I am celebrating a new chapter in my life here in Colorado this year! MARS Art has made it’s debut! In February and March my art has been on exhibit at a bakery in Arvada! It has been a joy and delight to share my creations with so many lovely customers! Today was the last day of the exhibit, and as I took down the remaining pieces it was a bit melancholy to see the bare walls. My Photo Art really brightened up the place during the dark days of winter! Heart themed for February and Floral for March.
Also, in March I was honored to be a part of my first First Friday at Artcentric Gallery where two of my Colorado nature themed photographs on metal are in their local photographers show!
And last but not least, I will be participating in my second First Friday in April at 40 West Gallery where I have my Wild Rose PhotoArt on canvas on display for their members show the month of April! I may even have a few small acrylic heart canvas paintings on display in their Tiny Art Corner for the next 3 months!
I couldn’t be more delighted and thrilled to share all this wonderful art news!
I celebrated my two year anniversary of living in Colorado on March 4th. My first year in Arvada and now my second year in Lakewood. I am so grateful to be surrounded by such amazing nature and sharing it all with wonderful friends. Beginnings, Endings, and now beginnings again! It’s the cycle of life!
I will be making some changes with this Zen Daily Words & ZEN Heart Creations website to include MARS ZEN Creations, my artistic designs on apparel and yoga accessories.
Looking forward to what comes next…and wishing everyone a lovely Spring and eclipse season!
I officially launched my online apparel shop on 11/11… MARS ZEN Creations – Where Art & Spirituality Unite. It has been a wild ride getting the website running smooth and creating unique designs for my products. So far it has been fun and exciting to see all the likes and engagement while in this infancy stage of promotion. I love seeing all my favorite ZEN words out into the Universe, bringing awareness and serenity one t-shirt at a time! And with each order I am donating $1 to OneTreePlanted.org one of my favorite organizations making a difference in the world – planting one tree at a time!
So grateful for a lovely Thanksgiving with new friends and my “adopted” family here in Colorado. Enjoyed many nature outings, walking snowy Labyrinths with a ZEN Deer, meditating in nature “nature bathing”, and getting in the holiday spirit with all the fun neighborhood festivities. I can’t believe this year is down to it’s last month! I continue to have a gratitude attitude everyday, not just for Thanksgiving.
Attitude is everything!
I wish you all a wonderful holiday season with friends and family. May you create joyous memories that will live in your hearts eternally.
MARS ZEN Creations isn’t just a clothing line; it’s a movement. Join us in bringing more awareness and serenity to the world, one T-Shirt at a time. We’ve combined the beauty of artistic design with the depth of Zen wisdom.
Share the love, spread beauty, and radiate Zen into the Universe. Our mission is to help you express your inner journey outwardly. By wearing these T-Shirts, you become part of a community that values mindfulness, self-discovery, and artistic expression.
Come and visit often and infuse your wardrobe with the essence of ZEN. Stay mindful, stay artistic, stay ZEN.
MARS ZEN Creations – Where Art & Spirituality Unite.
It’s a been a busy month in September, and my favorite season has begun! Autumn is here in Colorado! I don’t think Mother Nature has looked at the calendar lately, though! It has still be in the upper 80’s this past week, but it does get cooler at night now. The trees are slowly but surely showing off their autumn beauty. I am hoping for some nice temperatures before the snow begins to fall! Let’s wait until winter, instead of falling in the fall! Problem is, it’s not in my control, I have to adapt to whatever comes!
That brings me to my new MARS ZEN Creations project. I am getting ready to launch my gift and apparel shop just in time for the upcoming holiday season. I have been diligently designing artsy ZEN words for the apparel and gift products. I was originally going to call the store: ZEN Daily Words by MARS, but decided to change my name to MARS ZEN! It feels fresh and is my nickname here in Colorado, and ZEN is what I try to exude along my daily path in life. Each day is an ongoing practice of sharing Loving-Kindness, and Compassion with myself and others. I learned a new word: MAITRI which means Loving-Kindness, Friendliness and Compassion toward oneself and others. Of course it is going to be one of my ZEN words displayed on MARS ZEN Creations apparel and gifts!
The Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah and the High Holiday of Yom Kippur (the day of atonement) just passed in this last few weeks. It was the perfect time for reflection, forgiveness and starting anew. I am lucky to be a Jew-Bu, since I get to have another chance for a new year and resolutions at this time of year. Being a spiritual by not religious person, I can make my own rules as I go! The lessons in Buddhism resonant so much in my soul, and I keep learning everyday on how to deal with life and it’s curve balls! Apparently we all go through ups and downs, and using tools to cope with the bad and the good are so beneficial. I also learned a new brilliant phase from a Mel Robbins podcast this week. Instead of worrying and thinking the worst, or waiting for the other shoe to drop (which I have a tendency to do!) she suggested to ask ourselves a question: “What if it all works out?” I love it, and I have been saying it often. I do trust that my life is going along as it should in Divine Timing, but somedays are more difficult than others to keep the faith. We all do our best, and trusting that, “The Best is yet to come”, is a good mindfulness belief system to practice.
I wish you all a beautiful Autumnal Equinox, and a wonderful last quarter of 2023 filled with the joy of family, friends and ZENful living.
I will include some collages from September, of course I was busy enjoying all life has to offer. See the link below for my new MARS ZEN Creations store that will be launching soon! Feel free to leave your email to be the first to know when it opens officially!
Is it possible that this month has almost come to an end? It was another whirlwind of adventures here in Colorado, in the life of MARS! It all seems like a blur! Thankfully I started a project at the beginning of 2023, each week on Sunday evening I create a special six photo collage of my fun outings and highlights for the week! I have done this project 34 times, since there have been 34 weeks out of 52 weeks so far in 2023. Some weeks picking only 6 photos takes a lot of discipline, there’s so much I would like to share! I am known to take an exorbitant amount of photos! I just can’t help myself….when I see beauty I must document it! I will share my four collages for this month below. I will quickly describe each weeks events beginning with week 31/52: Visited Boulder for an Ariel Dance Festival, checked out the historic Boulder Dushanbe Tea House, and found some great murals there. My beautiful pink Dahlia, and out for First Friday Art Walk in Denver. Week 32/52: Gorgeous outdoor venue, The Manor House, for another fun summer concert, a stop at the famous Wheatridge Carnation Festival, found a great sculpture called sweet grass, an evening in the neighborhood, Belmar plaza outdoor concert, and my flowers in a vase, saving my roses from being devoured by Japanese Beetles! Week 33/52: Golden, Colorado Fine Art Festival, amazing talented artists, it was a very hot day! Found more great murals in the area. Walked at my newest favorite Labyrinth, and went to Majestic View Park for Meditation in Nature class. Treated myself to purple gladiolas. Week 34/52: Went to Denver for the annual Art Students League of Denver Summer Art Market, enjoyed meeting many talented artists. Found more cool murals along my path. Enjoyed the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra Concert at Heritage Lake Park, Mother Nature was teasing us with rain, but we were prepared and then the gift of a double rainbow! Last but not least, I made my favorite summer dish, Capellini Pomodoro!
Week 31/52
Week 32/52
Week 33/52
Week 34/52
I also have a fun new project in the works, ZEN Daily Words by MARS. It will begin with a T-Shirt line featuring all my favorite spiritual words that I love, with artsy graphics!
My tag line: ZEN Daily Words by MARS – Where Art and Spirituality Unite. Explore the collection and take a step closer to inspiring positive change through art, words, and mindfulness.
It is a work in progress right now, but I have some designs available for purchase on Printify. Click the photos below and it will take you to my store! New designs and new products will be added weekly.
A few days ago I accomplished the miraculous feat of having lived 70 years! I am so grateful to be alive and healthy as I enter into this new chapter of my life. It truly felt like a milestone event, and coming up to it was nerve-wracking in a sense. I wanted to cross the threshold and get into the big leagues without any snafus! Thankfully it all worked out, but there were a few incidents that almost sidelined me! I enjoyed a fun day of celebration, and a few weeks leading up to my Big 70 Birthday I enjoyed even more pre-celebrations! Now the celebrations continue, since one day is not nearly enough time to celebrate my Platinum Jubilee!!
