I love March because it is the first month where spring really reveals itself. The old idiom“In like a lion, out like a lamb” always seems so true. This month’s desktop is a gradual transition from the brown of winter to the first bits of green.
For more inspiration for this month – listen to this Irish playlist, make this hearty dinner, and read this little poem.
For the desktop, click on the image below to view the large size image.
For the iphone wallpaper, navigate to this page on your phone and then click and hold on the iphone images. Select ‘Save image to camera roll’. Then from your camera roll set your home screen/lock screen. (Personally I like the flower as my lock screen and the colors as my home screen) High Resolution Desktop Wallpaper:
For February we’ve explored the theme of “balm”, asking what does it look like to be a healing balm within the world and serve places as a family.
We thought this would be the perfect month to release one of our favorite new songs. Here is the fully produced, beautiful “There is a Balm in Gilead”. You can listen below (and feel free to share it with folks!):
Using the lyrics from the song, Betony has designed a limited edition of 50 silk-screened posters. With metallic-gold ink on heavyweight, navy-blue paper, it will be an incredible and framable 12×16 print.
Because of the silk-screen process we are only taking orders until March 7th! If you’d like one you can order it now by clicking right here (it’ll take you to our store).
About Bellwether and Our February Theme
At the beginning of the year Betony and I announced we’re working on a new project. Titled Bellwether, it will be an album and art series that explores belief (to be released November 2016).
Instead of just keeping the creative process to ourselves, we’re making it a bit more open; hoping to explore belief each month in ways that contribute and form the project being released.
So every month we’re doing a Practice & Process, choosing a spiritual practice and, in response, sharing the creative process.
Our plan is to continue releasing songs and posters throughout the calendar year- an ongoing process to these practices. Keep watching for more as the months progress!
https://i0.wp.com/giantsandpilgrims.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/balm-in-gilead_web.jpg?fit=720%2C960&ssl=1960720Betony Coonshttps://s28969.p27.sites.pressdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/gianstandpilgrimslogov2-1024x196.pngBetony Coons2016-02-29 06:49:222016-02-29 06:52:53"There is a Balm in Gilead" Song and Silkscreen Print
As we are making our way through February, Betony and I have been staying true to practicing the two things we put forward at the beginning of the month: Praying for people each night as a family
and Exploring where our family can do service work (especially looking in to “Turn Around Bikes” in Greeley).
Volunteering
So we met with Liz Young and her intern of Turn Around Bikes last week just asking, “What all do you guys need this year?” Since Betony and I have experience with putting on big events and art shows we volunteered for the “Turn Around Bikes” fundraiser committee. Be looking for a that event come July! It should be an incredible time of biking, live music, food, and Weldwerks Brewing Company will hopefully be involved.
We also decided to do a special for the next two weeks on our site: 100% of proceeds of sales of this print go to support Turnaround Bikes!
PROCESS
I’ve been performing a new song this year that has really good energy when I sing it for people. I’ve been ending sets with it. “There is a Balm in Gilead” is a song about deep hope and it feels like a proclamation every time I sing it. It felt right that we would record this song in February and release it with this theme being lived out… More to come on that in a couple days!
Betony put up some versions of this incredible poster last week on Facebook. (True to Giants & Pilgrims projects, it coincides with the song.) You all voted and chose this version! It will be up for sale alongside the song in a couple days as well!
Some folks that helped make “There is a Balm in Gilead” happen (Charla Bultman, Brian Claxton, and sound engineer/ producer David Wilton):
We read “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” out loud as a family this month. There are so many beautiful and interesting spiritual archetypes in this book: baptism, desert, resurrection, etc. The whole of the book explores LOVE as an act of giving and sacrifice that shapes someone for the better.
Betony has also been reading “Home Grown” and “Man’s Search for Meaning”. She is highly recommending them for me as well!
This month I helped friend and Giants & Pilgrims band member Mary Claxton do a songwriting intensive, while Betony designed a set for Frontier Academy Elementary’s performance of Aladdin and volunteered to help with a art show fundraiser at our pre-school (check out those Lorax trees)!
The family took a trip to see the orchids at Denver’s Botanic Gardens.
And, speaking of “Balm”, I have been batching my newest set of colognes, beard oils, and aftershaves!
