Saturday, January 23, 2010

New Jewelry and A Way to Be Of Help

New Jewelry


New jewelry at the jbaxstudio Etsy store, and more coming during the following week.

You'll find sterling silver and gemstone earrings and a few necklaces to come (see below).

And now the helping part

You'll notice when you are in the Etsy store, that several items are marked for 100% of the proceeds to go to Hope For Haiti Now. This is the channel through which I have donated to help the earthquake victims. If you purchase a piece from jbaxstudio which is marked as such, I will provide a receipt for your donation when I send your purchase as well as lagniappe. New pieces will be put up weekly January - March of this year.

I would like to encourage you to donate, if not through me, then directly at the Hope For Haiti Now link below, or any of the links beneath it and, if not to this cause, then to another. There are so many people who can use our help. You can give through your house of worship, your school, your business, etc. Credit card companies and banks have links on their websites. The Hope For Haiti Now telethon, broadcast on January 22nd raised in excess of $57 Million. Most of the donations were small.

Here are a few of the new pieces at jbaxstudio - or you can see them on this blog at the Etsy store thumbnail set up.

Sterling silver earrings with flat oval chain (3 graduating lengths) and smokey quartz.

Sterling silver earrings- hammered - with jade coins

Sterling silver earrings with labradorite
(My new favorite earrings!)
The silver is hammered, then folded and formed with a ring supporting the labradorite

All ear wires are hand crafted
_________________________


Or you can text "Haiti" to 90999 from your cell phone



(Several organizations have different numbers to text to. You can check with the particular organization)

Namaste'

Monday, January 18, 2010

A Day of Service

I'd written what I thought was a good blog entry for today. I've decided instead to say little of my own and quote a few people of merit. You can put it all together as you'd like. I will say this without political or religious agenda: Today was to be a day of service. What have we done today to serve the world?

An excerpt from Martin Luther King's 1967 speech, "Where Do We Go From Here"

"John Kenneth Galbraith said that a guaranteed annual income could be done for about twenty billion dollars a year. And I say to you today, that if our nation can spend thirty-five billion dollars a year to fight an unjust, evil war in Vietnam, and twenty billion dollars to put a man on the moon, it can spend billions of dollars to put God’s children on their own two feet right here on earth."


"And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
John F. Kennedy
"I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another."
Thomas Jefferson
When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?
Eleanor Roosevelt
_______

Gift Of The Seagull
by Munda

A lonely seagull flies the winds
Majestic... soaring...gliding wings
A single screech sounds from the sky
Come fly with me... come here and fly
My spirit floats to be a part
I feel the beating of its heart
My soul, one with this bird of sea
Now knows the meaning to fly free
I feel the winds caress my soul
And soar the streams without a goal
My being trembles of delight
A treasure I received tonight
The seagull's flight of soaring high
The gift of what it means to fly
Namaste'

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Art In New Places

I'm excited about 2010. I'm looking forward to new things, new art, discoveries that cause me to feel refreshed. I'm grateful for 2009 for many reasons but now I'm ready to be surprised in a different way. As always, I'm inspired by art that I find in unsuspected places, art done with a twist, or simply done well. We live in such a technological age. Our brains race, our days rush by like a swarm of bees on fire and I think, for me, it feels good to see an old thing made new again without all the embellishment of technology although I do love technology so.

I came across Nate Holmes Trapnell while looking for something else which, I think, is the preferred way to find anything. because we tend to find what we need. At least that is how life works for me.

Born in San Francisco, my family moved to New York when I was three years old. This might explain much to many about my wanderlust and my split addiction to both coasts. My New York childhood included growing up in small neighborhoods packed with Jewish and Italian delicatessens, streets alive with cafes, bakeries of every ethicity, movie theaters, pool halls and bowling alleys, not to mention street chalk and pizza parlors and diners. The walk from one business to the other was always a short one. Trains and cars weren't needed. Nate Holmes Trapnell, "The South Paw" has brought back to life the art of pen and ink, the medium I began with when I was a young girl leaving images on all surfaces in an attempt to figure out who I was. Although I was never quite this good.

Take a look at these illustrations so brilliantly placed on bowling pins. I saw these and immediate remembered the first time I shocked local "boys" by winning at pool. Nice memories. Isn't that part of what art does? Take us someplace wonderful? Maybe someplace sweet or sad, but surely wonderful? I think so. My goodness. Pen and ink. Basic and brilliant. Even if its not your type of art, look at what the man's done. Original, art on something that doesn't hang on the wall, that isn't contrived or complicated. It is, however, a show of real talent. Like tattoo art, it is alive in a way that is unexpected. I hope you enjoy these and if you are curious about what else Nate Holmes Trapnell puts his images on, please check him out at the link at his name.

It's January. I'm happy already......

Namaste'

Monday, January 4, 2010

Happy 2010

My goodness, its 2010. I think about the year of my birth and I'm astounded to be here, and grateful. Of the list of people I know who read this blog, several faced great challenge in 2009 and others have prospered. For me, 2009 was split down the middle and I'm reminded that with all challenge, opportunity seems to be right there along with it depending on how one approaches their life.

I don't make New Year's resolutions. Not really. But I do take stock of things and consider what to let go of: habits that don't serve me, false expectations, superfluous relationships, and what to develop: an ethical income stream, passion for new ideas, improved resilience, healthier relationships. And, as always, I revisit my health and how to tweak it, how to take what I've learned in the past year and be kinder to my body, my mind, my "self" because if I've learned anything it is that I'm the only one who can.

Embarking on my annual enlightening re-read of what has moved me in the past and still resonates, I want to mention A Joseph Campbell Companion - Reflections on the Art of Living....






Don't think of what's being said,
but of what's talking.
Malice, Ignorance, Pride, Love?
The goal of a hero's journey
is yourself, finding yourself.
(Page 154)



Campbell, as you may know, was a celebrated scholar and mythologist and so much more. Even if you don't read his works, reading about his life is fascinating and inspiring (at the link above at his name).

The privilege of a lifetime is being
who you are
The goal of the hero trip
down to the jewel point
is to find those levels in the psyche
that open, open, open,
and finally open to the mystery
of your Self
being Buddha consciousness
or the Christ.
That's the journey.
(Jacket back and elsewhere)


I've always loved Campbell. He was not a religious man. He was a man of profound belief in the mystery of life. He is always a comfort on long nights of contemplation and sunny days when I want to celebrate all the beauty I see around me. Unlike many philosophical fads, Campbell never fades. His words age and seem to me to be a breath of support at the beginning of another year of economic uncertainty as we move along our own paths. Life truly is our journey, at least in my mind, and all that we do is ours. If you haven't read Campbell, you might want to now. And if you have, isn't it wonderful to have an old friend to come back to.




Namaste'

(and Happy, Happy New Year, we begin again......)