Manifest Your Creative Dreams: Act as if. Posted Apr-29-2007
"A" is for Acting in Harmony with Your Intentions
Do you have unfulfilled creative dreams begging to be born into the world? Are you afraid of embracing new creative interests because you fear that you're not good enough, skilled enough, or knowledgeable enough? If so, follow me to the first of a series of new articles that will give you 26 simple ways to nurture and strengthen your creative life no matter where you are on your journey. ...

Phoney Sheep Posted Apr-27-2007
Art Gone Baaaaaaad!
Watch it, this one might pull the wool over your eyes! From a page simply titled, "Fotos Artísticas — Ovejas Telefónicas." It's stuff like this that really amuses me and makes me exclaim with glee "What a clever artist!" (Yes, glee!) I mean, look! Sheep phone heads with coily-corded bodies. I love it!

I also appreciate knowing the Web source of such artful imagery, because I occasionally receive some awesome e-mail forwards with pictures of artful fruit, cute animals, ice sculptures, sidewalk chalk art, and the like without knowing where it came from or who the artist is. Take note: unattached art is awkward — especially when I want to rave about its ravishing creativity!

Which by the way, the Phoney Sheep link was sheared from Domesticated Bloggage, a heartful site with a hint of humor (and an author who gets paid in wool sock yarn.) Yep, I think we just came full-circle. ::: she says sheepishly ::: •

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10 Kindness Gift Cards Now!

My Random Acts of Kindness Pass-Along Gift Cards
Posted Apr-25-2007
Kindness: Pass It On!
On my birthday several weeks ago I decided to turn the whole gift-giving tradition on its head and conduct an experiment in "reverse gift-giving." Before meeting two friends for lunch, I put on my graphic artist hat and in a "pay it forward" mindset designed a small, business-sized card with a message that read ...

An Expression of Beauty
Photo © 2007 Chris Dunmire
Chiricahua National Monument Mountain, Arizona

Courageously Cherishing Life Posted Apr-22-2007
Cherish Your Life, the Earth, Each Other
In the wake of this week's tragedy at Virginia Tech and the ongoing violence and loss of life happening every day around this planet, I send this loving invitation out to everyone it resonates with. Why every single moment matters...

Make this moment count. And the next one, and the one after that. Spend your energy today thoughtfully on words and actions that serve you and others well. Be grateful for what you have, knowing that you have far more than you'll ever need. Celebrate your gifts, your creativity, your voice in this grand chorus of life. You and I are both here to inspire one another, to help one another, to share with one another. Sing from your soul. Cherish your life and the lives of those around you. We are all in this together. •

My Spring Bloom Layered Tissue Paper Flower Project
Posted Apr-21-2007
Featured in Craft & Hobby Association Consumer Press Release
One creative afternoon in 2003 I was experimenting with making tissue paper flowers. I forgot how I made them in elementary school (and wanted something a bit more intermediate), so I decided to invent my own design. ...

Embracing the Variety and Contrast in the World
Posted Apr-20-2007
Abundant Inspiration and Resources
In recent weeks I have been awakened more to the extraordinary value of the contrast and variety we experience in our lives. And not coincidently, I've also been more conscious of my inner resistance to people and events drawn into my experience. In my reality, these are not separate things, just polarized ends of the same spectrum in which I am currently finding balance. ...

Book Update: "I Don't Want to be Your Guru..."
Posted Apr-17-2007
Author Joyce Shafer
Last year I wrote a piece titled Enjoying a Cup of Coffee with A.J. and Old Bill in response to reading Joyce Shafer's book "I Don't Want to be Your Guru, but I have Something to Say." I enjoyed the book story and found its underlying message inspiring and timely for my personal journey. (Joyce is a wonderful author, by the way. For a sample of her writing, see Not Your Ordinary Sand Castle: A Simple Act of Love.)

Joyce informed me this week that the book has a new face and irresistible price, and it's still available as both a paperback book and an e-book download. More information about the book can be found on the Publisher's Web site or at Amazon.com •

Grand Details
Photo © 2007 Chris Dunmire
Grand Canyon, Arizona.

The Grand Canyon Posted Apr-16-2007
Photographic Memories
I've been intending for months to show-and-tell more about my 2006-2007 Arizona Travels, and now seems like a good time to begin.

Part of my procrastination has centered around how to best share weeks of pictures and writings and anecdotes. So I'm just going to plunk right down in the middle of it all and begin by sharing a small piece of writing I did at a journaling workshop last month about the Grand Canyon titled "A Place of Beauty". And I will continue with the Grand Canyon theme until I'm satisfied.

The photo above is of a dead tree still rooted in the ground on the South Rim of the Canyon. The focus on this canyon "detail" instead of the main event (peeking through the background) is intriguing because it is exactly this contrast of "beauty" and "ugly", "life" and "death" that makes living so rich and our experiences so meaningful.

A Place of Beauty © 2007 Chris Dunmire

Blue sky, canyon walls

Layers of red, orange, yellow, and white

One of the seven wonders of the world

I focus my camera lens in squares of vision

The camera cannot contain the natural Grand beauty

It spills beyond its focus, its borders

So I point and click some more

A hundred clicks, a thousand clicks, a million clicks

Still wouldn't capture it all

For the physical experience of the Grand Canyon

Is infinite breathless beauty •

Lessons from a Snow Bird Posted Apr-12-2007
Footprints in the Snow
Personal trainer and life coach Crystal Andrus uses a phrase that I'm really starting to like. "What lights you up?" It's such a penetrating question that goes straight to the core of what matters the most to you.

If you are seeking fertile soil for your passions and wanting to find where your joy can thrive, pay close attention to your answer to this question. And then work in harmony with it. You know more than you think you do.

Painting by Chewy Lewy, aka ART RAT

Messes of Intentional Creativity Posted Apr-11-2007
ART RAT Secrets Revealed!
Just what does it take for a creativity coach to meditate herself into the mindset of a rodent and Act As If it's possible to facilitate creative expression in a rat? Don't miss this confessional TELL-ALL article! ...

Thirty-Five: Accepting, Embracing, Enjoying, Expressing
Posted Apr-7-2007
7 x 5 = 35
According to the time and space quality of our earthly dimension, this week completes my 35th year as a Human Being. And as a Human Being contemplating this accomplishment, I find it interesting how we humans measure many "important" facets of our lives by numbers. ...

Painting by Chewy Lewy, aka ART RAT

ART RAT: Chris's 2007 April Fool's Day Joke Posted Apr-02-2007
The Girl Who Cried RAT!
Did you read the ART RAT Blog and get April Fool'd by my ART RAT Book site? If not, it's not too late to check it out for a chuckle and share it with someone you'd like to post-April Fool prank. It's quite an outRATgeous and elaborate story I weaved on the Web. And do you know how many rats I had to go through until I could find one that actually painted with WATERCOLORS? You don't think that I actually created those paintings, do you? •

New Book "ART RAT: The Rodent Artist" by Chris Dunmire
Posted Apr-01-2007
Coaching Creative Creatures
As a nature and animal lover, it has not escaped my notice that humans are not the only beings endowed with the power of creativity. One only need to briefly observe the spider spinning a Web, the bee harvesting honey, and the oyster producing pearls to know that animals have the innate intention to create for survival and comfort.

But one might wonder: is every creative manifestation in the animal kingdom instinctive? Or are there circumstances in which an animal would willingly engage in creative behavior out of free will? As a creativity coach and animal caretaker, this was one question I had to know the answer to.

After intensive investigation into this subject, I am now ready to share my findings with the creative public through my latest book, ART RAT: The Rodent Artist. ...