I stumbled upon this image today but no information about it came with it. It’s a wonderful imaginative image but my jury’s still out on whether or not it is good feng shui. The goldfish are an excellent feng shui symbol of luck–having 9 of them, 8 gold with one black isrecommended for optimum feng shui. Balloons are a lighthearted symbol and I would associate them with celebration, children, and creativity. That being said, not sure I like the idea of trapping goldfish in air and releasing them into outer space…whimsical or not. I do like the way this painting looks. Should I lighten up? Let me know if this is a happy feng shui image for *you*.
Tag Archives: creativity
CREATIVE IRONY OF FARHARD MOSHIRI
Farhard Moshiri lives and works in Tehran, Iran. That can’t be easy. Look closely at his cutting edge installation and you’ll see that it’s made from knives, albeit beautiful ones. Imagine finding yourself in such a stifled society where creativity is not prized? How would you express yourself as an artist? Would you be afraid of repercussions from the government? Would that stop you from making art? Would you still have the time and luxury and freedom to believe in Feng Shui? See more of Farhard Moshiri’s work.
Filed under ART, Celebrities, Creativity & Future Projects, Design, Feng Shui, politics
ARTFUL JARS (DO IT YOURSHELF)
Seek out Creativity & Future Projects and you shall find a myriad of cool ideas on the internet! Case in point:artist/designer Peter Marigold’s art piece “Jam Jar Shelf” shown here and at this link. Not only is it beautifully creative, it’s also functional. And Peter’s got some very interesting furniture pieces on his website, too.
Think of this piece in your kitchen where you can fill the jars with colorful spices and put cookbooks on the shelf. Or in your art studio: getting your crayons and erasers and other tidbits organized is good feng shui and the see through glass jars let the colors shine through. And what guy wouldn’t love this in his woodshop filled with nails and screws? You can create your own DIY version of this easily. All you need is a collection of screw lid jars and some skill with a screwdriver and drill and a good shelf to install on. Send me your pics when you’re done!
Filed under ART, Creativity & Future Projects, Design, Feng Shui, Getting Organized
EXPLORE YOUR CREATIVITY @ SQUAM
Feng Shui By Fishgirl just found out about Squam Art Workshops on Squam Lake in New Hampshire. Why didn’t they have camps like this when I was growing up in NH? Oh well, they do now and that’s all that counts! “Creativity as a way of life” is Squam’s motto. According to their website, “Each day has a variety of classes to choose from such as: painting, mixed media, drawing, writing, photography, cooking, food styling, yoga, knitting, embroidery, sewing, sculpture, jewelry making, journaling, and screenprinting. There are always optional evening events and each retreat has its own unique extras. For instance, both the Spring and Fall sessions have a marvelous Art Fair on the last night, squam by the sea has bonfires on the beach and SquamItalia! will have excursions to olive groves, open-air markets and wild dinner parties under the stars.”
Almost sounds like Etsy on steroids (which to some of us is a good thing)! And all of the classes take place on one of NH’s most pristine lakes, only about 40 minutes drive from where I was born. Some of the classes are already filling up and there is an “early bird special” for those that register before January 31st. You’ll not only be taking art classes and enjoying nature, you’ll also be supporting 1% for the planet. Where do I sign up? Click here for Spring 2012 registration.
Filed under ART, Creativity & Future Projects, Design, Fashion, Feng Shui, Fun, gifts, Self Help, Travel, Wisdom & Knowledge
CREATIVITY RULES!
Creativity is such an important element of a person’s life that it merits its own sector on the feng shui bagua along with Career, Fame & Reputation, Travel & Helpful People, Wealth, Love, Family & Health, Wisdom & Knowledge, and the tai chi center. I’m putting the spotlight on Creativity the entire month of January at Feng Shui By Fishgirl. Need some inspiration? Creative Something blog has several ways to spur yourself to Just Do It when you’ve lost your way. Have an abundance of ideas? Check out Kickstarter.com for a very creative way to get crowd funding for your art or design project.
How can feng shui help? Locate the Creativity & Future Projects area within your entire home or one particular room that you do your creative work in. (Use my Bagua page to help locate the power position for Creativity). Once you’ve found it, figure out ways to incorporate the symbols, colors, and elements that enhance and strengthen this sector. Since children are associated with Creativity, it would be appropriate to give a nod to children in some way–for example, framed photos of yourself as a child or your favorite children (whether they are yours or your nieces and nephews maybe) would do that, or art work done by children. If you have a doll collection or build models or something along the lines of childhood, that would also activate this area. Keep it playful! Bring out your own inner child to think outside the sandbox.
