selfportraits.

I was feeling really low.

Like a saying in hungarian: under the frogs ass. Because how much lower could you possibly get?

Anyways I had that annoying critic babbling away in my mind: nothing you do is valuable, you are a fake and a fraud, nobody cares about you or what you do on and on.

So what?!

So what if nobody cares? I care.

So what if what I do has no value for anybody else? It is important to me.

And if I'm a fake and a fraud, than ok, that's what I am then. I'll be a good one :).


And I felt an urge to just capture myself as me, the one I am in this (and this and this and this...) instant. No more no less. Confused, happy, fragmented, sad, philosophing, empty, full of love.

We are all so much.

There is no such thing as a fixed I. We are all made up of millions of fragments, shimmering and dancing, like the sun's reflections on moving water.

Everything changes. All the time. And that is frightening and wonderful at the same time.

And so that was me yesterday.

Who are you right now? How would you picture yourself? How would you like to see yourself?

Love!

mornings.

I think we've got a nice little morning routine going. If I can just keep the stress at bay that is. We get up, not too early, not too late. I make myself some coffee and then we play, put the clothes on and have breakfast. Not  in order, not very orderly. Quite messy and often with some sort of powerstruggle, but still nice and easy. Cosy. Every now and then I have a meltdown while trying to put outdoor clothes on two struggling ones. But I'm working on that part.

As soon as we get outside it's all sunshine. No matter what the weather. I so much love the outdoors. And I am so happy to see that so do my children. And now that spring truly is here it's all the more lovely. Even though we live in a city, I do feel that I can get in touch with nature. After I have left S at daycare, I venture in the parks with L. (Even small parks can be adventures for small children. So much to touch and look at and smell and eat! :)).

Love!

Week one of Robin's Playground.

Hoooooraay! Today we start! I am both excited and a little disapointed. Excited, because it is going to be great, and disapointed because I have suffered a humongous video failure this morning. I had recorded a video so I could talk to you, but I can not get the audio and the visual to sync. And there is no way that I can figure out now to only upload the audio. So we shall have to do with my writing instead.

And so here goes. Welcome all you lovely souls to this project!!! Once a week I will post a prompt, or excersise or theme that I will and you are welcome to create during the week. I will post what I have done as soon as I'm finished, and you are all welcome to post photos or texts in the comment section. If you prefere you can post a link to your flickraccount our some other place where we can go see what you do.

My aim for this is to create a playarea - hence Playground name - where we can create things for the mere fun of it. I was inspired by Julia Cameron's Artist dates (if you haven't read Artist's way, and you are an artist, then by all means - read it!). I figured out, why not do something like that, but in a group where we can inspire and learn from eachother?! So here it is: Robin's Playground. I would like for this to be a warm, welcoming and positive area, where there is no right and wrong in creating, no good or bad, no goals to be met or failed at. Just the play and the fun that creating can be. Just the exploration.

You can follow by popping in here whenever you like, or sign up for the newsletter and get the prompts in your mailbox. Whatever is best for you!

And now let's get to it:

This weeks theme is: My Hand.
Why on earth this? Simply because one of the great masters of painting (I think it was Leonardo da Vinci, can not be sure though...) started up every day be drawing his own hand. So I figured it could be a good first excersise. Now, you can do exactly that - draw your hand as it looks. Or you can draw it symbolically - what is your hand to you? Or you can write down what ever pops up in your mind when you think of your hand and then make a poem or a word collage. If you are very pressed for time: here are some really quick tips:

Draw the outline of your hand on a piece of paper:

If you have time you can fill it in with colours, collage it...
Or do it many times:

Dip your hand in paint (feels good!):

Lovely feeling indeed, so do it many times:

I was aiming for tree, but I don't know.... Hehe.
Ok. Let's get to it! Hooray again! Let me know how you are doing.

Oh, I just realized it is not possible to leave a photo in the comments here :(. How about keeping that exchange in the Facebook area? I have a page there too:
http://www.facebook.com/RobinHasADream?ref=tn_tnmn

Or if you have any better suggestions that I, as the very analogue person I am, don't know of , just let me know ;).

Love!

introducing my new plant friends.

Six new friends of mine.

One of the things most important to me and for my health (and sanity), is to keep a close relationship to nature. So when I suddenly got the opportunity to cultivate an elottment right outside my door, for free (it's true, a piece of land for free in the middle of the city!), I was oh, so excited. Since I got it late may and my belly pretty much prevented me from doing anything at all but lay on the sofa or waddle around trying to keep pace with my son, nothing much grew there last year. But this year I have plans! Look at the pea sprouts, and the beans! 

Nature truly is the greatest artist of us all, and I can't wait to see these beauties grow and change. If I don't kill them first. Some people have green fingers. I have black. But maybe this time.... I do so want to learn how to grow things. 

If your soul is aching, or you feel detached to the world - plant a seed. Plant cress. The easiest thing in the world, and they are beautiful and taste really nice. I would have posted a picture of them to if I had not managed to somehow kill the seeds.

Oh, and it's getting closer. Robin's Playground starts on thursday. Eeeeek! It's going to be great. Pop in here to check it out, or sign up for my newsletter and follow it via mail.

Love!

sun.

I just had to slip in an extra post. It is a big thing here in Sweden, when the sun gets that warm glow again. Mmmmmm. Lovely!