Yesterday was the second of three sessions of a Women’s Creativity Workshop co-facilitated by Kim Wanderley and Silk Painting Artist, Virginia Wilson. Topic of this session was “Mandalas”. Excited about what I created yesterday, I couldn’t wait to share it.
So here is a photo of my favorite of the two that I painted on silk yesterday. Watch this space for Wednesday’s story of it, along with the Self-Reflecting Queries.
(Hint on the relevance to this blog -Â Although I did NOT photograph it on Saturday, a flower outside “caught my eye” and became the center of the painting in the same way that my always “if something catches your eye, photograph it” advice kicks in.)
Last week’s complimentary teleclass, which I mentioned, The Awe of Attraction: Using the ARTbundance Principles to Break the “Law” and Find the Love! was full of some great ideas and thought provoking suggestions. It covered using art and creativity as powerful new tools to attract more of what you want into your life. See ARTbundance. The replay is available at no charge.
Today’s Featured Photos –
The top photo is, obviously, a horse’s legs, with strong shadows which appealed to me, enhanced with line drawings (my photo/drawing process as featured in Nature’s Playground).
The middle photo is, I think, a Heliconia plant in the American Orchid Society greenhouse. See story and queries below.
And the bottom one is of phalaenopsis flowers, also in the AOS greenhouse.
Today’s Photo Story –
You may be wondering at the strange mixture of today’s images. I am simply going with an intuitive nudge.
When, after selecting them, I went to resize the pictures for today’s issue the one with the horse’s legs was still “sitting” open in Photoshop Elements on my desktop. I had been reviewing it with other works while looking to inspire myself with my own work (another “story”).
So I decided the photo/drawing must still be open because it “wanted” to be here with you. As, I said, I’m trusting there is a reason. I’m not likely to have an answer for that unless I hear from you directly or on the comments on the blog. Please do let me know in the Comments section below if it has some meaning for you.
As I went back to my files to look for what I thought would be the sole photo(s) for today, the Heliconia kept pulling me in. I decided the vertical nature of it, almost ladder-like, would fit with the strong verticals of the horse’s legs.
The curves from the center part of the phalaenopsis seemed to echo and repeat those in the heliconia photo. I also liked the lightness of it.
For those who wish explore and be with the photos further, I suggest looking for similar repetition of colors, shapes and textures in each of the photos. Those that I see give me “permission” to include them together ins one aesthetically “okay” grouping.
Self-Reflecting Queries –
Today’s photos represent quite a divergent mixture in subject matter and yet I was able, as I stated, to pull them together. I invite you to look into your life. Are there places where things and/or people don’t seem to fit together and you choose to simply avoid the situations?
Although they look totally disjointed, if you look with new eyes are there commonalities you can find, such as I did with the art elements in today’s photos? If so, is there something in this that will further empower you?
The initial thing that came up for me in setting up today’s issue, in terms of relevant queries, was my experience with the middle photo. I am almost positive that it is a Heliconia. Since I didn’t think I would need the information, or was sure I knew what it was, I never bothered checking out the plant identity and/or making note of it. (I usually now photograph the signage so it stays with the photos in the folders I download.)
Then because I have the need to be totally accurate and informative in what I present, I spent about 15 minutes researching on the web. Was this the best use of my time? Could I have made a call? Forwarded the photo and waited for identification, putting aside the desire for instant gratification?
Turning this into queries for you – I invite you to look into your life at things you are paying attention to, such as making note of what you might need in the future? Are there situations where you shortcut to “save time” and then spend a lot of time searching later? (As much as I know better, I’m often still not labeling photos for easy future finding.)
As you’re doing these queries for yourself, are you noticing any patterns? Is there anything you’d like to note, to expedite time in the future? Again, for me, I will remind myself to start more regularly photographing labels for whatever new images, even familiar ones, that I’m “shooting”.
Please do “play” with these queries. Have fun and open up to new possibilities.
