digital fun

week 2

I'm playing along with Jen Osborn's "What are U up to today?" where we check in on Wednesdays to show what we are doing. So here's a picture of me playing in the virtual world as i work on my digital collage.




I've been taking an online course called digital magic with Marie Otero and really having fun. I'm getting to do all the things with my photos that i wanted to do digitally. it's been great to alter artwork as well. this session is almost over, but you can get on her email list and she'll contact you the next time she does it again. She is attentive, patient and didn't mind holding my hand a bit! i've found her lessons to be clear, concise and easy to follow. Anything i haven't understood, i just pop her a question about it and she lead me in the right direction! my review? well worth it!

This cute little bird, a Thrush, is from a picture my mom took a few days ago at her place (Bass Lake, CA). i thought he was so dang cute, he needed his own collage!

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tomorrow i will post pics of the project that jane and i worked on this weekend! and don't forget, there's still a few more days to enter the giveaway for a chance (x3) for Melody Ross's next session of Soul Restoration.

I'm a Brave Girl are you?

In keeping with women supporting women, I wanted to share Melody Ross with you today:

the very sweet, Melody Ross, founder of the wildly popular, Brave Girls Club, is getting ready to begin a new session of Soul Restoration. There are two parts, Soul Restoration Part 1- Finding your Truth and Part 2 - Living Your Truth.

I'm going to type out what it says inside the photo above in case it is hard to read. it is a point not to be missed and one that many of us can relate to:

Imagine yourself as a house... a beautiful perfect house..... starting out with fresh paint and beautiful windows and lovely carpet.... filled with all your favorite things and your favorite music and everything that brings your comfort. This is the house where your soul lives. Things sometimes happen in life, sometimes quickly and sometimes over time that kick our doors in, break our windows and destroy our walls. We stop making boundaries for ourselves and find that others are actually LIVING in our soul house, leaving us nowhere to sleep, no food left to eat... moving our furniture to their liking and putting up their own art. Some of us aren't even living in our own soul houses anymore...feeling totally disconnected from our truest selves and beyond repair.

Who hasn't felt like this? Things happen to us that throw us off track. I personally, went through my own life altering experience 20 years ago with my child Tucker. You all know what a painful event that was for me and one, 20 years later that haunts me. It affects every waking moment of my being (and i'm sure while i am sleeping too). It is a wound never likely to heal, that I live with. That was not the life I had scripted for myself, yet here I am living it. How I am living through it? Sometimes I don't know. I take one day at a time and do the best I can; that's my soul house in a nutshell. I try to be a good person, create art that helps me heal and makes me happy and I try to spend my time with quality people.





After I met Melody, we discovered that we had something in common and that was we had loved ones that had suffered TBI's (traumatic brain injuries). My son, Tucker, who suffered his TBI due to medical negligence and her husband, Mark, who suffered a TBI while surfing. Happily, Mark has recovered almost 100%. But the experiences she shared of those times were horrendous and made me reflect heavily on the deeply, buried painful things we experienced with Tucker; things that I still cannot face.

So you see, while sometimes we feel so alone in our pain, there is in fact, others out there suffering as well. Maybe their story is different, but the common factors are still there.






Melody took a minute to answer a few questions for me :

1) What is Brave Girls Club?

"Brave Girls Club is a worldwide community of women who want to live the best, happiest, most productive and fabulously brave life they can possibly live…and that means something different to every single one of us".

2) Tell me what motivated you to start Brave Girls Club?

"We are doing this because we believe that there’s so much to celebrate in life, even when life is difficult. We are doing this because sometimes you can’t get through things alone….and we want to connect brave women to other brave women so that you never HAVE to do anything alone again". We are doing this because we believe there is a better way…where women can support, lift-up and help each other through life…show each other how to navigate through new and scary things. We We are doing this because we want to be part of that better way…"

here's a little youtube video I found (and there are plenty more if you search, Melody Ross or Brave Girls Club on youtube)

My friend, Sherry, told me that she took the last class, so I asked her for her input:

"Melody has a way of explaining and motivating that holds your attention. She talks about life and our experiences and how we view ourselves, let alone treat ourselves with caring, compassion and understanding. She's been there...she's not ...just talking the talk. She has walked this walk and she is sharing what she has learned. These may seem like "simple", "easy" things to acknowledge or to embrace, but for so many of us, it's the simple, easy way of looking at something that holds us back. We think there needs to be some "BIG" explanation or some "BIG" wonderous moment of "AHA". We know what ails us and we know how we are our own worst enemies. Melody makes it "okay" to say that out loud and to welcome it all as part of who we are. The art? It's just an extra. No skills are necessary because we are all artists ... we are all capable of holding a pencil or pen or a paint brush and stroking out and stroking in what we need to remind ourselves of".





