gouache abstract landscape study by Hali Karla

I feel like there are so many things I ought to share. It’s been awhile since I’ve written with a creative practice+life update, or been on social media with art peeks - and the longer I put off writing the weirder it feels to share. Have you ever felt that way?

So I’m just posting from the heart today, as we wrap up the year.

2022 has marked a time of change for me. Or, put another way, a time of changing more into the me I am {becoming}, with more trust and acceptance.

My art practice played a big role in this.

It also, ironically, led me to a bit less art-making and more life-as-art making.

So did health issues - including a drawn-out breast cancer scare, that concluded with something that felt like a miracle. Along with other hard and beautiful things, these led me into a time of healing, and creative energy found in new and old ways… hands in soil, eyes off screens, kitchen rituals, medicine making, greening, asking, learning, being amazed, gently.

More nature, more home, more pause, more Love… less noise, productivity, performance and hustle.

I don’t know how it is for you, but I’m a bit infatuated with how our intentions in life are lovely, powerful, and even helpful to get things moving into action with focus.

And yet what often comes from the energy we put toward realizing those intentions is something different than what we first imagined.

And, as it turns out, it’s often more needed, more true to our whole story than what we thought we wanted to begin with.

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.*”

So as one year rolls into the next, I am feeling this wisdom from 2022…

As good as it is to live intentionally, it’s equally good to cease all the planning and setting intentions, and simply gift our attention and creative presence to the precious, quickly passing moments sometimes.

I certainly had a fair share of intentions and desires for this past year. For art, life, relationships, business, projects, home, etc. My mind thought it had a good idea where those intentions would land me if I just stayed committed and on-path, active and attentive along the way.

And yet, it was in that process of paying attention, slowing down and listening closely to the movements of my embodied experiences, that the layers of ideas and intentions peeled away, to reveal my truer hungers, and the nourishment I need to feel more truly alive.

I find that, as we re-member who we are by being present to the holistic nature of our days, we often hear our soul's song beckoning us to change with the times, within.

Who knows for sure, but perhaps, it is as we were always meant to, by an intention planted by our Maker, long before our minds could try to take control and make sense of things for ourselves.

Now, don’t get me wrong - I actually met a lot of my “goals” for 2022. And that felt good, sure. But it was knee-deep in the process that showed me more about who I am and what I want than the original intention ever could have.

And it was actually in letting go of some goals and intentions that I felt most free to be me.

We keep discovering more about who we are, even as we change and grow, don’t we? Or, at least, we get to keep participating in that blessed mystery of change if we choose to… and in how we’ll frame change and the unexpected happenings of life when they come upon us.

It’s always, somehow, about finding real presence to what’s in front of us and trusting that living creative process, loving what we love - no apologies. Staying open to possibilities beyond what we already see, and yet also, willing to come home to the life we're actually living.

Life - and art - just seem to come back to that ol’ cliche again and again: trust the process. Trust the living. Trust the making.

Start with an intention or idea, but let each movement along the way have a say in what stays and what changes, too.

Let yourself be amazed - and let yourself slow down enough to appreciate that, too.

It’s a beautiful thing, if you ask me.

I wish you a peaceful transition and creative perspective as you welcome in 2023. May you feel in touch with the beautiful side of change.

I look forward to sharing more with you, from my creative practice+life and the changes I’m making, next year. My newsletter is the best way to keep in touch (sign up below).

Thank you for being here,

Hali