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I incorporate a style into my art called zentangle design. Extremely meditative, zentangle quilts repeating lines, curves, and shapes until they create a nice block of pattern. I love to use zentangle in my roadrunner feathers. It is unique and fun, totally unexpected, yet looks like it's always been there. People actually ask me if these are roadrunners from my neighborhood - like the state birds are just running around with feathers that look like mandalas. The next

You may have seen a trail of postcards I sprinkled like confetti across the City of Albuquerque in celebration of our 53rd International Balloon Fiesta. Thank you so much for supporting local art, and the spirit and culture of New Mexico! If you feel inclined to take home some art and don't have room in your bags, you've come to the right place. Pick out a few prints or postcards, and I'll handle getting them to you. Thanks again, and happy Balloon Fiesta!

The word appreciation has two meanings. Gratitude for someone or something, and increase in monetary value. When you reflect and recognize what is good in any particular thing, you give it value. In turn, more of that thing comes to you. Thus, it appreciates. Let that guide your path today.

Nine is the number of completion. Today is a supercharged day - a powerhouse of manifestation. Take a deep breath, relax your mind, and ask

Sometimes, even in the most alluring of occupations, the day to day routine can tend to get a little dull. Kind of like oatmeal - just a big mush of sticky oats in a pot. There are days when we have a brilliant coating of melted butter and brown sugar, and others where there is just one dry blueberry in the plastic carton on the crusty bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Stir the pot anyway. Be grateful for the bread you are about to receive. It will sustain you for the

Sometimes I think we waste our time spinning around in circles doing what we are "supposed to be doing" instead of what it is we really want to do. I'm guilty of this myself. I'll putz around forcing myself to continue with a project or a path I really don't want to be on, just because it's what some phantom society in my mind says I'm supposed to do. If a curiosity bubbles to the surface, pleading for your attention, that's what you need to be tending to. It's like a str

Whatever it is you need to do, a task that is large or small, just give it 20 minutes of your attention. What happens is first is that you realize you can do anything for 20 minutes. It's really not a large amount of time. The hurdle of mind resistance has been jumped. Great. If you want to keep going, do so. But if 20 minutes is truly all you have, you've cracked the door open and let a little sunlight in. That crack will grow larger and larger each time to throw a

As we move, groove, mix and mesh, clearing out the cobwebs and dust, we carve out a space to create. It can be a spare bedroom, a garage, the enclosed back porch, even a cheap storage unit from Home Depot. It just needs to be a space where you are free to make some noise and a solid mess. We don't worry about caked fingers messing up the light switch or doorknob. A few drops of paint on the floor aren't going to ruin your day. Art wants and needs a dedicated section of yo

To get any large task done, the best way to tackle it is to break it down into several tiny pieces. To make art means to make space for creating. This is both in your weekly schedule as well as in your physicality. What does having a yard sale with my siblings have to do with making art? Well, clearing out a storage unit—even just a little—marks a conscious decision of letting go and provides an opportunity for someone else to get into the zone of creation. This brings

It started as a simple request—the table I moved from my art studio needed to be shuffled to my storage unit before winter. I asked a buddy to help me move it. Upon reaching the drop-off location, we realized there was barely any room to fit the 4-foot by 4-foot table with the legs intact. As soon as I faced the dilemma, I remembered my siblings and I were having a yard sale the next day at my brother's house. As I pulled items to make room, memories flooded back, and I st

One of the things I learned in graphic design school was to keep moving. Our teacher said that when you're feeling stuck creatively, to get up and do something—anything. Sometimes that could be sweeping the floors in your studio and taking out the trash. Other times, it could be making a big pile of items you're not using anymore and getting rid of them. Or you can simply clear off your desk, wipe it clean, and arrange everything in a way that pleases you. By doing th

Relax and have fun. If you're on the dance floor and you are thinking about the move you are going to do next, you are not in the flow. You are in your head. The same is true for any other kind of art, including living life itself. When we think too much, we invite worry. Suddenly we are faced with too many options and outcomes, and we feel weighed down and overwhelmed. Monkey mind tenses up our spirit, and clogs the creative channel we each have within us. The task in fr

I think inspiration comes from a variety of sources - a slight breeze in the morning during the change of seasons, the smell of coffee in the air and how it triggers a feeling of productivity, seeing a burgundy sunflower still standing as the rest droop their shoulders and wither. The easiest way to catch a whiff of inspiration is to observe and learn from others. In college, I minored in Studio Art, and in so many of my studio classes the professor had us watch a series

We often don't realize that life and art are like gardens, a mix of the things we like to grow. I like to think of a garden like a batch of salsa, looking at key ingredients: ripe, juicy tomatoes with seeds oozing out of them, tiny bits of fresh jalapeño, chopped onion, fresh squeezed lime juice, and a dash of garlic powder. These are what I like to dip a chip into, crunch and munch. So I grow these vegetables in the right environment of fresh soil loaded with nutrients in th

I've always been a fan of pulling weeds. In the spring, when spirits are fresh and new, we excitedly plant many seeds and take on a routine of daily watering. Planting fresh flowers is such an innocent commitment. However, as the heat cranks up and the sun remains overhead for weeks, our zest for tending to towering sunflowers wanes. This is much like the life of an artist. We just want to get our hands in the dirt—in the materials of art-making. But to do so,