busy busy and yet

This is the holiday season and everyone is busy, busy getting ready for it. I have to learn to be more disciplined because although I have been busy creating art and making journals, affirmation rocks, holiday gifts and I have done open houses which have been wonderful, I don't prioritize making the time to do my blog routinely. I am one who always tries to figure out the why's of everything. The bottom line is ,of course, that there is only 24 hours in a day. We all prioritze and make choices about what to put into our 24 hours. So clearly if I want blogging to be important then I have to prioritize it and put it into my 24 hours. And then the solution is- just do it! And so I shall-

Here is a picture of my Art Studio Open House that I had last month- I even had a christmas tree up and lighted for it! It went really well and I am having another one- a holiday Open House this sunday. I will post pics from then too. In the meantime I am busy painting and creating!!

Getting Ready

So here is proof that if you just keep at it then good things happen. When I first painted this rock I did not care for the flowers or the colors as they were too bland. Then I kept painting over the words as the paint kept running and messing up some of the letters. So I took a deep breath - and then a small break from it altogether - and came back refreshed and with a new perspective. I decided to get creative and put dots, doodles and swirls as well as plaid. Then I patiently re-did the letters -again! And even changed what they said- and now it not only looks awesome but it reflects the truth : Life Is Good!
And so it is!

Door to Possibilities

Well I making wonderful progress on the front door to my studio. I got the idea when we first started building the studio about doing something fun, funky and inviting to people who enter the studio. After I painted the primer on the door which is grey and then white on the window panes it looked really good and I decided to leave the primer color on and paint my design on top of it. I knew I wanted it to say "Open the Door to Possibilities" but wasn't sure what else or what other colors to use. After many drawings on paper I was ready to do the door but was not sure how to do the dimensions.

I am soooo grateful to my hubby for assisting me with this - he measured it out on the door exactly in pencil and then I took it from there.

Each day depending on the weather I am adding another coat of paint and/or fine tuning the flowers on the door- I still have some work to do but I am happy with the way it is turning out. I will post a picture of the final result.

When the going gets tough ...

The Tough get going! It has been a rough couple of weeks and I am feeling very distracted. There has been an upheaval in my world and I have been on a roller coaster of emotions. However, I have been using my art as a way to heal myself. As this journal page on the left says " Seeds of Self Esteem and Self Worth and Self Love Heal the Heart and Soul"

And the result will be my Healed Self (on the right journal page)

It will be a process and I will be gentle with myself. And while I am 'processing' I will continue to use my art as a way to wholeness and allow an outlet for my little self to express creative healing energy.

More Rocks!

Well I did two more rocks for my Aunt and Cousin and really enjoyed gabbing with them while I was creating the Rocks for them! We had a wonderful visit and it gave me an opportunity to practice different sizes and styles! They loved the finished product!

Procrastination No More!

Well I had not posted for a couple of days due to procrastination. Then I said come on Mary Ellen let's get going! I was doodling, painting and creating in my art journal and taking pictures. And I was painting what I call my Affirmation Rocks and taking pictures of them but could not get myself to upload the photos. The more time that went by the more I told myself "Well now too much time has gone by so just forget it" But then I would tell myself "No! Come on Mary Ellen just upload some of the photos and get it done!" Well enough is enough already! I made the commitment to myself to do this art blog for myself and so I am pushing myself along.

So here are some pictures of the Affirmation Rocks I have done.

And now I am making the promise to myself to post more pictures from my art journal and not let my postings go longer than 3 days. I need to do this for myself to get myself in the new habit of posting on a regular basis otherwise this art blog will fade away like many other things and this is too important to me so I had better follow through and act like it is important!

After all I am worth it!!

Getting Photo Ready

Well today I signed up for flickr and will be loading my pics onto it and then onto my blog. I am learning so much and enjoying it and at the same time feel overwhelmed with everything. But this is the way it is at first. I am having fun experimenting with different layouts, fonts and am really enjoying watching the tutorial videos so I can learn even more!
In the meantime, I am busy painting rocks - I will post a sample tomorrow - and creating in my art journal - I will post a couple of pages of this also.

I went to the bookstore the other night with my husband and we sat in the cafe and he was working on some of his stuff and I was creating a page in my art journal of a giant sun flower with my face in the center of it. My husband looked at it and asked "Did you just make that now?" And I replied "yes" And he responded - "Wow - it's beautiful - just like you" Ahh he is such a sweetie!

I bring my art bag with me now all the time and depending on where I am at when I am out and about I will stop at a bookstore and go to the cafe and draw while I have a cappuccino or frappachino (depends on the temperature outside). I am finding this practice to be very fulfilling and very peaceful and centering. Then I will jot down any inspirational ideas in my ideas notebook to follow through on later. It feels so good because this is time that is just for me.

And I am worth it!
More tomorrow....