Tag Archives: love

Thank You!!!

By Posted in 3rd Annual Arlington Artist Alliance Art Studio Tour, Art, Art Studio, Cupcakes, Gratitude, Mixed Media Art, Open Studio, Red Studios at Art Underground Tagged , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

I had a such fabulous time this weekend participating in the 3rd Annual Arlington Artist Alliance Art Studio Tour. Working in the open studio provides an amazing variety of creative and collaborative opportunities. So many incredible artists and art lovers came to visit, and I am feeling very grateful for all the love and insights that they brought. I am beyond blessed and lucky to be surrounded by fantastically talented and dedicated artists. Thank you to all of you!!!

Check out this exciting article here, all about the art studio tour, my artwork, and my studio space at Red Studios at Art Underground. And if you missed the studio tour, or would like to come visit again anytime, feel free to contact me via twitter, my contact page, or my Dear Suburbia page on Facebook to set up a studio visit. Plus, yes, upon request there may be cupcakes!!!

 

Cupcakes upon request...xoxo

Cupcakes upon request…xoxo

 

 

Free Art for the Finding in Suburbia

By Posted in Art, Events, Free Art Friday, Love, Mixed Media Art Tagged , , , , , Leave a comment

Imagine free art waiting for you every Friday right here in Suburbia. I often get ahead of myself. I know it’s only Thursday, but I’m preparing to leave this 3 x 5 mixed media piece late late tonight somewhere in Fairfax, VA. As it turns out, Free Art Friday is quite magical. Have you found your piece yet? Tonight’s drop will be my 5th. I plan to continue creating free art pieces for you to find throughout Northern Virginia. Please be sure to like Dear Suburbia and Free Art Friday NoVA on Facebook to get the latest news and updates about more free art drops, including photos of the drops and clues to their locations as soon as they happen.

Free Art Friday #5

Free to an art loving home…please take me! I’m free! xoxo

This Is Returning

By Posted in Food, Gender, Love, St. Valentine's Day, What Now Looks Like Tagged , , , , 2 Comments
 

Candy. Love. Kiss. Hug.

 

Being Peace in the Belly of the Beast

By Posted in Confessional, Questions, Transformation Tagged , , , 1 Comment
 
I have an adversarial relationship with suburbia. I’ve been referring lately to the inner realm of our suburban subdivision as “the belly of the beast.” Sometimes I say it with a smirk, sometimes with a scowl, and sometimes with a bit of laughter at finding myself inhabiting this utterly strange and unfamiliar place. Often I don’t even have to say it. I just sense it deep within my core as I make my way out of the District, onto the Beltway, into the suburbs, and then deep into the center of my subdivision. My soul sinks. My heart catches. There is actual physical pain as I pull into the driveway. This can’t be healthy. My home should not be my enemy. How can I transform this relationship into one of peace?
I’ve been considering the idea that I don’t have to see living in suburbia as a long, agonizing sentence to the deepest dungeon in the “belly of the beast.” Perhaps it is possible to see, to visualize, living in suburbia as an extended, intensive spiritual retreat in an “our enemies are our greatest teachers” sort of way. If suburbia made me completely content every single day, I would not have the opportunities that I currently have to practice compassion and love. I have been given a gift of 13 more years in suburbia. What do I need to cultivate in myself to make this relationship one of peace?
In suburbia I become most distraught, hopeless, and hostile when confronted by the irrational conformity to mainstream everything, the adherence to uniformity, the love affair with the violence of consumption, the mindless cultural hibernation, the obsession with the tiniest details and minutiae of the accepted norms of childhood development, the environmental degradation, and the thoughtless overuse of fossil fuels that is taken as a matter of unquestioned entitlement. What can I learn from my reactions to these elements of suburbia?  How do I grow to create love, peace, joy, wisdom, bliss, and blessings even as I live in relationship with this enemy known as suburbia?
Can we change suburbia? It is possible, but not entirely, at once, in this very moment. But in this very moment, I can change my consciousness. I can change my energy. It is perhaps even more radical to strive to transform from within, to foster an inner revolution, right here and now. I can recognize in my reactions to my enemy that I have much work to do regarding my own arrogance, rigidity, complicity, fear, anger, and lack of faith in the choices of others. Now, thanks to suburbia, I see where my compassion must be focused. I see where the intention of my meditation must rest. Without my enemy how would I understand the ways in which to become peace? Instead of railing against the enemy, I must slow down, be still, be love, be mindful of each moment’s reactions, and make it my intention to transform those reactions with loving kindness and compassion.

English: An aerial view of housing development...

One day I may find myself fully in love with suburbia. For now I walk along these rolling concrete hills and past grassy chemical lawns and promise, at the very least, peace to my enemy. Breathing in…I am learning from suburbia. Breathing out…I am grateful for suburbia.