Painting Swap

One of my creative friends recently asked if I'd like to do a painting swap.  I've done ATC swaps which is a lot of fun, but never a painting swap.  She said she'd love to own one of my originals which made me blush a bit.  In turn she would paint one of her lovely originals for me as well.  Here is where I'm at with the creation for her...almost done, just a few more finishing touches.  We didn't give anything really specific other than colors we like or don't like.  She did say she likes my birdie paintings, so here is the start.  It's not the best picture since I took it with my i-phone, but you get the main idea.

I'm really looking forward to receiving her painting as well because I have no idea what it's going to be and her work is beautiful!  This is a great way to own original art at an "affordable price." Not sure when we'll both be finished but I'll definitely share my gift from her too.

On the Studio Floor Right Now

I've been aching to paint bigger lately since I've been doing so many little canvases since last fall.  I pulled down a 16 x 20 that I wasn't happy with and decided to cover it with big brushstrokes of a magenta shade and was hoping to just see where it would take me.  One of my struggles as an artist is painting freely.  I often think way too much while I'm painting and thinking often gets me stuck wondering what to do next.  I just want to "go with the flow!"  Well as I was letting myself paint big magenta strokes I started make loose shapes and it sort of took on the beginnings of a girl.  Hmmmm...I've always wanted to paint girls but hesitate because of my inexperience painting people.  After I saw the face and neck taking a bit of shape I had the feeling that I wanted her face to be framed with flowers so I got out one of my stencil sheets and put down some light blue flowers.

Then today I added some teal and yellow ones as well.  As you can see, I just haven't taken the leap into drawing her facial features yet.  Something is holding me back.  Not sure if it's fear of doing it "right" or if I just need to see if that's really what wants to be created here.  What do you think?  Any tips for me on the face or should I not even do a face?  I'd love to hear what you think of it so far and where YOU would go next.

Why I Do What I'm Doing

I'm in the thick of taking the e-course Hello Soul, Hello Business sponsored by Kelly Rae Roberts and Beth Nicholls.  The first thing I had to address was the "why" of my business before I could move any further.  Why do I create art?  Why do I sell my art, etc.?  This business course for creative souls is taking an innovative approach by doing business with a "soulful purpose" not just to make money.  I think addressing our "why" is really eye-opening and important and they claim will make a business more sustainable in the long run if you are in it for the "right" reasons.  Makes a lot of sense to me!  I want to share my WHY with you here.  I realize I don't paint just because I like to "make pretty pictures" and I already knew that I am not doing it for the money!  

Through the joy and healing I find in creating art, I want to share beauty and inspiration through my artwork with women and girls with the goal of encouraging, uplifting and inspiring them to follow their hearts and that their dreams are important. Positive images and/or words will encourage them to find strength to start/keep believing in themselves. My art will encourage these women to feel joy and gratitude for the blessings in their life, namely the people/experiences they have. My ultimate hope is that people will feel joy from my artwork and in turn share that joy (through the art pieces) with those they love, i.e. a painting with loving/inspiring words given to their daughters, friends, nieces, etc. or gifted to themselves.

For those of you who are visiting today, do you ever think about why you do what you do?  I know some of you may be taking the same course with me as well.  I wonder if you'd feel comfortable sharing with me?  Also, after reading my "why" above, do you have any comments, questions or concerns?  I'm still trying to get this down and make sure it is clear and succinct enough to take me to the next level. 

Thank you for stopping by today!

Visitors from Tanzania

Hi all!  I haven't been blogging very regularly, but I should because I have SO much spinning in my head lately.  I just want to chat a bit about the lucky experience I had to meet two new people today.

(Photo credit: travel.NationalGeographic.com)

First of all, at the school I work at the seventh graders are studying Africa in their world geography class and reading literature related to Africa in their reading workshop classes.  Today we were so lucky to have a husband and wife from Tanzania in the library speaking to three of these classes.  Since I work in the library I got the amazing pleasure of talking to Elias and Elly one-on-one before and after each class presentation and then got to listen to their amazing stories they shared with the groups.  I could go on forever about this because it really was powerful meeting them and hearing about their lives there and in Waukesha where they live now.  They are here on a "mission" but I won't go into that too much because that wasn't the focus.

