Ugly? Beautiful? Bittersweet?

What makes the torn, ripped, bruised feel so comforting? Does pain sometimes remind us we are alive? Isn’t destruction part of growth? The seedling cracking it’s shell, pushing dirt aside to reach the sun. The fish swallowing the fish swallowing the fish in order to survive.

Just a quick pondering for the day.
Music: The Beat Goes On -song by Sonny & Cher

My Mid-Year Artsy Catch Up

Ok, you don’t know how many blog posts I’ve longhand written then promptly lost or spilt stuff on or simply found that I’m past whatever it was I started to write about. –but now as I am sitting in the airport with a seriously delayed flight and office surface on my lap, I thought I might as well type my post directly that way maybe I’ll actually get it posted. AND I’m blank. Like how can I have a million things to say then I have time to share them and ……..

Guess I’ll just start with what’s been going on lately art-wise.

First I’ve been participating in the 100 day project. Quite simply it is picking something (creative) that you do for 100 days and post, specifically on Instagram. I chose to make 4”x4” squares of art loosely based in some way or another to music. So I’ve gotten to 43 but since have sort taken a break. I was kind of averaging 3 to 4 pieces a week, not bad for me. I think I’m going to modify the challenge to 54 (my current age) then I plan to bind them into a little journal. Above is a quick sampling of some that I’ve done so far. I’ll group them and go into their stories on future posts. (Oh nice, lots of new posts that I won’t even need to think about. Maybe it’ll get me back in the habit of posting more consistently)

Next (yeah, these things are so not chronological and sort of overlap and such) I’ve been art journaling a good bit. I really want to complete all the journals that I have half completed. I’ve particularly enjoyed making papers. (yet another post to go into –new techniques from a local co-op called art & soul here in Nashville, gelli printing when my artfest friend Amanda came down to visit, and the ever loved kitchen sink approach with lots of luscious color –I even did my first ever youtube video. Check it out) My new obsession is creating funky collage folks. I really want to make a video of the process. Not hard at all and so much fun.

Finally, I participated in a Facebook group lead by Misty Mawn called Portray Yourself. It has prompts such as “Adorn” or “Nature” where you create a self-portrait based on that theme. One of the things that I really liked about the group was that based on what I wanted to created I found a new (free) phone app called Fused which allows you to merge/double exposure photos. I have had so much fun playing with it both for self portraiture but also all sorts of other things.

Well, I guess I had more to say than I thought. Northing to deep or anything but more a breezy catch-up and personal push because now, goodness I’ve actually gone from …. To a crazy lot that I want to share with y’all!

Well until next time, have a wonderful life and keep on arting!!!!

Music for Today: “Leaving on a Jet Plane” song by Peter, Paul & Mary, written by John Denver (I had no idea he had written this until I went to find it on YouTube to add to my blog post. What random new tidbits we pickup ach day, lol)

C E L E B R A T I O N

HELLO 2018  -and Good Bye 2017, you sure zoomed right on past!

I blinked and WOW, a whole year went by. That old notion of time passing in proportion to the whole of your existence, sure seems accurate to me. I have no doubt time is merely a human construct and totally relative. Hmmm…. Now can I leverage that next time I happen to be a bit late –‘cause you know that is going to happen at some point. (Aside –check out this What But Why’s post on lateness. I just adore this site)

Ok now back to my post, oh yes, 2018. I think 2018 is going to be an AMAZING year for me and to honor that exclamation, my word, drumroll please, is CELEBRATION!!! Usually I ruminate a great deal about my word. Usually there ends up being about six or seven contenders and they have to duke it out and then I am mentally and emotionally exhausted from the brain battle. But not this year!

2018 will be a yearlong celebration! We are talking P-A-R-T-Y, balloons and banners, champagne and fireworks! Well, maybe not always that literal, but it is the attitude I hope to cultivate. One of abundance and joy. I plan to reward myself for small victories and the progress I make along the way, regardless how silly or inconsequential it may seem!

What is your word for the year? How do you plan to incorporate it in to your life? I hope to share some of the ways I intend to include the concept of celebration in my life, particularly through my art in my art journal. I have several partially completed journals and my mini-goal is to complete them all before 2019 comes around. It is a rather ambitious task, but I am super excited to get started!

Music to start the new year: Can't Stop the Feeling -Justin Timberlake

Laying out my supplies and general page concept

Smooshing (I just can't keep my fingers out of the paint)

Testing out alternative layouts (It is hard to stop playing and start gluing)