Long time Catchup

It has been such a busy couple of months.  I'm beginning to feel grounded now and carrying on from where I left off.  What with getting married in Gibraltar in September, the end of August and the month of September seems to have just flown by in a whirl.  

Here we are on October 3rd!

There's lots to post on and I'll get round to it over the next few days:

• The Great Stitched postcard Swap
• My wedding in Gibraltar
• Reiki clients in my Reiki Heart Zone treatment room
• Reiki healing at the Dogs Trust
• Writing a new book called Healing Me
• Contemplating writing another book about writing first time CV's
• Writing & delivering an 8 week course for a group of sixth form girls (17 year olds) called "The Art of DIY"
• Writing and Planning my online personal statement short course
• Painting commissions 
• Creating paintings out of my sketches

There's more but that's enough for now.

The Great Big Stitched Post Card Swap

I received this lovely fabric postcard from Bonnie Jobe in USA and was so delighted to get it.  It's just gorgeous.  She's put alot of time and effort into it and I was really touched by the detail.  

This is a lovely flower on a clip so I can undo it and add it to my Gorjuss bag.  One happy bunny.

The reverse side.  Isn't it just the cutest thing?

Thanks so much Bonnie.  I love it.

I am really late in putting the finishing touches to my postcard but I have been in touch with my recipient and thankfully, she understands and will hopefully get a lovely surprise when she gets it.


That's all for now but I'll be back again soon.
Love and warmth, Jules xxx

Must 'get on'

The dogs all waiting for their treat. Lucy in the background on her way!

I'm saying this to myself alot these days;  "must get on".  Have been shopping quite alot, I think I have found my wedding dress, albeit not traditional wedding attire but something floating and lovely.  As I wrote in my last post, I'm not a shopping kinda gal.  I would rather be found scanning the bookshelves or in an art shop, fabric shop - hell, I'd even say shopping in Ikea.

This past month has been busy.  I have been external statement marking for Liverpool John Moores University which has been a tight turnaround considering everything else happening.  We are near to finishing the Healing Room in our home and it's looking fresh, clean, spacious and peaceful and that's even before setting up the space.  Last year my friend Amanda who's a feng shui practitioner came over to assess the house and this healing room space is located in the heart zone of the home.  At that time and for the past year, it has been very cluttered, stuffed, overflowing and a bit of a dumping ground.  I used to walked past it, feeling dread every time I went in there.  Not good.

Since clearing it out - it's becoming a pleasure to look in - there's an openness and stillness about the place.   The deadline is 1st September for my practice to be located in this room, that's my reiki healing, and creative coaching practice.  I have a list to get on with but I feel like I'm getting somewhere.
Must get on.

Thanks go to my other half who has meticulously painted his little socks off in there and put his energy in to creating the space for me.

At the same time I have been painting - quite large painting actually and it's going a little bit weirdy.  I had moved away from my initial style of painting since going on retreat to Portugal - the delicate cocoon figures in mixed media took a bit of a back seat and I realised that this is where my heart lies so I did an about-turn and have just finished another one.  I realised I was trying to paint like other people instead of following my own heart.  I return to my own challenge which is to create a set of paintings for my oracle cards - I'm going to be painting 44 and then I will meditate and channel their meaning.  Already have 8.

Lucy is back to her normal self - although a slight head tilt, she looks inquisitive.   She jumped on the couch yesterday and this morning which is a wonderful sign.  She's a dolly through and through.

Will post my photos later.
xxxxx

Shopping - Am I Weird for A Girl?

I'm taking a side ways step away from my usual pitter patter on the keyboard.  Today it's about clothes.  More so, clothes shopping.  I gifted myself a couple of hours this afternoon to go and shop for clothes.  Particularly a wedding dress but more so any kind of clothes.  I realised after stepping out of the first shop that I'm not a shopper.

I would rather be stuck in a book shop and art shop.  I'd rather shop for shoes, handbags, scarves, homewares.  Hell, I'd even go supermarket shopping before shopping for clothes.  When I think back, I have always been like this.  Shopping does not thrill me at all.  I find it wasting time.

That's weird isn't it?  For a Girlie.

