Shari Beaubien

Art Fair this weekend!

I just wanted to post a quick reminder that I'll be at the
Conejo Valley/Thousand Oaks Artwalk 2012 this weekend.

 

Hours are from 10 a m- 5 pm both Saturday and Sunday.
More information can be found in my right sidebar or here.

The weather is supposed to be picture perfect!
I hope to see you there...

Spring Swan

Here's a detail of something I finished recently...

This was a painting purely for me!
It's the cover of my new art journal...

If you've followed my work for some time, you know that I don't often work in pastels.  Somehow here though, it just seemed right.  I love this book and can't wait to fill its pages.

April Showers

This was the view from our back patio a week or so ago...

That doesn't happen every day now, does it?

Painting on the book is moving right along.  I finished the crowd scene as well as the split page with the cupcake and tree.  Together with page one, that makes a total of three pages complete now.  Yay!

I plan to start two more this week and work on them until I have a total of five finished.  At that point, I'd like to begin painting some "regular" art, sprinkled in with the book pages.

I'm really pleased with what I've accomplished so far.  This project is certainly pushing me in ways that I could not have predicted at the start.  And I suppose that's never a bad thing.

Tuesday Museday 5

The crowd scene is coming along slowly...

The two figures on the left are finished with the exception of their limbs and shoes.  The grouping of three in the middle is still in progress.  The brown pants are done and the grey dress has been blocked in.  (It will eventually be green.)  You can see where I added the sixth figure I mentioned in a previous post to the right of the ditch (marked by the rubber band) and you may just be able to make out the beginnings of the little girl at the far right.

So far so good.  This is probably an excellent page for me to be working on at the beginning because by the time I get to the little girl, I'll be forced to restrain my perfectionist tendencies.  She's going to take her place and I'll work at her until I'm happy because there's NO WAY I'm repainting this crowd!

So I Started Doing Yoga...

Or I guess I should say that I started practicing yoga.
Apparently, you don't "do" yoga because that implies a form of mastery.
Rather yoga is something that evolves over a lifetime
and even the most seasoned yogis never actually arrive.
Hence, we  p-r-a-c-t-i-c-e  yoga.

Here is Theodore practicing his own yoga.  I'm not sure which asana (pose) this is?
Maybe side-lying savasana?
But more importantly, he seems really relaxed into it, don't you think?

In all earnestness though, I can't believe how completely I have fallen in love with this practice.  Granted, I have a bit of an obsessive-compulsive aspect to my personality, but I am utterly consumed with how great I feel when yoga is incorporated into my day.  Not only is it physically challenging, but it's begun to ground me spiritually in a way that I've been searching for for years.  It's almost as if I've discovered an integral part of myself that has aforeto been lost to me.  Very moving stuff.

I am eager to consume as much knowledge as I can and gain strength so that I can do some of the more advanced asanas.  At the same time, I can't wait to discover how my practice will affect both my artwork and my larger life in general.  I already have a greater sense of surrender and that is so freeing.

In case you're interested, I joined the YogaWorks near my house.  I had previously taken a handful of yoga classes over the years at various gyms but never really connected with them at all.  For exercise, I usually walk/jog around my neighborhood, do our elliptical trainer at home, or lead myself in a step and/or kickboxing class (I used to be an aerobics instructor years ago).  These things are great, but the frequency was dwindling and I never felt like lifting weights, so I didn't.  I came to the conclusion that I really needed a push - something different to motivate and excite me - so I decided to try out YogaWorks for a week free (coupon on their website).  I'm so glad I did!  The instructors there are so educated and it's a far different experience than the "gym yoga" I encountered before.

I'm curious.  Do any of you practice yoga?  I'd love to hear about your personal journey...