Pink is my Signature Color

I just love imagining myself saying that with a thick Southern accent, just like Julia’s character in Steel Magnolias. I find myself loving a deep dark pink color more and more. I used to like purple the best, but now I find it too cool. Perhaps as I’ve come into myself more I embrace the hotness and forward-ness of this lovely warm (yet a touch cool) color.

It really is ALL ABOUT YOU. A Mini-Manifesto, kinda

Be responsible for you- completely. 

Own your thoughts, words and actions- completely. 

Be proactive. Respond responsibly, rather than React, to what other people think, say and do. 

Our culture is perverse these days, maybe for much longer than that. The perversity I'm talking about is self-sacrifice. Don't get me wrong, this concept is important and is a founding thought for many world religions- because of the nature of what "doing good" means and the effect it has on the world.

It's awesome to do good deeds. It makes you feel good and it helps others, but only when it's done properly- from a place of giving, and the spirit of wanting to do it because you intrinsically know that it is the right thing to do.

It becomes perverse when you are constantly given messages that convey that somehow, your desires and responsibilities are NOT GOOD ENOUGH when compared to the desires of others, and your responsibilities to others. We are fed this message from our early years- we have to share, we have to compromise, we have to capitulate to others' needs in order for our deeds and actions to have any value. We now, in America, have to stop doing anything that might somehow offend someone else, because it would be wrong to offend someone by doing what YOU want to do, wearing what you want to wear, worshiping how you want to worship, or saying what you want to say. We are taught to think before doing anything- because it might offend someone else, and if it will, then it is not a worthy pursuit.

There is a difference, people, between being selfish, being self-centered, and having self-esteem. There is a difference between being self-sacrificing, and just being a good person. There is a difference between having tact and being socially well-adjusted, and just being a jerk. But the differences have become very blurred, and at this point I believe most people are falling into two major groups: jerks, and codependents. Notice I said "most people." Because I do believe there are a fair number of people out there who have good self-esteem, are socially adjusted, have tact, understand how and want to do good for others, and have not lost themselves in the process. I don't need to speak to those people, they know who they are. They won't even resonate with what I'm saying, because it doesn't matter to them- I have a friend like this, and when I talk to her about it, she doesn't "get it," and I don't hold it against her one bit- because she is lucky to be emotionally healthy.

But what about you? I can tell you right now- you only have responsibility for a very narrow, deep bunch of stuff- and it's all about YOU.

• what you say & do
• how you say it or do it
• why you say & do things

Are you getting the big picture here? You are responsible for YOU. You are not responsible for other people's actions, thoughts, deeds or proclamations. If you have kids or others you are directly responsible to help raise or get through this life, then you can add that to your responsibility list- but you are still not responsible for what COMES OUT OF THEM. You are only responsible for what YOU PUT IN, and what you give them access to. For example, if you keep firearms in your house and your kids get them and cause physical hurt to themselves or someone else, you are responsible for giving them access. But if you teach them right and wrong, and they decide to do wrong, they are responsible.  If you teach them what you want them to know, and they seek knowledge elsewhere, you are not responsible for what they create with the knowledge- they are. I'm thinking way back to Adam and Eve here. God told them what to do, what to eat... they chose what they chose, and it wasn't his fault- it was theirs. So if God could give up responsibility for his children's mistakes and punish them for doing what they did, why can't we? Because we are taught from the time we can function as toddlers that self-sacrifice and self-debasement is "how it's done." 

It's time to start taking responsibility for ourselves. To do, say, think, eat, wear, worship, be friends with, support... the list goes on here, what WE want. If everyone did that, honestly, and didn't get mixed up in telling others what to do, or in trying to "get inside the mind" of others and figure out what they want from us, the world would be a better place.

I think about my friends who are dating. They ask me things like.... "How long should I wait to text him back?" "What do you think he meant by saying ___?" "Should I.....fill in the blank."

My answer is: 1. Do what YOU want. 2. Call or text when YOU want to. 3. How the heck should I know what he meant or thought? Why don't you ask HIM?

