Today I went on a date! Woohoo! …and guess with who? …with myself, with “me”,
with the artist Lisa Rivas. 

It’s called taking your artist out on a date.
An “ARTIST DATE”, is one of the two basic tools used in the book
The Artist Way by Julia Cameron.

So I packed some pencils and pens and a sketch book, and then headed over to
Shelby Bottoms Park in Nashville, TN.

First I made a stop and to pickup some Chocolates (the ones with wrappers that have quotes in them) and some Ginger Cookies!

Upon arriving I strolled around, and then eventually took a seat at a park bench right in front of the pond where there was all sorts of waterfowl. I opened the sketch book and then just let my hand float over the page and to have it respond to what ever it wanted to draw. I wasn’t allowing (from my ego) too much input.
I felt deeply relaxed and happy.

 If had been a long time since I have done anything like this. Eventually shapes started to emerge and speak to each other. Well, that is what I imagined they were doing, since they were all on the same page!

I concluded they were talking about the return of the birds from further down south, a sure sign of Spring.
The weather was perfect, not too cold nor windy and the sun was shining, they should be heading back.
 It felt good to be outside.  

I also looked at the birds and their feathers scattered about… There was one particular goose or gander that was very flirty with me. He actually did a little dance for me, pirouetting on one foot! Very charming :heart:  
So maybe after all I was really having a date with Mr. Silly Gander!

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Live well, laugh often, and love much. ~a quote on a  Chocolate Dove wrapper 

Forty days after Christmas – the birth of Jesus – is February 2nd.
Candles were blessed, there was much feasting to be had,
and the drab days of February suddenly seemed a little brighter.

Candlemas is an ancient festival that marks the midpoint of winter,
halfway between the shortest day of the year and the spring equinox.  

“Hawthorn Snow” • digital illustration – Lisa Rivas ©

This photograph of the Hawthorn Bush next door… 
… and then a-blazed with some illustrator enhanced flowers, 
is my way of creating a bit of Candlemas celebration!

…and them I decided to create a repeat pattern that can be used a festive place setting, a runner?

“Candlemas” • pattern/surface design – Lisa Rivas © 

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 “Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time.
Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods.

Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.”
~Robert H. Schuller

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This is such an honor!

This is such an honor! The wonderful Indigene a Caribbean-American artist has nominated me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award.
Her creative work reflects her unique style with a deep spiritual message of universal love.

Visit her at: https://indigeneart.com
Thank You! Thank You Indigene!

RULES for the VERY INSPIRING BLOG AWARD. PLEASE FOLLOW CAREFULLY:

1. Display the award logo on your blog.
2. Link back to the person who nominated you.
3. State 7 things about yourself. (see below)
4. Nominate 15 other bloggers for this award and link to them.
5. Notify those bloggers of the nomination and the award’s requirements.

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Seven Things About Me

a) I was raised in Caracas, Venezuela. I hold a dual citizenship.
b) I decorated Christmas Trees once professionally in Chicago. Largest tree was 2 stories high for Bank of America!
c) I was really, really messy once, had so many projects going it was disconcerting. Now I am almost a neat freak!
d) I painted on the floor for about 25 years, still very hyper-flexible.
e) I actually majored in Weaving in art school, my minor was Surface Design.
f) I never really studied Painting, I am a Self taught – intuitive painter.
g) I am a registered Court Interpreter for Spanish; will not do it today, I hate hearing cases – too traumatic.

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My nominees are the following for their wonderful inspiring blogs in the blogging arena!

1.- Naz a wonderful spirit with A Gentle Rebellion

2.- Sharon celebrating the culture of food with Culinary Eden

3.- Janine with artful creations at Art by Janine Whitling

4.- Carol with her fabulous studio journal Art by Carol Adamec

5.- Jude Hill with a soulful quilting story at Spirit Cloth

6.- Anna, full of energy at Messy Fish

7.- Jennifer with pretty and handmade at Pretty in Posies

8.- Tenia’s incredibly sensitive photographs at Snapping Twig

9.- Linda Sarah’s incredible imagination at Travel and Sing

10.- Connie’s humor cartoons at Drawing to an End

11.- Carla Kurt’s beautiful perceptions with Photography & Fine Art

12.- Juan Carlos’s fantastic creatures at Charló Arwin

13.- Virginia Njeri, a surface-pattern marvel at Njeri Designs

14.- Bella a super illustrator with Bella Sinclair Doodlespot

15.- Johanna & Mark with amazing graphic art at Happy Garage

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“Because there’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline,
no matter how many times it’s sent away.”  ― Sarah Kay

“Guanta next to The Ocean” by  © Lisa Rivas — 72″ x 72″ a variation of the original painting

“Waves are the voices of tides. Tides are life,” murmured Niko.
“They bring new food for shore creatures, and take ships out to sea.
They are the ocean’s pulse, and our own heartbeat.”
― Tamora Pierce, Sandry’s Book

How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean. ~ Arthur C. Clarke

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