These past few months were filled with settling in and resting after yet another move in my life! I am grateful that I had some time to breathe and get familiarized with this new area where I live. I continue to explore and meet new people along the way. I go back to my old neighborhood for Meditation in Nature sessions twice a week. It’s not too far away so I am happy I can continue spending time with good friends and visit some favorite eateries, and nature spots, especially my favorite labyrinth! I did find a labyrinth in my area and have walked it a few times already!
Now I am getting ready to focus on my left brain world of earning an income! I could be happy until the day I leave this planet, living in my right brain world of creativity! So far, it doesn’t support my royal life style! I will continue creating art, join a local artist group, and soon exhibit my art at local galleries. I will be balancing my left and right brain worlds until I win the lottery!
Spring will be ending soon, it has been a very rainy one, but gloriously lush green, with gorgeous blooming flowers, Iris, Tulips, Lilacs, and flowering trees, Red Buds are my favorite! Summer is around the bend, and I will enjoy all the farmers markets, cooking with all the fresh veggies, and indulging with a Caribbean Mule or Apersol Spritz! I have planted some fresh herbs and lots of flowers to enjoy.
Enjoy the lovely remaining days of Spring and see you in the summer!! I will soon be counting the days until Autumn, my favorite season!
This month I celebrated my One Year Colorado Anniversary on March 4, 2023, and also found my new home sweet home serendipitously on the same day! I moved on March 12th, and now live in another suburb of Denver, in Lakewood. I love the area, and am so happy to have made this change in my life! So very excited to start this new chapter and in this beautiful new season of Spring.
I have realized my dream of living in Colorado, and now upgraded my surroundings under this new roof. I have begun to feel like myself again, hanging my art in all the rooms, cooking some delicious meals in my new kitchen, and getting ready to plan some spring flower pot creations!
There are many art districts to explore right in my neighborhood, so that thrills me! I am closer to Denver and all the museums, interesting architecture to photograph, and my friends who live there. I am closer to the foothills and see the glorious Rocky Mountains everyday out my window. There are open spaces, parks and nature spots to hike and savor in the Colorado beauty. And the best part, I am still close to all my friends and activities in Arvada! I am so grateful for this opportunity to start over in this new chapter and can’t wait to see what happens next.
Happy Holidays! It has been a fun filled and very busy December here in Colorado! Holiday Season has been magical, so many creative displays of holiday lights in the neighborhoods. I have never seen anything so extravagant in my lifetime, these Coloradoans really love to decorate! Winter has arrived with many days of snow cascading over the Rockies. In between the cold and frigid days, we have had some spring like days too! The temperature fluctuations here are bizarre. Just last week we had minus 50 wind chill and then the next day it was 50 degrees and sunny! Layering is the way of the land, when it comes to wardrobe! I enjoyed so many fun visits with friends, for lunch and dinner, birthday celebrations, a Chanukah party, tree lighting in Olde Town, and so much more!
I got to visit a few other areas too, I call them the “L Towns”, Longmont and Louisville. I have been to Loveland a few years ago, so I have only one “L Town” left to explore, in Lyons. I had fun baking my favorite holiday treats, and sharing them with new friends. We had a new housemate for the holiday season, a life size Grinch has been hanging out, and he changed his mindset, and now loves Christmas. I made him a heart for his transformation to being a happy loving Grinch! I have picked out some photos to document this busy month.
Nature has been my elixir here in Colorado for the past 9 months, and I am so grateful to live in such a glorious place. I have been walking my favorite labyrinth, making hearts in the snow, and enjoying all the open spaces and parks in the area. There is one more day in December before the New Year begins. My plans are to go snowshoeing with a good friend, I am looking forward to giving it a try! I bought myself some hiking boots for Christmas, so now I am really an official Colorado woman! It will be a fun way to say so long to 2022, and welcome in the New Year.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all!~Helen Keller
Go for it now, the future is promised to no one. ~Wayne Dyer
The month of November I spent an enormous amount of time out in nature, deliciously walking in the crisp snow, drawing snow hearts along my path. Yes, even though it is still autumn here in Colorado, we have had a few snow days already! I enjoyed a heartfelt Thanksgiving with new friends, and am so grateful for the new memories created.
I have begun to gather many nature photographs for my first Colorado PhotoArt Calendar. I have taken so many photos, the editing process has become mind-numbing!!! So far I have chosen these 12 in the collage below, but I’m sure the final published calendar will include other favorites in the coming weeks. Many of these photos are available on my website at Fine Art America.
