I have been working on my “living in the moment” skills, and one thing I’ve found that really works for me is to give myself assignments during times when I would normally be stuck in my head. Times like when I am doing things that are habitual and a bit mundane, like washing the dishes, driving to the store or walking the dogs. Now while it seems reasonable that I’d consider the first two examples to be chores, I found it disturbing to think that I wasn’t enjoying the opportunity to get outside with my pups. My problem was (and is) that when I have a lot on my to do list, I tend to multitask to try to be more productive. So instead of enjoying the fresh air and the exercise and time with my dogs, I was in my head, planning my next project or going through my list of things to do which in turn made me just want to get the walk over with so I could get back and get stuff done. As much as I preach how important it is to be “Art Happy”, to nurture ourselves, to observe the beauty that surrounds us, and just breathe and be present, it’s really hard to change my nature, my need to feel productive all the time. Fortunately I stumbled on a solution that worked for me, entirely by accident.

I had been planning to do a few encaustic experiments with different materials and processes and one of them was a pressed leaf and flower journal. So one morning I decided to collect a few little specimens during my morning walk with the dogs (yes, my favorite activity: multitasking!). So as my dogs were ambling along, sniffing and exploring, instead of becoming impatient and annoyed I took the time to find a few specimens for my project. I had never taken too much notice of all the leaves and little blooms that were all around, it wasn’t until this day that I noticed how beautiful they were; Even some of the weeds growing out of the cracks in the road had beautiful little variegated leaves. As I happily wandered my neighborhood, collecting my finds it dawned on me how enjoyable a walk could be. Just like that saying about taking the time to stop and smell the roses- except for me, it was about taking the time to stop and pull the weeds. Okay well, something like that anyway  ;0)

To check out my tutorial on how I incorporated my artful sprouts into my encaustic infuse pages, check out this post.