Sue Simpson

Twenty Years of Marriage.....

2012-01-17T21:32:00.000-08:00

My husband Bill and I. Married 20 years! Happy Anniversary Bill!

When we met, we called weddings funerals. We were both on round two and not to sure of this 'marriage' thing. Since then, we have cried together and laughed together. We have fought and fought hard and we have loved and loved deep. We have raised three beautiful children together who have brought us gray hair and pride. We have lost loved ones and welcomed new loved ones. We have worked really hard at times to stay together but more often than not we have thanked each other for this life we have. We often, almost daily, thank God for this blessing, this marriage that is such a true gift.

We hold each other up, and yes, you hold me up much more than I need to hold you up and for that, I love you more each day. We are friends who enjoy spending time together. I still remember the first time you touched me and how my blood started running faster. Today, when you put your hand on my knee or rub my back -my blood still runs faster. You say you love my smile and I love your laugh. When I've been sick you've treated me with the most tender unconditional love, for that I thank you. I love the sound of Grandpa Bill just as much as I love hearing Grandma Sue. I cherish growing wise together in the years to come.

I remember so clearly when we were approaching our fifth wedding anniversary and you said, "can you believe we've been married almost five years!" Look at us now!

........... and I love when my cell phone says, "hey baby, it's me!"

Thank you Bill Simpson for 20 wonderful years.

I love you with all my heart.

(this song my love, reminds me of you)

Natural Elements by Sharon K. Shubert

2012-01-11T14:56:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Sharon K. Shubert for sharing her words and art. Beautiful and Inspiring! Such a treat.

by Sharon K. Shubert

NATURAL ELEMENTS

Natural elements come together to create more beauty than I can ever truly depict with aRt.

I love the sway of the trees, the intricate lines in a leaf, the brand new bud of a lovely flower, hundreds of tiny
grains of sand on the beach, an abandoned bird's nest on the ground, pine cones scattered by the squirrels,
locust's shells perched perfectly on tree bark, a cricket's immutable songs in the night.......

I love the wash of a gentle rain, the musty smell of a forest ground, leaves changing colors in the fall, birds
gathering on the ground searching for an evening meal, shells left behind in the tide.....I love the
artistic gnarling twists of a tree trunk, acorns perfect in form, dark soil of a garden, butterflies flitting about
from bloom to bloom, bumble bees buzzing around the crepe myrtle.

I watch, I listen, then I create something beautiful to try and honor the beauty of the natural elements.

How inspiring!

~Sharon K. Shubert

by Sharon K. Shubert

The Stillness of Quiet

2011-11-29T21:43:00.001-08:00

This is where it began

http://earthtonestudios.typepad.com/earthtone_studios/2008/10/quietstillbe.html

the stillness of knowing.

The stillness of being.

The stillness of feeling.

I didn't want to feel...

so I ran.

Just as fast as I could.

I ran.

I believe this is where it all began

http://earthtonestudios.typepad.com/earthtone_studios/2008/10/silence.html

http://earthtonestudios.typepad.com/earthtone_studios/2008/10/quiet.html

in the quiet still silence.

Journaling Gives A Meaning by Kate Crane

2011-11-29T12:44:00.001-08:00

It's a goal and dream of mine to art journal on a regular basis. The beauty of the internet is meeting and finding artist that are doing just that. When I came across Kate's pages and beautiful blog, I couldn't resist sending her an invite to be our guest artist. Thank you Kate for sharing your beautiful pages and wonderful story with us. The colors and composition make me want to dance!

Although I have made things all of my life, art became moreand more important to me, especially after I had my children and found that Ihad a little time on my hands while I wasn’t at work. Over the years my art has become more and more important to me,and the work/life balance has become increasingly difficult because by choice Iwould spend all day every day painting in my art journal.


art by Kate Crane

Idiscovered art journaling in 2008 and have never looked back. Journaling gives a meaning to my art which Ialways felt was missing previously. I love having a collection of colourful,inky, painty, messy art journals, bulging at the seems full of mixed mediacreativity, that I can flick back though whenever I feel like it (and I do,frequently!) I’m completely self-taught and by looking back through my journalsI really can recognize the artful journey that I have been on.


art by Kate Crane

I like to work in Moleskine sketchbooks and have them invarious sizes. Working in a sketchbook with fixed pages forces me to finisheach page and resist the urge to tear a page out because it is not looking howI want it to. I’m a born perfectionist but I’m working to overcome it, andaccept my limitations and imperfections. I’m learning that to do things ‘right’you sometimes have to get them ‘wrong’.


art by Kate Crane

Ilike to journal as often as I can and just to make sure I never miss a day Icreate a calendar page every month with a small square for each day. The double page spread takes me a long timeto make each month, but filling each day takes only a couple of minutes, and it’s wonderful to have a personal recordof daily life.


art by Kate Crane

I love to teach art and craft classes, have contributed toseveral wonderful magazines, have been on some wonderful Design Teams, and havehad two art journaling DVDs published.I still feel like I have so much more to give but I’m still not quite surewhich direction I’m going in ….. watch this space …….


art by Kate Crane


art by Kate Crane

visit Kate's Blog for more inspiration and beautiful Art Journal Pages

Hidden Art by Amanda Jolley

2011-11-16T16:25:00.001-08:00

Last July I kept seeing this beautiful woman who always had a happy, joyful, smile on her face. We were at EncaustiCamp together. I finally went up and asked her, "have we met before"? She said, "I don't think so but I follow your blog". She is spunky, fun, loving, and sincere. I don't know Amanda Jolley very well. But I am sure glad I get the opportunity to get to know her. Also to see her again this next July!! Amanda thank you so much for sharing you and your story here. We are truly blessed by your words, your beautiful art, and you.

Today I call myself an artist. I am in love with encausticpainting and mixed media collage. Yet most of my adult life, it did not evenregister that I might be creative. No matter that I fully illustrated mystories in a 3-ring binder in the second grade, no matter that I would go downthe office supply aisle at the Five & Dime Store just to feel the paper, orthat I loved doing the crafts at school and loved playing the piano at home,and ballet and square dancing, singing and the flute. Doing these thingsbrought me great joy. So where was the disconnect? Why was I unable to identifymy true passions as I reached adulthood?


Leo -12 x 12 Encastic Collage by Amanda Jolley

Looking back, I can see that I observed the perceived valueof what I enjoyed through the eyes of my school and cultural experience. I grewup in a small town in western Kansas which gave me a proportionally small viewof the world and its opportunities. In school, all the arts programs wereviewed enriching but not vital. The emphasis was on sports and academics. Whilemy family did nurture my love of music, dance and writing, I did not knowanyone who made their living by their craft outside of being a teacher. Addingto my lack of role models was the pervasive message to women in the 1970-80s. “Womenare as strong as men and should have professional careers like men.” Even thetelevision sitcoms reinforced the message by showing “successful” women wearingbusiness suits, having children, and balancing it all.

All of that muddied my thinking. As I thought seriouslyabout my future, I felt the pride rise in my chest as I chose a career in whichI could be quite successful. I chose a major in accounting, a career whichwould be important and lucrative in the eyes of my peers and community, onethat would also “bring home the bacon.”

So years go by and I am an accountant. I quitplaying the piano, quit dancing, quit writing. I am married with 2 kids workingfull time and my life just fell apart. I could not handle the stress thataccompanied taking care of little ones and dealing with a climb-the-laddercareer. I quit my job to save my sanity. What I lacked was the capacity to handleall that this successful life was pulling from me. I was tapped out withnothing left to give.


OrigamiDream: 8x8 encaustic collage by Amanda Jolley

Several distinct events occurred after I left my career. Godbecame very real to me, up-close and personal. I became friends with a veryresourceful neighbor who is now also an artist. We decided to home educate our children because of my husband’scrazy work schedule. I started blogging. All of these events aligned me for mygreatest discovery, the finding and cultivating of my true self.

Along my journey of growth and discovery, I came across agem of a book, The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer. Myfavorite quote, “Whatever it is, surely art involves creativity andoriginality. Whatever form art takes, it gives outward expression to whatotherwise would remain locked in the mind, unshared.” The book goes on todefine “hidden art” as doing what is thoughtful, resourceful, inspiring everyday to cultivate an environment of joy.

After practicing this hidden art for a time, I found greaterand greater joy in creating. I fell in love with altered books, art journaling,soldering, but surprisingly, found myself in an internal battle. A remnant frommy past was the value system I had inadvertently laid on art and myself. To justifymy earlier career choice, I had lied to myself without even knowing. In themidst of creating, I would hear phrases like, this is a waste of my time, mystuff looks like crap, I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m just trying to besomething I’m not, what I create has no value. Were it not for the joy that Iexperienced in the process of creating, I’m sure I would have given up. Thelies were stripped away one by one, and the truth was proved by time andexperience. Joy prevailed.

