artist studio

Joyful Pause/Paws Cottage Studio Gets an Update

It has been years since I found these sweet little bird houses and painted them orange which adorned the front of my cottage studio.

As you can see by the photo above the color faded over the years. It was time for an update, but alas, procrastination was holding me back. Or was the timing not yet right?

I initially thought I’d just repaint them in the same shade of orange, but then had the idea to paint each one a different color. This was just the inspiration (and kick in the butt!) I needed to tackle this project one recent Saturday morning!

And I am thrilled with the final outcome! Looking at them now affixed to the front of my studio, I had to smile because I had this sense that one special little colorful donkey I found on my travels to Florida this past winter had somehow subconsciously influenced me. So a big hee haw of a thank you to Donkey who is shown in the photo below along with the updated birdhouses.

P.S. If you are new here…there have been many paws that have inspired my journey for the past 25 years who taught me the power of pausing often in my life to reflect and come back to center in order to live a meaningful life.

xo

Barb

    

A Little Peek Around Joyful Pause Cottage (video)

From the raised bed gardens to the corner herb garden on my deck everything is planted making it feel so alive around Joyful Pause Cottage, our home, and our property. It feels so magical!

I’ve even begun picking a few of the blossoms and have them drying in my flower press for future art projects to add to my Esty shop! I hope you enjoy the little (video) peek around my little corner of the world!

Click here or below to travel along via this short video…

XO

Barb

                  

The Art of the Pause

Mid-summer I began dabbling in mixed media collage. It’s a whole new way for me to embrace pausing in yet a different way. Like writing, when I’m in the flow, nothing else can enter my brain. I’m finding when choosing different layers to collage (papers, paint, and images) I’m not really thinking of anything, but just being with what is.

Yesterday I finished this collage on canvas to support the fact I recently renamed my writing cottage to Joyful Pause Cottage. This 10 x 12 space — a ‘room of my own’ and separate from my house —sits off the southeast corner of our deck. It was built in 2009 as a labor of love by my hubby as a place I could come to as I began my journey of writing two children’s books, three memoirs, and I don’t know how many blog posts I’ve written to date. But let’s just say LOTS!

But it’s become so much more than where I write, that I had been feeling this inner nudge to change its name for quite some time. Joyful pause is also about the joyful paws that have been part of my tribe in helping me evolve over the years — especially three special needs dachshunds. And if you look at the bottom of the collage you’ll see a paw print image to represent each one of them — Frankie, Joie, and Gidget. All three of their sweet and loving spirits remain here in this space with me.

Joyful Pause is now the space in which I collage, write, provide oracle readings via Zoom with clients and for my Youtube channel, meditate, dream of possibilities, and take joyful pause moments to glance out my windows to be inspired by my gardens or connect with the birds, bunnies, turkey, deer, or squirrels that I’ve been blessed to see here in my yard often.

xo,

Barbara

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