Filed under ART, Creativity & Future Projects, Feng Shui, Fun, Self Help, Uncategorized
WHY I’M DEFRIENDING ICE CREAM ON FACEBOOK…
I finally hit the wall as far as indulging myself in favorite treats. In fact, I think I will “unlike” chocolate and also ice cream on facebook. For years I thought they were my friends but the mirror shows me otherwise. (And as a woman living in our culture, this wonderful article on body image shows that I am not alone in my love-hate relationship with mirrors!)
Instead, in 2012 I am going to cozy up to snacks like raw unsalted almonds or dried apricots whenever I have a craving for my old friend sugar. I’m going to try the new trend (according to the New York Times) of being a “semi vegan“. I’m 11 days into this plan and so far it seems to be working pretty good. There is a great slide show at Self Magazine that shows the 20 Superfoods For Weight Loss and I was pleased to see that I had already instinctively included more than half of them in my shopping cart–after all, you would expect some knowledge to sink in after reading every diet book that ever came out in the past 30 years.
My goal is not to “get skinny”. I believe that real women have curves and even at my rock bottom thinnest Nicole Ritchie did not come to mind. Nope. My goal is to be healthy and that means not getting sick. I want to have energy to play and to create art for a very long time to come. If the love handles disappear, all the better! And don’t worry about my former friend Ice Cream…according to facebook she has 6,572,730 friends and won’t miss me at all!
BTW: mirrors are feng shui cures so read about that here.
WHAT I’M EATING IN 2012 (Does this mean I’ll be grainier, nuttier, and not as sweet?!):
Breakfast: any fruit I want, whole grain cereals or oatmeal with milk or Greek yogurt, chicory coffee or jasmine tea
Lunch: a small serving of soup or a spinach salad with hardboiled egg plus nuts/cranberries/other veggies/ with a lot less salad dressing than I used to use
Dinner: at least 2-3 veggies plus either whole grain pasta or brown rice with or without salmon/tilapia/shrimp (yes, I know this is not vegan)
Snacks: fruit, home made trail mix, low calorie fruit sweetened granola bars, almonds….something with a little oomph to satisfy even if it isn’t low calorie
More water! More variety of veggies (recently I sauteed some radicchio and even my bf liked it!). More often in smaller quantities.
I’ll post back in on this in a few months with some before and after pics. 🙂
Filed under ART, Creativity & Future Projects, Family & Health, Feng Shui, Fun, Getting Organized, Health & Fitness, Qi, Self Help, Uncategorized
WHAT’S WRONG WITH A $24M HAWAIIAN HOME?
At first glance, this $24 Million dollar home in Hawaii seems spectacular. But money doesn’t necessarily buy good feng shui and it seems that you don’t get too much for the money with this house. Take a look at the slide show at Business Insider:
HOUSE OF THE DAY: A $23.8 Million Ocean Front Hawaii Home With Its Own Yoga Pavilion.
Why am I knocking it?
Well, for one thing, currently it is surrounded by two empty mud lots as you can see by the photo above. For $24M you’d think you’d get those two pieces of property and heavily landscape them so you have a buffer zone of privacy. Instead, you’re buying less than an acre of land and your home will be taking over nearly every bit of it right up to the neighbors’ walls. Ew!
You know if I had $24M to spend on a home, I’d expect more for that kind of pricetag. The kitchen above is nothing really special. Sure, if you were spending say $750K-2M on a home it would be okay. But for $24M you’re going to pull out all the stops and get a really high end Italian designer kitchen and if you like stone, you’re going to use a rare stone for the counters not some ordinary looking granite. This is a fairly basic kitchen with not a lot of Creativity.
And look at the swimming pool…it’s got a big yoga pavillion in the middle of it so the pool appears to be much smaller and unswimmable. The yoga pavillion could have easily fit beyond the pool towards the beach where there is now lush green plantings. I think the designer of this home did not have a sense of scale and proportion. I wish more builders and architects would work with feng shui designers. But that’s just me. What do you think?
Filed under Architecture, Creativity & Future Projects, Design, Feng Shui, Interior Design, Uncategorized
PIGLET FLASH DRIVES
We love Creativity at Feng Shui By Fishgirl. Of course we’re big on pork, too, being in BBQ country. In any case, check out the design of the flash drives and USB hub that we saw recently at HomeDesigning.com…Do you love it or hate it?
Filed under ART, Creativity & Future Projects, Design, Feng Shui, Fun
HANDY DOOR HANDLES FOR YOUR MOUTH OF CH’I
Two thumbs up for these creative door handles. I applaud the designers, just gotta hand it to them for thinking outside the boring doorknob. For shaking things up with a handshake. Which do you like best?
Filed under Architecture, Creativity & Future Projects, Design, Feng Shui