Why play games? Because every magazine and website says to. They all tell girls to play a certain game to "catch" a guy. I'm sure the guys' websites and magazines say the same thing about chasing girls. This, of course, is only one example of the ways we use our self-debasement culture to mess up a totally fun thing, in this case, finding the ONE.

OK, stepping down from the soapbox now- I've studied so much in the past few years regarding my own emotional health that I now feel very relaxed and open when friends ask for advice, and I really want to share this special message with more people.

Be responsible for you- completely. Own your thoughts, words and actions- completely. Be proactive. Respond responsibly, rather than React, to what other people think, say and do.

Letting Go and Moving Forward

I just let go of a project.

I was committed to it. Just not enough for the other people involved.

I have no hard feelings. I don't exactly feel relief, rather I feel an opening up, a void. I've got a project that has been on the back burner for a while, one that I feel will be lucrative. I just haven't had time to work on it, because I've been really tied up with other things and commitments to other people. Now that can fill the void.

It can be scary to let go, to move on. Especially when my project is really mine- which puts me in a place I have not been in a long time- on my own, alone, forging ahead. That means my success or failure is totally completely 100% in my own hands.

I have learned so much over the years- how to blog, how to write code, how to film videos, take photos, and teach others to do the same. I have had excellent feedback on all of these things, so I have complete confidence that I am capable of success.

Right now, in this moment, I want to start using myself up for everything I've got.

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." ~Erma Bombeck

One thing leads to another...

When we decided to write a book with a major publisher, we knew two things:

1. Some parts of it would be a pain in the rear (dealing with someone elses' deadlines and demands)
2. It would give us street-cred.

We were totally correct on both points. Going with a publisher means you get an editor, who may or may not work with you in the way you are best suited... it also means dealing with their schedule (they said our book would be available on September 20, and we noticed it was actually in stores and Amazon on August 23.... we actually MISSED the launch date of our own book because they forgot to tell us), and they had no marketing plan. WHAT! We are supposed to handle the marketing of our own book, totally on our own for that. So that's why they wanted us to have a strong social media platform. lol.

The street-cred thing is highly sought-after by artists. It seems that no matter how great you are at what you do, the crafting community only believes you are "real" if you've been published. I actually had someone say to me once, after I had been doing free monthly demos and teaching sessions for their polymer clay guild for several years, that I was not a "real" polymer clay teacher (because I was not published and/or traveling the country like a gypsy to teach in other cities). How do you think that felt?

I digress. It's finally here! Next month, on November 5th, I will have my first guest-post on www.CreateMixedMedia.com! I'm so psyched about that. And today I'm being interviewed by www.iCreateFlix.com for their podcast, as a guest teacher. And I have a guest post coming out on their blog later this month too, when I will be featured in their newsletter AND I'll be releasing a new class on making a mixed-media shrine with cutout niche. So cool.

The next step will be getting published in Cloth-Paper-Scissors.... and then I think I'll take over the world :)

What is your favorite color?

I say this using my best Monty Python English accent, because I just love it when they tell the guy he is wrong and he dies....

How can you have a "wrong" favorite color? Mine is absolutely FF3399.

I shudder to think that it is "hot pink," that description takes me back to 1986... 7th grade... bad hair, braces, Catholic school uniforms, a crush on the wrong boy, and lots of other 13 year old nonsense.

So I will just stick with FF3399, because I think this color defies description. It is neither magenta nor fuchsia, and calling it pink simply doesn't do it justice. I have it in my hair, on my lips, and on way too many clothing and accessory items including rhinestone earrings, scarves, a gorgeous druzy necklace... I have a huge faux flower leaning over the side of my monitor in this color, my Ikea lamp is this color, actually when I look around my art room, I am amazed at how much I do gravitate towards having items in this color in my space.

Then I look around again and notice that I have a lot of black and white in my wardrobe and studio as well, probably to counterpoint the fact that I pick this heavy pink color for all the little things. It is totally subconscious, but now I suppose I will begin noticing it more, since I brought it to my own attention...

What is YOUR favorite color? Do you just like it, or are you passionately in love with it, as I seem to be with mine?

