TracyDove.com

We have a winner! Jes McCullough ~ http://saharaskydesign.blogspot.com/ ~ Hilo had a great time choosing from so many “paper balls”! he pulled out the winning paper and the weirdest thing of all is that I won Jes’s giveaway! Insert the Twilight Zone music here. Wow. I won her beautiful handmade bag that I really wanted. It took my breath away when I opened the paper that Hilo grabbed out of the basket and saw that it was from the same person who pulled my name. Life is so strange sometimes. I really love it when these kind of things happen.

Thank you to all of you who visited my blog and entered my OWOH giveaway. It was so fun visiting so many blogs that I would have otherwise probably not found. I have met some truly delightful and wonderful people through this event. I look forward to following my new found blogger friends.

I am guessing that I will be playing a lot of paper ball games with Hilo this week!

~Peace, Love, Dove~

Monday, Feb. 15th my cat, Hilo (named after the city in Hawaii) will be choosing the winner of the OWOH giveaway.

The random number generator is too confusing and technical ~ so, instead, I printed out the comments, numbered and named, cut them into strips of paper, wadded them up into over 100 balls and tossed them into a basket. If you are a last minute entry, your name will still be included, you have until midnight Arizona time, Sunday, Feb.14th! Hilo loves to play “paper ball”, this is when I crumble up a piece of paper and throw it and he brings it back to me. This is repeated until I get tired! Sometimes, when he wants to play, he brings me a wad of paper to throw for him. His eyes were as big as saucers when he saw the huge pile of paper balls on my desk this afternoon! Of course, he grabbed them and picked them up in his mouth, having a hay day. Monday I will let him have the basket and pull one out. I’ll take photos and post them with the winner’s name.

This just seems like a lot more fun and much easier than the computerized method. I know that Hilo will love it!

Good luck and I’ll contact you if you win and post your name, blog site, etc on my blog on Monday.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S Day!

Hawk medicine flew into my stormy, Tuesday morning as I prepared my gardens for flowers and planted bell peppers and strawberries in containers. Hawk is “The Messenger”, teaching us to examine life from a higher perspective giving us a broader view as we circle over our own lives. The Red Tail Feathered Hawk is my earth totem. Hawk medicine people are aware of omens and messages from the spirit. I am mystified and in great awe whenever I see a hawk. I feel some kind of deep connection to them, feeling that there is something that I need to pay attention to when they fly into sight. Although they are quite common in Arizona, they are not as common in the big city. Occasionally you will see them circling overhead caught in a tailwind or searching for food in the middle of Phoenix, but they are much more abundant in the outlaying areas, in the low and high deserts. Shortly after this great morning magic, I retreated to my room and pulled out my Medicine Cards. Medicine in the Native American tradition is “anything that brings personal power, strength, and understanding.”The number 2 card in the deck begins with the poem;

Hawk…  Messenger of the sky,

Circle my dreams and teach me

The message as we fly.

“Hawk has a keen eye and a bold heart, for Hawk flies close to the light of Grandfather Sun.” Although I did a short “Butterfly Reading” and the Hawk card was not pulled during the reading, I still felt that it held some significance due to Hawk’s morning visit as it circled over me for quite awhile. Generally, the first sign of a nearby Hawk is the scattering of all of the smaller birds. ~ just fascinating ~

After I did the reading, I laid down for a short nap thinking about the Frida painting that I need to complete for an installation window display in downtown Tempe with the Phoenix Fridas. The installation date is March 4th, I have a 36″x36″ blank canvas. After falling into the dream time, I awoke with creativity raging through my veins. AH! Finally, I knew that some sort of inspiration would appear at the perfect time. Up until this morning my head was as blank as the canvas. The ideas and designs flowed through my little pencil stub, only stopping for a moment to realize how different this painting is materializing than most of the others. The process feels familiar, yet foreign at the same time. I am chalking it all up to Hawk medicine, giving credit where credit is due. There is even a deer in the painting, the first time that I have ever painted one. Deer medicine is “gentleness”, but that is a whole other story and I won’t go into that! I LOVE taking cues from animals and nature. It definitely adds magic to the journey.

“Have the colors of the morning inspired you to create?”

After the end of the turmoil of disgruntled boarders, I spent the morning repairing the neglect and damage done in my garden outside of the new studio. I gave up control of my garden along with the studio space to the people staying here and it was a huge mistake, other than the fact that I have a new starting point again. We are expecting more rain today, so I moved our compost  and discovered the most beautiful “black gold” at the bottom, lots of lizards and decay. It was a glorious, little eco system at work. It will take some time but I am determined to have the most wonderful flower garden ever! The space used to be an abundant cottage garden and has taken many turns since I was put out of commission in 2006. Little by little it will come full circle. I am just a little slower now.