As always, you are welcome to share your responses in the COMMENTS section below. Note the new “Notify me…. ” option so you can get emails when others comment. Looking forward to our connecting there. Thank you so much.
Other News – Are you looking for an easy form of relaxation, a quick respite during your busy day?
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A couple of quick items before today’s photo and queries. In the last issue I mentioned I’m a seeking an Art Rep / Business Partner. I have since created a web page description and link which I’d greatly appreciate your looking at and then passing on to anyone you think might be interested or who might know such a person. Quite possibly he/she is a retired, experienced business person. See ArtRepPartner.
Next, if you are one of our subscribers who enjoys creative experiences, I think you’ll appreciate the following information. I was on a call last night with Marney Makridakis, one of the most creative artists and business people whom I know. I worked with Marney several years ago and had forgotten of how full of ideas she is, always testing, implementing and following through.
Tomorrow night (Thursday, October 14th), she’s offering a complimentary teleclass, The Awe of Attraction: Using the ARTbundance Principles to Break the “Law” and Find the Love! It’s all about using art and creativity as powerful new tools to attract more of what you want into your life. See ARTbundance.
There will be several hands-on creative activities done during the call. Marney will also be introducing an upcoming program in which she will be training coaches in using creative practices in new ways. To get a taste of the broad areas, in general, in which Marney’s creativity has taken her, see Artellaland.
Lastly, before today’s photo, I invite those of you in business to check out the information on Molly Gordon’s upcoming Profit Alchemy 101: Four Weeks to a More Focused Profitable Business program. Simply click on Profit for information.
Today’s Featured Photo –
Cat’s Whiskers in the American Orchid Society Gardens in Delray Beach.
Today’s Photo Story –
In a recent walk in the AOS Gardens I was attracted by the above flower, as much as for its name as for its imagery. Then in a couple of different conversations, in subsequent days, “cats” and “cats’ whiskers” came up… the cats that are animals, that is. The coincidences, thus, reinforced my decision to feature the above flower in this issue of Picture to Ponder.
At first, I thought the photo as not “good enough” to stand alone, that you might want another photograph of a “more beautiful” flower. And, then, I placed it on the page with a contrasting photo and the whiskers “wanted” to be the center of attention.
As I spent time simply being with the photo I got caught up in the dance of it, the movement in the flower itself and the play of lights and darks in the contrasting background.
I invite you to do the same, stay with the photograph for a moment or two and see what comes up for you.
Self-Reflecting Queries –
One of the things I thought I would be addressing with the Cat’s Whiskers is our “expectations.” When you read “Cat’s Whiskers” in the subject heading were you drawn in because you love cats? Put off because, perhaps you dislike cats? (Those who were might not even have opened this issue.) Or, were you simply curious as to why cats’ whiskers would be featured in Picture to Ponder?
There are probably several other variables and more questions that I could suggest above. The bottom line is that I suspect you had some reaction/response, a little different from your usual one here.
My point to this conversation is to notice how our behaviors are so often colored by our expectations, or the way we think things are, simply from assumptions or judgments we’ve made.
I invite you to look into your life now. Were there were any recent circumstances where you made a quick decision on doing, or not doing, something, or one on talking or not talking to a particular person? If so, were there clues that the situation might have been different from your immediate assessment?
Should nothing immediate come up for you as you ponder the previous questions, I invite you to pay attention in the next day or two, or more, to the number of times you automatically make a decision based on a preconceived notion. As you begin to notice these, are you finding that there are some minor shifts you’d care to make in your perceptions.
Please do “play” with these queries. Have fun and open up to new possibilities.
As always, you are welcome to share your responses in the COMMENTS section below. Note the new “Notify me…. ” option so you can get emails when others comment. Looking forward to our connecting there. Thank you so much.
Last week, I mentioned I had enrolled in the Create the Impossible program. Now I find I am stepping out beyond anything I would have imagined. Having an Art Rep, possibly Business Partner, is one of the things that surfaced for me when I started free flow writing from “I want…. ” “Wow,” I thought. “That’s certainly impossible for me and definitely not possible in 30 days!” So I registered for the program.