So what do I do?  I do need to replenish some of my gear, and I also do need/want to find something lovely to wear at my wedding (I know I'm quite late in getting this organised, despite we're getting married in September).

I did venture into a bridal shop today and she told me the simplest most basic of dresses cost around £400 and I just thought 'uh?'  As if.

I'm a girlie who loves to surround myself with lovely things but I'm quite happy to order them online.  That online market has appealed to my lack of shopping excitement.

Still I am on a mission to find a dress to wear to wed my beau.  It may not be what we all assume wedding dresses to look like, but it will be me and hopefully it will appear to me soon.

Otherwise I will have to make it.

Happy Thursday xxx

Raspberry Harvest

We have had an abundance of raspberries - each day a new bowl full, some we freeze (that reminds me we really do need to defrost the freezer as there's not enough room), to be turned into ice cream.  

More often than not we eat them!  Like sweets : )

Dog included.  She loves raspberries - she is always by your side as they're being picked.  

There's nothing quite like a few fresh on my cereal in the morning.  I just love them and I just love this about this season.  

Dibbling and Dabbling at my Painting

When I came back from Portugal after Flora Bowley's class I started another fairly big canvas.. (here's my paintings from this workshop). I dibbled and dabbled with different styles of putting on the paint - styles that Flora really encouraged us to use, to step out of our comfort zone and "get our paint on".   It has been about 5 weeks since I returned and every day (pretty much) I dabble with this painting.  It has transformed in front of me.  What once looked like a Koala bear, sometimes a Rabbit, has now, I believe, become a silhouette of a lady.  It's not quite there yet.  But as I dabble every night at my easel, which is in my bedroom looking out onto our garden, it tempts me to paint, even for just 20 minutes, to add another layer, to see a different take on it.  

Here's the process: 

I have perhaps missed a few photos of the process but you get the gist don't you?

I'm really loving her.

Here's my latest canvas in Jules Dolly Healing Stylee.

She's called: "It's all OK".

Happy Monday
Jules xx

Developing my Reiki Healing Practice

For a while now I have been feeling that Reiki healing is calling me to practice and to set up a space for healing.  I have been a healer since first attuned in 2002, 2004 for II and in 2006 I went on to Advanced Reiki Master Training.  I am just beginning the process of attuning to Reiki Master Teacher which means I will be able to attune others.   In these 5 years since Master training, I have been what I read recently 'a reluctant Reiki Master', meaning that I never thought it was something I would 'do' professionally.  For me, healing was something I would give for free, distant healings to family, friends and friends of friends, including animals who were unwell, convalescing or suffering.

My paintings are reiki paintings, integrated with symbols and when I look at what I'm doing here in my life, I realise that healing is really all I have been involved in since I was ill back in my 20s with M.E. (myalgic encephalomyelitis) I have healed myself and I am lucky to have walked through it and emerged on the other side.  Here I am in my early 40s and I am becoming clearer.   About time, heh Jules?  So, we decided the other day that we will turn the small bedroom here in our home into a healing room for me to then begin my healing practice, on humans and animals.  Although, I'm more likely to visit the animal in it's home if that's possible as it will be calmer for them.

I have been immersed in this healing field now for such a long time, I see the changes that are happening with people realising the power of their own healing and how there are 'other things' that will have an impact on day to day life, vitality, recovery and well being.  It all goes together like rama-lama-ding-dong.  Working alongside conventional western medicine is crucial and I would never suggest otherwise.

My love of Bach flower remedies, vitamin and mineral supplementation, chinese medicine and buddhist oracle cards have become very dear to me.

The one thing that has held me back (or I have allowed to hold me back) is the notion of charging for healing.  I have always felt that I should not charge for the Reiki as it is a universal energy that is available to all and this is where I have become stuck.  I know that my reiki treatments are strong and healing, with the feedback I have received over the last 9 years.   In reading a great deal around this area I have come to the awareness that in fact clients are paying for the process, the treatment, your experience and support.  

We all know that when we receive something for free, we can sometimes feel a little guilty.  Often an exchange is needed for the pure purpose of an energy exchange, whatever that exchange may be.  

Charging money allows people the freedom to come for a treatment whenever they want.  

