A Hundred Dollar Holiday

A Hundred Dollar Holiday - How To Create a Homemade Christmas

I have joined the ranks of Squidoo...it is a fun place to voice your opinion...click the above link to get tons of information on creating a beautiful holiday celebration for less than $100.

I CHALLENGE YOU TO CREATE A HUNDRED DOLLAR HOLIDAY THIS YEAR...You want to make a memorable Christmas holiday for your family but you have no idea how to do it! We will explore ways to make a beautiful Christmas memory without spending a lot of money.

I have always been a make it, take it kind of person. There will be how-to's, ideas, recipies, videos, and much more. New stuff will be added daily...so chack back often!

Please share a favorite homemade idea, your family holiday traditions, or special things you do on Christmas Eve or Christmas day in the guestbook at the bottom of the page!

angel art by Rebecca E. Parsons (Cre8Tiva)

"So the reason to change Christmas is not because it damages the earth around us, though surely it does. (Visit a landfill the week after Christmas.) The reason to change Christmas is not because it represents shameful excess in a world of poverty, though perhaps it does. The reason to change Christmas - the reason it might be useful to change Christmas - is because it might help us to get at some of the underlying discontent in our lives. Because it might help us see how to change every other day of the year, in ways that really would make our whole lives, and maybe our entire 365-days-a-year culture, healthier in the long run." Bill McKibbon - see his book below...read the rest of the article here...

Art Preserves Spiritual Possibilities...

"Art is a conservative power, the strongest of all; it preserves spiritual possibilities that without it--perhaps--would die out." Thomas Mann, Reflections of an Unpolitical Man

"spiritual being"rebecca e. parsons 2007 graphite on paper...acrylic...computer enhanced
Einstein and Spirituality


Spirituality is a concept that is difficult to pin down, so to avoid being ambiguous let’s look to science for some direction. The famous physicist Albert Einstein was very clear that he didn’t believe in a personal God or any accepted theology. He denied any belief in the immortality of the individual, and considered ethics to be an exclusively human concern without any superhuman authority behind it. However, he did have a spiritual side, which he often expressed. To him it was characterised thus:

To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is a something that our mind cannot grasp and whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly and as a feeble reflection, this is religiousness. In this sense I am religious.

The letter Einstein wrote late in his life to the Queen of Belgium, who was suffering a great grief, is full of this sense of spirituality.

And yet, as always the spring-time sun brings forth new life, and we may rejoice because of this new life and contribute to its unfolding, and Mozart remains as beautiful and tender as he always was and always will be. There is after all something eternal that lies beyond the hand of fate and all human delusions, and such eternals lie closer to an older person than to a younger one oscillating between fear and hope. For us there remains the privilege of experiencing beauty and truth in their purest forms.

Einstein’s spiritual side often expressed itself in his love of music. After hearing the 13-year-old Yehudi Menuhin with the Berlin Philharmonic he was heard to exclaim ‘Now I know that there is a God in heaven.’ He once said, ‘I often think about music, I live my daydreams in music, I see my life in the form of music’. He particularly worshiped WA Mozart and JS Bach: ‘I have this to say about Bach’s works: listen, play, love, revere - and keep your trap shut.’

The Unifying Principle of Spirituality

A final quote from Einstein might help to clarify this mysterious unifying principle. In 1930 Einstein published an essay on Religion and Science in the New York Times magazine, in which he described his own inclination towards a ‘cosmic’ religious sense, and discerned kindred glimpses of this feeling in such diverse figures as the prophets and psalmists of the Hebrew Bible, St Francis of Assisi and the Buddha. In this he said the following:

It is very difficult to elucidate this feeling to anyone who does not experience it. The individual feels the vanity of human desires and aims, and the nobility and marvellous order which are revealed in nature and in the world of thought. Individual existence strikes him as a sort of prison, and he wants to experience the universe as a single significant whole. The religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by this kind of religious feeling. In my view it is the most important function of art and science, to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are receptive to it.

Art for me, and for those receptive to it, preserves the spiritual possibilities...keeps them alive for the artist as well as for those who view or hear the artwork...what are your spiritual possibilities?

