My Artist Voice #21 January 12, 2024

   Welcome to my 21st Artist Newsletter.  Thank you so much to everyone who has subscribed to date.  If you would like to receive this newsletter directly in your email inbox, please contact thechautauqua@gmail.com and ask to be added to the mailing list.  Please share this with friends who may also be interested.  Thank you so much for your support.  

   It's a new year and time for a look back at 2023...I had various themes and words I worked with last year.

Theme for the Year:    joyful energetic ease

Word for the Year:    cocoon

2023 Mantra: Breakthrough…And renew!  Breakthrough…I love you!  Breakthrough…And renew!  Breakthrough…Thank you!

My 2023 frequency:    I am introspective, embodied, joy-filled

   While there were odd moments of joy and ease, the bulk of the year really fit my word of "cocoon."  When the word first came to me at the end of 2022, I thought it was going to mean being quiet, hibernating, or resting curled up in a warm blanket.  NOPE!  2023 was a year of being DEEP in the "GOO!" It is in the cocoon that the caterpillar isn't a caterpillar anymore, but it isn't a butterfly yet either, it's just goo, and that's what I felt like - goo!  I wasn't healthy all year, but I wasn't "sick" in the way I had been in the past.  I wasn't really moving forward, but I didn't feel like I was going backwards as I have felt for years.  I wasn't accomplishing what I wanted, yet, I was getting things done.  I just seemed to be in an in-between state.

   I did get a bit of a surprise as Whitney Freya sent out an email with her symbols for 2024 (she does symbols instead of a word for the year), and as she explained her process to determine her symbols, I realized that without knowing it, my symbols for 2023 ended up being the body and bees as that's mainly what I drew and painted during the year!  That led to an interesting tangent during my December 10th Zoom with the Aussies as we looked into the symbolism of bees and how they connect to the body for me - no answers, so they will continue to be my symbols for 2024.  Though, in hindsight, bees have appeared in my art for quite a while - and I did create a Bee deck in 2021.

   So far, my word for 2024 seems to be simple, simplify or simplicity, with my theme now emerging as meandering.  I'm not sure how this will play out yet, and how it will jive with the many ideas for projects I want to accomplish/finish this year.  Guess we'll just have to wait and see. 

Celebrations: 

For being a quieter year than 2022, I did a LOT last year. :) 

2023 Highlights:

[cancelled Scottish Dance Teachers' Association membership after 25 yrs!]

+ Sue Crites' Qigong Level 1

- Level 1 January 14 & 15

- 100 days of Qigong completed May 8

- follow up June 23rd Masterclass 

+ 21st Anniversary of owning The Chautauqua Jan 20th

- $5,000 donation Sept 28

- cartoon/comic strip in paper started Dec 15

+ applied for 2023 Cowboy Kicks Boot project (Oct 22/22) - not accepted February 15/23

+ Hillary Faye's Kundalini Reiki 

- 70 min 1:1 & Level 1 Attunement January 10

- 80 min 1:1 & Level 2 Attunement January 24

- 70 min 1:1 & Level 3 Masters Attunement February 21

- attuned LaToya to Level 1 (May 1) and Level 2 (May 8)

+ 2023 Calgary Stampede Dream Home artist contest - applied February 23 - not accepted March 7 :(

+ renewed Inner Circle for 4th year March 16

-1,300th DAILY Facebook post to the group Nov 9

+ royalty payment of $13.63 from CD Baby!!!!!!!! (April 3)

+ Hillary Faye's 8-week Abundant Heart self-paced program

+ Lacombe Art Show April 14 - bought 6 cards, 1 wooden owl, 2 small canvases

+ Awaken Love Yoga Teacher Training/Reiki Level 2&3

- practicum March 26 - nailed it!!!!

- graduation Apr 20...honoured as Head Cheerleader & Goddess of Joy for the group

+ Alix MAC's dinner theatre May 11 - "Million Dollar Meatballs" - Jeanne was Boris Stroganoff :)

+ signed up for Hillary Faye's 8-week Faery Queen Council Initiations program April 12 - May 31 

- 1:1 with Hillary May 10 (23 mins)

- attuned to rose, iris, sunflower, orchid, lotus flower frequencies for healing and attuning others!

