Happy Birthday to...

She's a Photographer

(I've used many of her photos on my blog, like this one, and this one, and this one, and...  Well, you get the idea!

She's working on making an Etsy site...

I'll post that when she gets it going.)

She's not afraid to be Silly

She's an excellent Travel Partner

She's Sweet, 

and Talented, 

and everybody LOVES her!

She's my oldest daughter, Bunny, and 

TODAY IS HER BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy Twenty-second Birthday 

Sweet Girl!!!

I hope you have a Great Day!

Back tomorrow with more Painting posts.

=-)

Twelfth Painting

Well, to be fair, this isn't really a "Painting".

Connie wanted us to "art" every day this week...

This is in my... Notebook.  Some people call it a "journal"... Some call it a Scrapbook...  Some call it a Doodle book...  Different people call it different things, but i'm most comfortable simply calling it my Art Notebook.

...Honestly?  I'm not comfortable calling it *any*thing!  But Notebook will do.  =-)

Anyway, here's my Monday morning Art;  i used 

Acrylic paints and

Stencils

This picture should be turned sideways so the leafy picture is on the left, but...  I don't know what happened here.  I *still* don't have a great grasp of Blogger.  Sorry.

Anyway, i did the "top" page with three stencils, and the "bottom" page was my "cast-off" paint - the place i used to sort of "dry" my brush off before i painted on the stencil page.  I didn't want to "waste" all that paint, so i just put it on the facing page...

Here you go:

Nothing great, but it felt good doing it.  =-)

I seem to really be into red, orange & yellow lately...

And i'm *always* into Blues!  =-)

See you tomorrow!

=-)

Eleventh Painting

For the painting this week, Connie told us to look back at all of our other Paintings and simply be curious about them.  

To spread them out and look at them and ask questions like:

What color(s) did i use a lot?

What symbol(s) or theme(s) seem to show up a lot?

How did i feel while i was making each Painting?

How do all of the Paintings seem to relate to each other?

She didn't want us to ask "why" this or that came up.

She didn't want us to analyze how we could have done a "better job".

She didn't want us to critique our Paintings, nor to worry about proportion or any Art School type of categories.

She just wanted us to be curious about all our previous Paintings, and to be open-minded about our next one.

So i went to my Studio with NO pre-conceived notion of what i would paint.

I did go to my paper with the idea that i had used a lot of green and orange in my previous paintings, so i wanted to explore that a bit.

What came out sort of surprised me, since i started with NO picture in my head, and no idea where i would start or where i would go next.

Well, let me show you my Painting:

There's a lot i don't know about it, but there are certain things i do know.

For instance, i have figured out that the Girl is me.

The orange & black things on the top right side are Adults talking to me, dictating things to me.

I'm not sure what all the dots on the top left are.

I also don't know why i'm all "zipped up".  I  think it has something to do with not voicing my opinion for many years while growing up.

I'm not sure why my heart is black... and why it's broken.  (You probably can't tell it from the photo, but it's broken in half.)

I also don't understand why my 1st Chakra is so dark.  (The 1st Chakra is low in the groin.)

I'm not really concerned with all those "Unknowns" above.

I'm fairly certain i'll be standing across the room from this Painting in a number of days, months, years, and suddenly have some deep understanding... some deep "knowing".  I'm not really concerned with it right now.

But i like this Painting.  =-)

I  also like that my family likes it too.  Or at least, they *tell* me they like it.  =-)  And Bunny noticed something i had already noticed: she said it looks like a Nesting Doll to her.  I like that too.

This has been a wonderful process, this painting from the Heart-thing.

I plan on getting a couple of books that Connie recommended and doing more.

Because i've discovered that 

I

FREAKIN'

LOVE

PAINTING!!!

I hope you find something that ignites your Fire like i have.  =-)

'Til tomorrow!

=-)

Tenth Painting

So i've been taking a 6-week painting course on-line with Connie, and i'm having such a BLAST!

Connie told us to paint a memory, and my first memory painting was a bit of a downer.

So i decided to paint something happy.

In the car, i could think of *tons* of happy memories i could paint...

I thought *surely* i could find a happy memory to paint...

