Monday Musings

Hello everyone!  

 After almost a month of being laid up with health crappola (that's a technical term, don't ya know), I'm full of new found determination and ready to push forward with life, art and daily adventures in finding my bliss.  First and foremost, I'm ready to launch my first set of online classes, Personal & Potent-Art Journaling From the Heart, To Feed the Soul. 

This week I'll be choosing my hosting site. I want the virtual classroom to be easily accessible, password protected so students feel comfortable sharing their work, have some type of forum for community chit chat and easy to upload content to.  A tall request I know, but it is a must! As soon as my choice is made, I'll post all the sign up deets here!

Those of you who receive the newsletter know I included a journal prompt in it. The prompt was: Describe one time when you were brave.

If you used the prompt in any way, feel free to post a link to it in the comments section!  I'd love to see what your Muse inspired you to do! 

Almost finished painting of one of my 'Glam Girls' 

I started with a quick pencil sketch, then added color with Copic Marker.

 The face was painted with acrylics mixed with a little medium.

The background is Tombow marker spread with water to create a wash.

Journal page from May 13. 

The tape along the left side is handmade Washi. 

I used wide masking tape, acrylic paints and a stencil to make a bunch. 

Why buy tape when it's so easy to create your own?

I've been practicing my lettering skills, 

learned in Letter Love 101 with Joanne Sharpe. 

This banner, on heavy watercolor paper, hangs in my studio window now.

A wonderful reminder for me!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful, creative week!
Until next time, May The Muse Be With You!
-Kristin

Living Life

Hello all and Happy Monday!

  Every day last week I sat down and started writing a blog post. And every day, I never got to finish one! The past few weeks my fibromyalgia and neurological issues have been kicking my butt  Which means that pretty much every part of my body is in terrible pain, paralyzed or both. I'm not one for pity parties, unless you have a groovy fog machine for dreary ambiance and some kick ass confetti to throw around, so I didn't spend my time bitching and whining. What's the point? These are the cards life has dealt me. I handle them as best as I can/

  What does this mean? Extreme self care for one! I rest when I need to. I practically live on my heating pad. I doodle if I can hold a pen. I listen to music. I'm not much of a tv person, but the Big Man and I do enjoy a few shows, so we'll lay around together watching them. Self care is super important no matter what and isn't to be confused with being selfish. Two entirely different things! Self care is nurturing yourself, when you need, how you need and as often as you need.

  I wasn't able to art much the past few weeks, but I did manage to get some time in. Painting journal page backgrounds, a bit of collage, starting a few paintings on super thick, luscious Strathmore watercolor paper and playing with some new sprays, Tattered Angels and Radiant Rain, a best buddy (THANKS RAINE!) was nice enough to give me when she cleaned up her studio. Art making is the ultimate in self care as far as I'm concerned. Even when I can only do a 15 minutes worth, it helps greatly.

One of the backgrounds I made

  I wasn't able to work on the laptop much, my hands wouldn't cooperate, so I haven't gotten far typing up class lessons. But I was able to take some notes, a ton of them in fact. Writing with a smooth marker pen is doable when my hands are playing at being claws, and the ideas I have for lesson plans are abundant. My art journal course, Personal and Potent: Art from the heart, to feed the soul, is coming to life! My target date for launching it is the beginning of June. Stay tuned for more details!

 I've gone and bought an inexpensive, but decent, web cam so I can make videos for my classes. I also want to add one here each month. I've never made art videos before so I'm sure there will be a whole lot of trial and error. As with everything in in life, there's a learning curve. I know my first attempts will be a tad rough as I get use to adjusting for angle, lighting, keeping the art I'm working on in view, etc. I'll improve as I go along and you all can have a good laugh over my early attempts!

  My favorite piece of art from the past few weeks is this painting I sent to a friend. 

It's a mixed media work on masonite. The 'Open" window was done as a gel medium transfer. I love the reverse. It makes it seem as if the viewer is looking out the window from within some where filled with love.