That’s all for now! March is going to be all about “Ground” so be watching for that soon!
https://i0.wp.com/giantsandpilgrims.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/11.-bike_small.jpg?fit=720%2C724&ssl=1724720Betony Coonshttps://s28969.p27.sites.pressdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/gianstandpilgrimslogov2-1024x196.pngBetony Coons2016-02-27 09:31:532016-02-27 09:32:52February Balm: Practice and Process Part 2
I teamed up with Jeff Cook, the pastor of Atlas Church in Greeley, CO, for this project. (Atlas is a wonderful community we started with a group of friends and we’re all still connected to this day.)
We’re calling this Atlas Observance: beauty for the spiritual season. Basically, Jeff wrote and performed this six minute teaching piece about Ash Wednesday and Lent and I scored it so it leads into our new Giants & Pilgrims’ song “Empty”.
We hope it holds spiritual resonance for all types of travelers and fellow observers of this season.
https://i0.wp.com/giantsandpilgrims.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/observance.png?fit=975%2C180&ssl=1180975Betony Coonshttps://s28969.p27.sites.pressdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/gianstandpilgrimslogov2-1024x196.pngBetony Coons2016-02-10 06:56:022016-02-10 07:38:47A Work of Art for Lent
(image is from a Chinese cloisonné painting factory we visited in China 2008)
In creating our new project, Bellwether (an art series and album due winter 2016) we’ve decided to share what we’re doing each month before it’s released.
We’re calling these posts “practice and process“.
They will detail the spiritual/life practice we’re doing,
give a look at our in-process art that we’re creating in response,
and then include a whole host of resources and activities! (like the new desktop wallpaper, book/music/movie lists, recipes, explorations for kids, etc. This is so as a entire family we can engage in this year’s exploration of “belief” we’re calling Bellwether.
FEBRUARY Theme: BALM
February is in the heart of winter, close to the edge of a hope for spring. And with Valentine’s Day sitting in the month we’ve often treated February as a time to put into words the way we feel about the ones we deeply love. It’s a way to warm up the cold. We’ve chosen our theme of “balm” with some of these lines drawn.
Practice:
The very definition of balm is “something that has a comforting, soothing, or restorative effect.”
This month we are
exploring what service looks like for our family. We want to start being restorative in an intentional way. For us that looks like partnering with a local charity called “Turn Around Bikes”. They restore donated bikes and give them to people in need. Honestly, since having children we’ve had a hard time being consistent and feeling effective when it comes to giving of ourselves in this kind of way. We’re open to getting better at service. Furthermore, it’s our hope to instill a great sense of compassion in our children. This is at least a first step.
For our second spiritual/life practice we’re setting up a table altar like we did last month. This time before dinner we’ll be praying for people in need of “balm” or some extra love and care. Then on Mondays we’ll be writing and mailing postcards, sending that love out in words.
Tim is working on recording a song called “There is a Balm in Gilead” this month while I’m gathering ideas and paper tidbits for the overall series.
Resources for “Balm”:
FEBRUARY Dates to Take Note of:
February 7th – Superbowl 50 (with the *ahem*, Denver Broncos! Bake these, I promise you won’t regret it.)
February 8th – Chinese New Year (year of the monkey!) – We love to celebrate by ordering Chinese takeout and reliving our China trip 🙂
February 9th – Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday – we love to listen to this sweet mix curated by Starbucks
February 10th – Ash Wednesday
February 14th – Valentine’s Day
February 15th – President’s Day
February 17th – Random Acts of Kindness Day February 28th – The Oscars
Local: Greeley, CO events:
February 5th (and up through the end of the month) – Soundscape a group art show at the Atlas Theater that pairs music and art (right up our alley don’t you think?)
February 27th – Tim and Charla are opening for the lead singer of Everclear at the MOXI theater!
Let me know if you have other fun Greeley events I should add to this calendar!
EXPLORATIONS:
Here in Greeley, CO we have had just buckets and buckets of snow. We haven’t seen the ground since December 1st. I don’t even remember what it looks like. During winters like this, I think the best possible plan of action is to find a warm tropical greenhouse to visit. Usually we make a trip to the Butterfly pavilion. This year, I am thinking we are going to visit the Orchid Showcase (Jan. 8-Feb 22) at the Denver Botanical Gardens.
Participate in Turnaround bikes workshops this month and other service related activities.
Make a visit to the Cranford Cove to get a new selection of looseleaf teas to enjoy this month.