What is driving me, right now...

At this moment, I am crazy about making 100% of my income myself. I mean, emphatic. I need to stop doing the odd jobs that bring me a subsistance income, and start doing the passion work... the making of my own shiz... the stuff that won't make me angry to do because I know I will be directly paid what I am worth to do it.

I'm working really hard on Dream Your Success right now, because I know, in my heart, that we have the BEST... the ABSOLUTE best business and life coaching program for artists who want to succeed online. We have checked out the others- FLUFF, I tell you. Our program is fun and a lotta work- because it is true, no matter what they want to tell you- that you will need to learn and apply some things in order to get it done and sell your creations. We don't just tell you what to do, we SHOW you, teach you, encourage you, and have LIVE sessions every other week in case you need even more assistance. (Clients absolutely LOVE the live coaching.)

And I'm working hard on CraftyLink, because community is where it's at.

And the third thing driving me is my new product line, because jewelry is such a saturated market that it has become pretty hard to stand out from the crowd, and almost impossible to get accepted into art shows selling jewelry. So this requires some thought and planning to "break out of the mold," especially when the book Ilysa and I just wrote is on...wait for it... art jewelry!

So- I'm driven in three concurrent directions, all of them geared towards my ultimate goal of a real sustainable 5 figure income from my efforts.

What is driving you?

My newest Creations

So I really enjoy doing tiny piecework with polymer clay. However, I don't really enjoy doing it over and over and over again. I love the idea of molding my own original artwork and casting it, and coloring it by hand. That way I can labor over the creation of the original until it is perfect, and mold it indefinitely  trying out different color combinations, antiquing, beading, and such.

I made several originals last weekend- three of them have a little well or frame in the center so I can change what goes there- a word, phrase, affirmation, poem, blessing, whatever.

Right now I'm on a quest to find the absolute best medium to cast them in. I tried Cool2Cast, which is a fiber infused plaster product. However, when you cast it thin, as these are, they are extremely fragile. You could snap them in half. That's why I only have 2 to show, because one of them broke into three pieces, and the other one I'm not willing to spend the time working on because it won't be sellable. Instead I'm dreaming up some new original sculpts and I really want to take it 3D as well, and make some small sculptures I can then cast and paint.

It's so fun birthing a new idea, especially since these have turned out better than I even imagined!

Has Skinny Bitch ruined my life?

I read Skinny Bitch (it's a book, duh) on the airplane out to Florida for Christmas last week. Ugh. It's about going vegan. It's less about all the wonderful reasons why to go vegan, and more about the disgusting and cruel reasons why NOT to eat meat.

[insert guffaw]

Normally, I give a snort of derision whenever someone brings up the tyranny of the meat industry. I believe that God gave us animals, and once we were in a fallen state, we could eat them. If you read your bible, you can find reference to that actually after the flood, when Noah and his family are given "all living moving things" to eat. But let's step aside from the bible for a few.

The book refers to two types of diets- that of "light" (eating foods that grow on plants, which use photosynthesis to grow), and eating decaying dead flesh. Mmmmm, yummy. But I would argue that once you pick the fruit, vegetable, or leaf, it is dead, or dying. So, um, no, that part doesn't really make sense.

The main issue I have with myself, after reading the book, is how blase my attitude is towards the commercial animal products industry in general. I do feel guilty of supporting a business that abuses animals for the only reason of turning a higher profit. I do feel that since we vote with our money, the way for me to vote against animal cruelty in the animals-for-food industry is to stop buying products it produces. I think the average family really NEEDS one cow, one pig, and a family of chickens to survive. That's the way it used to be- Bessie cut your lawn for free, provided a replacement calf for next year and butter and cream for your table, and in return you brought her to the butcher in the fall so she could stock your icebox. And the hens lay eggs- some you let hatch for fryers, and others you ate with toast.

