meant to be the tree. The big gold button is the moon and the small white buttons are stars. I used the colored buttons to create a horizon of sorts and also because I think they look like Spring flowers. I don't know if this strikes up emotion in the hearts of any of my readers, but it makes me long for the warmer days to come. I mean, just look at the below photo of my beloved Finely River. Frozen solid.

A frozen Finely River scene.

I ended up enjoying this exploration. Every time I do a project from this book I am reminded how much my creativity is stifled the older I get. I think it's important to create things. I feel like we get to a point in our adulthood where we think everything must serve a purpose or be of exceptional artistic quality...but really, a tree made from buttons is enough.  It holds a lot of value and importance if it brings you joy. 

I'll leave you guys with a totally random photo of our neighbor's dog, Lucky. He was playing in the snow in our front lawn today and I had to take a snap. 

Lucky playing in the snow.

~ Love & Light ~