Speaking of tea, the girls and I are planning a lovely Valentine’s tea party with lots of tiny delicacies, fancy china, and, of course, hats and dresses.
ART:
Spend some time digging into Picasso’s works and share with the girls.
Their are some really fun art activities in this book.
Make all sorts of homemade valentines
READING lists:
Here are some of the kid’s books I have on reserve at the library this month. I was looking for books that deal with Compassion. I would love to hear your recommendations if you have any.
The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes, Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson, The Invisible Boy by Patrice Barton, The Lion and the Mouse, and A Sick Day for Amos Mcgee
I am also reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane out loud to Lucy. It is an absolute favorite of ours. The themes are nested in kindness and compassion and the journey of self-discovery. It’s a good one for adults too.
Mary Oliver poetry books – these are ABSOLUTELY balm to my soul.
As a little personal “balm” against the dreariness of February, I love to order my garden seeds. (my favorite is Baker Heirloom Seeds – just reading their catalog is therapeutic)
LISTEN:
Oxygen by Willy Mason. The video is only ok, but the song is so good.
https://i0.wp.com/giantsandpilgrims.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/DSC_0515.jpg?fit=3008%2C2000&ssl=120003008Betony Coonshttps://s28969.p27.sites.pressdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/gianstandpilgrimslogov2-1024x196.pngBetony Coons2016-02-04 09:02:432016-06-21 16:09:25February Practice and Process: "Balm"
Both my mom and grandmother are wonderful cooks. I grew up eating all foods made “from scratch.” For big meals and special occasions, they would get out the fancy dishes – their collection of transferware china – my mother’s were blue, my grandmother’s brown. It always meant that we were about to celebrate something special. To this day, I love all transferware. The patterns for February’s desktop are inspired by those dishes and the colors they come in. The plant in the middle is Lemon Balm, a nod to our theme this month – “Balm”.
For the desktop, click on the image below to view the large size image.
For the iphone wallpaper, navigate to this page on your phone and then click and hold on the iphone images. Select ‘Save image to camera roll’. Then from your camera roll set your home screen/lock screen. High Resolution Desktop Wallpaper:
In response to our January theme of “Clearing” we have created a fully produced, beautiful song for you called “Empty”. You can listen below (and feel free to share it with folks!):
Using the lyrics from the song, Betony has designed a limited edition of 50 silk-screened posters. With silver ink on heavyweight, forest- green paper, it will be an impressive and framable 12×16 print.
Because of the silk-screen process we are only taking orders until February 7th! If you’d like one you can order it now by clicking right here (it’ll take you to our store).
About Bellwether and Our January Theme
At the beginning of the year Betony and I announced we’re working on a new project. Titled Bellwether, it will be an album and art series that explores belief (to be released November 2016).
Instead of just keeping the creative process to ourselves, we’re making it a bit more open; hoping to explore belief each month in ways that contribute and form the project being released.
So every month we’re doing a Practice & Process, choosing a spiritual practice and, in response, sharing the creative process.
For January our theme is Clearing and we wrote all about the Practice we took on (you can see some crazy pictures of our house-clearing too!)
Our plan is to continue releasing songs and posters throughout the calendar year- an ongoing process to these practices. Keep watching for more as the months progress!
https://i0.wp.com/giantsandpilgrims.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/spoons-poster-color_web.jpg?fit=720%2C900&ssl=1900720Betony Coonshttps://s28969.p27.sites.pressdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/gianstandpilgrimslogov2-1024x196.pngBetony Coons2016-01-26 07:25:172016-01-26 07:25:17A New Song and a Silk-Screen Poster!
As we are making our way through January, Betony and I have been staying true to practicing the two things we put forward at the beginning of the month:
Doing a massive “clearing” of our house.
and
Having a table alter with and a ringing bell to accompany prayer.
Below are some pictures of the house-clearing process. We’ve made it through the BIG categories of clothes, books, and papers. Then Betony has been taking on the major hot-spots of her art studio, sewing-closet and kitchen.
These photos make it look REALLY bad, but part of the process we are doing is to pull each category (clothes, books, papers, etc) out completely before putting it back.
Books Day BEFORE:
Books Day AFTER:
Clothes BEFORE:
Clothes AFTER:
Papers Day: (we ended up with two small folders of papers)
The disaster of the studio BEFORE:
Studio AFTER (still in process of repainting…) – can you even believe this is the same space?
