Week 3 Calendar

Free For You & Yours
As We Shelter In Place

Weekly Videos, Tips and Inspirations
To Thrive Creatively


TOPIC
Healing the World Creatively






Left: My New Year's Collage for 2020,
"Finding Ease in Chaos" - Email to discuss the future images that I see in this collage NOW.


Dear Creatives,

Our current situation takes me back to the last time I found myself
in the "unknown" for an extended period of time. It was 2003 when
I had big plans for the year. I had just finished building my new
Southern California studio and printed 300 giant postcards,
with exciting events for 2004. 

On Oct 26, 2003 the cedar firestorm raged through our lives;
burning our studio and home to the ground, wiping out my
carefully planned events for the next three years. 

We weren't alone, over 300,000 homes were burned and
16 lives lost. It devastated communities county wide. 

Things came to a standstill as communities helped wildfire
survivors sift through the ashes of their lives and mourn the
loss of people, animals, nature and homes.

The home and studio I had built, and the calendar I had so
carefully planned, was all up in smoke. I turned to my visual
journal for solace, trying to find ease in the chaos that was my life.

Today, calendars, schedules and plans, worldwide, have come to a screeching halt. We are home.

  • We are home doing our part, staying safe.

  • We are home keeping our community safe. 

  • We are home alone or with our family or our pets. 

  • We are home, working every day to realign with our new normal.

  • We are home, finding our own ways to stay grounded and connected.

We hear these are “unprecedented times”, yet history does have lessons for us.

Between 1863-1875 the Cholera Pandemic ravaged our planet,
ultimately claiming 600,000 lives worldwide. In 1918 the Flu Pandemic
swept across the world.

I’d like to share a poem, that a friend sent to me, which was written
in 1869. This poem was reprinted as a message to the world when the flu pandemic broke out. And, here we are...again.

(Written during the Cholera Pandemic) 

by Kathleen O’mara
1869

“And people stayed at home
And read books
And listened
And they rested
And did exercises
And made art and played
And learned new ways of being
And stopped and listened
More deeply
Someone meditated, someone prayed
Someone met their shadow
And people began to think differently
And people healed.
And in the absence of people who
Lived in ignorant ways
Dangerous, meaningless and heartless,
The earth also began to heal
And when the danger ended and
People found themselves
They grieved for the dead
And made new choices
And dreamed of new visions
And created new ways of living
And completely healed the earth
Just as they were healed.”


Right now, more than ever, we are tapping into the universal consciousness.
It is clear that we are interconnected to all human beings on our planet. 
Unlike 1869, 2020 has the internet and television to keep us up to date on the "progress" of COVID-19. But, that can be overwhelming.

However, we also can see how people are staying connected creatively.

  • Singing together from balconies in Italy
  • Virtual symphony concerts
  • Families, organizing birthday, "drive by" parades for loved ones.


Let's be a part of staying connected and helping to heal people and the
planet with our creative action. 

  • Let's use our visual journal to find ease in chaos, speak our truth and to document our thoughts and feelings during these times.

"Chaos suggests that instead of resisting life's
uncertainties, we should embrace them."
Seven Life Lessons of Chaos

  • Let's take creative action to heal the planet with "The Spiral Labyrinth" exercise (video below), to set our intention, affirmation
or prayer for our world.


We. Are. Making. History. Together.

Stay Home. Stay Safe. Be creative.

Virtual Hugs,
Pamela


Tips & Inspirations

FYI: Videos will be available for one week.

Watch them early to be sure to see them!


HELPFUL LINKS
Book Recommendation
"Go To" in times of uncertainty. This book gives confidence in the design of the universe.
by John Briggs and F. David Peat
During this time, we are all experiencing grief and loss, each in our own way.
Here is an article that is helpful.
“One thing about crisis is that it can galvanize creativity and commitment,”
Neimeyer

W EE K 3 SUPPLY LIST CLICK HERE
YOUR RATTLE IS YOUR FRIEND!
CREATE A SAFE CONTAINER WITH A BEGINNING, MIDDLE & END
You will hear a rattle being played at the beginning of most of these videos. Before I start making art, I usually light a candle, rattle my workspace (and my body) to shift my energy from everyday life to working creatively.
For rattle ideas see Supply List; Week 2 - Sound Makers
I invite you to try it!

Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths,
Rattle your body and your work space.
Notice how it feels.
When you complete work in your journal,
Close by giving thanks and rattling again.

This gives structure to your art making which creates a safe container;
Beginning , Middle (making art) and End .

DRAW OR DOODLE IN YOUR JOURNAL EVERYDAY
USING THE INTUITIVE COLLAGE'S EXTRA IMAGES
  • Take your leftover Intuitive Collage images and tape them in where they landed when you slipped them into your journal randomly.
  • If more than one has landed on the page, put them in relationship to each other in some way.
  • Create a new collage where multiple images have landed.
DIALOG BETWEEN IMAGES
  • Which two images in your collaged front cover attract you the most?
  • Identify these and then click "Dialoging with Images" for guidance.
The Initiation ; Step by Step Instructions
We. Are. Making. History. Together. Calendar of Events

Click below with questions
or to inquire about private Zoom sessions


Pamela Underwood BFA, MA
Artist/Expressive Arts Therapist
Hill Country Texas Bluebonnets