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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Journal Pages 10/18/11

  I'm counting the days until my new great-nephew arrives. He's due to make his first appearance in the world on November 10, but babies arriving on a specific date is like herding cats. There are no guarantees they'll do what you expect them to. 

  I'm still in cleansing and purging mode. The back of the truck is getting full of clothes, shoes, household goods and books to donate. Tomorrow I'll probably make the drive to the Salvation Army and drop off. I'll try to resist going in to see what vintage coats need rescuing, but as with babies and herding cats, there are no guarantees!

Done while sitting at Vincent's listening to the music.
Collage, Sparkling H2O's, Gellyroll pen, ink jet transfer

Done at Vincent's.
Collage and Gellyroll pen

Assorted Journal Pages

I was all tucked into bed, but unable to fall asleep as usual, so decided to scan in a few more journal pages to share. Two in the morning seems to be my "ideal" time to blog. I'm usually awake anyway so why not take a few moments to scan a few journal pages, write a paragraph or two and post? Maybe I've hit on my blogging routine at last. but I wouldn't count on it. I admit routine is not something I am good with! 


Today's Movie: Charlotte Gray   A WWII story about the French Resistance. Not bad, but not great either.
Today's reading: Town In a Blueberry Jam  A light, cozy mystery. takes place in coastal Maine, an area I'm quite familiar with. A fast, easy read to keep my mind off the pain.

Random Journal Pages

A few more journal pages that I managed to scan in today. There aren't many more from this particular journal to scan in and share. I've already made and begun working in another journal. A delightful book that I made with staggered pages, hidden pockets, envelopes for gathering life's ephemera and a cover created from a painting I started years ago on canvas paper but never finished.  I've been trying to get decent photos of the new journal to share, but my camera phone isn't cooperating and I can't locate my digital camera.  It's here somewhere, but I've been doing so much rearranging and spring cleaning I'm not quite sure where!


At the moment my kitchen is partially gutted, my living room is constantly being rearrange because I'm trying to get the furniture just right and I'm tossing/passing along things I no longer need so there's quite a few large trash bags and piles of "stuff" lying about. It sounds a bit chaotic, but it's actually pretty normal for around here. I use these types of activities as a distraction from my physical pain and I'm very impulsive. Anyone who decides to rip out their kitchen floor and start taking down walls at the spur of the moment must be impulsive, right?  Or crazy, but I'm sticking with impulsive because it sounds so much nicer.

Journal Pages Jan. 12 2011

Anyone who has been coming here for a while knows I suffer from severe, chronic pain. Today was a real bad day. Flat on my back, unable to move & feeling a bit like Frida as I struggled to work. These pages are an expression of that pain & struggle.

This page has a monoprint over an ink sprayed background. It was embellished with various markers & paint pens and a few Zetti stamps.

This page has an ink sprayed background, some stamping and then journaling with a paint pen.

Journal Pages 5/9 & 5/10/10

    Letting go of things we no longer have use for is something I regularly encourage people to do. It's also something I strive to do in my life on a regular basis. I don't just mean "things" as in objects either.  Letting go of things includes emotional or thought processes that are hindering us, people who drain us of our energy because they are so needy and behaviors or habits that are harmful to our well being. Relieving yourself of the burdens of both material and emotional baggage is so very freeing.  The first page shown today deals with my letting go of some emotional hurts that I'd been holding on to.  why keep them when the mere thought of them reopens old wounds. Time to toss the baggage into the river.


  The second page is a bit of venting on my physical pain.  Some days the only way to deal with the difficulties of looking fine but feeling pain riddled is to get it on the page!


Music I'm creating to: Days of the New: Orange

April 20-22 Journal Pages

Just a quick posting today to show off a few of my latest journal pages. It's cold and rainy here this week so I've been hurting. I'm thankful I can still make art even when I'm in pain. That's one of the things I like best about art, you can do it anywhere! I make a whole lot of art while laying in bed, not just working in my art journals, but also making ATC's, small painted/collaged items, hand-bound journals, postcards, mini art quilts, etc.

I have a bunch of cozy spots inside and outside my house that I regularly create in. One of these days I'm going to photograph all the different places I work just to show people that making art absolutely anywhere is indeed possible!!!!!!

March 14 Journal Pages

The pages I did today. First shown side by side, as they are in the journal.

The left-hand page:

The right-hand page:

Sometimes, no other words are needed.