Um...

Hmmm...

Easier said than done, i guess.

When i got in front of my big white paper, the only memory that would come up was *another* bad one.

There's a looong story behind this one, but i'll try to give you the condensed version...
I skipped high school one day, got drunk, woke up to my oldest brother fussing at me about how i was being awful to our Mom.
This painting is my view while walking away from him, toward my car up the steps.
He was fussing at me hard, and i yelled back, "Shut up!  You don't even know!!!"  I don't exactly remember what happened after i got in my car, but this painting wanted to come out.


So i let it.
That's kinda what Connie's course is about: letting out what needs to come out; letting the painting speak to you... and LISTENING; letting happen what needs to happen (sort of like in Yoga class).


It's about Painting (the verb), the *Process*, not about The Painting (the noun).
And i still LOVE painting!


Hope i haven't brought you down today with this.
That is NOT my intent!
Just sharing my life and what i'm doing with my Art.


Won't you share yours too?


Hope you have a GREAT weekend!
See you Monday.


=-)

Ninth Painting

First allow me to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving Day.

Hopefully you are able to be with family... or at least with those you love and who love you.  =-)  

Now on to my Painting post...

I hesitated posting this painting...

And now that i realize it will be published on T'Day, i hesitate even more...

But...

I prefer to keep on keepin' on (as we used to say in the '70s).  =-)

Connie told us to paint a memory this week, and this was the very first one that came up.  Once it was there, i just couldn't get it off my mind.

And then, i just knew it was exactly the memory i needed to paint.

I knew it would be difficult to do, and *that* was why i *had* to paint it.

I posted a long time ago about being molested.

I dealt with it and worked through it a long time ago.

Then my youngest daughter was molested, and that brought up all my old memories.

And when Connie told us to paint a memory, *this* was the one that came up and wouldn't back down.

So i painted it the best i could.

I don't love it, but i painted it.
So in keeping with posting all of my paintings, there you go.  =-)


After i finished it, i had lots of other memories come up; happy memories.  So i decided to paint a different Memory Painting...
I'll show you that one tomorrow.


'Til then


Have a GREAT day!!!  Hopefully it's full of Love and Loved Ones.  
=-)

Eighth Painting

Okay, so *this* one was really fun!

Like i told you, the first paintings Connie told us to do were 

Scribble (just paint with scribbles)

Line  (just paint with lines & color)

Shape  (just paint shapes, like circles, triangles, etc)

Then, Connie told us to "Paint like a 5 year old!"

Now, what she meant wasn't to paint what you would paint if you were 5, but to paint with the *process* that a 5 year old uses;

just paint, not worrying about precision or proportion or any Art School worries.  

Just paint.

Just do it, show someone you love, and then

Drop it!

It's done.  Don't worry about it.  Don't question it.  Don't point out your mistakes.  Heck, there *are* no mistakes!

A 5 year old gets a piece of paper, some paint & a brush

puts a picture on the paper

takes it home & shows it to Mom

and then

hops away, on to something else!

That's the kind of attitude Connie wanted us to paint with.

And I LIKED IT!   =-)

Well, let me show it to you:

Isn't it cute?!

And whimsical!

I had fun doing it, too.  I really love painting, and it surprises me every time! I didn't know i would love painting so much!  =-)

I've never considered myself an Artist, but i'm beginning to think i just may be...

Whatever.

Anyway,

I'M HAVING FUN!!!

You should try it too.  =-)

'Til tomorrow.

=-)

Seventh Painting

Today's painting is another Shape painting.  

Nothing to brag about, but i had fun doing it.  =-)

It feels SO good to do some Art each day.  =-)

I've really enjoyed taking Connie's course, BIG.

She has a free course you can try for yourself!

What do you have to lose?  =-)

Hope your part of the World is doing GREAT!

Back tomorrow with another painting...

=-)

Sixth Painting

So first, Connie had us paint Scribbles.

Then she had us paint Lines.

Next she had us paint Shapes.

Any shape.  Circle, triangle,  square, star, whatever our intuition told us.  

Whatever felt good.  =-)

So here's what i did:

Simple!  =-)

And that's the secret to Connie's course, BIG; make it simple, starting out.

