agenda for today:

- Bike ride
- Serious yard work
- Cornhole Tournament
- Chile Rellano Burrito at el Taco de Mexico, perhaps?

what's in your bag?

Great brunch today with friends. Most of us have a great love of cool bags, or shoes, or office supplies, or nifty gadgets, or music. Maybe even all of the above. Not sure how it started, but we all ended up emptying our bags at the table after brunch and sharing the contents. Quite humorous.

Cherith's loot.

Guess who?

Tracey and the teeny ziploc bags.

And, yes, I did have this orange bowl in my bag at this point. Because someone brought it back to me. Not because I make carrying Pyrex dishes around a regular practice. And this was before I put the turkey bacon back in my bag.

Rox is keeping the Burt's Bees folks in business.

Jess shows off a new journal.

Jess had the best bounty - passport, flash drive inside an eraser, red Moleskine, among other stuff.

Urban Skye Art & Design Shared Studio

What: Urban Skye Art & Design Shared Studio
When: Monday, October 27, 7 - 9 pm.
Where: 2830 S. Harrison St., Denver.
Details: Bring a project you are working on, or something that inspires you, or something that sounds like fun to do around other people. Show & tell, asking for help, bringing friends are all highly encouraged. More info to come on the Urban Skye website.

denise, this one's for you!

What a small world we live in. Right before I headed out the door tonight to go to the Dry Bones Denver Photography show I checked email very quickly. My friend Denise had commented on my last post about how the church she goes to in Abilene is a huge supporter of Dry Bones and that she had played Bunko with Nikki (who is one of the staff leaders) last month.

Long story short, I sought her out at the fundraiser tonight and we made the connection, which was really cool.

The show was very well put together and hopefully raised several hundred dollars for the Dry Bones folks. It was set up as a silent auction and there were some wonderful works. I walked away with two nice urban photos of Denver.

Urban Skye Art & Design First Friday event

What: Urban Skye Art & Design First Friday event

When: Friday, March 7, 2008, 6pm

Where: Temple Events Center, 1595 Pearl St, Denver, CO 80203

Join Urban Skye Art & Design as we support the budding photographers of Dry Bones Denver in their first ever Photography Exhibition.

Dry Bones Denver is an outreach to homeless teens and young adults living in downtown Denver.
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Afterwards, we’'ll check out The Shoppe @ 3103 East Colfax for some tasty treats. The Shoppe specializes in cupcakes and cereal! What's not to like about that?

urban skye shared studio

What: Urban Skye Art & Design Shared Studio
When: Tuesday, December 11,2007, 7 pm.
Where: 2830 S. Harrison St., Denver.
Details: Got some last minute Christmas projects you need to finish? Bring those along! Bring a project you are working on, or something that inspires you, or something that sounds like fun to do around other people. Show & tell, asking for help, bringing friends are all highly encouraged. More info on the Urban Skye website.

congrats!

A big round of applause to my friend, Jess Deugan. Her design submission was one of three selected by Over the Rhine (one of my all-time favorite bands, who I happened to catch in Nashville last week) for their new t-shirts. Way to go, Jess!

lent...week three

Keep us alive with three square meals.

bread of life

lent...week two

This morning I was reading the Lord's Prayer in different translations.

Really like The Message:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what's best— as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You're in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You're ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.

And Rob Lacey's Word on the Street, which is a contemporary retelling of Scripture, UK style:

God in heaven, you're our Dad.
We respect everything you stand for. We want others to.
Please bring heaven on earth: people living life your way, like the angels do.
Please bring us what we need to keep us going each day.
Please acquit us, as we cancel our grievances and throw them all away.
Please pull us back from the edge of evil, if we're falling or being thrown.
'Cos you're all that matters; you're able to do it and you're to take the credit.
You're on your own.
It's your throne.
Absolutely!

lent...week one

I'm going to follow Urban Skye Soul's schedule the next few weeks as I camp out with the Lord's prayer. This week's focus: Our Father who is in heaven hallowed be Your name.

I unexpectedly had a chance to read some of my book on Lectio Divina this afternoon -when I was at the shop getting my car diagnosed after the sunroof would not close. Still won't. Cold ride home. Putting it in the shop tomorrow. All this to say, good use of time since that book was still in my bag.

In searching for some resources to help me dig into this first phrase, I came across some great resources in Sylvia Gunter's Prayer Portions book. I'm starting with the 'Alphabet of the Father Heart of God', and then the section called, 'Listening to Your Father: Waiting on God To Know His Will in Prayer and His Word.' Sylvia is a friend of some of my mentors in Birmingham, and I can honestly say that if I could only have one book on prayer, this would be it.

creativity and lent

While researching ideas for our Urban Skye Ash Wednesday Labyrinth, I came across a great idea in New Zealand. Cityside Community has a project going called The Desert Files.

