Sunday, May 24, 2009

Social He(art)


Page 25

I know I've mentioned them before, but I wanted to re-mention them, because the lovely lady there featured me and I wanted to share it with you!

Social He(art)

I'm in shock really. I don't think I've earned it yet - but this only fuels me more.

In the feature I mentioned an art therapy video that I had come across and so I went to find it to share.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Morning Walks



Every morning I go on a walk with my daughter. It lasts usually 30min to an hour, and consists of us walking the sidewalks, listening to my headphones, and waving/chatting with the local old people. I always have my phone on me so I can use the note pad to jot down ideas, words, phrases, ect. I get some of my best ideas on walks.

And since part of the reason I started this blog was to show some process. I thought I would share where I start.

April 26 -

I want to write something honest,
but everything that comes out is just perception.

That's as close to truth as I'll ever get.

Back to opinion again.

April 27 -

We are dreamers, you and I.
Dreamers have to stick together.
And never never never stop dreaming.

I think we'll spend our entire lives learning how to really love one another.
Making mistakes as we go.
And I'm okay with that.

April 28 -

Sometimes I just want to be something different.
Something free.

April 30 -

I think you can tell a good deal about a person by what's in their car. But I don't have a car. I wonder what that says about me...

The hopeless romantic in me is dying and slowly becoming just hopeless.

May 3 -

Surprise! I'm human.

I will not break you.

May 4 -

I can't stand it.
I wish you'd never entered my life. I want you out. Like a tumor. I want to slice it open, cut you out and stitch my life back up. But you're a cancer. And you've spread. You're no longer just an affliction of the heart. You've invaded other areas. You're inoperable. And I think I'm going to die of you. (the product of this is below.)
I'm trying so hard to erase you, that I'm burning you into my skin.

May 13 -

If I thought it would make you happy and change the way you see the world. If I thought it would make it better. I would give all of my good luck to you.

I love.

May 20 -

Confessional page.

Goodbye old me. With letter to myself in see-through envelope.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Forever's Not So Long

This is an amazing short film shared with me recently by an art friend. Enjoy!

Forever's Not So Long from garrettmurray on Vimeo.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Confess.


Page 22

Ever since I was little my biggest dream was to make a difference in the world. Not to be famous. Not to be wealthy... I just wanted to be somebody that helped someone. I would pretend I was a super hero - of course, I couldn't tell anyone. It would jeopardize my life. (This probably went on for far too long in my life... I dreamed of being a super hero long after I stopped believing they existed. Maybe I was the only one.)

As I got older, I started looking for other ways to help. Feeding the homeless. Volunteering places. Mission trips. But none of it has ever felt like enough for me. I've never really really connected. I'm not as outgoing as I'd like to be. It takes me a really long time to warm up to people. Especially in situations where I'm am so humbled.

Art has always been... "my thing". And it wasn't until recently that I considered doing something with art to benefit others.

The hardest part about making a difference is really knowing where to start.

Once I realized I wanted to help - I realized I was afraid to do something on my own. What if my project had the reverse effect. What if I ended up giving the wrong idea. What if I ended up hurting instead of helping.

I have been doing tons of research on non profits and other helpful organizations. And I've stumbled upon The Love Alliance. And I think they have it right. It starts with Education.
They give helpful bits of education on different social situations. Then they list what you can do to help. Definitely a step in the right direction for people that just don't know where to start.

I've also stumbled across this lovely lady's blog and site, Social He(art)
For anyone involved in art that would like to get involved in social issues... this is the place.
I'm so excited about seeing other artists helping. I hope one day my name will be on her site somewhere.

And lastly...

What I'm watching:



Want to see it desperately. It looks absolutely beautiful.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Glitter Guts

A quick art to-do list:

*Dreamers painting, both for a DA contest due May 30th and the Art Walk June 1st.
*The Saint and the Snake painting - for the art walk in June.
*Will and Quinn - also, June 1st.
*Lace - June 1st. (Those 4 combined with an older self portrait will be the five on display. I hope.)
*Finish up my proposal for Chronicle Books and mail it in.
*Edit my story - TPoK. (I've been reading some Stephenie Meyers lately, and for some reason she makes me want to write. It's like I get so frustrated at her endings, or just the way the book goes in general that I want to stop reading and write my own story - the way I want it.)
*I'd love to actually write "The Owl Queen" down. It's just in my head mainly for now. Maybe NaNoWriMo this year?
*Continue on with my art journal, which shouldn't be difficult as I can't seem to help myself with it. If anything it will be blocking my progress with these other works.

I know there's more to this. Maybe I'll add more as it comes to my brain. It always seems to help me if I have a list to cross things off of. And so I don't lose things in this brain of mine.

Happy Mother's Day!

I've always liked it in blogs when they do a "what I'm reading" and "what I'm listening to"... so I'm thinking I might start adding this in at the end of mine.

What I'm Reading: (or actually just finished...)


The Host, by Stephenie Meyer.

She definitely has a way of creating relationships between her characters that makes you want to read on. I think that's what draws me to her work. If you're a Twilight fan... you'll like it. As long as you like Twilight for a reason other than Edward - he's not in this one. :)



What I'm Listening To: (thanks to a DA friend...)

Friday, May 8, 2009

Truth

"Then again the great artist, besides aiming at perfection of form searches for truth. He never, in any of his works, allows what he knows to be false to remain. If he believes a work to be false in any part he will change, destroy or abandon it. The longer he works the more exacting he becomes in the demand for what is true. This insistence upon truth is of great importance today. The invention of atomic weapons is a far less sinister threat to human happiness than the discovery of the power of untruth. The realization this it is possible to influence millions by the deliberately told lie is one of the most dreadful threats that civilization has ever been compelled to face. The atomic bomb in itself is harmless. But the untruth, or the deliberately fostered ignorance, that inflame a nation may, at any moment, cause it to be dropped. Only truth can combat falsehood, and the artist is a champion of truth".

"Without truth there can be no freedom. Art honors the spirit of man, his intellect and his feelings, and would have them free".

Chapter XI "Art And Education"
Page 154, Paragraph 2
H.Caudwell
The Creative Impulse
London
Macmillan & Co. Ltd
1951

Friday, May 1, 2009

Seeing Ourselves

I went with my husband to his band practice the other evening. It was nice. I packed a small bag of art supplies and worked in my art journal while he made music with his friends. It's almost enough to make me wish that I had some kind of musical talent so that I could create with him, but I suppose I'll settle for creating near him.


This is the latest. I'm thinking of expanding on this idea. And doing torn/see through stitched back together pieces, but larger and then stretching them over a canvas frame. It sounds time consuming but enjoyable.

I'm working on 3 larger pieces at the moment, outside of my art journal. All of them are at different stages... but all three are coming along. I'm hoping to finish them by June 1st to display them at the Art Walk in Marietta.

I also read about a new art exhibit in Nashville at the Frist Center for Community Arts. ( -look under exhibits.) It's called "Seeing Ourselves" It's presented by the Safe Haven Family Shelter. The Safe Haven Family Shelter is one of the only shelters in TN that provides interim housing and job training for displaced families.

With the economy as frightening as it is. And watching people lose their jobs one after another. This sort of assistance is exactly what we need.

The last line in the article I read about it says, "thereby brining a face to homelessness." And I can't help thinking about that same quote from Faceless International.