Now, we go to a mega-market where meat has been lying around for days after a mass slaughter under in-humane conditions. It's in little anonymous packages so you don't have to even think about the animal it came from. There's some kind of "acceptable loss" number in the industry for animals that don't make it to slaughter because they die on the way. There's also an "acceptable" amount of rotten or diseased flesh allowed to make it into the packaging, too, which is pretty gross. And then there's the fact that according to the authors, EVERY person interviewed regarding their jobs at a slaughterhouse admitted to either abusing animals themselves, or watching it happen and doing nothing. The animals are going to die anyway, so why bother being humane to them?

Now let's talk health. When you think about it, you'll realize that it is almost physically impossible to eat enough grains and veggies to make you obese. I mean, a cup of spinach has what, 70 calories? Our nation, including me, is fat and getting fatter (well, not me for that part.) It's probably because of fast food (meat, fat, lard, and stuff fried in fat), and processed foods- which can pack an awful lot of calories in a small package. It's insanely easy to overeat on packaged foods- one box of Girl Scout Cookies Samoas has around 2000 calories- and it's pretty easy to eat them in one sitting. By comparison, to eat 2000 calories of salad, you would be eating about a gallon of salad.

So what does all this lead up to? I'm going vegetarian for a while. I'm going to start with a month, and chronicle the experience. I want to see how I feel physically and emotionally. I like meat, so I don't think I will be a veg-head forever. But when I do start eating meat again, I'm going to see what small farms in my area can offer me as far as ethical meat.

Creative Fluency

Here's a concept for you- a very important one. It's called "fluency." You might associate this with language, as in "I speak fluent French," and you would be correct. If you really think about the word, it means that you understand and speak quickly and clearly, without having to muddle through.

And how do we build fluency? By immersion, and practice.

On to the story that inspired me to write about it...

Wendigo died last Saturday. Some people would say "passed away," but the truth is, he died and I helped. I have personally put three pets to sleep now (my husband helped too) and it is terrible every time, because it really does feel like you are killing them. Even though it is the humane thing to do, the end result is- they are dead, and you pulled the "trigger." It's a horrible guilty place to be. Poor little guy had no fight left in him, the cancer had riddled his body. So we came home to a house that felt empty. The danger is- we have two other kitties, and not to ignore them because of our grief.

When our dog, Kasha, died four years ago, I gathered up some mementos with great intentions of creating a memorial piece of artwork. That sits unfinished.

When we came home from the vet on Saturday, I knew I wanted to create something for my husband, for us, to remember him. We decided yellow was a good color for Wendigo (the color of his eyes) and he is white, so I chose an assortment of yellow and white papers and a 12 inch canvas. I used lots of other stuff, but basically created a canvas collage that now hangs in our den above the 5 foot cat tower that he used to sleep on. Now our old girl, Tigerlily, has taken over the top level of the tower.

I have been in a constant state of CREATE since moving to Austin. My supplies are out in the living room, and I do a live show almost every Tuesday morning at 8 am. Plus I've been writing a book, which involves a lot more creating and photography than my usual routine.

The point is this- I had an idea and carried it through to completion within hours, not weeks, months, years...It is because I have been PRACTICING constantly and have developed the creative fluency that helped me state, inside my soul, what kind of art I wanted to make, how I wanted to execute it, and I was able to quickly and easily make what I had pictured in my mind.

This is very different than anything in my past- when I would think about it, maybe sketch it, dig around various boxes of art supplies, take things out...put them back, start, tuck a canvas half-painted back away, and not finish. Heck, I hardly got started.

PLEASE- do yourself the immense favor of doing something creative as often as you can! When you are in a state of creative flow, ideas come more quickly and their execution is easier. You become your idea, and are able to see it through. Creative Fluency is the opposite of Creative Block, and it is a skill just like any language or instrument. Practice, and it will be at your fingertips, or the tip of your tongue.

"Just Be- who you Be!"

A quote by....me!

I said this to a group of my highschool students- we were in the middle of a discussion and an issue about peer pressure came up. 

I turned to one of the girls, a girl who has no problem with this concept- she is 5’10”, very dark skinned, "thick", and very steampunk. Her hair is purple and black, she almost always wears goggles as a “headband,” she loves big shoes that make her look even taller, and every day her eyebrows are drawn on differently. I said to her- “Just be, who you be!” and winked. Then we had a good laugh together. 

