sculpey

one of my favorite mediums to create with is sculpey clay. sculpey is actually a particular brand name of polymer clay, but for me it's like calling a tissue a kleenex. give me some sculpey in fashion colors and my 10 digits, and i'll make something that will make me smile. i can't help it - i mean, i'm a tactile person, so smooshing and squishing a wad of clay into something with form makes me oogly-happy. it's even more fulfilling than folding laundry!
not sure when i first discovered sculpey and the joys therein, but over the years i've poured many inspired hours into 'faces of food' magnets, clay-cards, flowers, figures, even wedding cake toppers. featured in the picture is a wedding cake topper i made for my dear, dear friend, wendy. henry and henrietta are two characters that she created and i just captured them in clay for her wedding day. now they're framed on her wall.
fun stuff. get your hands in it and you'll be addicted, too!

sky

big, big, blue sky. my favorite place in all the universe. well, actually it is the universe. no matter the condition of the sky - cirrus, cumulonimbus, altostratus infested; bright and blinding blue; star-spattered darkness - it pulls me in to its eternal self. it's funny how we name the sky as if it were an object. something we could touch if only we could reach that high. but it's the most subjective thing imaginable. actually, it's not a thing or a container or even a place - it just is. it is the definition of expanse and eternity; of possibility and mysticism. even when our view is blocked by the rolling fog or a tall building, it continues on. and on and on.
one of the coolest things to me is that the color of that great expanse is blue. which also happens to be the color of truth. hmmmm...try to connect the dots. or if that's too hard, just lie in the grass and look up at the night sky and connect those dots of fiery balls of gas into something that nourishes you. or amuses you. whatever you need.
shalom.

dance

i've been dancing ever since i was 5 (at least that's my first memory), busting out my hipster moves in the living room to my "Grease" soundtrack vinyl. dude, i thought i was Sandra Dee. but due to dancing being very frowned upon in the church i grew up in, my moves were kept private for most of my life. then in my mid 20's, i realized that to dance was to breathe for me. it's how i experienced god. i started taking classes of every shape and form - modern, ballet, swing, hip-hop, jazz, african, ballroom, contact-improv, freeform. (oh, side note: recently a friend of mine told me about 'Pussycat Dolls dancing' and tempting though it sounds, for now I've opted out of that one.) i even got so obsessed that i created a large dance studio in my house, just to have a space (which i used almost daily). these days, though, my obsession has mellowed into a healthy respect and awe for the art form.
so for me, dance is not just a passion, it's a tool. i've found that it's a form of therapy and a way of healing, like none other. the music, the rhythm, the heavy thumpa-thumpa, but mostly the movement. that connection between your spirit and body that happens in the space of movement is indescribable. and addictive. and beautiful. go ahead - try it. while nobody's looking.