ENLARGING ONE'S BEING THROUGH THE ACT OF CREATING: THE MAP OF MARIA THE HUTIA'S MISADVENTURE

Hallelujah for the CREATIVE PROCESS and the empowerment that accompanies the JOURNEY we call LIFE. Whenever we are authentically engaged in expressing the TRUTH within ourselves, we are enlarged. And our LARGESSE impacts others positively! Today, I am celebrating my own ENLARGEMENT resulting from my 15 minutes of creativity every day! 

ENLARGEMENT. EMPOWERMENT. A MAGNIFICENT WAY OF BEING. In this photo, I am holding an enlargement of my map of Maria's journey that I created for the children's book, "The Misadventures of Maria the Hutia," by Ron Shaklee.  The original map is 14" x 15" and this blueprint enlargement is 36" x 40".  This enlargement expresses my elation at completing the illustrations for this project with Ron and excitement at seeing the book go to press!

As the book, "The Misadventures of Maria the Hutia," goes to press, I have succeeded in completing a four year project! Ron Shaklee, Maria's author, musician, professor, geographer, has worked long hours getting the manuscript-- with 30 plus illustrations of mine--ready to be published. We are ready to give birth! And yours truly, Hallelujah Truth, is manifesting 4 years of plunging into morning creativity!

Thanks to a fellow ACNer, Elise Helfer, I learned about Kinko's blueprint enlarger! I am happily blown away by the way my black-and-white pen and ink image looks on this large scale. Last night, I brought this ENLARGEMENT to the quarter completion meeting of the Artist Conference Network. I answered a series of questions about my work, investigating my own authority on the matter. This is what I proclaimed:

The Maria the Hutia project helped me break down barriers between my everyday life of being an ESL teacher at Georgia Tech and the world of imagination. These two realms are not separate for me any more. The duration of this project and the creative practice I ensued succeeded in establishing a magnificent continuous flow of being. My life is not divided now. I am what I am--A SPIRITUAL ART PILGRIM in all aspects of my life. I seek TRUTH and AUTHENTICITY.

Celebrate with me today my fellow SOJOURNERS! Howl your TRUTH, and please have some of my AUTHENTICITY! Life is a PARTY with many tasty morsels and large decorated cakes! Clowns and giraffes too, as well as conga dancing and tango! HURRAY for LIFE'S CELEBRATIONS!

That's a party for Coffee with Hallelujah! Soul Blog with me and share your celebrations!

IN MEMORY OF BEVERLY CASSELL

At the Artist Conference Network (ACN) completion meeting last night, we remembered Beverly Cassell, founder of ACN, who died on June 10, 2012. It was the first completion meeting of ours since she died, and we grieve for the loss of such a great generous spirit who has impacted so many creative lives. Her work will continue to generate imagination and joy. Thank you Beverly. Rest in Peace.

JOYFUL WORK IN PROGRESS: ART MAKING IN THE REALM OF POSSIBILITY

INTRODUCING MYRTLE THE TURTLE, Art by Hallelujah Truth

Hallelujah for the MAGIC OF POSSIBILITY! Hallelujah for stories we tell about our beautiful MOTHER EARTH! Here you see my rendering of a sea turtle from Ron Shaklee's story,  "The (Mis)adventures of Maria the Hutia." Myrtle the Turtle is squealing with delight at reuniting with the ocean after years of captivity in the zoo. Myrtle is the wise woman of the sea, and with her years of experience, she is going to help poor lost Maria the Hutia find her pristine island where Bahamian hutias still exist.


In the "(Mis)adventures of Maria the Hutia," Maria is cast into the vast ocean and swept away from her home. She is alone in an open sea of POSSIBILITIES! Her story is one of discovery and friendship as she JOURNEYS forth in her life. 
Like Maria, Ron Shaklee and I (Ruth Schowalter) are dwelling in POSSIBILITY! We are looking for a way to publish this story in order to "teach" about Bahamian hutias and endangered species. We want to wake people up and get their creative juices flowing about what each one of us can to do to nurture MOTHER EARTH. 


If any of you PILGRIMS know of available funding to help us publish this story, please SOUL BLOG with me. Our current plan is to publish the story with the Gerace Research Centre on the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas. "The (Mis)adventures of Maria the Hutia" will be made available to researchers and university students for purchase. Our primary goal is to give a book to each child on the island of San Salvador. To do that, we need funding!


