2020 was the ultimate year of clutter. There was too much BS out there. Too much hatred and fear-mongering, ignorance, stupidity, illness, cruelty and death, so much death. By the end of the year, I had lost my energy, motivation and all inspiration and hope to create a more beautiful world. Now it's 2021 and am recovering from an exhausted state of mind and physically from a cough  (not covid) that lingered  for over a month. So what am I inspired to do?
I'm going to declutter everything in my life! 

First, I watched "Less Is Now" on Netflix which inspired me to start decluttering my everything. Since what I want to do in my studio is still up in the air, I decided to start there. This photo is what I started with - all my jewelry making supplies. Now, all gone - gave away.

Next I took EVERYTHING off my shelves (with the help of my budding artist next door neighbor, Millie).

then, I took everything outside and washed and vacuumed it all clean. Fortunately the weather Gods acted favorably toward us.

Everything got moved back onto the shelves. I went through each drawer and shelf then and pulled out anything I didn't want anymore that I hadn't already removed. I boxed these things up and made inquiries to my artist friends who might want something. Everything I removed has been given away.
​My studio feels so much bigger! 

 Finally I decided to reopen my studio with some work on the Never Ending Painting, this time with tempera paint. 

Two weeks ago I joined a 12-week online class called "Uncluttered" offered by Joshua Becker and Becoming Minimalist. For the next 10 weeks and 100 days, I am decluttering every space of my house. I know that with will carry over into other aspects of my well-being.
This is my "Why": I desire to own less so my house can be a clean, beautiful, uncluttered environment where I feel calm, soothed and appreciative of every space and item in it. 

My 100 Day Project is to declutter and minimize every space in my house - and in my art making.  I want to see what will happen with my art as my physical, mental and emotional spaces are cleared of unnecessary clutter and I hold that intention with making art.   

He liked to snuggle next to Dash, and on my lap. 

He liked the view from this spot in my studio.

He liked to play, eat, explore, and put things in his mouth. I made silly art from the little things I took out of his mouth. He made art from paper he found in my studio...while Dash cheered him on.

Dash loved him and now there is a sad hole in our household.

There's a lifetime of things we didn't get to do with him, and I will remember every minute I got to spend with him. He was a tiny sweet bundle of love. I'm making a tiny gallery space in my studio, and my art space will now be called "The Land Of Lost and Found Dogs" in honor of this precious little pup. I love you and miss you, Jake! 

I painted this painting in 2019. At the time it appeared to be a painting of Dash and my son's dog, Coya. But now.....

Clearly that painting was a message of things to come... This is our new puppy, Jake. He is a six month old rescue from Texas. He arrived on June 4th and I am in puppy love with him.

Jake and Dash became good buddies after only two days of getting to know each other. Super dog-cuteness reigns! During times of pandemic and election anxiety, there is nothing more comforting to me than two really good dogs. 

Corona time.
Time out of time.
Now. 

I'm staying home in relative comfort, for which I am grateful. My heart goes out to all the people who are suffering during this time. I hold everyone in my heart and send out prayers to all beings for happiness, peace and freedom.

I'm reflecting on the what, how's and why's of making art now and in the days to come when our lives will be able to open up again. In my down moments, I can't see how that will ever happen. In my optimistic moments, I look forward to seeing what kinds of lessons and changes we, as a global community, will be making to create the next world. In my down moments I'm sad that we aren't learning a thing - we go back to "normal" and humanity rides a fast train to doom. In my optimistic moments, I can see the beginning of a beautiful new world. 

I'm still making art because we have to keep the portal to the imaginal realm of creation open, so the problems that need solving can be found. I'm still making art because we need to see the creation of art as a agent of change. I'm still making art because we need comfort and joy. I'm still making art because this is what Love leads me to do, because Love, as art, can hold all of what's happening so we don't have to do it alone.

Right now, my art looks like colorful books made of tempera paint, fanciful stories of dangers and dreams. My art looks like small zines of life in Corona times as experienced through the perspective of Dash the Adorable Dog. My art looks like messy paper, words printed in pencil and oil pastels and sloppy stitchery. 

I'm learning what Now is by living the same day over and over, noticing the very small things that make Now  constantly changing. 

I have my house, my husband and Dash. I have technology that allows me to stay connected with my family and friends. I have all of time, out of time - to watch Life, to make art, to see Love holding "what is" with great compassion and wisdom, and to just wait. 