There are things that we are learning and processing in doing this! (Please, feel free to leave some of what you’re learning in our comments!)
For me, I’ve been surprised by how the house feels BIGGER. We all of a sudden have plenty of space. We’re aren’t hurting for closets and the floor isn’t constantly covered in toys… I was really feeling the pressure this last year of upgrading our home, keeping up with the Jones’, you know? We’re a family of 5 now. How do we make it in this tiny house? (leaving out the perspective that the rest of the world seems to do just fine with a lot less space and things). Now with this clearing, things feel fine right now. We actually have AMPLE room.
It’s also made me excited to be home. When I look at our bookshelf, I look at the “greatest hits” of Betony and I’s collection. Each of the books we’ve kept mean a lot to us! Now that the closets and nooks and shelves are looking like that, it gives a great joy. We’re surrounded by things we’ve made a choice to keep because of their importance to us.
Another point with that- because they’re important to us, we want to take better care of what we have. I’ve always wanted to be a good caretaker of my stuff, a good steward. But I never have felt very good at it. I hope this practice of “keeping mainly the things that bring me joy” will help me intrinsically move towards better care.
Lastly, and this sounds strange, overall I feel like I’ve spiritually lost 10 pounds. I don’t know how else to describe it. Coming in to the home, things just feel lighter and less stress-filled. Maybe there’s a beginning sense of “this is what I want my life to be” rather than “I’m failing at the American dream”? Does that make sense?
PROCESS
Betony and I are taking these practices and letting them guide our artistic process:
As a result, Giants & Pilgrims will be releasing a new song! This is a single from a larger work called “Bellwether”, out later this year. I wrote it while processing this idea of clearing and subtraction then quickly recorded, mixed, and mastered the song with a host of incredibly talented people!
Alongside the song, Betony is creating limited run of a screen-print that will be sold online only the last week of January! It’ll bring a beauty and design to the lyrics from this new song.
Also, Betony is excited to begin the year with a wonderful, clean, and intention-filled studio.
PS
The number of trash bags full of stuff we donated was CRAZY! This is only about 1/6 –
https://i0.wp.com/giantsandpilgrims.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/IMG_0392.jpg?fit=2448%2C3264&ssl=132642448Betony Coonshttps://s28969.p27.sites.pressdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/gianstandpilgrimslogov2-1024x196.pngBetony Coons2016-01-22 09:42:282016-01-22 16:10:33January Practice and Process: "Clearing" pt. 2
In creating our new project Bellwether we’ve decided to share what we’re doing each month before it’s released at the end of the year.
We’re calling these posts “practice and process“.
They will detail the spiritual/life practice we’re doing,
give a look at our in-process art that we’re creating in response,
and then include a whole host of resources and activities! (like the new desktop wallpaper, book/music/movie lists, recipes, explorations for kids, etc. This is so as a entire family we can engage in this year’s exploration of “belief” we’re calling Bellwether.
JANUARY Theme: Clearing
To me January is about resetting, starting fresh. It is the metaphor of a clear desk space – putting away all old projects and supplies, shining the surface, pulling up a stool, and opening up a new blank sketchbook, and beginning.
Practice:
As a family this month, we plan on doing two main things.
Clearing out our house of it’s excesses – stripping down to the objects that give us joy and clearing room for creativity to breath.
After a book has been recommended to me by 3 different people independent of each other, I figure it is time to read it. While we were home for Christmas, Tim and I both read this book: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
Marie Kondo is quirky. She personifies objects and houses. I particularly loved how she talked about socks. (“The socks and stockings stored in your drawer are essentially on holiday.” I can’t say I have ever really thought twice about how hard my socks work.) Here are the basic ideas in the book –
Start by discarding. Then organize your space, thoroughly, completely, in one go.
Discard by category – not by location (first clothing, then books, etc…)
A dramatic reorganization of the home causes correspondingly dramatic changes in lifestyle and perspective. It is life transforming. Then everything has its right place and tidying becomes easier.
when you put your house in order, you put your affairs and your past in order, too.
Surround yourself only by the things you love
“Letting go is even more important than adding” – Marie Kondo
What I have discovered by going through this process, at least so far, is that through discarding, I begin discern more clearly what is most important to me!
