Rain...the Blessing and the Curse!

I am settling into my new space...my little room where my muse and I can enjoy whatever comes through...so different...took me a few days to realize i can close the door...close the door and listen to good music and write and paint and allow ideas to flow...how did I make it without this for so long.  No wonder I gave up my sewing machine, still parked in my bedroom...I know I'll get back there, too...can see that now..
just not ready for that part of my ideas to manifest into reality yet....which is okay, as there is no lack of work and fun and creativity in all areas...inside and out..
The rain should have given me license to come in here and work, but five inches of rain in a couple of days...wow....it became something that made me feel a little trapped...although I managed to get a good start on a painting that I've been commissioned to do for a friend...from a painting she found and loved the message more than the colors, etc...so I got busy and figured out what wasn't quite right about the original image...the message didn't quite match the image...so I have dealt with that as I make this work my own...
it is still a little daunting when I do work for a specific person...have to make myself not allow the fact that I'm making something for someone I already know block the creative process...I'm learning though!

These pictures are of my sketch and then my first pass at the painting....it still has much more to be done before its finished...but I feel like it has great bones...the message 'open the eyes of my heart' is so beautiful, and the original work was missing the thing that I find captures the truth  of it...it had the message and the eye...but it wasn't 'contained' inside a heart...which to me is the whole point...and in the middle of the flower, along with the little nectar-laden things I can't name at the moment...will be a few tiny hearts as well...to me, it will convey the message the way I want to see it conveyed, and will also make it mine...the little things that I perceive as important...fun to get to do this.  The person I'm painting this

for also wanted me to incorporate blues and greens, whereas the original was done with oranges and yellows...so I get to play with that, too.  I will work on this more today and by the time I do my next post, it just might be finished...we'll see how it goes, since my muse is torn between writing and painting at the moment.
I'm also nearing completion of my sweet yellow bird singing her special song...so hopefully that will be done fairly soon.  I'm determined to get some of the things that I had started and then not gotten back to brought to completion....because there is so much that I want to start and I feel I need to get these other things done before I give myself over to the new things...

On the garden front, well all of that rain had mixed results...I lost quite a few tomatoes, which exploded from all the water...but I was able to harvest my first corn...looking forward to trying it out this week...and I had one ear that was overly mature and I will be using it to learn how to turn those kernels into next year's seeds. The whole gardening part, GoodKharmaFarm; well, this is my year to learn from my mistakes, so I'm learning from the earth on a daily basis...I have a gazillion cucumbers...I will be going out and I know picking no less than a dozen today alone.  I see now that I will also be learning to make pickles this week...I have beets to pickle, too....no idea where to start, but I have great books to reference and thanks to technology, between google and youtube I should be able to find more than enough information to make my first products from the things that I've grown.  A new creative process, for sure.  I plucked carrots out...they weren't growing right and so I learned something there....that they should be planted with intention...spaced out instead of dumping seeds in a row and hoping they'd just do their thing...nope, some things don't work that way...I'm learning, and I will be learning from the earth and mother nature for this whole year...as fall approaches and I have to consider what I'll plant, where I'll plant it, get my fall/winter beds that get the winter sun cleaned up, and cold frames built....boy, that will be a big thing to learn...and they'll be made from all recycled wood windows and will be like mini greenhouses, allowing insulation from the cold but sunlight so those fall and winter crops can grow safely....I'm actually excited about the making of the boxes, although not too excited about the weeding and working of the overgrown beds...but it will all be done...and I may call upon some of the people that have been hinting at wanting to come out here and do something with the earth....town folk...city folk...well, I have plenty for them to do....plenty of work to share....I know I can't do it all myself!

And to add to all of the things I already do, I am getting back into the music, have been doing a little writing and playing....last night I enjoyed playing with my husband and son...as we start to evolve into whatever this incarnation of a 'band' we might become....I know that we'll have a good time, and hopefully get out and play some this fall.  Its been way too long....you can check out our former band, which disbanded in the fall of 2010, through our Facebook page or on Reverbnation....we were ShackTown....in case you are curious as to
   what we used to do....as I said, its been a long          time...I didn't play at all for over three years...but I    feel ready to write songs again and get out and        play and share our music again. It has been such a  pleasure to watch my older son grow into his own  as a musician, too!  We will have a good time!         
 So, as always, there is so much that goes into being GoodKharma......creativity comes in all kinds of packages and I've learned to be open to all of the ways that I can express myself...it has made this woman a whole person....and knowing that all that I do involves a positive message, or something made from nothing, made from what others would toss away, and turned into something different and with its own beauty.  It is my joy to share it all with you, dear readers, and I can only encourage you to do as I do, and listen to your muse, and do something, or many things...it is so important to grow and not be afraid to share all the parts of yourself that make this world just a little nicer, a little better...I've got a muse on my shoulder...poking me...whispering that its time to paint...so I will go...until next time, I bid you peace and joy!