One of the first things I did was revise and update my Sheila Finkelstein.com home page. I wanted to make it easy for someone visiting to get a quick overview of the scope of my work and what might be possible in bringing it into a variety of markets. I invite you to visit the page, for your own pleasure, and should you know anyone who might be interested in the business end, please pass the link on.
If you scroll down the sheilafinkelstein.com page, you’ll find offers for two bonus eBooks. You are welcome to take advantage of them. They include a subscription to Picture to Ponder AND you will NOT, as an existing subscriber, be getting duplicate mailings.
NOTE: If the thought of “Creating the Impossible” intrigues you, check out CREATE THE IMPOSSIBLE. When on the page, click on Upcoming Events in the black horizontal menu bar near the top of that page for details. Apologies if you tried the link over the weekend. There were some technical challenges.
Today’s Featured Photos –
Today’s Photos –
The three pictures above are all photo/drawings that I did several years ago. The top and bottom images are of beets in a ceramic dish. The middle is of mixed vegetables and grapes in a colander.
Even several years ago, I was in the practice of photographing whatever caught my attention no matter what it was, wherever I was.
Today’s Photos Story –
I was having a huge challenge today finding photos, amongst my thousands, to feature in this issue of Picture to Ponder. So I decided to go for a Nature walk “hoping” something would “show up”, catch my eye, and nothing did.
Then I went to the supermarket for vegetables for dinner and started looking for one, or more, that might catch my eye. I wavered on a couple, half-heartedly bought a sweet potato to play with. When I got home I realized it would, of course, involve taking pictures, plus a lot more time than I had available for the rest of the steps that would be required.
Then, being in the space of vegetable imagery and art, I was reminded that lately I’ve been getting a “lift” each time I glance over at the three images above that are on tiles in my kitchen. It’s actually, finally, becoming inspired by my own art, after countless years, that’s having me be brave enough to put myself out, looking at the larger world of big business.
(Note – These images are available, along with others, in the vegetable TILES section of my Gift Shop.)
Self-Reflecting Queries –
Two themes run through today’s Picture to Ponder.
The first is around intention; the second is on honoring and owning ourselves.
When I went out “looking” for images to photograph, it was more of an “in order to” have something to use today, rather than an intention for and the belief in the possibility of it.
I invite you to look back at something recent that appeared that satisfied exactly what you needed or wanted. Can you recall your frame of mind and being that preceded it?
I extend the invitation to further observe your behavior this week and see what your state is when the “just right things” that you “need” or “want” show up. Is there tension? freedom? belief? or ease and trust?
Secondly, in relation to my becoming inspired by my art, what is it about you, your “beings”, your “doings” that most inspire you about yourself? I invite you to move it out of your “mind thinking” and recall the “feelings”, when something about you sparks you, or has.
As things come up, I further invite you to make written note of them, particularly if this is challenging for you. And, lastly, if there is any action, especially a bold one, I invite you to take it.
As always, you are welcome to share your responses in the COMMENTS section below. Note the new “Notify me…. ” option so you can get emails when others comment. Looking forward to our connecting there. Thank you so much.
Last week’s Gerber Daisies and Letting Go of Attachments issue of Picture to Ponder generated a greater than usual response on the blog with some very poignant and creative statements, including two poems. I encourage you check them out at DAISY COMMENTS.
Note that if you are interested in replying or initiating your own comments, I have added a “Notify me of follow up comments via e-mail”. Simply check the box and you will get an email whenever anyone, including me, comments on the particular post you’ve left a comment.
Also, if you are one who enjoyed the daisies, I have a “smashing” photo of a yellow Gerber Daisy on several products in my gift shop. See the section after today’s Queries for that image and opportunities.