That way, there's no "right" or "wrong".

There's nothing to "mess up".

And since it's on (basically just cheap) paper, there's not a lot your Inner Critic can say, 'cause this is "just an exercise".  

And again,

i felt SO GOOD while painting this!

Yes, i know it's simple.

Yes,  i know "anybody" can do it.

Yes, i know it's NO Masterpiece!

...

And i DON'T CARE!

I STILL felt SO GOOD while painting it.  =-)

'Cause it's NOT about the Painting (the noun).

It's about the Process of painting (the verb)!

And i REALLY REALLY LIKE the VERB!!!

=-)

Thank you Connie for this wonderful adventure!

=-)

Fifth Painting

Okay...  So it looks a lot like my Fourth painting.

But that's okay because it's a process.

And according to Connie, it's alllll about The Process (and NOT the Painting [the Noun])!

Another "Lines" painting from the first week of BIG:

And, once again, i felt sooooo good doing it!  

=-)

Fourth Painting

So for the first week of BIG, Connie wanted us to paint with Scribbles, then with Lines, and then with Shapes.

Here is my "Lines" painting.

Do i think this is great?

Nope.

But did i *feel* great doing it?

YOU BET!!!

For some reason, i feel SO GOOD when i Paint!

I LOVE IT!!!

So painting is quickly becoming something i think about alot.

And  painting is becoming something i *want* to do, too.

Like, Every Day.

I'll be back tomorrow to show you my next "new thing".  

=-)

Third Painting

Not much to look at, and didn't take me very long either, but the important thing is...

I'm Painting!  =-)

Connie at Dirty FootPrints Studio, and of Fearless Painting fame, "warned" us that we'll have some ugly paintings, and that 

"That's Okay!"

So during the past 5 weeks of her course, my Fear Gremlin (aka Inner Critic) has been pretty quiet.

And that's a VERY GOOD THING!  =-)

Hoping you're having a Wonderful Day!

I'm off to Paint some more!

=-)

Second Painting

So here's the second painting i did with Connie's course, BIG:

I can't even begin to tell you how good i felt while i was painting this.
And i've had this experience almost *every* time i've painted.


Connie tells us to "let go" and to go with the flow.
She also tells us of ways to forget about our "Inner Gremlin", our "Fear Gremlin", our Inner Critic.  (Different people call "it" different things.)


But this one was Free-ing.
This one felt good.
And then i was getting mad while i was doing it.
But Connie had warned us about the emotions that would come up, so i knew it was okay, and i immediately went to my journal and wrote about what i was feeling.  
It helped.
It felt good to be delving into all that was coming up.


Once again, Painting felt Good.




I'll be back soon about my next painting.
=-)

First Painting

I know it's been a looong time since i last posted...

And lots has been going on over here...

But i thought i should at least *try* to catch you up.  =-)

So, i went to this website and 

Fell. 

In.

Love!

And since then, i've been 

PAINTING!

Keep in mind that i am NOT a painter.

I don't really even consider myself an Artist...  but...

But Connie has convinced me that i don't *need* to be.

Or that i already am.

Or whatever.

It doesn't matter!

It doesn't matter if i consider myself an Artist, or if i *am* an Artist.

What matters is that i Paint.

And i have found that when i Paint

I

Feel 

Fabulous!!!

So i've spent the past 5 weeks in a painting course with Connie

and i've been painting.

And IT FEELS WONDERFUL!!!

It feels so good when i paint.

I don't think about anything but the feel of painting (the Verb).

Here is the first painting i did in Connie's course "BIG":

I was  supposed to just "scribble".

And i did!

But it became *more* than just scribbling.  And since i watched all of Connie's videos for the week, i knew that it was okay if it turned into more than just "scribbling".  

So i went with it.

And it felt so good.

As Connie suggested, i also journaled along with my painting, but i'll not bore you with that right now.

Just suffice to say that once you put yourself in Connie's confident and loving hands, you will be able to paint something.

I am SO enjoying this journey with her.

And you would too.

I'll post more of what i've been painting.

I'll try to be back tomorrow.

=-)

Just Paint Something!