Now I call myself an artist. My absolute favorite medium isencaustic. I so enjoy the luminosity, the smell and the direct tie to nature.The process of manipulating the wax to produce effects is satisfying to my soul.This summer I was thrilled to have a piece from my Public School Series juriedinto a local show. I am sure this would not have happened if not for trainingby Patricia Seggebruch, my first encaustic instructor and great encourager ofexperimentation. My lack of formal training does not hinder me as I have foundmyself surrounded by a community of encaustic artists that are generous insharing the skills they have learned.


PublicSchool Series #5: 8x8 encaustic collage by Amanda Jolley

AndI still practice hidden art, but have added to the definition. Hidden art is notonly doing what is thoughtful, resourceful, and inspiring, but also simplybeing who God created me to be. This too cultivates an environment of joy. He’shidden a beautiful work within each of us. When we are able to act like ourtrue selves, His art comes to light.

Unfolding by Roxanne Evans Stout

2011-11-10T13:21:00.001-08:00

Tickled pink to have another wonderful guest post. Recently I was reading the current issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine. The article was well written. The photo's fit right with the article. I had to know who this artist was. As I flipped to the front of the article, there it was in black and white, Roxanne Evans Stout! Hey, how cool! That's our next guest artist. I am looking forward to getting to know Roxanne in person this next year. We have a couple of events we will be able to play and create together. Thank you so much Roxanne for your wonderful post. I believe we, as an artist community, will be seeing much more of you and your work in the near future. Congratulations!!

Unfolding

As winter turns to fall and the warm colors that I love descend into the background, I think of my art and my path as an artist and how it is unfolding.

Out my window the first snow of the season swirls around the garden. And the leaves in their pale yellows, greens and oranges quiver and twist and turn, before they too tumble to the grass.

photo by Roxanne Stout

I have always thought of myself as an artist, but there were other things I loved too, being a mother, a gardener, a writer and a teacher. So often all of these things went together so well. And then sometimes they didn’t.

art by Roxanne Stout

Now with my youngest child in college, and my gardens are over-filled with trees and bushes and perennials, I find more time to be creative and make art.

And not only that, I have more time to dream about art, to write about art and to learn as much as I can about art. One of my biggest dreams is to travel and teach art workshops. I want to share my ideas with the world.

photo by Roxanne Stout

This summer I have been been accepted to teach at two places, (the dates still to be announced), 3231Creatives in Everett Washington, and The Artfest Annex in Seattle, Washington."I hope these classes are the just the first of many more."

The thought of spending a few days with other artists like myself, nurturing and teaching and sharing ideas... makes my head spin with possibilities!

Stay tuned, this is just the beginning!

art by Roxanne Stout

Roxanne's Blog

Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop ~Sue Simpson

2011-11-09T09:21:00.000-08:00

11-09-2011

Waiting.. waiting

for the other shoe to drop, that is. It's a terrible place to be. It's not what I want from my life, this life. I pretend it isn't happening and then it catches me. Grabs me with a hahahah or is that a heeheehhee?

The unfolding recently has been so amazing. The aha moments have been so plain, so real. The life lessons are simple and weaved together. This change, this growth, this knowing, this belief is freeing. It's exciting. It can be overwhelming. I have learned to take time to let 'it' absorb. Let God work his magic.

I am learning to trust God and to trust myself. Those thoughts I hide are coming out. Those feelings or idea's....well, they are pretty right on!! It's so cool. It really is. To trust yourself. To have a thought and let is simmer, let it process, and wait to the knowing. God speaks to me in songs, written words, those around me. Through plain everyday happenings.

I have a small example of the things that have been happening to me recently. I hope I can explain it in a way that shows the emotion, the gratitude, and real life lesson. I have been given the opportunity to take a class called Designing My Practice. Two lessons ago we were handed a sheet of questions as our homework. We were to Design Our Practice. Write our plan. My first thought was how I'd like to teach or mentor others in my future. To combine my art with ... life lessons. I don't know the words yet. The whole picture but that was my first thought. Next was, how do I explain this? How do I write this? And finally, in all honesty, I don't know the other people in the class, my co-artist well enough to share this dream. This path I fully believe God has me on.

Two or three days later. In conversation with the Founders of 3231 Creatives where my studio is located, where I have felt is my college, my training, my schooling for the future. We begin talking about a teaching program and one of the founders said ..... you can teach this. Yes, I can. Gulp!! I am so excited by the lessons I am learning. The unfolding of the path. A look into the future. Almost everyday I get an Aha moment. Something I have written or thought and then sorta hid is right in front of me. Right there that says, yes, this is right. Your thought, influence, direction, it's right on track Sue.

I am even learning to make mistakes and forgive myself for them. I am learning to do something, even if it's not perfect. Then, to learn from it and move on. I am learning that the qualities that I have had all these years are good qualities. They don't work for everyone but they work for me and the people God is putting in my path.

I have come to a place where I am recognizing that I wait for that shoe to drop. Wait for the big laughter that says, hahahaa just joking. I believe realizing that I do this will help me to move past it. If not past it then to truly know that if and when the other shoe does drop, I'll pick it up and move on.

(originally posted on 11-09-2011)

Dear Friend....

2011-11-06T11:05:00.000-08:00

Dear Friend,

I think of you so often. You are in my prayers and thoughts. Your family and your life calling are important to me. I pray you are doing well and loving life. It seems I haven't been very good about contacting you. This is not because I don't love you...it's due to the exciting and fulfilling adventure I am on. My time is precious, as I know yours is too. I do miss the laughter. The sharing of life. It may have been yesterday since I've seen you or it may have been months since we've spoke.

I have so much to share. So much love and goodness surrounding me. I have probably told you, as I have shared with a many friends, that when all these layers - like an onion - come off, you'll find me dancing in the streets. I am finding that those layers will be coming and going throughout my life. I am learning so much. So much about myself. So much about my family. So much about you and our relationship(s). I do find myself dancing, not yet in the street. When that happens, if anyone is around, we'll take pictures. It would be really cool if you are there with me. Let's make that something we can do together!? Dance in the street? I was in the mall recently and the music was going loud and with a really cool beat. I almost, and actually may have just a little, began to dance.

You see, your friendship, you being a part of my life, whether big or small has blessed me. Has made me who I am. Has given me wings to fly. An urge to dance. Knowing me, you know I can't keep the beat if I try. I am finding that's okay. I am dancing anyway. Snickers do still come my way. I don't seem to mind. I actually think they, those who snicker, secretly want to dance too. Maybe my wiggle and giggle will inspire them to do so. How fantastic would that be! To influence someone to stop, stand up, and wiggle a bit. You try it. Hear the music in your head? Feel that beat? The flow and sound of the music while your body is moving.

My friend, I miss you, yet I hold a piece of you within me. A piece I cherish. You are very important to me and my life. I can't wait to get together again. Coffee? A walk on the beach? A phone call? Or maybe, just maybe, we'll go dancing.

Sue

Opportunities not happenstance, but seeds planted~ by Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch

2011-10-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled to bring you the Queen Of Encaustic!! Okay, she may not say that about herself but I think it's true. Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch has shared the love of wax with the world. From two books, Encaustic Workshop: Artistic Techniques for Working with Wax and Encaustic Mixed Media: Innovative Techniques and Surfaces for Working With Wax , teaching workshops world wide, and EncaustiCamp! It's a real treat to say "she is my friend". Trish, as I know her, is pure and honest. Just two of the values I love about her.

from Trish...

I’m in a bit of a maelstrom right now; I can’t see theforward and am not sure the backwards has been all that it was supposed to be;that perhaps I stopped short of reaching for the full value of what was mine totake.

art by Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch

I know better; Self-condemnation is simply pridefulfaithlessness.

So I look to identify my sweet spot.

That one place that truly catapults me into the flow of allthat is me.

I’m at this place right now. It involves change. And itinvolves evaluation. And it involves growing.

Don’t you know, growth hurts?!

Those pains in your knees in adolescence as you shoot up 5inches in 4 months…

Those growth pains never stop. They just change in theirfocus.

So I’m in them. And, today it’s okay. I am open to what itbrings and where I’m going. But I’ve avoided the facing of this growth forseveral weeks; if not months…and, the growth pains are much more painful as aresult.

I’m having to put down expectations; dashed as well asunmet.

I’ve let go of ‘doing’; one the hardest and most painfulletting goes I’ve ever done~

And I’ve turned over control fully and completely.

Fully and completely.

And, I’ll do it again tomorrow.

art by Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch

Why?

Not melodrama. Not self pity. Not in sadness or with regret.

Because I want to live in my sweet spot; nothing else,nowhere else.

Purposefully, resolutely, undistracted, with single-mindedfocus.

I recently heard that we will be under the most powerfulopposition when we are closest to our purpose. (Purpose is sweet spot, don’t cha know?!)

art by Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch

I rejoice in this idea; and believe in it wholeheartedly.

