Art, Boulder, Colorado, Landscape, Photography

Boulder Open Studios Oct 2014

Tour my studio and gallery at Boulder Open Studios, October 4th-5th and 11th-12th.

Please join me for my premiere Open Studios exhibit on October 4th-5th and 11th-12th (Saturdays and Sundays). This juried, fine art exhibition showcases some of Boulder County’s most talented artists right in their studios so you can see their workflow and ask questions about their techniques in person. Admission is free. My doors will be open from 12:00 – 6:00 pm each day. Please feel free to contact me for directions, or support the OpenArts community by purchasing a map to over 125 artists’ studios for just $12. This is a great way to spend an art-filled weekend in one of the most beautiful cities in the country! More information is available at www.openstudios.org.

OPENING RECEPTION: One of Boulder’s biggest nights for the arts is the Opening Reception for Open Studios. Each artist will have one piece on display so that visitors can select which studios they want to visit, and maps will be available for purchase. Join me and over a thousand art enthusiasts as we kick it off on Friday, October 3rd from 5:00 – 8:00 pm at 2525 Arapahoe Avenue, #E34, in Boulder (in the Village Shopping Center, on the west side, next to the Pedestrian Shop). Refreshments will be served, dress is casual. If you’ve attended the Opening Reception in the past, please note the venue change for this year.

Crested Butte, Photography, Uncategorized

WILD Womens Week, July 26-August 1, 2015, Crested Butte, Colorado

Womens Wellness Week  highlights (July 26-August 1, 2015, Crested Butte, Colorado):

  • Disconnect to Reconnect, Recharge and Re-focus
  • Hike in spectacular aspen, wildflower and alpine environs. Purify self in mountain streams.
  • Nourish your body, mind and spirit with healthy foods, essential oils and flower essence.
  • Re-ignite your creativity through journaling, photography and collage
  • Dance, sing and share stories around a campfire
  • Have fun, make new friends and grow your potential
  • Crested Butte Arts Festival Week

Suggested Itinerary:

Sunday July 26: Arrive to Crested Butte, relax and settle into your new home. Lodging and transportation not included.

Monday July 27:  Orient yourself to town,  acclimate to the altitude, make it a spa day to fully relax and settle.  Monday evening: Music/dinner in the park and meet your group. Orientation to program and coming events.

Tues/Wed/Thurs July 28-30:  Main Attractions ( a suggested itinerary)

  • Tues: 9am start, body warmups and attunement, stretching and brisk walking to aspen meadows (or rent townie cruiser bikes and explore upper loop/slate river watershed).  Learn meditation basics.  Mindful eating and nourishment presentation/discussion followed by a balanced and healthy lunch, dark chocolate too!  Walking meditation, goal setting and journaling activities. Pre-planning for next day wilderness hike and exploration.  Evening program.
  • Weds:  meet at shuttle bus at 7:30 AM.  Shuttle to trailhead.  Safety/equipment talk.  Body warmups,  walking meditation/hike into backcountry.  Lunch in backcountry. Shinrin yoku, nature photography and journaling.  Spa time available in late afternoon/early evening.
  • Thurs:  sunrise start.  Oh Be Joyful trailhead hike and water purification ceremony (weather dependent).  Using nature as metaphor and working with life challenges and transitions. Back in town by 4pm.  Group dinner in town.
  • Friday:  Optional alpine hike day.    Art festival kicks off at 5pm,  downtown Crested Butte.
  • Sat/sunday:  Crested Butte Art Festival. Head home refreshed in paradise!

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Uncategorized

In the Spirit of the Woods

It was warm this morning. While on my routine walk with Monkey, I noticed her soaking up the warm rays of sunlight. It is fall. The earth is quiet, the air is still, humidity from the trees hung to the earth. Weather is coming, or at least that’s what they say. Monkey was basking and I took her lead and followed. Quietly we made our way home. The sky was growing overcast, the light was soft and instead of working on my “to-do” list, I was compelled to head outdoors. This time, I left the dogs at home. I wanted to explore lower bluebell creek. I wanted to connect with the spirit of the woods.

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I have wandered Bluebell Creek regularly since moving to the neighborhood 15 years ago. The lower section is dominated by green ash, an introduced species, but they create a lovely canopy over the narrow intermittent stream. In the summer, the woods stay cool and moist while the rest of Boulder bakes in the sun. In the Fall, the trail through the woods are dappled with yellow, brown and orange leaves. This year, the creek bed is a tangle of debris. Sticks, logs and rocks piled up against each other, remnants of the flood. Remnants that are slowly decaying, compressing and solidifying into mounts. The topography within this narrow drainage was completely altered. The trees bend and bow. Forest spirits live here which is evident by the many children visits. Creativity and mystery abounds in lower Bluebell Creek and today the earth spirits called.

Boulder, Crested Butte, Landscape, Photography, Travel

Oh Be Joyful Journeys

DSC00672 Welcome to Oh Be Joyful Journeys. OBJoyful provides customized contemplative healing art journeys in nature. We host classes in Boulder, Crested Butte and someday Beyond! Our motto is: Disconnect to Reconnect. It is our goal to help people reconnect to their center place, to reconnect to their biology, to reconnect to their heart and to reconnect with what matters most. We teach people how to drop into themselves, how to quiet the mind and how to fully awaken to the wondrous world around. We use nature as our metaphor and healer. Our curriculum of activities are specifically designed to fully integrate nature within our cells and to discover a deep appreciation for ourselves and for nature. We are interdependent,  co-creators and codependent energy beings. We need each other to thrive and fully engage our senses. Life on earth is meant to be a sensual, pleasurable experience — if we know how! Oh Be Joyful Journeys helps facilitate the awakening of our precious gifts both within ourselves and on this earth.

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Oh Be Joyful Journeys is a collaborative community of people who are learning how to create beauty from darkness, learning to befriend demons, adapt to change and grow love from life experiences and traumas. Oh Be Joyful teaches and customizes journeys through a variety of creative modalities; photography,collage, journaling, meditation, music, breath exercise, hiking, nature bathing (shinrin-yoku and ishnaan). We schedule dates to honor the sunrise, to acknowledge the changing of the season and to embrace the abundance and gifts of the earth. We explore the mythologies of the evening skies. We nurture our body, mind and spirit with healthy foods and habits. We are a growing, expanding community learning to be vulnerable enough to discuss our personal challenges. To acknowledge that we aren’t alone, we are not perfect but we are unique and beautiful in our own way. No one person is the same like no one snowflake is the same. We all have special gifts and with Oh Be Joyful as our guide, nature as our healer, and a personal willingness to follow the practices, transformation can happen.

Oh Be Joyful can also help you disconnect from mental agendas, relax into a sense of place and fully embrace life in Crested Butte – a Rocky Mountain paradise!

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Oh Be Joyful provides 2-hr, 1/2 day, full day and longer retreats for individuals, groups, families and adventuresome friends. All activities are catered and customized to our clients needs. Just ask and it will be given…. First rule of the universe!

Boulder, Crested Butte, Landscape, Photography, Travel

Black and White Photography

In 8th grade, I took a black and white darkroom photography class and was hooked! I like black and white photography because it is simple, rich in details and highlights the aesthetics of composition, textures, lines, light and shadows.  My current work is all digitally produced, captured in color and converted to monochrome in post-processing.  I like this workflow because more of my time is spent outdoors  than in.

Fall Aspens
Fall Aspens

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Connecting people to nature one photograph at a time!