Take this advice- no matter what you feel like wearing, drawing, making; no matter who you are today- be you. Don’t worry if anyone cares- it’s you that needs to feel like, well, you! When you speak, act, look, and feel genuine to yourself, you will infect others with the confidence and light of your being.

The Problem of Mattering

The one thing I had wondered, since I was very little...maybe 7 or so, is why anything matters. My religious upbringing gave me the first signs that something was amiss.

Guess what, people. The only thing that matters- is whatever you think matters. Unfortunately, the Universe, God, whatever you call the divine larger power in your life, didn't impress tattoos regarding the meaning of your life on your forehead at birth.

My (adopted) mother made me feel very bad about life from an early age. She was not there for us in any real sense of the word. She herself was very insecure, an alcoholic, and emotionally abusive. She would yell at me for sitting with the family reading a book or doing homework, and not breaking up fights between my siblings that happened in front of me- saying "The only thing that matters to you is whatever YOU are doing. Why don't you look around you and take care of something besides yourself!" This was usually followed by admonitions regarding my "laziness" or lack of effort. All this yelling at ME for not doing HER job of mothering.

So in my tiny little 8, 10, 12, 14 year old heart...I took her word for it. I withdrew into myself and became very introverted. I started thinking passively about suicide- "What if our car just goes off the road into the river? That would be convenient."And then I started thinking that nothing matters at all. If what I wanted didn't matter to my parents, how could it matter to me? As a child, I had no power to manifest what mattered, except in my daydreams.

As an adult, these thoughts continued. I felt powerless to get what I wanted in life. I started to suppress the questions about what I wanted. It became difficult to ask for things that I wanted- even if it were a simple request, such as what restaurant to go to, what to do on a Saturday afternoon. God bless my husband for putting up with me during my completely wishy-washy phase of development.

So here it is- the problem of mattering. If something matters to you, it means you want it.

If wanting things is difficult for you, because things happened in your past to create blocks against you believing in things, it can be difficult to bust through those blocks.

Here are questions I had about things that mattered to me-

What If I Care?
What if I Try?

Those what if's are all completely fear-based.

If I care about this, it will be taken away from me, die, leave, or betray me.
If I try to do this, it won't be good enough.

My fears about caring had to do with the fact that my birth-mother left me at 8 months old...my adopted mother abused me, both of them died before my 18th birthday, my father betrayed me by not protecting me. My mother would dangle things I wanted in front of me like a carrot, and snatch them away at the last moment as a form of bizarre punishment. For example, if I were invited to a birthday party, I would be dressed and ready, holding a wrapped present, and she would tell me that I didn't clean the bathroom properly the night before and therefore would not be going to the party. When I did things, she would tell me they would have been better if I had tried harder...my 2 hours of piano practice daily would become 4 the next day if I didn't practice "enough..." She told me throughout my piano career of 8 years of weekly lessons, 2 hours of practice a day- you'll never make any money as a musician. Better think of something else.

It sounds like she was "Mommy Dearest," doesn't it? But she had her own problems that made her this way. She grew up in a very abusive household. My two uncles are totally screwed up as well, and now I don't even know them anymore. I relate this to you, dear reader, so we can empathize and feel compassion for each other. I think everyone's parents mess them up, at least a little, because none of us are perfect.

So where to go from there, when your upbringing does not validate your needs and wants, the things that matter to you most? How do you go from thinking about it (rumination) to moving forward, a brightly Illuminated soul? The answer lies in a lot of forgiveness, and making new choices.

For me it was simple, it came all at once, after long hours of study and meditation that allowed me to open up and bring new beliefs into my life. It is very important if you want to change something integral to yourself that you first examine your belief system and figure out which beliefs are yours, and which were taught to you and support negativity. If a belief you hold from childhood only brings negativity into your life, you need to break it apart and rebuild it to support your positive growth as a person. But that's another post :)

Simply this: can you say this, hold it in your heart, and begin to believe it?


