The Joy of Six

It's been busy.
You'll have to excuse my absence. I decided that I REALLY want to go back to school in the Fall, so I've been working my butt off to get a portfolio ready. (I turned it in yesterday.) So this post is long over due. I have a few things that might be fun to share!

First - I had my very first exhibition. It's still up currently until April. If you're in Buford, GA before then you should check it out. <3 These are mine.

So far my New Years resolution of working larger has been a success. I have ideas running in my head for new pieces that I'd like to work on soon.

I also received my copy of "In Our Own Words" the other day. For those of you who don't already know this book is the project of a non-profit in the UK called, Harmless. They specialize in assisting those that deal with self-injury. And they do an amazing job at it. The book will raise funds for them. And I contributed a painting.

You can pick up a copy here. That's the form you have to download and fill out and send it. I'm not yet sure if it's available to people outside of the UK.

I think that's about it for now.
I find out the results of my portfolio sometime in the next 3 weeks via e-mail. Yay!

Love is the Movement!

Today is "To Write Love On Her Arms" Day.

For those of you that don't know what TWLOHA's is...

twloha.com

Today is basically about writing the word love on your arm. Writing it to promote awareness about things such as self injury, addiction, depression, and suicide - specifically within the teenage years. (As I think this is where it is most often not taken very lightly. - you know, hormones.) But also acknowledging that these are things people won't grow out of. That people much older than their teens suffer. They fight these things ever single day.

So writing love on your arm not only promotes awareness and conversation about difficult subjects. It's also there as a sign of support. A sign that someone cares about you when depression, addiction, self injury, and thoughts of suicide make it so difficult to believe that could be true.

Love is the movement.
Rescue is possible.

You are never alone.

Love Yourself 2009

So the Love Yourself For Art contest came to an end at the beginning of September. Most of the prizes have been mailed out. I have a few stragglers that will be mailed out this coming week and that will be the end of it.

I really enjoyed doing this and the feedback has all been positive. So I am definitely planning on doing this again. I'm thinking March 2010. (As March 1st is Self Injury Awareness Day.)

This time I think I'll expand the project beyond DeviantArt. I'd like to make it available to more people. So you'll see more of it on my blog and perhaps other places if you follow me in those places...

The photo above is of all of the finished prizes. Mine and the ones that were donated. About 44 cards total. It doesn't look like a lot, but it felt like a lot.

Thank you to everyone who donated cards. I really appreciate all of the help.
Kelsey
Laura
Margaret
Megan
James
Aoife
Lisa
Vera
Victoria

Lace

Recently, I submitted this piece to be considered for publication in a book called, "In Our Own Words". The book is to be published by a non-profit in the UK called Harmless. Harmless is an organization that brings information to the masses about self injury. They even go as far as to include training for those dealing with people who self injure. I think it's a lovely group and an incredible site. You should check it out.

http://www.harmless.org.uk/

Anyway... the submission was accepted. So YAY! I'll have published art work in the UK at least. I'm pretty excited.

Love Yourself for Art!

So I've been keeping myself a little busy. Probably too busy. But as long as I'm getting the things done that I need to get done I'll consider it a success.

I've started my first ever contest on DeviantArt. Actually, it's something a little bigger than a contest. Here I'll share:

“So I’d like to do a contest.

WHO: This is a contest for people who currently self injure or have self injured in the past. Self injuring is any time you do something knowing it will deliberately cause you harm. This can be any number of things.

I want to trade you a mini piece of art (about the size of a playing card) for one month of you going self injury free.

As you can imagine this contest will run completely on the honor system. I’ll have no way of knowing whether or not you’ve actually kept your word. But of course, I ask you to do so. This contest will be run again in October. So there will always be another chance for you to try again. It’s not a contest of who can go the longest, more of a contest against yourself.

PRIZE: A small 64 mm × 89 mm piece of art work. Something small enough to keep with you. In your pocket, or maybe where you keep your blades, or whatever it is you use, where ever it is you go, to self injure. Something that will remind you you’re not alone. That you’re loved. That you’re strong. And that you have other options. Each piece will be hand made and unique. Some may have similar looks or messages, but each one will be different.

DATES: The contest will start August 1st and will go until the 31st.
You have until the 1st of August to notify me in some way that you wish to participate. If you don’t feel comfortable doing this in a public way – feel free to note me. No one else will know. I want to know everyone that’s participating before the 1st, because the entire month of August I will be making the prizes.”

So that's the gist of it. If anyone that reads my blog is interested... feel free to write me on here and I'll gladly accept you. Or if you have a DA account you can find me there.

I hope everyone is well.