Blessings Today...Rebecca

article from: http://thecultureclub.wordpress.com/2007/11/27/js-bachs-mass-in-b-minor-albert-einstein-and-universal-spirituality/
photo from: http://thecultureclub.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/albert-einstein-mechanics-1.jpg

Spirit-knowledge...Intuitivity

intuitive painting "trio" - 2007 - acrylic, watercolor and marmarino plaster on heavy paper
Have you ever just known exactly what to do? Has the paint just flowed from your brush without thought? Have the words just written themselves? Have you just danced with joy to a piece of music you have never heard before? These bursts of creativity are what I call Spiirit-knowledge...where creativity and intuition come together to form Intuitivity...

intuitive painting "Spirit kmowledge" 2007 - Acrylic and molding paste on heavy paper
Spirit-knowledge is the sense and knowledge of faith in a power beyond self that is alive in your heart. Spirit-knowledge is present in prayer and in art, whether the artist or craftsman believes it or not.

intuitive painting "Alone in a Crowd" 2007 - Acrylic and molding paste on heavy paper
I have always thought of my Art as Prayer -moments of openness to the Spirit of God. I intentionally open and invite this connection before I begin to create - a ritual of sorts. I center myself with a few deep breaths. When I am ready (I do not rush this time), I ask God simply, "Give success to the work of my hands."

intuitive painting "Bella Luna" 2007 - Acrylic and molding paste on heavy paper
What I know and discover in my art prayer is often difficult to share or prove to another - my sense of God, my delight in being a creative child of God and my intuitive feelings born in prayer. The paintings in this post reflect what happens when you are open to intuitivity... So I invite you to explore your intuitivity and Spirit knowledge this week.

intuitive painting "Wings" 2007 - Acrylic and molding paste on heavy paper board

Exploratory Expedition... Before you create this week, invite the Holy Spirit to guide you and be with you. Then open yourself to work intuitively, without editing or correcting as you go. Experience where this takes your art. Allow the time to open your heart to what the Spirit of God teaches in art prayer.

Art...Inspiration...Spirit...

Model of Inspiration from visual thesaurus here...
As I begin to create The Artist as a Spiritual Explorer, I find a need to define the connection I feel between art and spirituality. If I could not explain it for myself how could I explain it for fellow explorers.

Art is inspiration...and inspiration is:


in spirit
Inspiration \In`spi*ra"tion\, n. [L. inspiratio-in spirit.] The act of breathing in; breath; breathing in the spirit.

Definition from Bartleby.com, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

1. 
   a. Stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity.
   b. The condition of being so stimulated.
2. An agency, such as a person or work of art, that moves the intellect or emotions or prompts action or invention.
3. Something, such as a sudden creative act or idea, that is inspired.
4. The quality of inspiring or exalting.
5. Divine guidance or influence exerted directly on the mind and soul of humankind.
6. The act of drawing in, especially the inhalation of air into the lungs.

Inspiration, for me, is a sudden flash of intuition...the arousal of the mind to creativity with divine guidance or...breathing completely in the spirit...where the skills and/or tools capable of originating (and subsequently developing) innovation or insight bring into existence something new and uniquely mine.

My formula for inspiration is:

spirit + openness + presence + grace = inspiration
The Holy Spirit breathes into me, when I am open and present, the grace to create....

Art has always felt like prayer for me...being one or with Spirit. It is a time of deep connection with something outside of myself...God, The Holy Spirit, the universe...whatever you name it. When I paint it is a contemplative time, a meditation where I feel the presence of my greater self in God and allow it to flow through me. Being in spirit...

The Artist as a Spiritual Explorer is about this inspiring influence rather than a process or it's effects. It is the journey to a place where intuition meets creativity to form intuitivity. Although my art, at times, is sprinkled with vision, illumination and heart...it is the moment of creation that is the catalyst for continued exploration. The 'affects' or feelings that I experience are what keep me inspired, regardless of the outcome in terms of monetary or notable gain.

This is about your journey, not mine. Although I will give reference to my journey from time to time for illustrative purposes, the path and how you walk it are entirely up to you and your connection with the spiritual.

Exploratory Expedition...Create your personal formula, consisting of the ingredients that define inspiration for you. There could be many things that play a part in your definition of inspiration or just a few. Pray with it or meditate on it for as long as it takes. There is no timeline for you to follow. This is your path. When you come to definition that suits you, create a visual reference for yourself.

Resources:
Definitions of Inspiration at Humanity Quest here...
Article of Inspiration here...

You are Invited...

Welcome...my intent with this blog is to provide an atelier for artist/explorers like myself...I am led to discover how to let my divine intuition create without editing...I will let go of preconceived notions...I will play...I will find my unique, individual visual voice...and I will begin to use it powerfully...and I will teach you how to do the same. I am so excited about the future...

Pack your bag and come along...the first step is coming soon...