[tire flew off car June 19 - Luc fixed and returned my car June 22]

+ entered (UK) Wraptious summer artist contest (June 21) - 2 Yay or Nay items sold and $5.38 commission - not accepted July 20

+ gravel on both sides of playhouse (July 30)

+ Applied for own ISBNs (Sept 28) - approved Oct 7

+ garden - finished planting May 28 /finished harvesting Oct 5

- preserving included (but was not limited to) 7 cups lilac syrup, 2 qt lilac juice, 2 qts caragana juice, almost 5 cups caragana syrup, 8 qts + 1 pt apple juice, 10 qts + 10 pts + 5 c rhubarb juice, froze 22 cups raspberries, froze 3 doz potato cups & 4 containers of hash browns, 3 cookie sheets of roasted peppers - froze 7 cups, 10 cups freezer beet pickles

+ became Wondercafe2 header artist in September - 1st commission payment of $128 for 3 headers October 14

+ entered (UK) Wraptious fall artist contest (Nov 1) - Summer Florals (didn't win Dec 19)

+ Anne's Atelier membership [did not renew]

- Student Spotlight interview June 12th

. - 407 patterns created

- signed up for Art of Where POD site out of Montreal (Sept 14)

- ordered duvet cover Oct 22, arrived Oct 30 and it worked!!!!!!

- ordered 3 tea towels Nov 13 + 2 more tea towels Nov 15

+ signed up for Laura Rose's Honey Pot program (Nov 18)

+ 9 mini yoga videos created and posted online (fall/winter)

+ daily painting/drawing

- 1,500th sky drawing (Nov 12)

- 2 paintings on canvas completed

- 5 mandalas

- 10 watercolour play page (both sides)

- YES painting (mixed media paper)

- JOY painting (mixed media paper)

- REST painting (mixed media paper)

- LOVE painting (mixed media paper)

- BODY painting (mixed media paper)

- 23 watercolour pencil/marker play

- 9 sun cards (watercolour pencil/acrylics)

- 2 whimsical character drawings

+ crochet food - 2 ice cream sandwiches (Oct 14)

+ daily mantras/kriyas

+ 28 jigsaw puzzles completed

My winter header went live on the Wondercafe2 site on January 6th!  I have the headers for 2024 ready to submit for approval.

Recently Completed:

Since the last newsletter, I've completed...

- (top left) Inner Circle collage (9x12) to identify the energy we wanted to end the year with - for me, it was REST!

- (top right) Watercolour play (on 9x12 mixed media paper)

- (bottom left) BODY painting (watercolour pencils, acrylics, Posca paint pens on 9x12 mixed media paper) based on a process by Whitney Freya

- (bottom right) MOVE painting (watercolour pencils, acrylics, Posca paint pens on 9x12 mixed media paper) based on a process by Whitney Freya

Two days before Christmas, 

While Jeanne was here that day, 

We made… 

3 dozen(ish) shortbread cookies 

2 carrot soufflés 

1 pumpkin baked oatmeal 

and a large pot of vegetable soup :) 

(yes, you need to sing the above to the tune of 12 Days of Christmas to get the full effect!)

  We also moved two small shelving units upstairs to my bedroom, put up the final string of Christmas lights (after sorting a pail of bulbs to see which worked), delivered cookies to friends, cleaned the landing, dumped 10 (?) lbs of sugar that was so old and petrified that I can’t even remember when it was purchased, moved a chair downstairs, vacuumed, and something else that I can’t remember right now…and put up some Christmas decorations

- Jeanne was back on Dec. 30th and we did a LOT of shredding, put books on the shelves we moved into my room, watched a Christmas movie on TV. and finished sorting my clothes - she ended up with two tops out of the process.

- I completed my 26th cartoon comic booklet and you can view it here https://www.facebook.com/beth.richardson.10/videos/907315260905497

UFO (UnFinished Object) Update: 

- back in September, in Inner Circle, we had a day-long painting retreat on the theme of INterCONNECTION (connection with ourselves).  I can't remember what I was doing, but I wasn't able to participate at the time, so after I sent off the Christmas issue to the press, I pulled up the retreat replay and started watching it.  I had the option to start a new canvas (and I had a blank canvas on hand), but I decided to do the process on my (stalled) Hawaii painting and have been moving forward on that.  You can see the changes in the image of my "studio" below.

- When Mary and Jeanne were here Christmas morning, Mary went through a bag of items I had for her to look at and she ended up taking, among other items, 4 UFO bead crafts.  And when she went through the bag I had for her on Dec. 30th, she took 3 (?) more UFO craft kits!  More out of my world!

- New Year's Eve, I finished the rest of the shredding - it went back to 2015!  So nice to have it done and the bags out of my house.

Courses and Challenges (free and paid):

- Laura Rose's Honey Pot (embodiment) self-paced online class - I did the first 2 units which taught a breath technique and body movement to go with the breath. The next unit will be a dance one that I look forward to diving into.

- I'm practicing my drum playing daily, and hope to view the next lesson before the end of the month (fingers crossed).

- Shiloh Sophia's Wild Card Oracle class - still not sure if I will make more cards or not.

- Recipes, Remedies, and Rituals Ayurveda course.  Decided to ease back into the course with her free 5-day New Year's challenge this week.

- Karen Abend's free 5-Day New Year's Creativity Challenge - ended up signing up for this and have been participating this week, though doing my own creativity rather than following the daily prompts.