Lastly for this section, I will probably be mentioning this during the next month, I am excited about participating in CREATE THE IMPOSSIBLE, a 30-day program set-up by Michael Neill, author of YOU CAN HAVE ANYTHING YOU WANT, a book I’m thoroughly enjoying. If the thought of “Creating the Impossible” intrigues you, you can find more information at the above link. Click on UPCOMING EVENTS in the black horizontal menu bar near the top of that page for details.
Today’s Featured Photos –
Top photo is a fat candle in a ceramic dish in a pot. I love the colors and feeling of it. The lower photo is an originally small, square candle in a ceramic dish on a brass table.
Today’s Photos Story –
Last week in one of the smaller groups set up in Adela Rubio’s Conscious Business Tribe program of which I am a member, Dianne led a visualization around a “sacred fire” for honoring the Autumn Equinox.
The exercise included imagining writing on a piece of paper one thing we would like we’d like to let go of in this next quarter and on another, one thing we would like to magnetize to ourselves in the next. This was to be tossed into the visualized fire in the middle of a circle of people, then watched as it burned, each with a different result; the first as it was it was “cleansed” and moved up “into the ethers.”
(Note – Dianne has a wonderful voice and may soon be having audio meditations on her website, Stone Haven Wellness. In the meantime if you contact her from site, she might provide you with the transcript for the meditation and definitely more details on it.)
After the exercise several of the group members were talking about ceremonial fires they done, including creating a small fire within a deep pot in the home. I was yearning to participate and I suddenly remembered a pot in my garage that hadn’t made it to the recycling center. “Deep pot, all well and good,” thought I before the fear of a possible fire set in for me.
I then recalled a fat candle, given to me as a gift years ago, that I’d occasionally lit. It was in a ceramic dish I had made and obviously wasn’t going to get too hot or burn anything other than itself. I decided since the pot was quite deep and the paper pieces small they were not likely to result in a flame that would go beyond the containers. I thus “went for it.”
After simply “being” with the candle and the experience for a while, I became absorbed with what was happening with the papers, not disintegrating (obviously the melting wax was holding them), and the changes in the candle, which had been completely round when I started. Not surprisingly, I went for my camera and started videoing the flame as well as taking still shots. (You can see more photos, next day included, and the video on the blog.)
Intrigued with candles now, the next day I decided to light a different candle, planning to sit quietly with it and meditate. I picked up, smaller candle, as seen in the lower photo, thinking I would not be distracted. It too was in a different ceramic dish which I placed on a small brass patio table near me.
This candle had already been burned a few times and was melted down in the center leaving the four peaks that we see. As I sat with it, I became intrigued with the repetition of the shapes in both the candle and the flame. Thus I went for the camera again, this time planning to share the imagery with you.
Self-Reflecting Queries –
Part of today’s story relates to distractions, fears and adjusting. The candles’ story above demonstrates how easily I become distracted with things I suddenly see, tintilated by the awareness of them. Thus I’m often jumping into reactive mode, many times shifting and moving into new, oftentimes creative activities.
I invite you to look at yourself and your patterns. Can you stay focussed? Is it natural, or have you set sytems in place to keep you on track?
And, if you jump, as I do, can you claim the benefits that are there for you?
In the story, I also mentioned fear and my way of coming up with an alternative solution. When you feel a fear, how do you handle it?
I’m still looking for solutions for simply “being”. I started adding the word “patiently” to that and realized that adding anything would not be “simply being.” How about you?
Additional Photos –
The top candle in the pot
41 Second video of flaming candle – Note the two paper strips
Large candle the next day. Note how the wax has filled the bowl.
As always, you are welcome to share your responses in the COMMENTS section below. Note the new “Notify me…. ” option so you can get emails when others comment. Looking forward to our connecting there. Thank you so much.
(Note – This post has two affiliate links. Should you enroll in programs presented though them, I may derive a small commission.)
Today I am pretty much going to leave up to you the words for the Gerber Daisy photographs below. Each image has an expression of its own. I simply suggest that you be with each for a moment or two and experience the feelings. Then move to the Self-Reflecting Queries.
I also invite you to check out the information I have below on my mentor Julie Jordan Scott’s open, no fee writing program. Included is also a link to the “breathing of my heart” writing I did today.