The completion of my new studio sign is a confirmation that I am here to stay and create and be free again in my sacred space. The wee hours of the morning call me into the studio quite often where I can fall into my art. After the roosters in the neighborhood begin to crow with the breaking of the dawn, the gardening begins. I am in the preparation stage but a trip to Baker Nursery yesterday motivated me. I will replace the ten year old rosemary plant that once flourished and then met it’s demise under the ignorance and carelessness of the last, less than ambitious, “gardeners”. This is truly a new beginning. A morning spent at the nursery is pure inspiration, dreaming of all of the possibilities that will soon be in place. However, the work is a part of the journey and I am grateful to be able to take these steps.

It is a magical mystery tour on the planet, baby…… roll up!

WoW! This is a cool blog world event that I am going to participate in. It brings bloggers together and connects kindred spirits through our blogs. The instructions and information is on the link above ~ click on the logo and it will take you there. I am a little slow at understanding how things work, sometimes. But, I believe that it is suggested to give something away in a random number generated drawing. COOL! I LOVE giving things away, paying it forward and spreading love and light has it’s rewards far beyond monetary gain. I have connected with some of the most amazing, creative, beautiful people via the internet. This internet event seems like a very cool way to meet more cool people around the planet. It is an international event. So….. as for my giveaway ….. The rules are that you have to leave a comment on this blog entry. I guess that is it! I will be giving away a MANDALA COLORING BOOK FOR FLOWER CHILDREN OF ALL AGES.

The Giveaway will be announced on February 15th!

I believe that I am also supposed to put the logo to One World One Heart on my sidebar. Forgive me, as I don’t know how to do that. It is a job for my webmaster who is currently in an internet dead zone.

Hope to see you on the ride! Get a ticket and hop aboard!

Please leave contact info so I can notify you if you win the drawing. Please post your web address with your comment or you can privately send me your email info at Tracy@tracydove.com. Thanks!

The new Dove Studio is up and running! YAY! It’s been long overdue and it is finally here. I am SO EXCITED! I’m sure that in no time I will have it in a state of art confusion, there is so much space and I am used to painting in a small converted bedroom studio space, I just don’t even know how to act in such a large area! Yesterday friends came over to paint and help me break in the studio with creativity galore. We painted well into the night, filling the room with creative juices and beautiful energy. Candles burning, incense filling the air and music for the soul. I continue to sage the room to clear it of all vibes that were previously in there and fill it with new grooviness and an abundance of love and laughter. Who knows what the future holds, but in the meantime I will enjoy the journey and say, “YES!” to everything delicious thing that comes my way. It will be available for small workshops (approximately 10 people, I think), so keep that in mind when looking for a place to hold your workshops, art friends and teachers. I can’t wipe the grin off of my face and an abundance of joy has burned itself into my heart!

Peace, Love, Dove

FULL WOLF MOON ~ You can see Mars as a tiny dot in the sky, to the left side of the photo. Mars is opposite the sun right now.

Prior to the full moon rising it seems that our sky was on fire again. These were taken from my backyard.

I can never get enough of the natural, desert sky colors. After the exciting moon~mars event that occurred last night, I woke up to a GLORIOUS morning sky, full of golden yellows.

The western urban city scape was delicious, as well, with soft pinks, lavenders and baby blues. Heaven’s palette and inspiration from nature, even in the big city, can always be found. ~ Now, onward and upward to hang crystals in my studio window to get the creative waters stirred and flowing in there. There are two major painting jobs awaiting me and they will be the first ones to come out of the new studio space. I am eager and excited today.

“I know she’s out there somewhere
On the western skyline
Lonely women say a prayer
On the western skyline” ( Bruce Hornsby )

Enjoy the days and nights, my friends!

Day five of ” a painting everyday”. I am loving filling my time with these small gems! As much joy as I find through painting larger paintings, these small paintings are like little desserts for my soul. It is wonderful to remain in motion instead of idling and watching paint dry. I guess it is a form of multi-tasking, which is something that was not recommended by my neuro doctors. How else am I going to completely reconnect in this world without multi-tasking? I was also told that I could never “bend over” for the rest of my life! SERIOUSLY! How is that even possible? Needless to say, I have ignored many of the doctors advice and I think that I am better off for it!

So, day five and still painting strong!

Okay, so much for getting my patchwork done today. It never happened. I’m hoping that there is always tomorrow! I have been painting small 5″x7″ paintings while the paint dries on my larger paintings. So far, I have painted 4 within the last 4 days. My mantra has been “a painting a day”. Though it may seem that I am very motivated lately, I am still true to my “sloth” self and manage to get long afternoon naps.

Now….. onto bigger paintings and still finding the time to complete smaller ones~ that is my daily goal right now.

~ Oh, and always leaving plenty of time for naps! ~

YES!!! My studio is ready for me to move in and create and paint like crazy. I am SO HAPPY! So many ideas and visions are floating around my head of all of the possibilities that this space can provide. I’m looking forward to having workshops and art shows and a creative gathering place. It is limitless. Magical beginnings occur all along the journey. This is definitely the beginning of the path in the right direction. Until now I have been creating in a small bedroom that I turned into my studio which offered little escape from the world. The new studio is away from the main house and it separates me from the doorbell and distractions of my home life.

I will keep everyone informed of any new happenings and workshops, etc. as they develop.

~Peace, Love, Dove~