My Summer of Choosing Joy

I am currently taking a class from the fabulous Kelly Rae Roberts, called "The Wear Your Joy Project." When I signed up, I thought it was about finding your own unique style in clothing, something I had wanted to explore ever since I became a full-time artist and found that my outside no longer matches how I feel on the inside.

Well, the class is about that, but about so much more. It's about connecting with what brings us joy on a daily basis, starting first thing in the morning with how we treat our bodies and how we choose to get dressed so we feel good about ourselves all day.

That got me thinking about the rest of my life and how I often don't choose what brings me joy, but rather what is practical or what I think I should be doing. But there is no reason why things can't be practical and joyful at the same time. Or why those things I really need to be doing cannot somehow be infused with something that also brings me joy.

So, with that in mind, I have decided make a practice of that this summer and am calling it My Summer of Choosing Joy (everything seems more fun and official when you give it a name...). Making that decision already prompted a few changes that I am implementing right now:

1. I am taking the pressure off my blog and am turning off comments. It's not that I don't love hearing from you (I do!), it's because with every comment I feel guilty that I don't visit your blogs more often and that I don't usually respond back to you. No more guilt. I am going to keep blogging because I love how it helps me think and how it keeps track of all the important moments in my life.

2. I will no longer do commissioned paintings. I will finish the few I have lined up and then I will delve into the joy of allowing paintings to surprise me again. While I have loved working on commissions, I find that I stop doing my spontaneous paintings and that is where they joy lies for me. Daniel and I are planning a joint exhibition toward the end of this year (yeah!!!) and I want to paint my heart out between now and then.

3. I will do some major weeding out this summer. There will be a sorting out of my clothes in conjunction with the Wear Your Joy class - everything that doesn't bring me joy or makes me feel bad in any way will be sorted out and donated if it's still in good shape or gotten rid of if it's not. I have a feeling that this will spill over into other areas of my life.

4. One major source of joy for me lies in the kitchen - cooking, baking and good food in general. The same goes for Daniel, so I am foreseeing us making some excellent meals this summer with him being on summer break. I will share recipes here of the really outstanding ones as we try new things.

5. Of course, I'll continue to share photos of our garden, the wildlife around here, and anything else that inspires me. A lot of my joy is found in the daily photos I take and share here, on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you so much for your visits and I hope you'll continue to find something of value in my ramblings about my life and the photos and art I share!

With much love and always in joy,

❧ Silke

On Joy

I had mentioned already that I am using Leonie Dawson’s wonderful planner to make a guiding plan for 2015.  The reason I like it so much is that it is very down-to-earth and practical while being incredibly fun, colorful and also a little esoteric, which of course is right up my alley.

For one of the exercises Leonie has you pull an oracle card for each month and make a note of the theme for the month. I loved it! For January, mine is:

With that in mind, I’ve been painting and realizing the different aspects of joy many of the animals represent to me. Not all joy is lough out loud funny. Some is deep and quiet, some moments of joy feel like you are bubbling over, others as though you could take off like a bird.

That’s what this first painting represents. Those moments of joy that make you feel light and energized and as though you could spread your wings and take off!

I find that as I get older my moments of joy are somehow becoming more intimate. That’s the best I can describe it. I no longer want to shout it all out to the world, but I want to savor every second to the fullest.

Flying High
acrylic painting on 12 x 12 inch canvas
Available in my Etsy Shop

Most of the time, I notice that I see or hear or sense something that makes me feel as though my body cannot possibly contain my joyful spirit. It’s an amazing sensation that I keep wanting to hold on to, but that’s not possible. As with anything in life, our emotions wax and wane.

And throughout all of it, I love that those moments of joy are here to lift us up and allow us a moment or two of feeling as though we could fly! I hope your days will be filled with them!!

With love and joy,

❧ Silke
P.S. I'm adding watermarks to my digital images since I'm hearing more and more stories of images being misused and reproduced without the artist's permission. All of my original paintings will of course be without a watermark!