And tomorrow I’ll believe again.

Then again, and again and again.

Determined.

Persistent.

Faithful.

Catch me in the sweet spot; I’ve planted my seeds andthey’re beginning to sprout. Oh what a bloom it’s to be.

A Great Gift...as dreams come true.

2011-10-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

As I was driving into my studio this morning I was composing a blog post...in my head. I do this often. I write letters to my children. I write notes to my Dad. I write a encouraging note to my sister for her bravery and courage. I write something to Mom, cause there are so many times I miss her so much. I write notes to my friends, thanking them for the gift their friendship is to me. All of these are ... written in my head.

When I sit down at my computer or purchase that card to send, my mind goes blank. My gremlins come in and say things like, don't be stupid, or that's silly to send that. For a very long time I didn't realize those gremlins, negative voices (oh no, she's hearing voices in her head! :) were saying these things. I didn't listen to what I was saying to myself. The judgement so harsh. Would I judge others that way? Then why do I judge myself, the person I am, me, as an individual, so harshly? My intent recently is to stop those unpleasant thoughts right in their tracks. Also, to ask myself, "are you judging others this way"? That is another post in itself. Back on track Sue...this morning as I was driving into the studio!

One of the the post I was writing ;) was about a friend of mine who is creating her Artist Mentor program. She has shared a bit of it with me in the past few months. Her mentor or coaching will be for artist in the sense of creating their art as oppose to getting into galleries. Not her exact words but my simple take on what she has shared so far. She is an accomplished artist herself and a great writer. I told her that I may need to hire her to help me stay on track and move forward.

Moving to last Monday. I was having a tantrum. Yes, just like a two year old. I was confused, anxious, angry, uncertain, knew better- you get the picture. It started the Friday before so by Monday morning I was in a full blown - tantrum. "I know, I will write my friend." And I did!! She had posed a question to me just a few days before when I told her I might need to hire her. I started with that question and then went into my tantrum. Full blown mind you!

We are not to envy. Tough one some times for us woman. Such a human and natural thing. So in the 'blog post in my head' this morning, I was writing about how I envy this friend. How her words back to me were like water on a burning flame. Leaving the coals, me, who I am, yet comforting and encouraging in a way that didn't feel patronizing or condemning. They made me stand and take attention. Shed a tear and say, yep that's it and this is okay. I envy that. I envy that she has that gift to encourage in a way that was so true. In a way to say, it's okay and it's time to realize what is making you have this tantrum, experience it and move forward. The words she came back with touched a deep place within me. I admitted in my tantrum that I knew better. I knew as an artist, woman, wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, sister-in-law (my brother-in-law mentions when i forget this one :) neighbor, friend, bookkeeping, housekeeper, cook.....you get the idea, what was happening within me. I just couldn't get past it at that very time.

Thinking about her words and this great gift she has and will soon be sharing with others, I realized the gift. The gift! Not envy Sue but full heart felt joy! We grow and learn from our experiences, from the people around us. We are to reach out to those who are where we want to be. Where we know our God given self is. How exciting to have this friend in my life. How exciting that she is giving her gift to others. To me! I can learn from this. I can be that better person that I long to be. That encourager. That positive self that shines joy and dancing on the world around me. I can learn from our relationship and her words.

When this beautiful person opens her program, I will be one of the first in line to shout Yes! Meanwhile I may keep giving her material to work with ;0 It is to my benefit as well as hers. Someday she may say...in the beginning it was like working with a two year old throwing a tantrum.

Some Say I'm a Dreamer by Amber Heagerty

2011-10-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

Thrilled this week to have artist Amber Heagerty as our guest. Amber and I met online about five or six years ago. We lost touch for a few years so I was tickled to learn that she was stopping by EncaustiCamp this past July to meet our find Crystal Neubauer. It was my delight and treat to meet Amber in person. I look forward to building that relationship again. Thank you Amber for sharing with us!!

I tend to look at life with acurious mind...some say I'm a dreamer. I spent most of my childhoodoutside playing the daylight hours away...

My mother had a rock courtyard garden edged in allkinds of delicate roses and that was one of my favorite places to visit anddream...It was there that my heart shut out all the traffic noises and onlyheard the beautiful call of the swallows and the hum of the bees...interactingwith the tiniest details in nature...
In our backyard we also had a gigantic willow tree... Its leaves rustling withthe wind...its branches covering me and protecting me in my imaginedadventures...
These were the seeds that were planted in my heart... I only need rememberthese wonderful memories of childhood and I am transported there once again...

Art makes me feel much in the sameway...I love creating art in its many forms...interacting with the tiniestdetails...

On any given day there are so manythings to further explore organically with my God given senses. It makes meanticipate the coming day with the thought of excitement of what I might findto explore...

My own definition of a true artist isone who sees the ordinary often overlooked assomething extraordinary and creating it into something beautiful;profound~fascinating!

The "recipe" I often apply to do this is usuallyfollows 3 easy steps:

1) Askyourself what it is, then breathe it in...experience it.

2) Askyourself what if it were somehow changed and how would that effect the overallfeel...

3) As an artist howdoes it affect me and how do I want to portray this in my art?

The concept of taking what would normally be considered trashand transforming it with pure imagination and creativity into somethingbeautiful just makes me giddy at the thought. Recycling is a big part ofwhat I believe in at home as well as an artist...

One of the pieces that I'm very happy how it turned out is anassemblage piece titled WITHIN that I created fromreclaimed components found in a recycling center.


art by Amber Heagerty

I've also found that I'm drawn to mixedmedia and paper arts because I can utilize re-purposing materials, handson-up to my eye balls creativity...you get the idea.


art by Amber Heagerty


art by Amber Heagerty

art by Amber Heagerty

Feb/March 2007 Published in Stampers'Sampler,

The artchallenge was to alter clothing tags and make them into cards...! All threecards were made by altering jeans tags...

So on my bucket list of things, I would love to write a numberof books, including a children's book and launch a greeting card line...I'vebeen sitting an a bunch of illustrations and art just waiting for the righttime and the right person to show them to...I hope someday my dreams can becomea reality.

-- Amber Heagerty
http://amberblueskies.blogspot.com/

Sowing Seeds by Stephanie Green

2011-09-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to share this guest artist with you. I met Stephanie while attending EncaustiCamp this past July. We were both in the same class the first day. I was focused on my project that day. There was this vibrant, wonderful woman that caught my attention a few times. Instead of my usual self of introducing myself, I went on with my zen lesson in taking your time, while working on perfecting transfers. That's a whole story in itself. The second day I was in the same room as Stephanie again. Once again her excitement and energy caught my attention. More so though was how she kept saying something to the effect of "sharing this with my girls". I assumed she had daughters she was eager to go home and share all that she was experiencing with them.

As the day went on, I learned that Stephanie's girls were a group of young woman (highschool I believe) that she met with once a week and did art projects with. My heart melted. I refrained from going up and being mushy and thankful all over her. I resisted in awe. I loved the fact that Stephanie was giving her time and talents to a group of young woman. So much so that as I write this, I will admit to tears forming. How selfless. So much love. I know that in return Stephanie is filled with their experiences, their excitement, their love. Or at least I believe that to be true. It's what she is giving that makes me choke up. She is giving herself. She is empowering these young woman in ways that are unseen as well as seen.

I am blessed, thrilled, and honored to share with you Stephanie Greens Art story. Thank you Stephanie for sharing with us here. Thank you for sharing your talents and time with so many around you. I look forward to seeing you next July at EncaustiCamp. This time I think I'll thank you in person and if okay, give you hug.

I can'tremember a time when I did not want to make art. It has always been a hunger,like a craving in my soul, a part of every fiber of my being. From my earlychildhood endeavors with finger paint, tape and paste, to the moresophisticated materials I use today, it has always just felt so good to create.

artist and art - Stephanie Green

It has always been a mystery to me whenartists say they need something to inspire them to paint. Everywhere I look Ifind inspiration for my art. I see in composition and is color pallet. Forexample, when I look out the window I visualize the colors I would use to paintwhat I see, as well as how I compose the piece. Sometimes I get distracted fromother tasks because of it. (Did I mention that I am also extremely ADD?)

inspiration photo by Stephanie Green

I am constantly snapping photos with my iPhonefor later reference. This particular habit drives my 14 year old son crazy. Wewill be driving down the highway on the way to one of his many destinations,when I will see something that catches my eye. I will whip the car around to goback and capture the image. Actually, I have gotten quite adept driving andsnapping on the fly, especially the elusive sunset or tree in the distance. My"Driving Noah" series comes from these very inspirations.

Mally - taking inspiration clues from Stephanie

While Iadore making art and am very blessed to have some success in my art career, myother love is multiplying myself. (Most people call it teaching.) Seeing thework people make because I have encouraged them, brings me joy. I truly believethe seed you sow, determines the fruit you bear. I endeavor to sow only seeds of goodness.