If nothing matters, then everything does.

Everything I do...

Everything I say...

Everything I believe...

Everything I experience.

So go forward, and BE what matters to you. Others will see you for what you really are, and you will be able to love yourself fully and share that love outward.

From Rumination to Illumination

Rumination is usually defined as repetitively focusing on the symptoms of distress, and on its possible causes and consequences. Extensive research on the effects of rumination, or the tendency to self-reflect, shows that the negative form of rumination interferes with people’s ability to focus on problem-solving and results in dwelling on negative thoughts about past failures.

I just had the best experience in a long time- I got to Skype chat with Marney Makridakis, the founder of Artellaland.com. I've been following the site for years now. Can I just say that Marney is VERY smart? And a generous soul who gave me an hour of her time, free. In that hour, I was able to realize what my heart has been telling me about my life mission, and therefore I changed the title of my blog and now will change my focus as well. It's always been there, I just haven't been able to listen to the quiet, deep part of my soul that is telling me what my REAL, true wish is as a helping professional.

I am a teacher- through and through. I've taught others my whole life, and dedicated myself to lifelong learning. 

I've read several pieces of literature which suggest that teachers are people who have not had a healthy upbringing- rather they have had struggles to deal with, in some cases, all their lives. This makes this special group of people highly empathetic. Many become psychologists, counselors, or therapists of some kind or another. Many get specialized training to do these things, and I believe that in many cases it's because they want to practice in a medical field that they are forced to get this training. But it doesn't take "letters" after your name or a Master's degree to make someone a teacher or counselor. It's a gift.

Somewhere in my early 30's, I realized that I spent a lot of time in Rumination. That is to say, that I could identify the causes and effects of the negative parts of my rearing and psyche. I could think about them to no end, pick them apart, and wallow in them (which, as the definition above suggests, is what rumination often leads to.) But I was getting no where in this endless cycle of negative thinking. I was still depressed, passively suicidal (wishing your airplane will crash when upon takeoff is a terrible thing to live through) and wondering about the meaning of life. Questions I had since age 8 or so. I realized that I had to let the light in, and let my light out. My focus then became finding the light. I did some reading, meditation, study and therapy. I still have a ways to go, and my teachers assure me that I will probably spend the rest of my life "perfecting" my own approach to happiness, fulfillment, and contentment- three states of mind that sometimes coexist, sometimes not.

My gift is this- I now understand how to shine. I know the path, and I want to share it. I believe that creativity and positive thinking can lead you there. As humans, we all share the power to create, and the power to think- to make new life, to make art and build things, to tell stories, to imagine things that weren't there before. Creativity and Positivity is our gift. I'm not just talking about art making, although that tends to be my primary expression. I do like to write as well :)

Clay Mosaic Plaque! A New video I did live today

I have decided to use Tuesday Schmoozeday as my very own creative outlet. I have WAY too much going on in my life, lots of businesses and a part time job, plus I'm trying to get certified to teach in Texas and continue my actual career.... So often, my own art is the first thing to go. I'm always trying to make something to sell or market, and never making something just for me. But I have a whole room full of art supplies because I'm a hoarder! So on Tuesdays during my live show, I'm making things just BECAUSE. Things that are in my heart, things I want to try. Today, I made it and gave it away. That makes me feel good- because I'm a lightworker- I want to enrich the world with the talents I have. So a big thanks to Finra, in New Zealand, who wakes up in the middle of the night each Tuesday and has watched my show faithfully since we started a month ago. Today she was the winner.

A stash from Aves clay!

Today my supplies came from Aves! They graciously agreed to give us some Apoxie sculpt for the book. So of course, I immediately decided to make some earrings for tonight! I'm going to the Big Sing with the Tapestry singers tonight- hoping to join this all-women's chorus starting next Monday. One of my favorite things to do is make new earrings before going out- it's so easy and fun to have something new!

Excited to go to Cali!