JOYFULLY I make may way on this EARTH. I am a PILGRIM looking for FELLOW TRAVELERS. Our JOURNEYS are works in progress. I live in the REALM OF POSSIBILITIES. Hallelujah! That's Coffee with Hallelujah! Write me and share your stories about caring for MOTHER EARTH and ideas for getting "The (Mis)adventures of Maria the Hutia" out into the sea of life!

HAPPY TALK or MISERABLE WHINES?: WHAT KIND OF INNER DIALOGUE WILL YOU CHOOSE?

Hallelujah for the Creative Dialogue! Here I am with Maria the Hutia, the Long-Tailed Tropic Bird, Amber, and my magical companion, Wandjina! Art by Hallelujah Truth

Greetings PILGRIMS!  Welcome to my CREATIVE JOURNEY! OR NOT!  Today, you find me in a maelstrom of my own mind chatter--a noisy storm blowing me back and forth between two opposing mental states: FAILURE and SUCCESS. I am SOUL BLOGGING right now to summon COURAGE to WALK MY PATH in accordance with my beliefs about CREATIVITY. I believe that process is more important than product and that the lessons we learn along the WAY are invaluable. My current CREATIVE maelstrom involves a Bahamian hutia, a story written about this endangered animal by a geographer, and my process of illustrating that geographer's story.



In 2008,  I agreed to illustrate "The (Mis)Adventures of Maria the Hutia" even though I couldn't draw. I said YES because I believe in the power of ART to engage people in important matters, like science education. We can all make a difference by teaching others what we know about this AMAZING BEAUTIFUL WORLD. I did think I was going to paint my way through this story until it became apparent that the project's zero-funding meant color images were out. Instead, I would draw easy to produce black-and-white images of Maria Hutia. I would do this so that Bahamian children would be introduced to a young lost animal in search of her pristine island in hopes that they would learn more about their surrounding environment, including iguanas, sea turtles, crayfish, and coral.  


Fast forward 3 years, and I have have learned to draw! I tell Maria the Hutia's story visually in 27 illustrations. I have TRAVELED through numerous doubts about my ARTISTIC skills and vision while making these pencil drawings of Maria's adventures.  Currently, I have "finished" 15 images using micron pens and india ink. Have I experienced SUCCESS in this CREATIVE endeavor? 


Maybe...Maybe Not...I can explain my inner struggle by sharing lyrics from old musicals that I was listening to last night and today. First, are the lyrics from Show Boat that express my feelings of "hard work" and "agony" I have encountered in the process. I recommend you click on the link and listen to Paul Robeson sing it.

You an'me, we sweat an' strain,

Body all achin' an' racket wid pain,

Tote dat barge!

Lif' dat bale!

From the musical Show Boat, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein


I totally immersed myself in "toting that barge" and "lifting that bale" while I worked with a size 8 micron pen outlining the story's characters escaping from the zoo. I felt miserable. I whined all kinds of things: 

HALLELUJAH IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST, Art by Hallelujah Truth

I can't draw.
My drawing takes me too long.
My illustrations are boring.
My illustrations aren't skillful enough.
I'm not ever going to finish.
No one will like these images.
What a waste of time.
My neck and back hurt.


Then when my CD of Show Boat finished, I changed to the show tune, South Pacific. I always love listening to the song, "Some Enchanted Evening"! As the songs continued and I heard the song, "Happy Talk,"  I started laughing! Here was the attitude I CELEBRATE and strive for as HALLELUJAH TRUTH! Do listen to this sweet song! I have linked it below for you!


Happy talk, keep talking happy talk
Talk about things you like to do
You got to have a dream, if you don't have a dream
how you gonna have a dream come true?


From the musical South Pacific, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein

HALLELUJAH TO JOYFUL JOURNEY AND TO YESes!

Shifting to the magical space called POSSIBILITY made me laugh! I have a dream of making a difference through my ART. I believe in the power of ART to HEAL, ART to TEACH. I dream that we can HEAL the EARTH by learning more about it. 


I believe our inner dialogues matter! What will you do today? I suggest HAPPY TALK! Listen to the song, Living Jewels of the Land, The Sky and Sea , that the geographer Ronald Shaklee wrote about Maria the Hutia. What a beautiful song about some of the life in the Bahamas!

Introducing Launa the Iguana. Launa thought of the family she had left behind. A tear came to her eye. In the story,  The (Mis)Adventures of Maria the Hutia, she is responsible for leading the other animals out of the zoo and to their journeys to find home. Art by Hallelujah Truth