Stephanie Green

Dreams Do Come True

2011-09-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

I am going to have to edit my profile there to the right! It's true, my husband and I both have studio's in our home. And it's true that he records bands, musicians, and things of that nature. It's true that I enjoy creating, playing, and experimenting with whatever I can get my hands on. I am finding my true love lies in acrylic mixed media, encaustic mixed media, repurposing items within my art, and I still have a strong draw for fabric.

So what needs to be changed? We'll start with the location of my studio. I will still have a small studio space here at home. I will use this space for family projects like those pictures I keep meaning to go through and do something with. Like the blankets my kids and husband have requested me to make. Like art journaling for myself. A gift for me to look back on when I get old. (years and years away). My main working studio is in the process of being moved to an artist community in Everett, Washington called 3231 Creatives. My fingers are jumping with excitement as I write this. My heart is beating a bit faster. I also have fear in there somewhere. A bit of uncertainty. Amazement. The feeling of wanting to pinch myself to make sure this is all real. Real it is!!

I am very excited to be partnering with James and Iris Lemmer, the founders of 3231 Creatives and with the artist as the Program and Marketing Coordinator. I have to be honest in the fact that I haven't even told my family about this yet. Why? because my feet haven't hit the ground long enough to give a full picture. Because this is a dream I have had hidden deep. A dream - that is all I ever really thought it would be, a dream. I have talked about starting by turning our Gazebo into a workshop room, true humble beginnings. I asked my husband Bill recently about doing something in our lives that makes a difference. (which he does as a guitar instructor and music recording - gifted and giving). He said that when he thinks of making a difference, he thinks of programs like saving the whales and my response was in regards to something smaller, more local, like a youth program in the city of Everett.

Almost a month ago now, Bill and I went to the Art Walk in Everett. A friend's husband was showing his work and I wanted to see and support. Bill had also spotted a gallery we were unaware of and wanted to check it out. That's where it all began. That's where I freeze. That's where I can't really put it all in words yet. A week later I was a partner in an amazing community. This is a gift that I can't yet explain. I bounce from here to there. I have tiny little fear, no wait, a friend sent my a book right at this time, one of those out of the blue and so appropriate happenings. Tiny little pings of 'resistance' hit me. Gulp! Is this real?

I will continue to share more as things continue to unfold. Everywhere I turn so far is an opportunity to share this amazing gift with others. To open a door for them to realize their dreams. How cool is that!!

Delicious and Filling Simple Lunch

2011-09-07T15:49:00.000-07:00

Oh yum! Today's lunch was so good.

You know how much I like those Chicken Sausages. These ones have jalapeno pepper and cheese. Yum! Yum! I cooked the sausage and then cut it into bite size pieces. Cut up a couple of Roma tomatoes and cilantro. That alone looked so good but I wanted a bit more.

I added some hot salsa and some Bel Gioioso Parmesan Cheese.

For just around two hundred calories a perfect and filling lunch. Homemade lemon aid to drink and a 1/4 cup of Mixed Berry Sorbet a bit later as a snack. Yum, Yum!!

The Best Way to Predict Your Future is to Create It By Tonya Powell

2011-09-06T09:39:00.000-07:00

Today's guest post is from my cousin Tonya Powell. Growing up we spent weekends and summer vacations together. Our parents both had property on Camano Island. We started our weekend journeys in small trailers and tents. Full on outhouse in the woods and water out of a barrel. Eventually those small trailer became single wide mobile homes. Full on bathrooms. I was a young teen when times changed and our families became busy and didn't spent those weekends together. Fast forward to 30 years later. That's how long it has been since Tonya and her sister Donna and I have connected. I am thankful to facebook for bringing us back together. I am thankful for family. I am thankful for those grounded beginnings. Thank you Tonya for sharing your story.

I am one who considers myself incredibly spiritual, although not religious. I have long followed Universal Law lessons and teachings, as I have had too many experiences throughout the past several years to doubt that we are all interconnected and that thoughts become things. I also am very attuned to energy, both in others as well as with circumstances, and I have utilized that skill to manifest some pretty incredible events, projects and experiences throughout the years.

Because of my strong faith in our personal power to direct our lives, I have had the license plate BELEVIT on my car for many years while living in Nevada. Having recently relocated back to Washington, I was very happy to find the plates were available here as well, as I instinctively knew they would be when I looked for them while registering my vehicle.

If you spend any time with me, you will find me constantly saying throughout the day, “that was a gift from the Universe,” or “that was the lesson I was meant to learn from that experience.” I believe we are given daily gifts, but unlike those who may believe the gifts come from a higher power over which we have no control and that the outcomes are also out of their ability to direct, I feel that we have all possess unlimited personal power to make our lives exactly what we wish them to be. To predict your future, decide what you want, and create it.

Many I know have used the model of simply thinking positively and hoping that equally positive outcomes will be the result, as in the example cited above. Unfortunately, that strips all control from the person. By combining positive thinking with a couple of other habits, desired outcomes can be dramatically changed. As Earl Nightengale says, have an “attitude of gratitude.” I begin each morning by texting a friend in Nevada of one thing for which I am grateful. It sets my day as well as his, as he always sends something great back my way. Throughout my day, I recognize and give gratitude to all things big and small. In addition, it is imperative to combine gratitude with ACTION. Simply wishing for something to occur is not enough; be present and take steps forward each day to create the life you wish to live. Remember, the more we do, the luckier we get!

Finally, look back at the end of each day and reflect on the blessings which have been bestowed upon you. Even if you’ve had “one of those days” there is nearly always something good which can come from it and thanks given.

My life is filled with nearly all great days, and I know it is because of my BELEVIT attitude. I wish for you the same as I know the future you create for yourself will be worth the daily adventure!

Tonya Powell
Powell Promotions
775-232-0948
tonya@powellpromo.com

Make a Mess, Make It Happen by Courtney Putnam

2011-08-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

I virtually met Courtney Putnam a few years ago via my old blog. I personally met Courtney by taking one of her workshops about setting intentions. She works with the body, healing, and art. It is with great pleasure that she is our guest this week. Thank you Courtney for sharing here and giving us that push to move on, move forward, and make a mess.

Oh how often making artistic messes has saved me from a run-in with my inner critic, that voice of perfection that tells me, “Courtney dear, I must say, this is crap.” This voice (or fear of this voice) used to paralyze me, as I know many artists can understand so intimately. The fear or creating sub-par work, or not being able to create at all, can leave us feeling unworthy, uninspired, and downright depressed.

To help with this paralysis, I decided to take my inner critic’s advice: to create crap. What better way to confuse that voice of degradation and despair than to take its very own snotty comment and turn it on its head.

artwork by Courtney Putnam

Yes, I tell myself now, I will create crap, and in fact, I will create a huge mess. And you know what, Ms. Critical Pants? I’m going to like it.

I smear paint and wax, scribble, imprint stained fingers, drag the page across some dirt or coffee grounds, and I work fast. That’s the key. Ms. Critical Pants can’t catch up with her nasty comments if you create the high-speed, high-adrenalin way. I add layers to my art, working quickly, and you know what? I actually haven’t created crap. I’ve made a mess for sure, but I have also made art. And that was the purpose from the start: to create.

artwork by Courtney Putnam

I have an art journal where I make my beautiful artistic messes and this permission to make a complete mess and imperfect art not only gets me to produce without paralysis, but I feel better. Any depression lifts, my anxiety lessens, and I feel accomplished in making room for art in my life. Creating artistic messes fosters forward momentum, process-oriented experiences, and ultimately reduces stress.

artwork by Courtney Putnam

So I give you permission to make a mess. Who cares if you don’t feel you are good enough or you think you’re in a rut. Work quickly, work messily, and know you are healing that part of you that thinks you’re not good enough. You are good enough. Let your messes show you.

artwork by Courtney Putnam

Website: http://www.courtneyputnam.com

Blog: http://healingnest.wordpress.com

Chicken Sausage and Asparagus

2011-08-23T12:44:00.000-07:00

Another simple meal.

Al fresco Chicken Sausage

Cut up some Asparagus, Carrots, Fresh Garlic

I cooked the sausage and vegetables in my cast iron skillet. I started with just a small amount of Coconut Oil. Then I added a bit of Pacific Broth to cook the veggies and keep the meat from sticking. Served in a nice bowl with rice. Hubby was happy, which makes me happy! Enjoy

Rice, Asparagus, carrots, fresh garlic, fresh peas, Pacific Chicken Broth, and Al Fresco Chicken Sausage.

Re-emerging Artist by Susan Stover

2011-08-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

It's with excitement that I share this weeks guest. (do I say that every week? It's true) I met Sue Stover at EncaustiCamp this past July. An absolute treat for me and everyone else. Beautiful artist, beautiful art! Thank you Sue for sharing your story!