In fact, we are all filled with love. We just need to open ourselves to it. Perfect symbolism for a painting which went to the woman who wrote 'What Love Can Do' (Denise Steiner)  

  Speaking of 'What Love Can Do', check out Denise's book on Amazon.  IT IS AMAZING!  I'm not saying that just because she's a friend of mine.  Seriously. This book is life changing. No matter what your spiritual belief system, this book will touch your heart and open your soul to love in its purest form. 

What Love Can Do

I have my next newsletter almost ready to go. It's going to have links to FREE collage sheets for subscribers. If you haven't signed up yet (and why haven't you?)  and you want an awesome Henna Hands and a super cool, and slightly racy, Vintage Cabaret Collage sheet make sure you sign up before Wednesday!

 Until next time, I hope all your days are sunny and all your nights are filled with love-

Wild Kristin

Musings and Tech Troubles

 Hello All!

  I was so proud of myself for scheduling last Thursday's and yesterday's posts ahead of time. I knew I wouldn't be able to get to them on the exact days I promised myself I'd post each week, so took the time to do them both on Wednesday of last week. Ahhh. I was on a roll! Except.....    The blog posts never showed up here! Tech Troubles evidently thwarted my newly consistent blogging. Making it look like I'd already dropped the ball on keeping to a regular schedule.  Oh well. Not much I can do about that now. Except say Ba-humbug to scheduled blog posts that don't show up when they're suppose to!

 The past several days my ass has been getting kicked by my chronic pain and neurological issues. I've pretty much been bed-ridden. Which can really suck if you let it. But I've kept my happy going in spite of being laid up.  My two favorite males have done a great job of keeping me company. I've been able to art a tiny bit and I've had a good book to read. so what if I couldn't walk easily or type up class assignments? I have no control over my self-imposed schedule sometimes. Since I sometimes have no choice in what I can or cannot do, I try not to let it get to me. Why let something you can't control ruin your happy glow? Best to keep smiling and doing the best you can, on any given day, than freak over things. At least, that's what I believe.

 I'll be back on Thursday with more musings, workshop info, art photos and whatever else strikes my fancy. Tonight I'm taking it easy. Because my body needs to.

 Until next time I hope you have awesome, artful adventures!

Kristin

PS:  Check out Effy Wild's latest course, Moonshine! It goes along with my upcoming Moon Shadows course quite nicely! 

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Monday Musings

 Hello all!

 As I write this all I can think about are the people killed and injured in Boston today. A day of celebration was turned into a day of sadness and disaster thanks to people who felt the need to explode bombs in a crowded place. My mind cannot wrap itself around this. Just like it has never been able to wrap itself around what happened September 11, 2001. I will never understand such senseless cruelty. Such desire to terrorize others. Especially since I lead my life from a place of love and caring. A place where my greatest desire is to help others empower themselves. The desire to hurt others is beyond me.

ART & CLASSES:  My week in art was a busy one. There was much time spent on journaling and painting. Even more spent on writing class descriptions and lessons. I'm hoping to launch my first online classes by the first or second week in May. Putting this all together is time consuming, takes a lot of creative thought and faith. Faith in myself, in my ability to put together art based programs people will want to be a part of. I may be new at online teaching, but I know I will do it right. I have faith, after all.

NEWSLETTER: Tomorrow or Wednesday my first newsletter will be sent out. I'm including a link to a free collage sheet. My thanks for signing up to receive the weekly missive! If you haven't signed up yet, the link is on the right-hand side of this blog. Go for it, so you can keep up with my news, receive free goodies and discount coupons for workshops. Thanks!

MY WEEK IN ART:  These are some of my recent journal pages.

Proud to fly my freak flag! are you?

Love the colors and imagery in this one. 

This one is doodliscious! Most of the writing is done on her hair.

My Sweetling. Sweetlings are mixed-media paper dolls, taught by Effy Wild

This one is done, except for the quote I'm adding. 