The whole idea is to make a creative product in the medium of your choice, using the period of Lent as your time parameter. You are encouraged to use a prayer practice, and to keep a record of your process as you go along. At Cityside, the culmination is an art exhibit.

I've decided to use their outline and do something similar.

Here are the basic steps they have laid out:

One...Choose one of the last sayings of Jesus from the cross. This will be your theme or starting place for your work. I am going to use The Lord's Prayer as my guide, as Urban Skye is using The Lord's Prayer as our Lenten text this year.

Two...Consider the media of your final project. For me, this will include photography - digital, medium format, Polaroid. Maybe all three. And possibly collage.

Three...Choose a prayer path that you will explore during Lent. They suggest Centering Prayer, Ignatian Visualization, Lectio Divina, or Body Prayer. I decided that this would be a good time for me to actually read Tony Jones' book on Lectio Divina, Divine Intervention: Encountering God Through the Ancient Practice of Lectio Divina, which has been riding around in my Timbuk2bag for most of February.

Four...Choose how you will record your Lenten process. Suggestions: Photos, written journal, sketching, rapid sculpting. The purpose of the recording practice is to help integrate your prayer practice with your reflections on the stimulus, your original theme, and your final creative work. It will come as no surprise to those that know me well that a trusty Moleskine will document my work.

It was interesting to me that they made a point of stating that your process record is part of your completed work. Something I need to keep in mind as I go along.

So, that's my Lenten plan. Make art. Use a prayer practice consistently. Record it all.

gearing up

I've carved out some time this weekend to gear up for 2007, in an effort to be more intentional about how I spend my time and resources in the coming year. Although a lot of good things happened in 2006, I feel like I squandered a lot of time. Fewer books read, fewer completed art projects and essays than intended.

So far, I have:
- a reading plan
- a list of new art projects to try
- some potential sources for submissions for photos and essays
- freshly manicured fingers and toes
- a warm, fluffy robe

Still some soul care and Urban Skye planning to come.

advent 2006 - week two

Little behind in my Advent postings - today is actually the beginning of week three, but here is week two. Click on the photo above to expand it so you can read the text.

In week two we focused on the simplicity of the message and life of the shepherd.

Question of the week: Where in your life have you experienced a holy simplicity?

advent 2006 - week one

This is the cover art to our Urban Skye Advent Guide. It follows the traditional church calendar, which means Advent begins on the first of the four Sundays leading up to December 25. That would be today. If you follow the Celtic Christian calendar, you are already into the Advent season, as it begins 40 days before Christmas.

For me, I've already hosted a Christmas party, so the house is clean and decorated. Travel plans are made, and I'm avoiding the mall. Hopefully having a bunch of preparation out of the way will allow me time to escape the busyness that so often dictates this time of year, and I'll slow down. And prepare Him room.

Join us at Urban Skye this Advent season as we explore God outside the camp.

Here's our Advent Guide. The question posed for week one, and where I find myself pondering this evening is: Recall one place from your past where God made something of Himself known to you.

Join me if you will. I'll post my Advent musings here throughout the month, and invite you to do the same.

Urban Skye Art & Design

What: First Friday Art Walk

When: Friday, November 3, 7pm til ?

Where: Ironton Studios & Galleries, 3636 Chestnut, Denver CO 80216, 303.297.8626

In November Ironton Studios is proud to host “Eudora’s Belles,” new paintings by Patricia “Murph” Murphy. “Eudora’s Belles” is a study of strong southern women; Eudora Welty is one of the main influences in this body of work, along with other southern writers from the first half of the 20th Century.

Opening Reception Friday, Nov. 3rd.

Join us at Ironton Studios at 7pm. After enjoying the opening there, we'll move on to The Sliding Door Gallery and probably catch another gallery or two before winding down with coffee or drinks somewhere.

Getting to Ironton: Located one mile north of downtown between the tracks and the river, it’s a unique space in the midst of a changing industrial area with great mountain views. From downtown take Market to Broadway, left on Broadway to go under the tracks. At this point, Broadway turns into Brighton Blvd. The cross streets are numbered, continue on Brighton past Do-It Yourself Plumbing to 36th Street. Take a left two blocks to Chestnut, turn right and park. Ironton Studio is at the corner of Chestnut and 36th Street.

art and beauty

Went to the Denver Art Museum Grand Opening this weekend. This is one of a jillion quotes off of a piece by Sean Landers. (This is camera phone, sans flash, thus the horrible lighting - or lack thereof.)

urban skye book salon

What: The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls

When: Thursday, October 5, 6:30-9:00 pm.

Where: Skye House, 3040 Osceola, Denver, 720.855.0489.

Details: Drinks and hors d'eourves at 6:30, discussion from 7-9.

It's a quick read - pick it up at your local bookstore and join us. (Note: the waiting list at Denver Public Library is a mile long.....).