Well, it’s that time of year again… time to start packing for Art & Soul.
Step 1 is unpacking from last year’s Art & Soul. Check. That was today’s activity.The gathering of art supplies begins in earnest tomorrow.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Oh! And I should really be getting my trades together as well…
So much art, so little time!
The workshop I was taking with Misty Mawn is officially over, but I’m still working through all of the assignments. So much content to process!
Over the course of the last 5 weeks, I’ve learned spiffy new ways to play with my photos, made & inked my first sculpture, written poems - even a sonnet - baked a divine flourless chocolate cake, created my own handmade artist journal, practiced portrait drawing, and finally finished a mixed media painting that I really like… and I’ve really only scratched the surface. Not too shabby to start off the year. Yay me… and a giant thank you to Misty!
Photoshop layers & haiku
Misty said in today’s lesson that photography was one of her favorite ways to entertain herself. Mine too! I am loving the photography lesson today! I’ve been playig with Photoshop for years, but I am self taught, and I’m sure I don’t know half of what it can really do. Picked up a nifty layering tip from today’s video and just had to try it out.
I am so loving Misty Mawn right now!
I am so loving Misty Mawn‘s workshop!
We are doing assignments with drawing, painting, creative writing, journaling, and clay. Much to keep up with, but so much fun!
I have done my first sculpture ever… and I wasn’t even planning to play with the clay assignments. I had no idea I would enjoy playing with the air-dry clay so much, but this little girl was so very fun to do. I put a birdie in her hands intending to paint it blue for my mother. She loved blue birds, and when she died a family of them came to live in our yard. I always thought it was a message from her, a sign that she was ok. So, when my little girlie was dry enough to play with, I got to work in my studio with the Adirondack inks and some sponges and …
Squee!!! I love her!
I believe we are supposed to do some photography this week. Can’t wait to play with my camera a little. All this drawing and painting is a bit intimidating to me sometimes, so it will be good to wander back towards my comfort zone for a bit. Though I did really enjoy the clay…
Misty is just so inspirational. I’m sure I’ll love whatever we do going forward. I’ll be sure to keep you posted.
I had planned to spend the day in my studio yesterday. I wanted to put together the new ott light I got for Christmas and get it set up by my work table. I also wanted to do another of the pre-workshop exercises that Misty gave us before class starts next week… a handmade artist journal. 
I am happy to report that I got to spend the entire afternoon puttering about the studio yesterday, and it was glorious!
What do I have to show for all of this activity? A new worklight, and a pretty spiffy journal to do my workshop practice in.
Yay studio time!
Well, it’s the last day of 2011…
Bring on the art, 2012!!!
Well, here I am at the end of another year, taking stock and looking ahead.
I didn’t do too badly keeping up with the blog this year. I did let things lapse through the fall, but that was because I was focused on other things besides my art. I’ve kept myself busy getting a few personal & domestic duckies in a row, and I have accomplished much in my absence. Yay me!
Everything has been in chaos these last few years while I slogged through a long & painful grieving process, and the end of this year has been about finding my footing and organizing the elements of my life to fit into my new normal… or, more accurately, getting out of the way and allowing things to coalesce around this new normal. At long last, I feel as though I’ve finally come out the other end of a long, dark tunnel into daylight!
I think my first steps toward engaging with the world again were taken in Misty Mawn‘s Stretching Within workshop last January. It was, as promised, a place to stretch, have a welcome reunion with my muse, and begin to shrug off the weight of stagnation I had been hiding under. It set me off an a year of online workshops – some of which I shared with you here & some I did not. It was a year of going back to school in a sense… of learning how to enjoy art and life and creativity again, a year to relearn how to be fully present in my own life in ways I feared I could never rediscover.
I started 2011 with the intention of stretching myself and that is what I have done. I have discovered new pieces of myself and rediscovered old ones. I have adopted new routines and purged unhealthy ones. I have allowed myself to be grateful for all that I have instead of obsessing over what I have lost. I have allowed myself to just be, and to let that be enough.
Now, as the year draws to a close, I find myself looking forward to the next with unexpected energy. I am excited to move ahead now that I have mastered standing still in this strange new terrain.
To that end, I have decided to begin 2012 with Misty Mawn as my guide once more. I am looking forward to the beginning of her Open Studio workshop on January 9th with great joy and anticipation!
She has posted some content already & given us a writing assignment to start us off.
Our prompt was I am here.
I thought I would end this post by looking ahead to the new year’s journey by sharing…
Before I was in darkness, wandering lost & afraid… but now I am here.
Before I was broken, paralyzed with loss, no voice to sing… but now I am here.
Slowly – oh, so slowly – the ground has settled once more beneath my feet & I am once again ready to take my first tentative steps, to plunge into this new normal. I am here.
Aching to spread my wings and fly at last, to glimpse the light of the sun again. Face upturned to the wonder of this fresh day.
I am here.
