Blog Love for "A Year of Mount Tamalpais"

Today we give a big Bean Up The Nose Art "HOWDY!" from one blog to another -- from us here, to a new blog that launched at the beginning of this year: A Year of Mount Tamalpais. (Click here to visit right away!)

(All photos courtesy of "A Year of Mt. Tamalpais" site.)

As the proposal post explains, the blog features a photo-a-day (which is paired with commentary, reflection, historical information . . . all sorts of goodness) "of the mountain that looms over our lives in this corner of the world." Which in this case is Marin County, California.

What's the scoop here?

Great poet and just-as-great friend Maria Benet has been blogging in various forms since 2000. This project is one of the latest iterations of her writing-and-blogging creativity. She has "always been a writer. Even before I learned to write, I use to tell myself stories." Her poetry has been published in many literary magazines, and in her own collections: Mapmaker of Absences, published by Sixteen Rivers Press, and most recently A Month of Haiku, Unraveled. She's also a painter. And she was kind enough to answer some of our burning questions about this project.

How did the idea for this project come to you?

I've been taking pictures of Mt. Tam ever since we moved to Marin, some 27 years ago. Last year, I spent a lot of time randomly snapping pictures of the mountain and posting them to Twitter, or on my blog. I thought it would be good to get a little more systematic about this picture-taking business, as well as develop some arc for presenting the way the mountain gets seen through my lens.

What does Mt. Tamalpais represent to you?

I grew up in the shadows of big mountains, of the Carpathians, the peaks of which in Romania exceed 8,000 feet. Mt. Tam seemed like a molehill in comparison, but also, given its ridges, reminiscent of the mountains of my childhood. . . . Mt. Tam is both an echo of the past that is diminishing with time and memory and it is also an anchor that helps orient me in space and time, especially as I watch the seasons paint light and shadows on its slopes.

What are you looking forward to in this venture?

I am looking for consistency of effort on my part in this project, but definitely not a consistency in my experience of the outcome. I hope it will be surprising to me. I am also hoping that eventually others will contribute to the blog with their views of the mountain, with pictures and words of their own.

What do you think the hard parts will be?

The hard part will be the consistency of that effort I mentioned, the discipline to take the daily picture, but more so, to pick only one picture from each day's shoot.

What other creative projects are you working on in 2012?

A series of dramatic portraits in prose for a specific collection, which I am hoping to publish as an ebook, given how satisfying it was to experiment with that venue when I put together "A Month of Haiku, Unraveled," a few months ago. Took the cue to do so from the inspiring example of a very creative community I encountered through Twitter in Marin.

I would also love to collaborate on a project with other artists. There is so much talent out there, and joining forces would be a blast. Collaborative art projects would also make for better bulwarks against the trends of hopelessness that come in the wake of so much bad news from the economy and politics these days. I believe that art sustains life and is essential to being fully human. I've seen this at work in the old Eastern Europe, where I grew up with art not as a luxury, but a necessity for survival.

Here's hoping all artists find the inspirations and collaborations they're looking for in 2012. We're inspired by "A Year"'s spirit of creative diligence and experimentation, and look forward to seeing all the ways this works throughout the year. Great job, Ms. Benet. YOU RULE!!!

"A Year With Myself"

This is a limnal year for me. Because I'm 50. Because I'm betting the Mayans -- or someone's mistaken interpretations of their calculations -- are wrong about the world ending in 2012. Consequently, I feel on a threshold -- excited and curious.

What's going to happen next?

And while we're at it, what really is my essence? What exactly is it that I have to offer, and how best -- as in, best feeling fit for me and best effect out in the world -- do I go about doing that?

How often do we ever check in with ourselves in this way?

How do we even go about doing it?

Seems like the days are stuffed to the gills with obligations dictated by choices and commitments we made a long time ago . . . or as a result of not-chosing, but instead being swept up in the perceived need to go with the flow of what those we live with and work with ask of us.

But I think it's time. For us to ask ourselves -- maybe for the first time ever, or maybe in a revisiting of this topic -- these big old questions:

What DO we want? Who ARE we, really? What do we want the next x-many years of our lives to look like?

And now . . . look what the Universe has provided to help us . . . .

VOILA! WE HAVE A MID-WIFE!!!

Awesome C.A. Kobu, "creative alchemist and project midwife" has helped to birth, "A Year With Myself." Click here for all the deets. In short, when you sign up, you receive an e-mail each Monday with "a fresh weekly question, a stimulating writing prompt and an actionable idea," all of which are geared to help get us thinking and moving on these topics. There's also a lively Facebook page where people gather to share their visions and results.

I LOVE THIS!!!!

Kobu has pulled together the support of "Instigators" -- terrific coaches, teachers, artists, leaders -- who cheer us on, and help provide the themes and prompts for all the 52 weeks. For example, Patti Digh -- author of the wildly-popular-and-deservedly-so Life is a Verb book -- contributed one of this first week's two prompts. Which prompted this art journal page . . . .

. . . . along with lots and lots and lots of free-writing and inspiration from my wildly-gyrating brain and spirit. Only the first week! (And tehehehe!!! Another "Instigator" just so happens to be Bean Up The Nose Art's excellent friend Lisa Sonora Beam. Click here for a sampling of her own artist/teacher/writer fabulousity.)

Hoping you'll join in this adventure, as this brand new 2012 year begins. What a treat to give yourself. What an adventure. What courage and fun and kick-assed-ness will abound! Big thanks to C.A.Kobu and all of your Instigators for putting this together for all of us. YOU RULE!!!!

Happy Birthdays!

Happy birthday, 2012!

You are not even 24 hours old yet. How does it feel to be so new, so fresh, so full of promise?

We love you and hope you are a very good year :)

In honor of this day-of-your-birth, we here at Bean Up The Nose Art spent part of it doing some birthday artwork.

This will be turned into the 2012 birthday cards that everyone in our Birthday Club this year will receive.

"What IS the Bean Up The Nose Art Birthday Club?!?" you ask? Well, if you click here and fill out the form, we here at Bean Up The Nose Art will send you in the good old-fashioned real mail an actual honest-to-goodness, hard copy of a real life BIRTHDAY CARD. In the month of your birth. (We don't ask for the actual day of the month, or the year you were born. We are not trying to gather your secret information.)

Sound good? Yes? Okay! Looking forward to getting your entry, to put on our list.

* * * * * * *

And we're celebrating another birthday around here, too. Our good friend Peggy Butler has launched her brand spanking new blog:

It's Peggy's goal to interview successful women to see "what makes them tick. And what kind of chocolate do they eat . . . ." It's been her brainchild for several months, and today is the birth day. We give mad big crazy props to Peggy for bringing her vision into the world, and wish her all the best in this new endeavor.

Click here to go right over there . . . for a very wonderful surprise, if you ask us :)