That's all for today! It's been an emotional day and I feel the need for rest.

Until next time, many blessings!

-Kristin

Musings & Online Class Loves

  In the few days since I made my first post on the new blog (this blog!) I have been busy, busy busy! Thursday finds me a little tired, but super motivated.  I've managed to accomplish a lot in a few days. In two days I got a bunch of errands done, went grocery shopping, spent a few hours working in the gardens, took a long walk with the dogs, managed some studio time and worked on writing course descriptions. The majority of this was done with The Big Man by my side. Actually, all of it, with the exception of studio time and working on my course descriptions, was done with Jimmy.  

 We spend an amazing amount of time together. More time than either of us has ever spent with another. But we never tire of it. The most mundane of tasks, like running errands or raking leaves, becomes something special when done together. A simple walk in the woods became a memorable experience because we both acknowledged how nice it was simply to *BE*. To talk, walk and share in the twilight's beauty. 

 I'm a huge believer in making every day sacred. Creating the sacred is so very simple. It doesn't require clergy, church, ritual or elaborate presentation. It requires mindfulness.  That's it. Simply being mindful of what you are doing, who you are doing it with and acknowledging it as special. That's how you make every day sacred. How do YOU create the sacred in your life? I'd really love to know.

 The past few months I've been enrolled in a few different Online Classes. There are so many classes, so many artists, to choose from it can be overwhelming. It can also be hard to choose which offerings will suit you best.  For me, the course description and/or the artist offering the course have to resonate within me. I get a certain feeling when I know a class or an artist is offering something that I need in my life or need to learn. If I don't feel excited, jazzed up or find myself thinking about a certain class over and over until I sign up, I pass. This year, so far, these are the classes I had to do. either for the techniques offered or the over all content, I knew these online offerings would rock my peanut butter cups completely! 

1) Book of Days-Premium with Effy Wild: I cannot say enough about Book of Days. It's more than an art journal class. It's more than a technique based course. It's a spiritual, art based, super fun and totally in-depth way of memory keeping & digging deep within. It's also a fabulous community of creative women who aren't afraid to show their shadow sides, show off their personal journal pages and show  support for one another with glitter bombs and encouraging words. Yes, it IS all that. And more. It's also very affordable! At the nucleus of the Glitter Hood Art Tribe is Effy Wild. Definitely check her blog out and her class offerings.  

2) Letter Love 101 with Joanne Sharpe: I love using my own handwriting in my journals and mixed-media paintings. But I really wanted to take my writing to the next level, make it totally unique, funky and as awesome as possible. Letter Love 101 was definitely the answer.  Lots of video lessons, colorful examples and inspiration can be found in this class with Joanne Sharpe. The price is very affordable too. Win-Win!

3) I doodle, do you? with Sandi Tygar: I love to doodle. It's fun, relaxing and so creatively expressive. Sandi takes doodling to a whole new level. This mini class is so affordable (only $10 US) and such fun it's a must do for sure! LOVE it!

4) Sweetlings Mini with Effy Wild: Another class with Effy, but totally different from Book of Days (BOD). Sweetlings focus is upon creating adorable, sweet mixed-media girls. April is the first month for Sweetlings, but they will be offered monthly from now until.... Who knows? Very affordable,these  step by step technique based videos show how to create your own Sweetlings Doll. 

 Newsletter: I decided to use Mail-Chimp for my newsletter sign up service. It seems easy-peasey to use for sending out weekly missives. I've added a sign up box on the top, right hand side of the blog & will be sending out my first newsletter next week! 

That's all for now. Off to work on my Sweetlings for April.

Much love and creative energy to you all-

Kristin

 

A New Beginning

 Hello Dear Ones!