So, with these thoughts in mind, I am going to begin the process of clearing out and reorganising our space to welcome clients for healing treatments. It's a small space, but I will make it lovely, serene, balancing and healing.  It's positioned right in the heart space of our home, which is a lovely balancing space, according to the principles of Feng Shiu.  

I am secretly excited within - excited, that I have aligned myself to something that has been calling me for many many years now, whispering and nudging. Let's watch this space and see how it develops.  ARt continues to enthral and be my elixir of love, as does my writing and my counselling/coaching.

Let's begin to make this happen.

Love

Jules xx

Read more about Reiki

Dear Lucy

I can't tell you how my heart feels to see you healing this week.  Day by day, you've shown me that you just want to be better and back to doing the things you can do.  For you it's about what you can do now, not what you can't do.  

So what if you can't sit up and beg anymore, because you fall over.

So what if you can't jump on your favourite chair and shloff on the top of it.

So what if you can't jump in the car by yourself.

These are all 'just things' ... the most important things are feeling ok and waking up, eating a lovely breakfast, taking a walk outside to greet the day, smell the flowers and walk on grass.  This is what you teach me every day.  To be grateful to do these things.

To stand by as the raspberries are being picked, so you can have some too.  

We visited a new holistic vet this week and we liked him.  He put his hand on your head to calm you as he listened to your heart and he said that we don't talk negative in his consulting room, we look at what can be done and what's good.  

We liked him.

I know you're enjoying the reiki healing that I'm giving you so I will continue to do this for you. 

My friend said something to me on the phone just now - a lesson she learnt from a vet-gone-by- When she was tearful about the sadness of her furry friend's health, he said... This isn't about you right now, it's about your pet... we must make sure that they feel a sense of strength from you as they look up to you as their guide.  

That's what I'm hopefully doing for Lucy. 

My Lucy

xxx

Healing Lucy

I took this as she slept before the Vet
- wasn't sure if it may be the last

Friday morning about 6.15, the lovely Lucy woke to go out, it all sounded soooo incredibly noisy and I got up to open the door and see what the racket was, only to find her falling all over the place... she couldn't keep upright, she started vomiting and her eyes were just rolling side to side in her eye sockets.  

We thought she was having a stroke.  It was awful.  

She was so disorientated and distressed.  She was being sick and we were trying to steady her from falling.  At one point she sat down and we stroked her.  She seemed to calm, but her eyes were frantically rolling.  

We phoned the vet who advised us what to do and she jumped up on the couch and lay down.  I sat next to her, I thought that this was the end.  That something awful was happening.  It was then that I started to draw out the reiki symbols on her body and I placed a gorgeous rose quartz next to her heart.  If only I had some Vogel Animal Emergency Essence. She relaxed a little, and tried to sleep, eyes still rolling even when her eyes were closed.  

Our Vet reassured us that she had a severe inner ear infection as she was displaying all the signs.  

85% sure of this, he said.  She had 3 injections - steroids, antibiotic anti-nausea - quite a load really.  Poor chicken.  We came back from the vet and she vomited all the way home in the car, which was not helped by Liverpool Speed Bumps!  When she came home, she wanted to go outside and she spent about 15 minutes hidden in the huge raspberry bushes we have in our garden and it seemed she was getting something from the raspberry leaves.  If you think about it, raspberry leaves are used to help relax the cervix for labour, so maybe she intuitively knew it would help to be immersed within the bushes to help relax the convulsions and nausea.  She also started digging holes and being sick in them.  I have never seen her do this before.  Ever. 

  

The lovely Lucy

She slept pretty much all that day.  Symptoms were still the same, the eye rolling was decreasing but very unsteady and so glad she has 4 legs.  

It's nearly the end of day 3 and I think she's making progress, although she's very out of sorts, not herself and not steady on her feet.  Her head is still tilted on the left side, (the inner ear infection is in her left ear).  She looks so "not Lucy". I hope that she will pick up, I'm sure she will, however I realise that she's entering a new phase of her life which makes me very aware of her mortality -and my own and those around me.  

In the time just before we went to the Vet, in the twilight zone of realising what was going on - we wondered how we could not have lucia in our lives and having lost 2 pets dear to me, I know the feeling.  Yet, Lucy is even more of a family member, she's my surrogate daughter, the one that I don't have.  But that's another story.