Okay, let's see. I'm new to this blog thing. I've never blogged before. I am not sure what I should write about, so I guess I will write about my journey. It is not so unique or special, and actually it might be a quite common story for women my age. I'll start here.

artwork by Susan Stover

I've decided to call myself a re-emerging artist. (Do they have awards and shows for this category?) I was an emerging artist once, fresh out of grad school, so many opportunities, so many possibilities, and then before I knew it, it was 20 years later. Where did the time go? What happened? Well, life happened. Love, marriage, a move to the country, a child, 2 dogs, a house that's a fixer, need to have an income....that ever elusive "how to make a living as an artist". This challenging aspect of being an artist was made apparent early on. As an undergraduate at Miami University, the painting professors got us all together and (in trying to prepare us for the harsh cruel world) told us that we'd better have a back up plan because we would never be able to make a living as artists. I think I won't ever forgive them for not telling us to believe in ourselves just a little bit more.

artwork by Susan Stover

Amazingly, this didn't deter me from pursuing a masters degree. I took my time in graduate school. I spent 4 years at California College of the Arts. I wouldn't trade the education I got there for anything. However, it did nothing to teach me how to survive as an artist either.It did give me the credentials to teach, but alas, college positions are not easy to come by. And so, I've been fumbling my way, trying out this business idea and that. Working part-time here and there, all with the idea that it will fund what I really want to do, which is my art. Now, I'm not complaining. I have a great life, an amazingly supportive husband, a beautiful daughter, and I love where we live. I just always thought my art career would be at a different place by now. I can’t dwell on any of the choices I've made because they inform the choices that I will make. It's not that I haven't been doing any art or had creative outlets. I've been very fortunate in positions I've held that they have done a lot to feed the creative fire. I’ve worked in other mediums and those skills too are coming together in the art I am doing today.

artwork by Susan Stover

I'm a firm believer that creativity is everywhere. It's just recognizing it as such that is the trick. And now I feel that I am awakening from a deep sleep. It is time to re-emerge, to focus and to believe in myself and my art just a little bit more. Maybe it's my phase of life, beginning to feel my mortality, or losing the insecurities that once plagued me that is spurring me on, or maybe it's the simple fact that the house is almost done, or my daughter doesn't need me as much. Regardless of the reason, the world is again my oyster and I start each day excited by the possibilities.

www.susanstover.com

Kielbasa and Aspargus

2011-08-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

When I first started reading The MBA Kitchen blog, Crystal challenged us to use what's in the refrigerator. No more throwing those bits and pieces away. We weren't big vegetable eaters at the time (currently changing that status) so it seemed vegetables were often thrown out. Gasp! I know. If you ask my Mother-in-law if her son eats vegetables she will quickly tell you no, maybe some creamed corn. That's changing. I am finding ways to fill that man up with veggies. He has even tasted and LIKED broccoli and cauliflower! But only if it's right out of my Dad's garden.

He has to have his meat so some kielbasa cut into bite size pieces. Cabbage, onion, garlic, peas, asparagus, tomatoes and whatever other vegetables you have on hand.

I started with a small amount of coconut oil, onion, garlic, the meat and some chicken or beef broth so the meat won't stick to the pan. Continue adding broth as needed. If you use Pacific Brand your meal will be gluten free. Add your vegetables and cook until the vegetables are done to your liking. We like our vegetables to have a bit of crunch (like the asparagus) so I don't cook it for too long.

I added that to rice noodles, a dash of ground flax seed and a few shakes of curry powder.

Stir and serve!!

Try and Believe by Jessica Greene

2011-08-14T22:01:00.000-07:00

This weeks guest post is from Jessica Greene. I met Jessica at EncaustiCamp this past July. I am very inspired by Jessica and her story. I believe you'll enjoy it too. Thank you Jessica for sharing your story here. I wish you all the best in your upcoming adventures. Congrats and I am looking forward to following your journey.

I have been a middle-school science teacher for five years. I always tell my creative students to keep creating, always try, never give up and all that good stuff that I truly believe. But despite believing, I have had some trouble actually doing it myself.

artwork by Jessica Greene

This past June I made a confession to another artist: a desire to do an international artist residency and my certainty that I would not get in. She promptly asked, “Well, how many programs have you applied to?” “None,” I shyly replied. To which she frankly said, “How do you know you won’t get in if you haven’t even tried?” That evening I went back to my hotel room and got busy. I search and scoured for residency programs that were still taking applicants for this year and that were affordable. I applied to four. A few weeks later I received notice that I got into two. I chose rural Spain.

artwork by Jessica Greene

A few weeks ago I launched a Kickstarter project to help fund my residency. At the time of writing this post I have reached by goal of $2,000, but as we all know projects have a tendency to run over so I am hoping others will join in to support me as I go to Spain to work on my current series of paintings. Especially now as I prepare to go I am realizing that the modest budget of $2,000 is not going to cover it, so I am really hoping that I continue to overfund it.
You can read all about my residency project and what I will be doing while in Spain on my Kickstarter project page. Even if you can’t back it, please read about my focus and help spread the word through Facebook, Twitter or email!
This video from my Kickstarter project explains a little about what I will be doing in Spain:

I also have another exciting project that launched in July: Seek Your Course. Seek Your Course is a database of creative learning opportunities and a hub to connect people with resources for creative living. You can find currently offered ecourses, conferences and retreats, explore instructor profiles, and read our blog to stay up-to-date and inspired. You can read about how this got started here: http://www.seekyourcourse.com/about

This week I actually resigned from my teaching position to focus on art and Seek Your Course full-time. This fall I will be in Europe for two months. A few of those weeks will be spent traveling around with my husband and then I will go to my month-long residency in Spain. After Europe I will continue to be artist and founder of Seek Your Course...and the possibilities seem endless. And all the upcoming journeys will be documented on my blog:

So what I used to tell my students I now believe even more. I am an example of it. Remembering this day after day is still not easy, but when I pull together in my mind all the doors that have opened for me, all the people in my life who believe in me, and all the ways this path seems to be the story I could never see unfolding, I feel a sense of peace and I do believe and pass that belief onto others. Hold your hope close and at least try.

artwork by Jessica Greene

Jessica Greene
Jessica's Blog
Jessica's Website
Seek Your Course Website

Camano Island Salad

2011-08-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

This is a childhood recipe that is still a huge hit today!

Fresh tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers from my Dad's garden!

My Mom use to make this often to take to our family get together here on Camano. Each of the Aunts would prepare food, lots of it! Then we'd meet at one of the trailers for a huge family dinner.

Mayonnaise and Dill Pickle juice as the dressing. Sometimes my Mom added some Dill Pickles.

I was out of pickles so I used Balsamic Vinegar and Mayo.

I also added a few dashes of celery seed to dress it up.

'Finding Myself?' by Colleen E. Monette

2011-07-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

While attending Encausticamp I had the pleasure of watching Colleen E. Monette create. Her piece kept grabbing my eye. Quite simply..it was beautiful. Later that evening, as a group, we toured the hall where all of the beautiful work created from camp was displayed. It was there that I had the pleasure of seeing more of Colleen's work. Stunning!! It is with great joy and excitement that I introduce to you Colleen E. Monette! I do believe the world will see much more of her and her work in the future. You go girl!

from Colleen.....

"I started drawing at the age of 2. All I've ever wanted to be was an artist. I loved to draw, I loved paper. I made art through high school and into college, always saying, 'I'm going to be an artist.'

Somehow life got in the way - not in a bad way, but I forgot to make art. I had a great job, very creative, working as a visual merchandiser, so for a time that filled me up enough. Later, as a florist, with my own shop, I worked the flowers as I would paint. I loved every minute of it.

But I still knew something was missing. Then a small miracle, I got to stop working - I got to make art. Yet still I couldn't get started. I seemed to thrive at ArtFest, classes at NW Encaustic in Seattle, classes at Pratt, and most recently at EncaustiCamp. But at home, where all my time was just waiting around for me to use it...there I couldn't start.

There is a fine line for me with art. I still need to feel like I am an artist. That it's okay to start. That it's okay to make mistakes. It's okay to still need to find my voice.

So now to start, to speak, to shout ~ I AM AN ARTIST!"

Colleen

My etsy site is: www.etsy.com/shop/brownpaperdog

My new blog site is: www.brownpaperdog.blogspot.com

Quick Dinner - Cashew Carrot and Ginger Soup

2011-07-21T22:14:00.000-07:00

After being at EncaustiCamp for six days, a quick dinner was in order. The MBA Kitchen blog suggest you use your leftovers to save money. For this quick meal I used our left over rice.

Pacific Cashew Carrot Ginger Soup - Rice - Black Beans - Baby Spinach - Cheese

The Cheese was delicious as a side. We added fresh baby spinach just before eating. Yum!

This is great for adding leftover: chicken, onions, fresh veggies, and herbs like Thai Basil.

