Fierce Joy – Words to Live by!

(c) 1990 Ayn Hanna, Self Portrait, Mixed Media drawing w/cloth apron, 60"x48"

It’s hot, hot, hot here in CO.  The summer heat is upon us and the year half gone.  So many wonderful things are happening with my life and art career and time is racing by.  I was doing a quick check-in recently on my big picture plan and the goals I set at the beginning of the year, and really thrilled with how many things I’ve already accomplished from my list.

In this moment of reflection, I was also reminded of the word(s) I chose for this year – Fierce Joy.  The idea of choosing a word to focus on for the year came from Christine Kane’s Resolution Revolution – the idea being that you choose 1 word as your touchstone, a word that helps you focus your energies at “the BE” level (rather than the DO or HAVE levels), because when we achieve the “BE”ing, the DO and the Have are easy followers.

This concept also relates to the idea of finding the feeling place in Law of Attraction principles, which Christina Merkley (aka the Shift-It Coach) explains so well in her article, “Finding the Feeling Place of Success”.  (Having had first hand experience with the Shift-It process, I highly recommend this program for anyone who has anything in their life they are ready to “Shift”.  All this great stuff I’ve got going on right now in my life has come in part as a result of completing my own Shift-It process, including my Big Picture and Take Action Plans.)

I have been living my Fierce Joy this year, especially with development of my art career.  A few accomplishments to date:

• My website, blog and flickr sites are all “live”. (This accomplishment is so much bigger than that short sentence can convey.  Wow, I really had no idea how big this was when I started.  Somehow that sentence almost needs it own page and really BIG font!)
• I’ve made new art work which I feel are good high quality pieces and have furthered my development as an artist.
• I’ve developed more of a network of artist friends, colleagues, and new organizations I’m a part of.
• I’ve entered several juried shows and am showing my work in several locations.

Current and Upcoming Shows

Here are a list of shows where you can see my work, now and through the rest of the year:

• “Proof No.1 Preview Show, Art Lab Fort Collins, 239 Linden St, Now through end of July – See several of my etchings, woodcut, and collograph prints as part of this group show.
• “Evolutions 2010”, Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, 1213 Washington St, Golden, CO, Aug 2 – Oct 30 with opening reception Aug 6, 4-7pm – My Wall Drawing I textile painting is in this show.
• “MQU Pass It On – Quilt Challenge”, Traveling Group Show will be at “Milwaukee Machine Quilting Show” (Aug 3-7), “Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival” in Loveland, CO (Aug 20-22), “Old Firehouse Art Center Gallery” in Longmont, CO (Jan 14 – Feb 19, 2011 with opening reception on Jan 14, 6-9pm).  It will travel to some additional locations in 2011 as well.
• “Proof No.1 Official Show“, Art Lab Fort Collins, 239 Linden St, Sept 17/18, 23/24 – See more of my etchings and get a chance to make your own letterpress print to take with you as a souvenir when you visit the show.
• “Drawing in the Expanded Field”, National Juried Exhibition at CSU Hatton Gallery , (Oct 6 – Nov 12 with opening on Oct 6, 6pm) – One of my Wall Drawing textile paintings will be in this show.

There may be others as the year marches on, but this is what I know of at this point.  Please stop by if you can to any of these shows.  I plan to be at all of the opening receptions of all the CO shows and hope to see lots of you there!

Have you selected one word for 2010?  If not, maybe you’d like to pick your word now, it’s not too late.  And if (like me) you can’t decide on just one,  maybe 2 will do.  If  you have one (or 2) selected and would like to share, I’d love to hear about your word in the comments below.

Stay cool out there!