Lately every day I get up in the morning  I have the best of intentions to blog, write, do a million things… and then I am greeted by a chilly wind, the sun hiding behind the grey clouds and (at least over the past week) a layer of snow. It seems as if winter has just arrived and presented us with the most snow this season.

I find it difficult to keep focused on my creative process lately. I have the ideas and the desire but I seem to be lacking the energy to follow through on my impetus. Hmmm, could it be that I miss my tight schedule? Upon careful reflection I can honestly say that I do not miss my busy travel schedule. I think I am just catching up on regaining my energy and with spring and warmer weather I might just be unstoppable.

My Miksang online class is going well. I feel I had a break-through this last week of grasping the concepts with better understanding. Level 1 is focused on the basic principles of space, simplicity and purity, and the tendency is to overthink the assignments and not trust what one sees and captures with the camera. With that hurdle overcome I am a little more relaxed.

I have also utilized my time to catch up with friends. Many of the personal emails I am sending out are long been overdue. Slowly but surely I am reducing my “get in touch with…” list. Surprisingly enough, I am not feeling any guilt for not churning out tangible textile art pieces.

Speaking of emails, this morning I opened my mail and I found a note from a former student turned friend over the past several years. K. and I met at a retreat in Alberta where I taught a one day art quilt class… We lost touch for a while but suddenly I received an email in early 2013 to let me know that K. would be joining my class in Italy that September. Since then K. has been a regular participant at Art Quilt Campus.

Her note this morning included this: “I recently read a blog post by Maria Schell about sharing in the quilt world. It got me thinking of you and I feel compelled to express my gratitude to you for sharing your knowledge and skills as I’ve travelled along this textile art journey.  Exposure to your work and your encouragement has been fundamental to my growth. So thanks very much. Equal to that I value the friendship that we’ve slowly formed and hope it’s one that grows in the future.”

If I needed any reminder why I have been teaching and sharing for the past several years – this was it! Friends come and go and we are not always right there, stay in touch often enough or communicate how we feel. THIS made my day! Thank you, K! Thank you for taking the time for the feedback – it was a strong reminder why I want to continue sharing and mentoring. I may not be teaching much for others or specific organizations… Mentoring is more than teaching – it is sharing freely ones experiences and knowledge without pushing opinions.

I have seen myself transitioning to that role since before I implemented Art Quilt Campus. It is of the utmost importance to me to facilitate personal growth and independence in my students. The best message I can find in my inbox is the one to let me know that work has been accepted into a juried exhibition or that the person is pursuing exhibition opportunities.

Keep your success stories coming! Feel free to email me with a personal story. I am always looking for guest bloggers! Consider the invitation. I look forward to hearing from you!

13 Mar This entry was published on March 13, 2017 at 3:49 pm. It’s filed under Art, Art Quilt Campus, Creativity Update, History, In the News, Journaling, Motivational, Refocusing Creativity, sharing touching the soul, Something to Smile About and tagged Blog, blogging, competition, Inspiration, reflections, Women, writing. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.