Pacific Soups are all natural & gluten free.

Ambition Brings Fire by Joseph Golden

2011-07-20T10:49:00.000-07:00

The story of how I met Joe and how he became this weeks guest blogger is about as long as his post. The most I can say right now is that I hope you will read the post in its entirety. I hope you will share it with others and I am grateful to have the opportunity to share this with you.

Everything was black and gray, I didn’t feel much, and if I felt something it was pain. The empty walls of my 490 square foot apartment depicted it well. A room once full of life and love, torn down to nothing, in the blink of an eye. This is where my tailspin began; an empty room filled with, hate, love, God, temptation, guilt, and absolute anguish. A mixture even I look at now and point to the sky. The following is my story, the only story that matters to me, the story of how I found true faith in God, and how he helped me pick myself back up, when it all went dark.

I had been in a relationship with someone for nearly two years. She was everything I could ever ask for, we shared everything together. I had never opened up to anyone (not even family) the way we could share things. We talked about forever, we talked about the weather, it didn’t matter to us, we were together and on top of the world. Part of this feeling was because we both lived in Bellingham, WA. Separate apartments, yet inseparable. Going to college and living the way we wanted to, I never wanted anything to change.

After a year or so, I began to slip. My mind was being plagued with confusion and temptation. At this point we lived right next door to each other. We started having friends over and even people we didn’t know very well. I started drinking more than I usually did, too much, I would consume myself in this bliss that I thought was good. Turns out I was destroying everything around me. I started to take her for granted, every night I had another excuse, hard day at work or something else spoken out of pure stupidity and resentment. Then I wore it on my sleeve. I was like a two faced monster, full of compassion and love in the light, but hit the switch and my eyes glow red. She never deserved what I put her through, no matter what.

Spiraling out of control I chose the wrong path and lost it all. I lost her then, I gave up on myself. Sitting in a one room apartment, I should have just committed a crime and gone to jail, because that’s what it felt like. I didn’t look at myself in the mirror, I didn’t want to eat, I just made it through work each day, then back to thinking, just pure thoughts, like a swarm racing through my mind. One night it got the best of me when I came home from my friend’s house. I went to open my door and realized how alone I was, and how much that scared the s out of me. Inebriated and full of doubt I walked through the door, sure of what was about to happen I sat down on my couch and continued to pour every pill I had in my possession onto the table in front of me. Drink in hand, devil in my head, I was ready to take my life. The greatest gift God has ever given me, I was willing to take it from myself. The walls were caving in, and all I had was my voice in the dark. Crying my eyes out, I took one last breath before taking the plunge. Within the time it took me to take that breath, I felt something come into the room, I’ve never been so scared than at that moment. His presence filled the air around me and I felt a hope burning inside me that I’ve never felt. It was a second chance, a choice to carry on and follow in his footsteps. He pulled me from the deepest darkest depths when I didn’t believe anyone could. I know now that I was so scared because his might and forgiveness filled the room. I felt like someone whispered, “you’re not alone.”

Trust me I thought I was going insane. But it was real enough to make me stop and realize how f*#cked up the choice I was about to make was. I picked up my phone the moment I woke up the next day and called my mother. Really the only person I had hope would see pass the mistakes I was making. Me, her , and my brother Christian met up the next night to see a movie. We all talked before the night was done, and all came to the overwhelming agreement that I needed to come back home. No matter how strong I tried to be on my own and no matter how hard I knew it would be to swallow my pride, I felt like it was the only way to stay alive. Abandon ship.

The following sixty days would be a test, a trial, a path to redemption I was not ready for. I cried every day, every minute, I never had peace of mind. Strung out and physically ill, my body started to suffer from the depression and inability to handle such loss and what I perceived as failure. On some nights I remember praying and being so mad, wanting to scream out, “Why aren’t you helping me!” “Why won’t you save me!” Little did I see, the pain and anguish were all building blocks.

Still striving for hope and some kind of sign that things would be ok someday, my brother Samuel received a drum kit for Christmas. To say the least he was put on this earth to drum. It burns strong in his heart and he finds passion behind the cymbals that is hard to match. Sam and his friend Tyler began to jam, Sam on drums Tyler on guitar. Music had been my only safe haven up to this point. I found faith in it that the right words reach the right people. I knew with the talent these kids had they just needed someone to believe in them and help them along the way. But I fit into the equation much more than I thought I would. I began writing my own lyrics and screaming for Tyler and Sam, we are now a metal band, therefore the screaming not singing haha. With Tyler writing all the guitar parts, Sam focused on drums, and me only knowing how to do my vocals, we became the perfect storm and God’s gift to me.

I named the band Ambition Brings Fire. I chose the name because when I decided to move myself, I made the greatest changes and blazed a trail to where I wanted to be, and to me that’s what we all need. If you put your mind to it and bring everything you humanly can to the forefront, nothing can stop you. Your ambition will bring the fire you need in whatever way you need it. It’s your tool to light the way.

Now, Ambition Brings Fire is about to release their first demo and play their first show all in the next month. All I can do every single day I wake up is look out my window into the sky, grey or blue, and thank God for the second chance he gave me, the new life he breathed into me. When I had no hope, no will to live, when it was all stripped from me, just a man, just human, He gave me the strength to stand up and push on, to do his will, and spread the right words to the right people. The ones that need to know that no matter how dark it gets, when all hope is lost, He’s there, watching over you, placing the tools at your feet urging you to pick them up and rebuild.

I could not have made it this far without my family and the ones who had faith enough in me to see me through to this transformation. I love you all and you’ll be in my heart forever. These people, just another gift I’ve been given. They are all a blessing and I wouldn’t want them to be any different.

My story is of small scale to others, but it shows the power we all possess, and that no matter what, you have the strength to save yourself from anything. I felt like I had been cast out, that my life wouldn’t carry meaning anymore. Look at what I’ve revived. I was lifeless, a vessel for evil, but He saw the light I had, the yearning for a second chance to get back up and do what’s right. This lies within us all. I hope that my story can help others and show that it’s never over and that you have no idea the lengths you can go if you believe in yourself and the ideas that you stand for. Always remember, there is no map for life to find the riches of faith, love, and happiness. It all rests inside you, find it and never let it go.

Ambition Brings Fire (facebook page) Joseph Golden (facebook)

Away at camp!

2011-07-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

No guest post this week. I am away at EncaustiCamp! Can't wait to share more. I am really looking forward to next weeks guest. Enjoy your week!

Sue

"Beginning" It is safe to try by Jan Avellana

2011-07-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

Each week continues with fantastic guest post from people throughout our community and online community. I met Jan Avellana back in October via our mutual friend Crystal Neubauer. Jan is an amazing woman and very important person in my life. She has enriched me personally and as an artist. Enjoy!

“The beginner's humility and openness lead to exploration. Exploration leads to accomplishment. All of it begins at the beginning, with the first small and scary step.” ~Julia Cameron

After high school, from time to time I’d find myself thinking about taking a ceramics class, specifically, a wheel throwing class. But I didn’t for a very long time. Somehow, I managed to go through five years of design school in pursuit of a fine arts degree and avoid the ceramics department altogether! Another 10 years went by, and by then, I had quit my full-time graphic design career, went back to school and raced into a new career—teaching. And still no wheel throwing. I don’t know why, except, from what I remember, at the time it was always something fun I thought about doing “some day”.

artwork by Jan Avellana

It wasn’t until about two years into my teaching career, when my life was so harrowed by the depths depression—that I finally took a wheel throwing class. It saved my sanity, it saved my life.

Twice a week I knew I’d be happy. Twice a week, for 2 ½ hours at a time, I was assured relief from the miserable-ness that was all consuming. I disappeared into the ceramics studio to play, to learn, to explore, to escape…and to be a beginner. I put no expectations on my work or myself; I threw clay on the wheel to have fun. Unlike my job as an elementary school teacher, I didn’t need to be “highly qualified”, “standards based” or “assessed”. Fun was my only goal.

Somewhere in the middle of one of my classes, covered from head to toe in mud, I realized how ridiculous my life had become. I was, and always would be, an artist. There was no use hiding from this truth. For the first time in what felt like forever, my choices felt clear. I would quit teaching. Even if went back to school and got a Master’s degree. Even if it felt like I would disappoint “everyone”. Teaching just wasn’t my passion, my calling, my vocation.

It wasn’t necessarily the clay mind you—although it did lead me back to the best and truest parts of myself. Being in that ceramics studio reminded me of my earlier years in design school and how much passion I’d had back then. Wearing those ratty aprons, getting messy making things, working in silence, and always the beginnings; the new drawings that would become paintings, the photographs as they developed before my eyes in the tray of solution, the first etching I pulled from the plate…all loud shouts telling me that there was hope.

