I am pretty exhausted from a weekend full of teaching a wonderful group of students, so I share here a small selection of offerings from the Sacred Arts Ring: Gifts of poetry at Snow on Roses and Pilgrim Path.  Lisa shares some of her inspiring SoulCollage cards here.  I love this piece from Kate.  Melissa always takes beautiful photos of her daughters, my favorites are the two in the middle reflected in the glass.  Bette shares an image accompanied by poetry of luminaries. Blessings on the week ahead! -Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts

Call for Art Submissions  For the last two issues of Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction I have been serving as the Interim Art Editor.   It has been a lot of fun, so I have now accepted the job on a more permanent basis. For each issue of the journal (published quarterly), my task is to find visual artwork that complements the subject of each article as well as a cover image.  I am especially encouraged to find a wide variety of media (not just photos) as well as art from the global community (all inhabited continents). So I am using my readership here to put out a

As I mentioned the other day, Waverly Fitzgerald has created a French Revolutionary Wall Calendar which features my nature photographs illustrating the seasonal theme of the particular month in the French Revolutionary calendar, for instance, January is Snowy/Rainy, and each day is marked with the item meant to be honored on that day. Usually these are plants and trees; every day ending in 5 honors an animal and every day ending in 0, a tool. She will be shipping the first orders out the last week of this year.  The calendar costs $16 for the print version including shipping ($10 if you want to

I am out at my hermitage and forgot to bring my camera, so I can’t show you what I’ve been working on.   So instead I did a lap around the Sacred Arts Ring and offer you much beauty to peruse below.  I will be posting for the Solstice on Friday and then taking a blogging break until the new year.  I’d still love to hear your comments and feedback on the previous post, so thank you to everyone who has commented or emailed so far. I want to offer a warm welcome to the two newest members of the Sacred Arts Ring:

I have been neglectful of my lovely web ring lately, not making the rounds to see what creative things are happening in the blogosphere.  So I hereby resolve to make this a more regular part of my reading and blogging activity.  Look for an every-other-week highlights (alternating with the Poetry Party) of what is happening among these artist friends.  Do you want to join the fun?  The ring description says: “This ring welcomes artists of all mediums who are rooted in a faith tradition or spiritual practice and who use the arts to explore mystery and meaning. You might be

My friend Rachelle at Magpie Girl has another zine available, this time in celebration of autumn.  Since we’re in a writing group together I got to preview the contents — her beautiful essays about celebrating different sacred autumnal feasts and festivals such as Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Ramadan, and an act of remembrance for 9/11, absolutely scrumptious fall recipes, and oh yes, a poem and photo by me (thanks for including me in your beautiful project Rachelle).  Go to her Etsy store to order yourself a copy, it is a limited run so hurry on over for a dose of autumn splendor.