I have designed a collage of Denver street art/graffiti that a friend has shared with me from his many photo excursions. It will be a surprise gift as these have been photos sent over the past nine months, now incorporated into a collage.
Here are a few collages of more glorious nature walks in November and hearts that I am inspired to draw in the Colorado snow. I also find them created by Mother Nature!
I wish everyone a wonderful Holiday Season enjoying all the festivities with friends and family. I hope you get out and breathe the fresh air, take some nature walks, and if you are inspired, draw some hearts in the snow, or in the sand, depending on where you live! Keep an eye out for the serendipity hearts already designed by Mother Nature!
Time goes by so fast these days! The seasons are changing and now we are deep into Autumn, and with a hint of winter showing up last week when we had our first measurable snow. Thankfully it was short lived and melted away quickly! Autumn will still be around for awhile according to the forecast. I am not ready for winter yet! I have selected some highlights of my month in photos and videos to share.
October started with a visit to Golden Gate Canyon State Park hiking the Burro Trail, a moderate hike, but for me it was a breathless trek and I could only go so far. My friend continued on to the end, and I stayed behind relaxing on a comfy rock creating en plein air drawings of the autumn beauty. The aspens were beginning to show off their golden beauty mixed in with the evergreens. It became cloudy with a threat of rain so I headed down the trail and met my friend closer to the entrance where we began. I had fun collecting leaves creating photo collages while I waited for my adventurous and fearless friend to meet me. She has hiked a 14 er on Longs Peak, so we were not matched for a day of hiking! It was glorious to be out in nature and continuing to feel as if I really do live in Colorado.
Spent the afternoon with a friend enjoying the beauty of Evergreen, Colorado. We went to a wonderful exhibit at the Evergreen Art Center featuring Water Media paintings. I found a serene Labyrinth near the Church of Transfiguration near a pond surrounded by an evergreen forest. I have wanted to finally make my way to that Labyrinth since I heard it was in a beautiful natural setting. It did not disappoint. I would like to return on a warmer and sunnier day, since it was a bit chilly in the shade. It would be a lovely place for a picnic spending time in the serene location with a beautiful Labyrinth to enjoy, I will return soon. There are so many historic old structures in downtown Evergreen, it was fun to drive though and we stopped at the famous Beau Jo’s Mountain Pizza Pies for lunch.
I took another fun adventure with a few friends going to Boulder for an event that occurs nationally and annually on the third Saturday in October: World Singing Day! It was so wonderful, young and old singing their hearts on the Pearl Street Mall! It was a gorgeous Autumn day, sunny with perfect cool breezes. There were handouts with the lyrics and music blasting as we all sang along, and danced to the beat. I will definitely mark my calendar to repeat this fun event next year.
I continued to explore my neighborhood going to Standley Lake Trail and Two Ponds Wildlife Refuge. See some photos below of my walks in those glorious nature areas. I feel so lucky to have such amazing access to these places so close to home. I had quite the experience at one of my walks in Two Ponds when I came upon a Deer Couple, a doe and a buck. I think we startled each other, and for a moment I got a bit anxious being out there all alone at dusk. I hustled my way back down the trail getting home safe and sound…and not chased by deer! I do love them, they are my spirit animal! I used to see them all the time when I lived in Sedona. I know they are gently creatures, but maybe not when they are startled and possibly in mating season!
Last but not least I continue to visit my favorite Labyrinth and Park in Arvada. The Labyrinth is now covered in crunchy maple leaves, since we had a few windy days and then a mini snow event. I enjoyed walking in the crunchy leaves, love the sound effects, it is one of my favorite things to do in Autumn. I have included a short video below so you can enjoy the fun! I also went to Majestic View Park for my weekly meditation class, and took a few photos this week on a very cold windy day with spectacular majestic views as always!
I hope you enjoyed my October Adventures in Colorado! I will soon be uploading some full size photos of these glorious nature spots that can be purchased as prints, etc. at Fine Art America.
Thanks for coming along on my adventures, hope you enjoyed!
MARS ZEN Creations & ZEN Daily Words & MARS Mindful Moments 