It would be hard to walk away, to admit that I had built a career that I really didn’t want, to admit that I had made a mistake. But I did it. And do you know what helped me begin again? It was the tiniest littlest thing. I had a new beginning growing inside of me; I was pregnant with my first child. My son gave me permission to quit my full-time job as a teacher, to lay down my old life. He gave me time to dream, time to heal, time to learn how to be a mom.
And then a second blessing came. By the time my second son was born, I was seriously considering going back into the classroom, back to my full-time job (the one that nearly strangled me). But something inside me had shifted during those new, beginning-mommy-years. I knew I wasn’t the same person I had been before my babies came. I could find the courage to begin again. And so I did. For months I searched for work I could do from home, some kind of creative work that would be meaningful to me.

artwork by Jan Avellana

It was then that I stumbled upon Etsy, upon her artists and upon their blogs. It was then that I finally re-discovered my true identity. I was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, an artist. And these fellow indie artists were—and are, my tribe. So night after night, with my sleeping baby in his moses basket under my computer table, I developed a line of hand stamped silver jewelry, opened up an Etsy shop under the name of Hazelnut Cottage, and began to blog.

Today, four years later, I am beginning again. I want to paint and draw and do work that feels like play again, you see. I have outgrown my jewelry, though it served me very well indeed and I am grateful for the start it gave me. It is a scary time. I feel the same fear I felt when I left teaching. I am just as confused as I was back then, filled with fears, real and imagined. But I am hopeful too. Now, I know who I am; I am an artist. Hopeful in knowing that I am part of a larger tribe of artists that will uphold me as one of their own. You see, I am daring to be a beginner. I am still an ungraceful beginner. I don’t know what I’m doing most of the time. But I am learning to play, to explore to take that “first small and scary step” once more. It feels good to begin again.

Follow Jan's Blog - Shop in her online store

"My Dream Come True" -reflections from my daughter Kristy Gardner, on being 'Mama'

2011-06-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

This week my daughter Kristy shares her story of being a Mama. Since I can remember she has always wanted to be a wife and mom. That didn't go over very well with some of our family when she was growing up. I believe she has proved many times over that she knew exactly what she wanted and what she was meant to do with her life. She is a 24/7 mom. I babysit during Dr. appointments and an occasional date night. But mom and dad of this family enjoy doing things together. Needless to say, I am extremely proud! Enjoy!

First, let me start this by saying two things: I've never written a blog before, and my children make me emotional. Now, if you have heard anything about me, that second one shouldn't surprise you at all. Everything makes me emotional. When mom asked if I was interested in being a 'guest blogger' it sounded a bit scary :) I put it in the back of my mind, then completely forgot about it. Now as my 'deadline' approaches, every time I think about what I might write, I cry :) So forgive me if this gets a little long, I could probably write chapter books on how much I love my kids and how great they make being a mom be. But here goes.

My daughter and Grandchildren.

Since I can remember, if I was asked what I wanted to be when I grow up, my response was 'a mom'. No questions about it, no pause before I responded. I am fortunate enough to not only be a mom, but a 'mama' of two! (here come the tears!) Thanks to my fabulous husband, I have been able to stay home with my babies from day 1. I get to see them accomplish everything, from the smallest things to the big stuff, and take joy in every moment. First smiles, sitting up, rolling over, these are my toes?!, steps, words, recognition when they understand something you said, waving hi/bye, feeding themselves, dancing. It's so incredible how fast they learn!

Jack - doing some rock climbing

Not bad for a one and half year old

I like to think my kids are geniuses, and of course that they get that from me :) My daughter Jessica, who is turning 6(or is it 15?) in September, was tested into kindergarten a year early. Smart enough to start school early! She graduated kindergarten being one of the better readers in her class, reading at a level 8, where the kindergarten average is a 2! That's my genius :) My son Jack, who will be 2 in September (both were born September 24), can unload the dishwasher and start a load of laundry like nobody else :) He'll make a very silly Potato Head for you, but know that mine are never silly and he always has to add something before it can be deemed silly. He's also 'reading', memorizing the board books that we've read 90 times this week alone, and gets a complete kick out of knowing what's coming on the next page. He's incredibly physically capable, climbing the rock wall on our play set out back all by himself, or the dining room table if he can get away with it :) That might be papa's genius :) Along with his amazing ability to hold a pencil!!

My daughter and First Grandchild. This was taken when Jack was just a couple of days old.

Being a mom can mean a whole lot of things. I'm a nurse, chef, mathematician, housekeeper, laundry magician, master of ceremonies. I am the one they look for when they are hurt, or sad. I'm the one they look for when they're excited or want to share an accomplishment. They always want to make sure I'm watching this new thing they can do, or see the tower of blocks they've made. There is something so special in the simple sounds of 'mama'. Jess is always hoping for an extra hug after we've tucked her in at night, calling to me softly as I leave Jack's room after tucking him in, hoping I'll hear her and sneak in for another hug and kiss good night. Every time Jack wakes from a nap I am rewarded with the biggest squeeze, arms tight around my neck. They are both such cuddle bugs! (Jess is sitting here playing her Leapster while I type and doesn't know that I'm writing this. She just brought me the picture she made that says 'I (heart) my mom'. This is why I love being a mom!)

My daughter and second Grandchild

I never knew that something so little, something so tiny and helpless could evoke so much emotion out of me. But from the moment I found out I was pregnant both times, I was instantly in love with this little person. They make me cry, laugh, want to pull my hair out, exhausted, giggle, but they fill my life with so much happiness. I can't remember a time in my life without them, and I love that. I get to be with them all day, from breakfast through dinner, and when it's time to tuck them in at night, I miss them. I just want to snuggle in with them and hold them while they sleep. Gaze at them and the precious peacefulness that comes with sleeping children.

all I can say is, "she's just like her Mother".

It seems time is going much faster now that she is in school. We are on our first summer break, waiting for 1st grade. (oh holy cow, who said she could grow up?!) and I feel the pressure of 'we have to cram in everything we can before you go back to school'. But, it's also a reminder for me that the laundry can wait, the dishes will still be there tonight, but the time I have with my munchkin and my jackjack won't be. I can't get this time back, and I remember that everyday, and try to hug them and love them just as much as I can. I heard a saying the other day that was something along the lines of 'the greatest gift we can give our children is a bit of our time everyday'. I plan to keep that in the forefront of my mind, reading that board book again, even though I can read it from the front seat while he's looking at it in his carseat :) (just ask me to recite any of many Boynton books, I dare you :) And while I look at another of the many books that Jessica has made, all about princesses and fairies. Which by the way, budding author we have on our hands here :) Before I know it I'll be asking them to tell me what its like for them to be a parent. I can only hope they'll have as much fun as I am! Now, excuse me but I need to go find a tissue, and snuggle with my babies.

My two Grandbabies! Proud I Am!!

Kristy

Dinner with Dad

2011-06-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

Friday my Dad came over for an early dinner. Remember, I am not a cook. I wasn't sure what I would fix even hours before he was suppose to arrive. It turned out to be a wonderful treat for me. My son was here for the starter of soup. Dad and Jake sat at the bar while I cooked our dinner. Once soup was over, my son left with his friends and Dad and I sat and enjoyed not only dinner but good conversation.

Dad and I started with a lemon drop Martini. Fresh Meyer Lemons and Gluten Free Vodka.

Jake and Dad enjoyed a bowl of Santa Fe Chipotle soup while I prepared dinner. (not gluten free)

I find myself snacking while cooking so a fresh bowl of peas from dad's garden.

And for dinner -salad: fresh lettuce from dad's garden, fresh peas from dad's garden, fresh onions from dad's garden and for me a squeeze of fresh Meyer lemon from my cousin's yard. Risotto Rice with fresh garlic yep, from my dad's garden. White fish: baked with fresh onion, garlic, and lemon...from you know where!

I have to say...it was a good meal. Now, when my husband came home, he too ate this meal. As I was putting his plate together he went to the refrigerator and retrieved the hot sauce, Dejon Mustard and a couple of more bottles of something. ? Is that like putting ketchup on steak?

Doing Art Means by Angela Wales Rockett

2011-06-20T18:05:00.000-07:00

This week....another great guest post from an artist in our area. I went to Tacoma last week to see Angela's show in person. Unbelievable! Well worth the drive. Not only did I have the pleasure of seeing Angela's work in person, she also took me to her studio. More beautiful paintings, light, and works in progress. Also exciting was Angela herself. I look forward to getting to know her better. Next time I go to visit, I'll take her up on the walk to the outdoor market and studio tours. I look forward to having her visit here. My studio, home, and a walk on the beach. She's has a warmth about her that just makes you smile.

Sue is a relatively new friend of mine, and I am so glad we connected! How did we meet? Through this wonderful world of blogging. So when she asked me if I would write a guest post on her blog, I happily agreed.

