03-20-12
Working at a flower shop
I have been wanting to get a part time job and in my field it is a hard balance between keeping your own creative practice and finding stable, and well paid part time work. It is often the case that work is either completely unstable, or not well paid, or well paid but does not give you the time for your projects. It is a balancing act most creative professionals know. On top of that once you spend a lot of time in front of the computer, in my case doing video editing and communications for Green Dream, you are reluctant to give two or three more days a week to sitting in front of the computer.
Recently I have been spending more and more time with my plants. My cyclamen is still flowering. 
I used to have two cyclamens, but I only got one back from my neighbor who was taking care of them when I was away in Europe.
Two weeks ago the plant that my friend gave me (I do not know the name of it) just flowered for the first time since the two years I have had it.
My Jasmin tree, which my old neighbors left in the hallway with a sign, ‘looking for a home’ is about to flower for the third time this winter season. Its flowers make the whole house smell like perfume. When I first got it, it was not doing so well. It lost most of its leaves and it only flowered with two a three flowers every 6 months. Then last Christmas I used it for my Christmas tree and decorated it with little paintings of hearts. A month later the Jasmin tree bloomed for the first time with many many flowers on every branch.
Well back to my thought about looking for work. Realizing that I would like to get a stable part time job, and wanting to spend more and more time with my plants and gardening, I thought, why not get a part time job in a flower shop.
Somehow that realization lit up my day. I love flowers, which is probably evident from my last blog post. And working with digital technology something in me always misses that direct connection, that joy of working with live things, of creating beautiful colorful arrangements and of interacting with people.
I am off, looking for good flower shops to apply to, in Montreal. If you have any leads let me know, and feel free to pass this around.
03-08-12
This Women’s Day, it is time for all of us to get a flower
Women’s Day is one of those days that I grew up celebrating. In Bulgaria every woman would get a flower and we would not be tested in school on that day. Over the years I have gone through different stages of how I felt about receiving flowers. I felt that it was insensitive and wasteful to pick them so I asked people not to give me cut flowers. In the recent past I decided to be a bit more flexible and rejoice in this ritual again, as a friend put it to me, flowers like being picked and enjoyed.
Today, I was thinking of how nice it is to receive flowers and that women should receive flowers every day. There is something about being a woman that is so intrinsically linked to a flower, its gentleness and beauty, which spontaneously warms our hearts.
Female beauty is like that. But this beauty is somehow lost today, a beauty that even women do not cherish. It is a beauty that has nothing to do the established standard of glamor, or with stereotypes of being a girly girl, a tom boy, butch, femme, or even being sexy. It is not fake niceness, or a please everyone attitude. A flower pleases simply by being what it is, it does not need to go out of its way, nor does it need to act strong or prove anything. A flower awakens our natural sweetness. Why are we denying ourselves that beauty? Maybe we forgot its true power.
Loving gentleness is the most powerful catalyst for growth and transformation. To allow something to grow is only possible if you are gentle. I do not have children, but I think any mother would know what I am talking about. Any long term sustainable process requires infinite amounts of patience, persistence and gentleness. I have realized that about my film and with my own personal growth. The minute I force it, I block it.
I think most of you would agree with me, that our world and society are sick. We can see that sickness reflected in our relationship with nature and in all the problems that resulted from our separation from it. I think to build a new world each one of us will have to get to the bottom of our own wounds and heal them. Each one will have to heal the separation from our very own part of nature, our body. To heal that we will need to utilize in full force our loving and gentle power.
Maybe this Women’s day, it is time for all of us to get a flower.
02-20-12
Everything is Love (excerpt from Green Dream)
02-19-12
We are a song
I went to the Arts co-op in the Mile End in Montreal a week ago, to buy some watercolour paper for the illustrations I will do in Green Dream.
The man working started showing me different papers and recommending some to me. I was not looking for sketch book, but he kept drawing my attention to a sketchbook telling me how amazing the paper was. Then he picked it up and told me that he used it last year as a kind of a journal, he made a sketch per day. I thought what a great idea. And he said ‘I see it like praying. Some people pray to God because it got them through a rough time. Art got me through a rough time, so I keep doing it.’
We continued speaking and when I was paying he said, ‘You know, we are like a song, we think we are this person at this moment of time, but that is just a note in the song. I like to think of that, we are all those moments, the song just keeps unfolding”
02-14-12
Happy Valentine’s Day with a little excerpt from Green Dream
01-22-12
Nature is…on my window
A little series of images, inspired by the ever changing winter formations on my windows.
01-08-12
Nature is all around us… and in us
I was walking down the street today, at -17Cº weather, shrugging, each time when the wind hit my face and cheeks. Tensed up, head down, I walked completely uninterested to look at anything around me. The only thought I had was to cross the street, and walk as fast as I can for the next two blocks so I can get home as soon as possible.
Then I remembered that the photo series I wanted to do in the next few months, while I was editing Green Dream and making it a reality, was going to be about being present and noticing the little things in my everyday life. Perhaps like the wind on my cheeks. And isn’t that what winter is about, that cold wind on my cheeks that reminds me that I am alive. As I was feeling it hit my face, I thought ‘this is what nature is’ and she is everywhere, in this gray urban landscape or in the wild natural park. But it is so easy to forget that.
When I was editing Green Dream, I was trying to describe and capture what was nature to me and I realized that it was an experience, an experience that I can have with my plants, or in the park near my house, or on the mountain.
This made me think about the photo series that I wanted to create. What if I capture my daily experiences of Nature?
Starting Monday this is what I will do. I will be putting one image a day about a daily encounter with nature. Tune in to the blog www.maiaiotzova.com or to the facebook page to see it.
01-02-12
Imagine that trees had hearts wraps up with $ 3,963
I want to thank you for the support of the Green Dream fundraising campaign. I feel so fortunate to receive so much encouragement, positive feedback and donations.
We raised $ 3,963 which will help me to pay for essential services such as sound recording and editing, and colour correction.
The fundraising campaign with the Imagine Series (see them on flickr) was very successful in inspiring people and the Green Dream community is growing daily.
Since in 2012 Green Dream will be released and become a reality I am starting a daily series of images, which will be dedicated to being present and appreciating reality. They will be posted on the blog www.maiaiotzova.com and on the facebook page
Make sure to check back often!
And don’t forget that the new website is up www.greendreammedia.com and I will be posting some new video exerts on it soon.
For those of you that have donated I will be following up with you soon.
Happy 2012!
with love,
Maia
01-01-12
Imagine 2012
Day 77
A few hours left to support Green Dream
http://igg.me/p/44213?i=shlk
ps. Day 76 was a day of rest
12-30-11
Imagine that you do not have to make yourself be perfect, you already are
Day 75
2 days left to support Green Dream
http://igg.me/p/44213?i=shlk