​May you be happy. May you be at peace. May you be free. 

One of my New Year's resolutions is to complete a 30-Day Yoga program. This morning while I was in downward dog, I noticed this painting behind me. It's called "Family", and it made me think of all the people I know.

Afterwards when I was flipping through Instagram I was struck by how many artists I know now. A lot of artists I just know through seeing their art on social media, but I've also met a lot of them in person. I've connected with so many artists who are not just good artists, but also just really good people. My heart is touched today by so many good people making art and putting it out into the world for others to see and enjoy. 

So thank you, good artist people, for keeping on when the world is scary. I appreciate being a part of this community of artists, and I just wanted to say "Thank You" today for what you do and who you are. Thank you!

Much love,
Sam

Way back in March I wrote a blog in which I asked "What if I let Love paint Love?"  Since then I have learned that I don't "let" it happen - Love will paint Love, and sometimes it looks like the painting above.

I've finally come to understand with clarity how my painting process works. It is very simply Love painting Love, or even more succinctly, it's Love loving Love. Love loves these paintings into being. 

I recently learned a new term - "don't know mind". It's the open mind/open heart of not knowing what will happen. It's how I've always approached painting. I never know what will happen until it happens, and then things, like the Little above, happen. I love this little painting so much because of how much wisdom and love she holds and is sharing. 

I've realized that all my paintings are offerings to, for and from Love. Today I'm sharing this realization and the beginning of this series of small, affordable paintings.  In February I'll have a studio celebration when I'll share them with the public - a LOVE fest! 

Much love,
Sam

I spent the other evening cutting up old starts that I had previously torn up to use in possible mixed media collage pieces. Using my handy dandy paper cutter, I made a delightful mess of papers. Cut, cut,cutting until my neck and body ached from sitting on the cement floor and looking down on the paper cutter for hours.

My plan is to make a bunch of little paintings, combining figurative, abstract elements and words. I'm painting these, sans paintbrush, using just my hands, paper towels and a chopstick by working on top of the pre-painted surfaces of the cut papers. Here's an example...

I'm super good with coming up with ideas, not always so good about following through, so we'll see what happens next. 

                                                                                    Growing Up

Two days ago my soon to be twelve year old grandson came up to me, face to face, put his hand in a horizontal salute at the top of his head and touched mine. He said, “Grandma I’m almost as tall as you.”

Almost every time I see my grandkids, one of them will do and say this to me. Being of Japanese ancestry and having taught kindergarten and first grade, kids did this to me all the time. In addition, I am a mother and a grandmother, so that's forty two years of having my shortness pointed out to me by children shorter than me. Forty two years!

Of course it runs in my family. My sister was an inch shorter than me. If I stand really tall I can round up to 5'1", which is two inches taller than my mom was. My daughter is two inches taller than me. When one of my aunts was in her 90’s, she had to stand on a box to reach the microphone on the podium to deliver her delightful words at my dad’s funeral.

I’ve been watching the tops of my grandkids' heads rise steadily up over these past twelve years. Their hand salutes are getting closer and closer to the top of my head. My "little" granddaughter is twelve now and tall enough that we have to stand back to back our compare heights, and a third party has to make the decision of who is taller. When I see her in a few weeks, I'm pretty sure the call will be in her favor. Soon, she'll be able to call me "her little grandma". How did this happen so fast? It seems like it was just the other day that I was bending over or lifting my grandkids up to plant a kiss on their heads. Now they're looking me in the face and patting the top of my head.

I saw my own children grow up into adulthood. I watched them bend over their elderly grandma and lovingly kiss the top of her head when they saw her alive for the last time. Now I see time flash forward to a future where I live a very long time... I see my grandkids, all grown up, bending down to kiss my head as I grow older and older, until one day, I leave my body to disperse back into the Everything. One day they will find themselves wrapped up in the infinite hug of the Universe, and they will hear their little grandma’s voice say, "Didn’t you know? You've always been this big."

(This blog has also been published in Fred Swan's September Edition of Second Tuesday.  Please check out Fred's wonderful collection of articles and thoughts about living and aging.) 

What if I let LOVE Paint LOVE?  (Wait, is that what I've already been doing, but I didn't have the awareness, understanding or words to say it before?) 

What if I painted something completely different?

What would that look like? 

What does Love Painting Love look like?