Art Slam

It blows my mind that such a clear image was taken with my iPhone. That just sparked an idea…

Anyway, I seem to find myself in this rather comfortable space of unknown and I have not had as much time to embrace all that can be learned here. I am used to making decisions quickly. Be it for work or at home or for play. I make a decision and get on with it. But, lately, I have found I need to simply be still. Not because I am afraid to make mistakes, but to experience the wisdom of this moment. There is much wisdom in non-action.

Isn’t it beautiful?

Yesterday, Wacom put out a press release about a new product, the Multi-Touch Bamboo Craft. I just finished looking at the video with all the new features and I am blown away. I have used Wacom’s tablets for years and love the versatility of using a tablet and pen. I love it even more now because it is so much easier to edit my photos with a pen. Granted I have used a mouse for a while, but not with my laptop. I either use my tablet or touchpad on the laptop. So, seeing that I can basically do the same thing with the new tablet has me thrilled to pieces. I can not wait to try this sucker out! Now, I don’t scrapbook as much as I used to, but I still do a lot of hybrid digital work. In fact, I am working on some girlfriend gift concepts for a dear friend and outside of Photoshop, the tablet is my main tool for concept development. I am picky about my technology gadgets, so it is a really big deal when I find something that thrills me.

Here is what the site says about the new tablet:

Digital scrapbookers, memory makers, and crafters: Bamboo Craft is the perfect tool for unleashing your creativity! Get hands-on with your projects using both pen and Multi-Touch input for your computer. Multi-Touch enables you to navigate and work with your creative assets quickly and easily. The pressure-sensitive pen lets you create your own art, edit photos, add embellishments, and provide a personal touch with your natural handwriting and doodles.

I wouldn’t call myself a shoe fanatic, but I do like them. A lot. I am slightly more obsessed with bad ass boots than anything else. I picked up a pair of very bad ass medium brown boots for the fall and it would thrill me to pieces to find a pair of boots in some funky color to spice up my wardrobe. I am not a flats girl. I own one pair, in turquoise blue. The rest of my shoes are heels or sandals and I do have a couple of pairs of running shoes.

Honestly, I am really not that bad. I know men who have more shoes than I do.

For real.

One of these days, I am going to grow a vegetable garden and not just talk about it or draw pictures about it. For real. I am going to do it. I love drawing veggies. It is what I am drawing right now to ease myself back into drawing everyday. I did find out I can plant garlic right now and by this time next year, I should have one heck of a harvest. Maybe I will do that.

Originally, I was not going to share this page. This particular day, I saw that my oldest was no longer a baby and the realization of that moved something in me. Regardless of how old your children get, you can not help but want to protect them. Period. When I wrote this, she was practicing with her softball team and she had improved so much from the previous year. I did not intend to write about her when I started doodling, but seeing her interact so easily with the older girls on the team made me see that I was going to have to loosen my grip and let her grow.

Three years later, I am still learning to loosen my grip. Only now, it is a little harder than when she was younger. I see the young lady she is becoming, yet I also see that she is still a child. I see how she does not need me as much as when she was younger, yet I look forward to her greeting me at the door and telling me about her day…without me having to ask. I can not help but wonder if this will continue when she branches out on her own and I am not there everyday. But, instead of dwelling on loss, I am enjoying the now I have with her and her siblings. You have to. Times moves so quickly when you are not consciously aware of what is going on around you. I don’t want to miss my kids growing up. I still check my son’s hands to see if he has the dimples. I want to know the exact day they are no longer there. I am not going to miss that moment.

I could not deny being right brained if I tried, and to be completely honest with you I would not want to. Let’s take a moment and visit the characteristics of my right brainedness:

• Impatient with how, needs to know why. Ideally, I would love to know how I am going to reach a goal, but what I am learning to embrace is simply starting and not being concerned with how I am going to get there. Starting is the first step.
• Dives in, figures out by doing. My theme word for 2009 is boldness, and I have been diving into situations knowing the outcome will be good for me in the long run. It takes a certain amount of faith…no, it takes complete unwavering faith to trust that what you are getting into will have a good outcome. You can’t be a chicken if you want to see positive change in your life.
• Is fluid. Oh, yeah…I am constantly adjusting and changing direction. Going with the flow is what I call it.
• Is chaotic, unstructured. I am not fond of having a set schedule when I create. I prefer to do it when the mood strikes me. This is not always a good thing when I am on deadline for a project. So, I do plan and give myself ample time to create authentically and not in total chaos.
• Skips around, is a multi-tasker. I can multi-task like nobody’s business, but it can be exhausting. I have limited the amount of projects I work on to one really big one and two smaller ones. I am not allowed to accept any new ones until one of the three is complete. Also, if I am not passionate about a new project, I do not do it. It all goes back to being true to what I enjoy doing.
• Focuses on how something is said/feels. I am a big feeler (get your minds out of the gutter…just for this point). I respond best to pictures and words that evoke emotion in me. It was my motivation in starting Picture’s Story. A good image and a good story always evoke some kind of emotion. I like that.
• Imagines the big picture. Thinking about the big picture excites me. Any big picture. The anticipation of what is to come is what propels me forward and keeps me excited when things seem a little tough. You have to keep the big picture in mind and stay positive. Period.

The name of my blog has evolved over the years. When I first started, it was called Believe Big. I had big dreams for myself and I needed a name that expressed the way I wanted to approach life and my art. A few years later, I changed it to Life is the Art. My daily life was the inspiration for the art I created. That is when I discovered art journaling and it became a natural platform for my love of art and writing. The Art Slam was born out of wanting to share art journaling with my readers. For about a year, I have been exploring ways of growing what I have started here. I admit there have been times I did not know why I bothered to keep the Art Slam going. It seemed to not serve a purpose for me like it did when I first started. It is so easy to get caught up in other people’s successes to the point you minimize your own. When I realized that was what I was doing, I was able to reconnect with my original purpose for starting this, I love creating and I love sharing. I had to return to the reason I do this and it is not to compare my success with another’s, it is to honor my truth, be authentic and make art because I love doing it.

I recently started another blog called the Picture’s Story. The purpose of it is to explore the stories behind images. I have always loved hearing and telling stories. The Picture’s Story is where I combine my love of photography and writing. Make sure you stop by and read the story by my first StoryWeaver, Mishelle Lane (aka Secret Agent Mama). She is a talent photographer and storyteller who brings her pictures to life with her words. I am in awe of her ability to make me feel as if I have always known the person in her photographs. She has an amazing gift.

For your reading pleasure:

• Practicing Selective Awareness
• 10 Truths
• In Case You Didn’t Know

I found this while looking for journal pages to share. Amazing how the message you need to hear always finds its way to you one way or another.

Let’s visit each of the bullets, shall we?

1. Change is uncomfortable. Hell yes it is. Period.
2. Be willing to be awkward. Awkward means to lack grace, lacking skill. If you want to truly embrace change, you have to be willing to not be exceptionally graceful in the beginning.
3. A change is a DECISION. You can not expect change to come into your life until you decide to put action behind it. Otherwise, talking about change is just that…talk.
4. A MAJOR GHANGE forces you to prioritize. For whatever reason, a change I am going through I thought I could just ride out being “present”. Thing is, when you decide to make a major change, you can not assume it will be smooth sailing. You have to plan and prioritize and think about how the change will affect you going forward.
5. Change makes you stronger. Hell yes it does. It shows you how strong you really are when you face it head on. It takes a certain amount of boldness, faith and willingness to change. Those three things combined make a person stronger.

Change is not such a bad thing when you see it for what it is. It is an opportunity to grow. If what I am experiencing is part of me growing, bring it on. It is worth it.

I hope you have enjoyed the peeks inside my journals. I will definitely do this again, as it has been really good for me to revisit some of my old hopes, dreams and wishes. There were a few I completely forgot about and now I resurrecting them. It felt good to read the passion and fire within my journals and feel it all over again. Sometimes, I forget about how having a clear focused goal sets you on fire. But, I won’t forget again. There is a lot of manifesting going on lately in the blog world. People creating Mondo Beyondo lists, personal manifestos and those who have discovered a new purpose for their journals. I am so inspired by them.

If you do not journal, start today. It is not as hard as you think. That is how the Art Slam was started in the first place. A few of my readers contacted me about how they could get started art journaling and the rest is history. You can always find those original prompts under the Art Journaling category. I suggest you start with the Confronting the Blank Page prompt. And, when you create a page or get your journal started, do share. You can either do that here by leaving a comment or join the Art Slam Flickr group. I love peeking into other people’s journals.