 Welcome to my new, totally improved, authentic ME blog. You'll notice right off that the name has changed from Artzy Diva to Wild Raven Arts. I may be an Artzy Diva, but my studio and business is Wild Raven Arts. In the spirit of creating a more personal, authentic voice for my blog adventures, the name change had to reflect that as well. Also, from here on out my real name is public knowledge. How can I possibly be authentic if no one knows who I really am? Kristin Wilkinson, aka Wild Kristin, with the multiple raven tattoos, purple hair, loud voice, brutal truth, genuine artistic eccentric personality is here to live out loud. Get use to it.

  The past few years have been ones of letting go of relationships that don't work, in particular a marriage of more than 2 decades, battling seriously declining health, numerous attempts to recreate a suitable working life, and many, many triumphs and failures. through all of this the thing that kept me going was creating. No matter how down I was emotionally or physically, the simple act of making art lifted me up and enabled me to move forward. Art heals. It transforms. It allows you to work through all the icky parts and transform those bits into beauty. 

  The past few years have also been filled with light. Letting go of what doesn't work opened the door for what does. I found the Love of my life, my soul mate and true partner during this time. And am blessed to have him in my life, to love, laugh, cry and share with at the most deepest levels. This is an entirely new kind of relationship for both of us. Never before have we experienced feelings like these, with an intensity that simply does not wane. All I can say is WOW. 

  I've also been blessed with many new friendships, from women I have never even met, but we know each other all the same. This group of women came together via Effy Wild's  online journal arts course Book of Days. For whatever reason, various women of the group have formed REAL friendships. Perhaps it's because we all share the same desires for digging deep and getting to know ourselves. Or maybe it's because we are all creative souls with big hearts and honest voices. whatever the reasons, we were most definitely brought together for Big Reasons.  These women are all so spirited, authentic and supportive it awes me. I consider myself so lucky to be a part of such a circle of friends. We may never meet, although I hope we do, but that alone cannot break the bonds of friendship.

  Part of my new adventure is creating a set of online classes. Art based, of course, but more than that. I believe every act of creation is a spiritual act. Whether you believe this or not is up to you, but I can assure you, it is. For years I facilitated face to face  classes in Creative Spirituality. This was before online courses were easily accessible and abundant. It is past the time for me to take what I once taught live and transform it into an online venue. I have a real calling to do this. The Universe has been pushing me in this direction for a long time, and now The Universe has provided the help and encouragement I need in the form of some wonderful women (Raine, Effy, Denise S.--you all rock my peanut butter cups!).

 Within a month, hopefully by May 1, I will start offering Moon Shadows. Moon Shadows is a course I designed years ago, but was unable to follow through on because of declining health. Based on the 13 Moon cycles of the year, Moon shadows incorporates daily creative practice with Celtic Moon lore, Goddesses, daily spiritual practice and more.  Why Celtic in nature? Because I have always, always been drawn to the Celtic customs. In particular  the Welsh Celtic. Long before I even knew I come from the Welsh, this path called to me. It still does. While the materials I offer will be based on Welsh Celtic traditions, it is Universal. Students will be able to take what I offer and use it with any tradition. Students who have no particular tradition will be able to use this as a starting path on their road to discovery. Empowering women, and men too if they want, is at the core of everything I offer. It's going to be juicy, deep and fun. it's going to evolve as I learn the ins and outs of online teaching. It's going to feed our souls!  I am positively giddy with excitement and looking forward to this adventure so very much!  Stay tuned for more information!   

  I am also reviving my old newsletter. I use to put out a bi-weekly, snail mail newsletter many moons ago. It is time I started putting out a weekly, email newsletter to keep everyone in the loop! Once I figure out which newsletter program to use I'll be adding a sign up area. For signing up I'll be gifting everyone a little something. Art based, totally Wild Raven Arts, and yours to keep forever. I'm thinking a pdf of my favorite art techniques or a special collage sheet I create. Once I know, you'll know!

 So it begins. New artful adventures. New classes. A new outlook on life, creativity and sharing.

 Thanks for coming along for the ride!

 XOXO-
Kristin