Right when I was introduced to them by Deb (a former teacher at my school), I was touched by how warm-hearted they were.  I felt like they were welcoming me even though they were in "my" library.  The culture they come from is a sharing and strongly-bonded one, so coming to America was a bit hard for them at first.  They noticed that so many people didn't know their neighbors or even look each other in the eye here.  I just knew that if I went to visit them on one of their visits back to their home in Africa I would be treated like a special family member--I could sense that right away.  They also explained how if they say "come on over", they really really mean it.  When they came here many people would say, "let's get together sometime," and they assumed they meant it too, but often Americans just say those things in passing according to their experience.  They really believe in unity and gave me such a great feeling inside to talk with and listen to.

(Photo credit: http://www.africatravelresource.com/tanzania-safari/guide/tanzania-safari/)

I took pictures of them for our school, but I didn't have the guts to ask to take a personal picture for my blog--just couldn't do it!  I didn't know if they'd understand about a blog and I just didn't want to make them feel uncomfortable.  So, just picture this couple with beaming smiles, she with traditional African dress and he with a handmade African shirt, with lovely accents, wonderful life experiences and beautiful hearts.  When asked by a student what was Elias's best life experience, he took a breath and said (I'll paraphrase here):

"sitting at home with my family (43 brothers and sisters--his father had 5 wives), around a fire outside, sharing food and telling stories under the stars..."

What a great picture I got from that, and how simple, but how huge as well.  I would love to have more of those connections with neighbors and family and really having that quality time together they talk of having back in Africa.

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you found some warmth and inspiration from it as I did from meeting them.

Inspiration Deck

I first saw this project in Desire to Inspire by Christine Mason Miller and was intrigued of course.  Who wouldn't want to have a little card-sized piece of inspiration to encourage her daily?  Well, the wonderful Jessica Brogan decided to take the matter into her own hands and start an inspiration deck swap of her own as well.  Immediately I decided I wanted to participate and I'm finally finished with my cards, just waiting for everything to dry completely then they will be on their way to Jessica.

A bit of brief background:  take a deck of cards (total 53), gesso them, decorate a bit and include a different inspiring quote on one side, personal contact information the other.  Mail them to Jessica and she creates a diverse inspiration deck for each participant.  When she's all finished each of us will have a deck of 52 amazingly inspirational cards to cheer us on each week!  I can't wait.

These cards will be from 52 creative gals from around the whole United States, how INSPIRING is that?!

Just knowing we all created this with a loving intent will be a great feeling every time we look to these cards for inspiration.  I'd like to thank Christine Mason Miller for the original inspiration and for Jessica Brogan for turning it into a reality!

Check out my Interview!

Ever since I took the Flying Lessons e-course from Kelly Rae Roberts last August, I have been so blessed to meet tons of amazing women who have formed a friendship that's still going strong.  Recently a friend from the course, Zulma interviewed me for her blog.  I hope you will stop by and check it out!

Thanks for visiting today and thanks to Zulma for including me in her artist interviews!

My Love of Art - Blog Hop

These past two years my life has changed in a lot of ways and art has contributed to it most of all because I finally started doing things that are good for my soul, namely creating.  I decided to make this "For the Love of Art" Fly Tribe blog hop post really simple--sort of a "thank you" to art and the reasons I love her so (sorry if that sounds a bit corny!).

I love art because...

• it makes me feel so damn happy!
• it makes me forget about anything else going on around me (sometimes even eating or picking up my daughter from school at a certain time--oops!)
• I get to work with and see originality and beauty -- what's better than that?
• it has helped make some new creative friends who finally understand my love and NEED of creating
• I believe it has helped my health immensely, namely putting my kidney disease in remission
• it has also introduced me to some amazing online artists who have shared their lives, inspirations and techniques with me so generously

I hope you'll be able to hop around and visit a few of the other blogs participating in this hop.  You will be inspired for sure. I hope you have a great Valentine's Day and are able to share your love with someone special. Thank you for visiting me today!  If you have a love of art too, I'd love to hear what it has done for you.