2. For our second spiritual/life practice we’re setting up a table altar. When the meal is finished and the table is cleared and cleaned ring the bell and say this prayer together: Lord God and King we thank you for your sustaining love.
Process:
Artistically, January is a month of exploration for me. I have some initial ideas for Bellwether, but mostly I am letting things steep. I will be drawing in my sketchbook a lot. And working through several boxes of beautiful old books to be used as collage material donated to me by the Greeley History Museum. I’m resetting and clearing my studio space to begin a new year of creating – I can’t hardly bear to post this picture of my studio right now. It is in SUCH a sad shape of disaster (this is what happens when the year ends with 3 major art shows). But, by sharing it here, it is just even more motivation to get it to where I want it to be.
Tim is working on recording a song around the ideas of subtraction and clearing. Hopefully for use in a really cool upcoming project.
January 11th – Winners of the major Children’s book awards are announced
January 18th – Martin Luther King Day – listen to this playlist or this one
Local: Greeley, CO events:
January 9th – Missoula Children’s Theater Rapunzel @UCCC
Starting January 18th – Centennial branch library is hosting a “Discover Nasa” exhibit
January 29-30th -The Annual Father Daughter Dance – tim takes the girls each year, and they all just love it.
(Here are the pictures from last year, we still giggle at how much these two shots capture the girls’ personalities)
Let me know if you have other fun Greeley events I should add to this calendar!
READING:
I am reading a lot of parenting and “how kids learn” kind of books, because we are thinking about shifting up how we teach our kiddos next year.
I have seen some powerful reviews of When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
I am very interested to read his story.
Here are some of the books I have on hold at the library for the kids this month:
We are also planning on rereading the financial classic Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey (if I can get past the Cheese factor). It is a proven system of money managing that has worked wonders for us in the past.
LISTEN TO:
Chvrches – Every Open Eye (my current favorite track is Clearest Blue – it makes me want to go running)
Read and be inspired by this children’s book and experiment with our own scratch art. Because one of our sub-themes is subtraction, we want to play around with Soap Carving with the girlies. Also seem like they would be fun for the bath if we made little boats.
https://i0.wp.com/giantsandpilgrims.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/IMG_0377.jpg?fit=3264%2C2448&ssl=124483264Betony Coonshttps://s28969.p27.sites.pressdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/gianstandpilgrimslogov2-1024x196.pngBetony Coons2016-01-08 10:58:422016-06-21 16:05:20January Practice and Process: "Clearing"
For each Giants & Pilgrims’ project we choose a theme and explore that theme with art & music. Last year we released Becoming, about the constant process of growing up. The year before that was Almanac No. 1 and the art & music was centered in the realm of family and proven love.
Where are Betony and my hopes and dreams taking Giants & Pilgrims for 2016? What will fuel the works of art & music?
Here’s what we hope to explore this year, in depth:
Belief.
What do Betony and I believe as individuals? As a married couple? What do we really cling to? What do we want to pass on to our children? What do we hold as important and utmost in our lives? The thing behind the thing behind the thing? What are the values and vision and world views that truly shape where we head as a family? What are the words we put towards the big questions of God, metaphysics, doctrine, discovery, and experience?
And this is just a starting place of the questions!
We’re calling the project Bellwether. It’s actually an old shepherding term. A bellwether is a sheep that is a little more aggressive, a little more obnoxious and hungry. (It’s known to get out of pens for food).
And so a bell is placed on it. This not only helps the shepherd know where the sheep is, but it also helps the sheep. As the bell wether wanders for greener pastures, the rest of the sheep follow to new fields of grass.
Betony and I are looking for bells to follow. We’re asking questions. We are hungry and we hope to find great fields this 2016.
We’ll be creating towards an end project to be released this fall/winter, but we plan to share the process as well. Each month Betony and I are choosing a theme that will be our centering of exploration and practice. We will dig in to this Bellwether theme to as the year progresses. January’s Bellwether theme is “clearing” – see our full exploration of that theme here tomorrow.
https://i0.wp.com/giantsandpilgrims.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/sheep.jpg?fit=1181%2C676&ssl=16761181Betony Coonshttps://s28969.p27.sites.pressdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/gianstandpilgrimslogov2-1024x196.pngBetony Coons2016-01-06 13:15:482016-01-06 13:18:19Announcing the Giants & Pilgrims' New Art & Music Project: Bellwether
