Practice.

Good evening, readers (whoever may still be reading this blog). By looking below, it's been 5 weeks since my last post. You know as well as I, we neglect to nourish ourselves in times of stress, neglecting that which is deemed as an 'extra', or 'frivolous', or 'just not a priority' when meeting the tasks of the day. Once of those 'extras' for me, which is more vital than any 'priority' sometimes, is to dip into art and fall into an endless creative cloud of beauty just waiting to be born. Whew! It's been much, much too long to have not indulged in my painting and photographic delights. However, as Divine timing would have it, tomorrow I will be featured at Gangplank in downtown Chandler as a 'featured artist' at the Desert Bloom experience (aka "The sights and sounds of music").

As one may know if they know me well, I get disgusted with the status quo. I so, so, soo desire to live above and beyond that, for the sake of being an example for those around me! "Wake up!" I want to say. As part of this process, I feel a stirring to do paintings and work with my hands. To create beauty. My most deepest desire as I walk the earth is to breathe beauty into everything I do, touch, and especially create. I want to show the beauty of each person that I encounter to them. As childish and even as corny as it may sound, I want to be like a flower for the world, spreading a fragrance of lightness and beauty... through art!

So, this brings me to a big (sorta) announcement: I have decided to end services offered by Under the Orange Tree Photography for large events, particularly weddings. There's been tremendous success, yet I have felt tremendous stress as a one-woman, part-time show :) I would love to "shoot from the heart" regularly now, which means shooting for me, depicting the world as I see it and then sharing this with others. Thank you so much to those of you who added me/this blog to your RSS feed, supported me on facebook, and would send kind and incredibly encouraging notes my way from time to time. I have been and AM today SO BLESSED by you all. Ah, what a shower of blessings :) Thank you, thank you, thank you. There is so much to pay forward when I can, which excites me :)

In conclusion, I want to reflect on the title of this blog, which while you might've wondered where the final tie in or punch line was in terms of its relations to the post's content, it resonates with me so strongly this evening as a new(er) way of being. "Practice" is the subject that is floating through my mind this late evening since to me it is meaning (right now) that many, many experiences in life, many 'things' in life provide us the opportunity to get messy, screw up, make mistakes, take chances, take risks, refine our personal rules or beliefs, to get off track and a disillusioned and then remerge back on the path to find ourselves again. I feel very much life this as of late and especially right now in this moment: I feel born again, renewed. My passion, my voice is through art. I lost that, but I found her tonight. This is a step I am willing to take--in my off-time, on my weekends, in the wee hours of the morning--to pour my emotions into art

Lastly, I want to start a new blog. I plan to keep the official/original Under the Orange Tree Photography website up and going (www.undertheorangetree.com), yet this blog will no longer exists after a few months from now. I've purchased a wonderful tool for self expression which will allow me to truly be able to work with fresh, new platform for a new expression that's been waiting to come forth for awhile now!

My blessings to you all. Another photo for your viewing pleasure this evening. It was taken at the Tonto National Bridge just north of Pason, Arizona. Beautiful. Just beautiful.

Many love and blessings,

Christine