Now for the fun part. Melody has graciously donated 3 spots to her next session of Soul Restoration. I will be hand picking the winners myself on Friday April 1st. This is the 20th anniversary of Tucker's injury and I would rather spend the day doing something fun like, informing 3 of you that you've won a spot, instead of feeling sad. I have not gotten to take the class yet, due to time constraints, but one of these days I will!

So all you have to do is leave a comment here and share why you feel you you'd be a good candidate to win a spot. **very important - you must supply me with an email address**

XOXO,

kecia

Artfest is almost here

I leave for Seattle in two weeks for Artfest, so i've been busy packing supplies, clothes, stuff for vendor night. I'm always so paranoid i'm going to forget something important. I put a message out in the yahoo group if someone locally would loan me a vintage suitcase for vendor night and i ended up hooking up with this sweet girl, Michelle, who is driving her camper to Artfest and is bringing me not only a suitcase or two, but a table top manikin (for vendor night) and some extension cords for my class. how cool is that? i made her a necklace to say thank you. I love how people are always so willing to pitch in. So that's what i have been up to.

here are some pictures of things i've created to sell vendor night, along with some jewelry and junk:

Tomorrow is Dillon's 18th birthday. I am almost speechless that he is turning 18. where has the time gone?

also, Jane is coming down on Friday and we are going to play and then go see Dillon perform as Kinicki in Wall High's version of Grease. can't wait to see his "Grease Lightening" number! i'm excited to share my sons talents with Jane!

p.s.
i'm 20 followers away from hitting 500. i think i should do something special. what do you think? any cause for celebration, i always say!

Speaking of classes - Wings of Love

This was one of my projects from Jen Cushman's book, Resinate. So come spend the day with me at Art in The Garden in West Chester, New York as we recreate these in our own fashion.

date: Sunday, July 17th

Soldered metal book class with Leslie Marsh

Next Month, Leslie is on her way to California to teach at Gilding the Lily and after staying with her a few weeks ago, I said, "well, while you're at it, why don't you come back to NJ, to my house to teach us more book binding". Happily she has agreed! We had a wonderful time with her last summer (despite of the rain), so if you missed out before, here's your chance!

The Art of Coptic Bound Metal Books Mixed-media artist Leslie Marsh will guide an intimate class through the process of coating (with solder) metal plates, then adding other elements (i.e. metal findings, chain, bezels) to create small (2”x3”), one-of-a-kind works of art, to be bound — using a timeless Coptic technique — as the covers of exquisite blank books. These little gems will constitute the basis of photo albums or journals. Or perhaps the book will stand alone as an object d’art!

• Supplied for the class are: metal for covers, solder, flux, antiquing solution, paper and waxed linen thread, needles, head pins, jump rings, chain and clasp for closure, eyelets and beads. • If you have them, please bring a butane (kitchen) torch, tile or solderite pad to solder on, eyelet setting tool, jewelers hammer, jewelry pliers and bench block. If you don’t have any of these items, don’t worry. I’ll bring some to share. *I will have available for purchase ($10) the exact filigree elements used in the sample. If you don’t want to purchase these two pieces, please bring your own embellishments, keeping in mind that they cannot be made from pewter and that the covers are 2” by 3”.

Bio: Mixed-media artist Leslie Marsh binds color, paper, metal, and well, anything into a framework of personal expression. Using centuries-old binding techniques, her books become repositories for memories, snapshots, and inner thoughts. Her passion for books includes an extensive personal collection of current and antique titles.

details:

date: Saturday July 9th
time: 11:00-5:00
fee: $75
location: 1606 Oxford Lane
Wall, NJ 07719
**limited seating**

you can email me at : keeshagirl4@aol.com