Today’s Featured Photos –
Today’s Photos Story –
It’s been a while since I’ve been inspired to buy flowers to have in my home for enjoyment and/or photographing . Then with my holidays a couple of weeks ago, I made the shift and actually bought three bunches and combined them.
These small Gerber Daisies became the main subject/variety that I followed. I was surprised, then disappointed, that they did not last as long as the larger sized ones had in the past.
When it came to sharing them with you, I had quite an internal struggle over which to feature, if at all. Were they even “good enough”, “interesting enough,” and more, to publish – all those small, yet so large, “voices” with which we often barrage ourselves.
Finally, I selected the three above, planning to choose only one from the top two; then left my computer for several hours.
When I came back I was moved by all of them, each in a different way. Thus I am presenting all three for you also to appreciate in whatever way you will.
Self-Reflecting Queries –
Did you respond to my invitation at the top to simply be with and feel each of the images individually? If so, what did you experience with each?
Where else in your life might you have had, or be having, similar experiences?
Also, in my story above, I indicated that when I finally let go of the attachment to being “right” or “perfect” (in my choice of photos to present) it all fell into place. Feelings of “freedom”, peace and satisfaction emerged.
Are there places in your life where you may be feeling a strong attachment to an outcome, where you’re sure you want something to be a certain way? If so, I invite you to attempt to let that go, be in the unknown, allowing whatever happens to be okay.
Walk away, literally or figuratively, if you can, and when you come back be open to the possibility of something refreshingly new.
As always, you are welcome to share your responses in the COMMENTS section below.
For those who enjoy writing –
This morning I was moved to join a call facilitated by Julie Jordan Scott, whom I’ve often mentioned here. The call was one in her current 49-day daily writing program, AND NOW, YOU WRITE.
I’ve been a participant in countless calls and programs that Julie has offered over the past eight or more years that I have known her. She is a truly authentic, loving, sharing, caring, generous human being. I consider her one of my mentors and know that always something will open up for me out of being in her presence.
If you are interested in writing and/or being comfortable in expressing yourself, I strongly recommend you check out Julie’s AND NOW, YOU WRITE Virtual Writing Camp.
The prompt for today was “I fill the paper with the breathing of my heart†and in the subsequent five minutes of free-flow writing time. You can read what I wrote on my WRITING FOR HEALING blog.
PHOTO in RESPONSE to COMMENTS below. See Julie Jordan Scott’s comment.
Today’s photo, for me, has a beauty, power and majesty, in and of itself. Yesterday we used it for a writing prompt n the writers’ group of which I am a member. Unique and powerful writing developed in four minutes. The caption in the title here “Pungent Power” came out of one of the member’s writing.
In the Picture to Ponder mailing of this issue I did not include further words about the photo other than explain that it was garlic.
I thus wrote:
Today’s Featured Photo –
Probably obvious to you, two segments of a garlic bulb.
Today’s Photo Story –
Again, I do not want to affect your experience of the image, so I’m adding nothing here in the ezine regarding the photo, other than what’s above.
I am posting other views with comments on possibilities of differing responses to changes in perspectives. You can check that out on the BLOG. More photos are after the Queries.
Self-Reflecting Queries –
If this photo evoked a particular response or responses to you, I invite you to explore, in writing, whatever that was.
And, if you did notice something are there other places in your life where that shows up?
Does whatever you saw empower you?
If not, can you reframe it so it does?
OTHER VIEWS of the same image –
Very elegant and by “herself”, the “Garlic Lady”.
Seeming to be the Yin and the Yang of oneself, below are the same as the initial image shown from different angles.
Does this angle evoke a different response in you? If so, remember this at other times… the power of changing perspective.
The above is the original angle from which I shot the photo. I turned it to be vertical for the presentation I wanted to make. Does it have a different feel for you?
The garlic skin honors and applauds your participation The “feelings” were important here, so the fact that there is no “head” in this image, matters not.