For those who don't have or have never had a close relationship with a furry animal, you probably think I'm over-reacting, giving status updates on facebook, phone calls to people and writing a blog about a dog.  Well all I can say is Dog is God spelt backwards and she is that to me.  She's divine to me.  

I first saw Lucy at 5 weeks old, I knew she was my buddy, my child, my friend, and she came to live with me when she was 7 weeks old.  She'll be 13 in July and has been with me through all of my 30s, through some very difficult and challenging times and now I'm nearly 43.  It's a long time.   

Thank you to everyone who has sent her love, she knows you have.  I have told her 

Warmth and love

Jules xxxx

Lucy on Saturday evening 

Cameras are my Friend

When it comes to cameras and taking photos, I tend to point and shoot.   I have had a real yen to learn just some fundamentals about photography and taking pictures of my work.  So it was fantastic to have the opportunity to attend a short workshop run by Dot-Art in Liverpool called Introduction to Photographing your Art.  Elaine Stapleton from Insight Photography was the workshop facilitator and I really liked her presentation style and how she managed to pack quite alot in to a short few hours.  

For me, it answered some really simple questions.  We had some theory which was necessary (and not boring at all).   The basics for photographing your art, where to take pictures, how to "Fill the Frame" (that's my new favourite phrase now), zooming in on the photograph whilst on the camera to see the pixelation (there, another big word - am I a photographer yet?!?).  How to create prints from your work, copyright, ideal paper to use for different finishes and the best printer on the block in Liverpool if you want professional prints done without the hassle of using your own printer.  So much more but you would have gone if you wanted to know, right?

Phew... I'm needing a break. Here are some photos I took during the workshop - items were just on hand that Elaine had brought. I realised that I have a slight tendency to lean and shake ... so I may need to use a tripod when photographing a painting in order to avoid the slight shake rattle and roll that I have.  

I just love this colour purple

In photography, you would avoid the horizontal line of the table, meeting wall, but I kinda like it. 

A little arty but just testing it all out

Elaine even covered a little bit about Photoshop and I hadn't realised just how I need to get to grips with it, for watermarking my prints, organising my own headers for blogs and for manipulating paintings to get to the right colour pallet.  It was a real eyeopener.  I realised I had to organise my files better and make good use of the external hard drive I have and to always have a original set of prints saved.

So I left.

I was buzzing.  

I felt really buoyed up. 

I have never left a workshop in such a bonny and bouncy mood, (apart from Flora's in Portugal! see here) 

I loved working with my camera.  

I loved working with other people, loved learning about creative arts and meeting new people.  It was just great. This was the first time I had 'come out' of my studiobedroom and into Liverpool.  I feel there will be more of this.  

I came home and started snapping.  Whoever/whatever was around got snapped.  Here's what I took, using some basic things Elaine mentioned.  I have still a looooooong way to travel, but for now, I'm pleased with some basic concepts and I can PLAY with it all!!

Happy smiley blue eyes.

and of course her Majesty has to be in it somewhere (note the guitar in the background, I have started playing again! Yay!

I have also realised something quite big about my Reiki Healing which I'll talk about soon.

In the meantime, love to you

Jules xxx

Miss Julia goes on a short course

Yay! I'm going on another course this week, it's called Introduction to Photographing your Art which is being run by Dot-Art in Liverpool. The event is being sponsored by Liverpool Vision and the tutor is a photographer called Elaine Stapleton from Insight Photography   I have never been on anything like this but I am really yearning for some tuition about taking great pictures of my paintings.. (and using my new Nokia SLR camera!). I'm still hesitating when it comes to stocking my Etsy shop and want to take the right photos and create the right branding. I have read just so much information that it's swirling in my head.  Swirling, swirling.

Miss Julia says "There comes a time when you have to stop reading and Start Doing".
That's for sure.

Now I have to just put some things out there.  Take a step forward into the unknown. I am becoming clearer on what I'm doing... and what I'm loving to do.  My writing is taking shape more and I'm becoming clearer about the art.  

Jules Dolly Healing Art is Running another workshop on Sunday 17th July called Create a Healing Fairy Canvas, which is taking place at the National Wildflower Centre again - Lovely venue.  Check it out.  It would be great to see you there.