July 2018 “Duck Shit” Dancong Oolong Tea from Global Tea Hut “We visited another 800-year-old tree and all sat and held Her, praying for medicine and healing for this place. She had a brand new five-story building looming over Her, with air-conditioners humming up all the floors, sewage smells and power lines passing within meters of Her majestic branches.”
-Global Tea Hut Tea & Tao Magazine, July 2018
1 Comment
June 2018 “Energy” Dian Hong Tea from Global Tea Hut The 2018 version of the online course I offer, 100 Days of Building Creativity, began on June 16th. Each year I update the course with new daily creative courage quotes (quotes by different people on the subject of creativity), and add more resources, including a new guiding poem. This year we are being guided by the words of Mary Oliver and her poem, Mindful:
 With the 100 Days of Building Creativity E-Course beginning on June 16th, I've been preparing and reflecting on where I've been, and thought I'd share with you the content of my past and future 100 day projects.
May 2018 “Cloud Temple” Fresh Spring Green Tea One of my three creative endeavors I wanted to pursue this year was gardening. I’ve always loved the idea of a garden, I even go so far as to buy and plant things, but that’s usually where my participation in the process wanes. I may receive a few cherry tomatoes, but the plants stay small due to lack of nourishment and attention, and pretty soon it is a sad weedy mess. This year I swore to myself it would be different, which I’ve sworn before, but these year it truly has.
"Prairie Sky" 1990s Black TeaAccording to this month's Global Tea Hut Tea and Tao Magazine, Praire Sky is meant to be boiled in a pot, the oldest tea brewing method.
One of the origin of tea stories also shared is that a tea leaf fell down into a monk’s boiling pot of water as he was meditating, and thus man’s relationship with tea was formed. By boiling you can get so much more out of the tea I am told this month, and so I boil it.  Even though February was my month of tea travel, travel is not an isolated event. I felt like I spent a month preparing and readying beforehand and a month processing and recovering afterwards.
I brought back this large paper from an art store in Taiwan, almost double the width of a usual scroll, as you cut it yourself. I thought since these three months have blended together for me, I would allow them to be expressed in that way as well, each taking up a third of the paper. I used an ink stick I bought in Taiwan, mixed with each of the tea of the months, for the ink on each enso.  Sometimes you don’t even know what you are doing or why you are doing it, but you do it. You feel called or connected to an experience or a path and you say yes.
 In June 2017, Global Tea Hut published an article in their monthly Tea and Tao magazine that included 8 paintings and reflections I had made, inspired by their monthly tea sharing subscription. You can see that article here, as Global Tea Hut considers their work an offering to the world and make their magazine's past issues available for free online.
I have continued to create Tea Spirit of the month paintings and I will be sharing the art with you monthly, along with a reflection. For now, in that same issue I was also featured as the Tea Wayfarer of the month, a section of the magazine where they introduce people in the community. I've copied it for you here in case you are interested in my tea story.  I shared these 8 tips in the learning fair at Brené's Courage Camp.
One tip was Daring Way™ Curriculum related so I exchanged that one for my upcoming e-course :)  I wasn’t dreading Ninjago, I knew it would have a story, and it literally, started with a story, the story of Ninjago.
Holy Vulnerability Batman Cue, another movie I was not jumping out of my skin to see.
Yes, The LEGO Movie completely surprised me and became a huge source of inspiration in my life, but I am just not that into superheroes.  I can't begin to tell you how much this movie inspired me when I saw it.
And I didn't even want to watch it. I was not what one would call, a number one brick fan.  I'm in the beginning of my third 100 day practice (or if you allow me to break up the 366 practice I also did, my 6th).
It is amazing so far! 25 brave and courageous souls are on the journey with me and I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it is to travel together for the inspiration and encouragement and accountability and grace. One of the things I am trying to be conscious of during this 100 days is consuming less.  I was so excited when I saw that LEGO artist Sean Kenney's work was going to be at the Houston Zoo.
 Would I do another 365 project?
I've done two 100 days projects and one 366 day project (hello leap year)! And here's some things I've learned about the two kinds of projects.  I love how when I am focusing and creating something, I receive serendipitous messages of help from all areas of my life.  In SoulCollage® there are different categories you put your cards into once you have made them.
This card and the one I will show you next week, belong in my community section.  When I made this collage card, I had no idea why I chose the images I did, I just knew they were speaking to my soul.
 I was at my 2nd Brick Fiesta, a LEGO fan convention with a public exhibition, and this story almost didn't happen because I thought it was already too late to enter the Master Builder Contest Game because I had missed Heat 1. My husband then kindly explained to me about preliminary rounds vs. final rounds, and thus our story begins.
 As part of my 366 Days of Building Creativity Experiment in 2016, I held an art exhibit of the final 30 days of creations (you can see pictures from it here if you are interested).
|
Author
Categories
All
Archives
July 2018
|
RSS Feed