As always, you are invited to share your responses in the COMMENTS section below.
There are times I “go with my gut” in the photos I feature in Picture to Ponder. Today’s photos are indicative of that. Not especially beautiful or, necessarily, compelling they kept coming up for me, getting in the way of making other choices.
Given, I am currently in a program focused on becoming attuned to my intuition, I decided to let them be. Perhaps they will have meaning for one or more of our subscribers. Please let me know if this fits for you in some way.
In a different conversation, my friend Ellen Britt has put together a program chock full of information from six experts in the field of Social Media Marketing. I suggest checking it out if you are seeking more knowledge on effectively using any of the following for increasing business – Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Cleverly presented, with the investment escalating over a period of 6 days, Ellen has titled it Ice Cream Social Media Sale. See Social Media. And, in another food family (though not edible given they are wild) here are
Today’s Featured Photos –
Today’s Photos –
The top photo is an overview of the four mushrooms (see below) that caught my eye, one of which were twins. The three other photos are different views of the same plant.
Today’s Photo Story –
I probably could make up a lot of stories around these mushrooms and bottom line I pretty much said it all above. Two days ago I happened to look out my window at the lawn on the side of the house across the street from me and noticed the very large mushrooms, almost looking like something had “landed” there.
I grabbed my camera, went out, and took several pictures. Because of the lines and the patterns, the overall rhythm, I think, the one that was on its side most appealed to me. At first, I thought it had “fallen over”. When I attempted lifting it off the ground to take further pictures, I found that it was firmly rooted in the ground and was growing that way.
Self-Reflecting Queries –
Has anything caught your attention lately, visually or otherwise, and left you wondering why?
When this happens, does it stay with you for dwelling on? Do you look for and add meaning or does it seem to find you?
Do today’s mushrooms, or the circumstances of them, have any particular meaning for you?
If so, especially because of my intuition exploration, I’d appreciate your writing about them in the COMMENTS section below.
Today’s issue of Picture to Ponder is a slightly different “take” on one of our recurring themes that of “paying attention.” I admit the photos certainly appear to be an odd combination. On the other hand, I hope they bring you the same smiles that I get when I snapped and then reviewed them. More below.
There’s a lot going on in my life right now, as I’m sure there is in yours. Thus I’m simplifying today’s issue with very few words.
A few years prior to my even starting Picture to Ponder, a mentor who saw my emerging photography said, “Sheila, something is telling me to tell you, ‘Don’t talk.'” I understood at the time and when I started Picture to Ponder there were few words. See “Intentions” in Issue 1 (Dec. 9, 2004).
Now, as I go back over issues from the past year or two, I see more and more words or “talking”. So for today, and most likely beyond, I’m minimizing on words, inviting you to supply them or to simply “be” with the photo(s).
Today’s Featured Photos –
Reflected Sunset underneath the boardwalk at Green Cay Wetlands, Boynton Beach, FL
Without the boardwalk
In the second photo I zoomed in on the reflecting sunset, eliminating the boardwalk. See Self-Reflecting Queries for my observation on this.
Today’s Photo Story –
There’s not a particular “story” around today’s photos and I could create one. I’m wondering do the “stories” I include make a difference for you?
Self-Reflecting Queries –
I posed the question above, specifically, “Do my stories as I include them in Picture to Ponder make a difference for you?”
And, then I went on to observe, for myself, how much of my life I’m engaged in “story-telling” to others and myself? What if I spent more time living my life, being in it, rather than in the stories, how much “richer” might my life be?
I invite you to make the same observations and queries in your life.
Also, in relation to today’s photos. Is there one you prefer over the other? For me, it’s the upper photo. It feels framed and anchored by the dark shapes of the boardwalk and support.
Do you prefer the frames and anchors in your life are are you more comfortable an unconstrained space as seen in the second, albeit it does end at the tops and sides of the picture?
Remember to have fun with the queries. As always your thoughts are appreciated in the COMMENTS section below.
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For more photos and the story – 