Works in progress:

Currently, I'm working on...

- a 9x12 page of watercolour play

- based on Whitney Freya classes, I'm working on a word painting (not sure what word yet) and a Laughing Buddha painting (in my personal smashbook)

- Heart Cards in watercolour pencil/Posca paint pen on mixed media paper 

- an 8x10 acrylic painting (a UFO) + a 16x20 acrylic painting 

- something totally new this year, is that I've been doing a mini collage (4.5 x 6) each day since January 2nd.  I'm not sure why the nudge to do these, unless it's because I very publicly said last year that collage is NOT my thing!  Anyway, I am having fun doing them, so will continue as long as I feel I should.

- I had Ember do another set of scans for me and now I have a number to work with and get up on the Art of Where site, and on different products.

Featured Artworks for Sale:

It's time to create some space, and raise some much-needed funds, for future art projects!  If you want to start the new year off on a positive note why not get an inspiration deck or two?  I have the following items for sale (prices include GST).  Go to https://thechautauquanewspaper.blogspot.com/p/products-for-sale.html to view samples.

Books:

"The View from My Window" by (Peeping) Thomasina (2020) $10

"Exploring My Artist Voice: a journey without a map" (2022) $15

Card Decks:

"Traditional Wisdom: proverbs for everyday guidance" (2020) $25

"Daily Wisdom: proverbs for living life to the fullest" (2020) $25

"BEEing" (2021) $20

"Deep Truths for Remembering and Reclaiming Yourself" (2021) $40

"TEA for the Heart & Soul" (2021) $75

"May I" (2022) $25

"TEA for the Bitter Times" (2022) $45

Planners and Journals:

"Creative Daily Planner: for the unconventional, non-conformists, creatives, rebels, and other out of the box personalities" (2022) $30 or from Amazon https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BMJM1SD3

"Magical Moments in my Day Journal: for the extra special moments all around me" 6x9 lined journal (2022/2023) $15 or from Amazon  https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CJLKZ3KB

Music Albums:

"Just Show Up" (fall 2022) https://linktr.ee/beth.richardson CDs $15

Please contact me at thechautauqua@gmail.com or phone 403-352-3837 to make an addition to your collection.

As well, each painting/canvas purchased this month will include a signed copy of my chapbook, "My Artist Voice: a journey without a map." 

"This book, Exploring My Artist Voice, is a journey of discovery, inspiration and overcoming adversities. Beth illustrates her journey with examples of her art throughout. What makes it powerful is that while Beth is working through her own personal issues, it is easy for the reader to identify with the problems and obstacles that she encounters. For me it was truly inspiring and beautiful." - JaneAnn Settergren, MFA, MDiv

 Upcoming Projects: 

- I offer Pay-What-You-Can Distance Reiki/Energy Healing sessions.  Energy healing works great from any distance and I've sent Reiki healing as far away as Queensland, Australia.  Please, contact me to set up your healing session.

"I have been suffering with Long COVID for over a year and have tried every healing modality in the book to get my energy back. Beth has been gifting me with healing Reiki energy for quite some time now and I have, for the first time in over a year, started to feel like myself again.  Much of my weakness has dissipated, and the dark cloud that I have been stewing under has lifted. Thank you Beth. ♥️" - Carla, Esthetician, Nova Scotia 

Thanks for reading, and as always, feel free to share with anyone you think might enjoy it.

Beth 

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As a life-long creative, and recently self-taught artist, I endeavour to weave my varied interests and wisdom together in an enlightening and entertaining manner, to make people think, but above all else, bring a smile to their faces and hearts, as my style is almost childlike in its simplicity and playfulness.  While bedridden for much of 2017, I developed 5 – 10 minute practices which allowed me to commit to them daily. I’ve been called the “Queen of Small Steps” because my simple practices – though they may seem small individually – have added up to quite a body of work in a relatively short time period. 

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Thank you so much for your support, and again, if you would like to receive this newsletter directly via email please email: thechautauqua@gmail.com and ask to be added to the mailing list.  Thank you!

Back issues of this newsletter can be found here: https://thechautauquanewspaper.blogspot.com/  under the category "Artist Newsletter"

If you would like to support my artistic journey, please consider purchasing my artwork, items available in person at 4910-47 St, Mirror, AB

or by making a donation via

Mail a cheque or money order (made out to Beth Richardson – Chautauqua) to Box 261 Mirror, AB T0B 3C0 

E-transfer to thechautauqua@gmail.com 

PayPal at https://paypal.me/thechautauqua (note: you will need to sign into PayPal first, and then specify the amount) 

   Your support and kindness are always greatly appreciated, and I look forward to continuing to bring joy and inspiration! Thank you so much and have a marvellous day!