Can't wait for my weekend trip to California! Gonna see my 2nd cousin Van, only 9 months old...gonna see my BEST FRIEND Cindy for the first time in 20 years. There's a story there, thank you Facebook. And of course, gonna chill with Ilysa at the CHA convention. Well, more like work our tails off and come back with 50 pound suitcases. I do believe my suitcase is going to have almost nothing in it when I leave. Except maybe another suitcase, debating whether I should bring one to act as a carryon for the trip back.
Right now, we are waiting to hear if we will be chosen for a Reality TV show. I can't believe it, I actually hate most of them. But I love the Cupcake wars, and this show is put on by the same producers. It's kinda like a Crafter war, we don't have a lot of details yet but casting ended yesterday- so keep your fingers crossed. If we get on tv, ThingsCrafty.com will take off like crazy- which is perfect because once again, this year I've already been informed that I'm losing my job in June. Ugh. When will public education get better?

Shut Up and Put Out!

OK, that's a little strongly stated, but that's the point. Ilysa and I were talking business this morning and we decided that is going to be the theme of our new crafting community. We are both action-minded women, and Ilysa has been self employed for almost her whole adult life- and that is my goal too. In the next 2 years, I plan to leave "the Man" behind and work for The Woman- Me! But that requires SMART goals and planning. You need to do small, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely things in order to move forward in life. That's what we will be talking, writing, videoing, and blogging about in the near future over at ThingsCrafty. We've got great things in the works- and we will be explaining how sometimes you need to just Shut Up your mouth or your brain, and Put Out- that means get it done!

Art Journal- SCORE! at the Goodwill

I found this awesome blank book for $3.50 yesterday at our local Goodwill. I couldn't resist, because the pages, which I assume are for gluing in photos, are big, blank, and a nice heavy weight. Perfect for an art journal, a task which I have often thought about undertaking but have never actually done.

This book is bound in a very time-honored traditional way, it's called Japanese stab-binding. Basically a fancy way to say, there are holes going all the way thru the pages and the covers, and a string is holding them in. Rather than having a spine, the spine is open and you can see the edges, and the front and rear covers bend when the book opens. So if I want to, I can even remove pages in order to paint them. I plan to use a lot of gesso- tip- sometimes I keep a container of Kilz primer around- it's cheaper than gesso, and does the same thing.

Part of my creative anxiety stems from the question "Will it matter?" and I have decided that yes, it will, even if only to me. Now the anxiety that comes up next is, do I have time for this? With all the other things in my life that I am dying, or trying, to start up, do I really have time to write, scribble, draw, paint and collage in this book? Or is it just another creative diversion? Well, I suppose creative diversions are important too. I always tell my students that it is important to practice, you can't "think" your way through a project. So it's high-time for a taste of my own medicine. I recently got several new books on mixed media techniques, all of which seem very logical to me- but I can't own those techniques until I really try them out. So, here we go...

How do you do it?

"What?" says Danielle....
"Live each day with this kind of Passion! Don't you find it exhausting?" ~Prince Charming

LOL. Can you tell I'm watching Ever After for like, the 80th time? I really enjoy this modern spin on Cinderella.

Anyway, I LOVE IT when he says that to her in the midst of a heated argument. Why wouldn't you want to live with passion everyday?

This is what a day off looks like...

Deb and I went to the beach early today for a nice long walk. Then home to work on our art- she's making a curio cabinet for the kitchen out of recycled materials such as magazines, wire, and cigar boxes. I'm working on my dolly. She just came out of the oven with skin on her face, and I'll post again later with an update. So far, she has her arms and her dress, in rough form, and I apoxied a ring in her hand to hold the lantern. She will be called "Seeker."

Starving Artist? We need to thrive instead

I love Angi, and just wanted to share what she has to say about this topic. In recent months, through therapy and reading, I've uncovered the negativity in my soul- in America, we are raised with horrible social norms including the idea that taking care of ourselves is a selfish act. That not finishing the food on our plate is somehow causing children to starve to death in China, that we must take care of others at the expense of ourselves, that sacrificing our desires is actually a desirable character trait. We then buy into the idea that to want- to really want, is to take from someone else. What a crock of .....
Anyway, enjoy.