Then came the inevitable question, what do I write about? I am a visual artist, a painter of abstracts, and my writing skills are a bit rusty. Her previous guest bloggers are so inspiring and I don’t want to let Sue down. But whenever I asked myself what I would write about, I kept getting the same, rather short, answer, so here it is.

A couple of years ago, almost to the day, I was asked to write another guest post. That one asked me to answer a question: “What meaning does doing art have for you?" After a couple of weeks of soul searching and journaling, this is the answer that I came up with. It’s brief, but it still sums up my life purpose and the meaning I find in making art.

Doing art means searching the depths in order to find the Source.
Doing art means honoring my gift. It means honoring the mystical
encounter with the God who is the Source of all beauty. Doing art
is a spiritual practice, a place to slow down and deeply observe
in a world that seems to be constantly asking, even demanding, that
we speed up and skim the surface. And through the completed paintings
I hope to provide a place for others to do the same.

You can see these completed paintings on my website at www.studiotenshi.com and I have a blog at www.ryhopewood.blogspot.com. On Wednesdays I also send out a short email newsletter that contains my image of the week (usually my most recent painting long before I manage to get it onto my website) and any updates about where my work can be seen in person. If you’d like to brighten up your email inbox with a beautiful painting once a week, please drop me a note at arockett@gmail.com and I’ll make sure that you do.

Thank you for reading. And thank you, Sue, for having me as a guest.

Peace,

Angela Wales Rockett

Soup and Salad

2011-06-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

I admit it! I have so many pictures of good food to share but what's in them? I have pieces of an envelope here, scratch paper there, a notebook, and then ..my memory. That last one gets me every time. So, I will do my best to remember everything I put into these meals. I am seeing a theme after looking at my pictures. We tend to eat some of the same things that are just dressed different ways.

How about some soup and salad.

I haven't made my own tomato soup yet! Still in the plans. Do you have a good recipe to suggest?

This soup is from Pacific Natural Foods. It's the "cleanest" soup I have found. It isn't full of unnecessary ingredients. It can be costly though. The best place to buy it around here is Winco. The salad is different lettuces from my Dad's garden. Zucchini, tomato, baby spinach, sunflower seeds, ground flax seed, onion, celery, cilantro, basil, curry powder & a squeeze of lime for dressing.

Finding a Tribe by Binky Bergsman

2011-06-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

I am humbled each week when I receive these guest post. These are real people with real lives. Like the rest of us. Enjoying this journey called life.

I am thrilled to have Binky Bergsman this week as our guest post. I met Binky via my blog. It was about four years ago. I posted that I had been playing with beeswax and wanted to learn more about it and especially encaustic medium. I also mentioned that money was an issue. I had never met or talked with Binky. I think she found my blog through a mutual friend. Binky emailed me and offered me to take her Encaustic Workshop that Saturday! She also offered to take payments for the workshop! I had to go. Of course I wanted to learn about encaustic but more so...I wanted to meet this amazing woman who reached out to me. Who encouraged my creativity. The workshop and Binky were both fantastic!! I learned, I met, and I left there with a dance in my step.

Binky still teaches workshops. She is now teaching at the Schack in Everett. She is currently showing Wise Designz is Everett.

Finding a Tribe
Or
Stoking the Fire Within

Art is a solitary act. As artists we tend to spend an enormous amount of time alone, listening only to the direction of our mind and creative muse. The time spent with others is precious because we not only are able to share what we are doing in our work, we get to share the feelings, emotions, and struggles as artists trying to get our work out into the public eye, and more importantly, to market.

artwork by Binky Bergsman

Being an artist takes guts and I have am so thankful that I have gutsy artist friends. We work, eat, drink, and chat endlessly. We show each other what we are doing in the safety of the group where we are not laying open our souls to strangers. That is what it feels like with strangers. It feels like we are laying our hearts and egos open to someone who may not appreciate it. Our skills, our emotions, our ideas are all on that substrate and we risk rejection when we put it out there.

We teach each other new skills. We talk about how to get out into the community and sell ourselves. We get ideas on venues looking for artwork. We tell each other if there are teaching jobs available to contribute to the coffers at home while we work to sell art. We laugh and find the benefit of playfulness.
In that group we have been through health crisis, depression, celebration, child problems, job loss and overwhelm. I’ve grown as a person and as an artist to what I am today. I am so thankful to have this group who genuinely wish each other well. Each and every week as I leave on that precious Thursday evening to visit with these friends, I am excited about something. I know that no matter how trying the week was I will get and give encouragement, inspiration, and acceptance with this group of friends.

artwork by Binky Bergsman

I encourage each and every one of you to find a group or tribe of like minded souls to meet with weekly or monthly. Set the time aside as sacred. Think of it as a therapy appointment. Ideally, the group will meet at the same place every time at the studio or home of one of the participants. It should be easy and not require work on the part of the person whose place you meet at. Keep your eyes out for people who will work. You’ll have some attrition. It’s normal, but before long you will notice the core group and learn to love and trust them.

artwork by Binky Bergsman

Find Binky this Saturday afternoon at 4:00 PM at Wise Designz, on the Everett Art Walk, 2908 Wetmore Avenue, Everett, WA. I’ll be showing work and answering questions until 7:00 PM. If you can’t make it that nigh,t my work is up through the month of June when it will move to Meyers Café on the waterfront.

2011-06-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

It's a sale! A HUGE sale. I am making room for new work! At the same time I am cleaning my studio. I have books and magazines that I know someone else will love so I am selling those too. Please check out my online store for wonderful art and supplies!

I can by Melita Bevington

2011-06-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

This weeks guest post is from my friend Melita Bevington. Melita inspires me with her courage. I have watched her perform on stage with beautiful dancers. Most of which are still in Jr. High or High School. Melita is ....let me just say "closer to my age". I didn't know Melita even danced until years after we became friends. I am like a proud Momma (actually friend) each time I attend one of her recitals. Usually tears come to my eyes as I watch the courage and strength she exhibits. Enjoy....

When I initially wrote this entry, it was really, really long; too long for a guest entry on a blog. So, I saved it, so I could come back later and cut. Oddly enough, when I came back, the file was saved under “I can.” You see, the first sentence of the original version was “I can’t draw.” THAT led to me writing about how, in spite of being told I can’t draw, I found my way into the art world. I began to dance as a teen, and then again in this, the “never you mind which” decade of my adulthood.

So I can’t draw, as my fourth grade teacher told me. (Miss Brown, you were a mean, mean woman.) Still, she had a point, I can’t draw. But, she scared me. You see, in fourth grade, I, and most of my classmates related all things artistic to drawing. You know, most of our teachers did too. Jerks.

So, I wrote a nice, long article for Sue's Blog about how, in spite of that damning proclamation in fourth grade, I somehow managed to find my way back to the arts, in this still to be unnamed decade of my adulthood.

I bored myself to tears with my wordiness, so I saved the story and let it sit on my hard drive until today.

When I came back and saw it had given itself the title “I can.”

Well, all right, then. Because, you know what? I can. And, you can too.

But it takes courage.

Anyway, several years after hearing I couldn’t draw, I finagled my parents into letting me take dance. They didn’t get my passion for it, but the finally agreed.

My very talented dance teacher, made me take off my shoes on my first class, took one look at my feet, and said, “Honey, there’s no way you’ll ever be able to fit those feet in pointe shoes. But, don’t worry, there are plenty of other things for a dancer to do. Besides, your body is more suited for tap.” So, she taught me tap, and taught it very well. She taught me jazz too, which I loved.

Years and college and marriage and babies, and well, life, and dancing took a hiatus, until I met an instructor from Skagit Valley Academy of Dance, who invited me to take private lessons in Ballet. You see, she started Ballet late, and went en pointe in her well, unnamed decade of adulthood. ( It’s not for me to say.) But, she could, and told me I could too.

I can.

Finally, she and the staff convinced me to take regular classes, with other adults, where I met a wonderful woman named Heather, who was entering dance as an adult too. You know what Heather taught me? How to can. So now, not only can I, but I can.

Heather also makes amazing handmade cards which she sells for charity. I stamp too, by the way, but not like Heather. But I digress. Still, check out her site, which I’ve listed at the end of this. Her cards are beautiful. Plus, Heather is an amazing lyrical dancer.

Anyway, long story short, Heather and I made it en pointe, in spite of being asked by one of our instructors if we were sure. We were sure. Maybe not so much anymore, but we were then.

Still, the commute got to us both. So, my husband encouraged me to try another school closer to home. I resisted. She doesn’t teach tap, didn’t have jazz, heck didn’t even have her own premises, I argued. There'd be no Heather there. Mostly, I was afraid, because I’d be the only adult. But I didn’t say that.

He said, “You’re being ridiculous, for all you know she’s the best out there.”

He was right.

So, of I went to Camano Dance Academy, to be under the tutelage of the talented Terah Partridge. Man oh man was I terrified at my first class. Her dancers were all so classically trained and well behaved. And all so….young.

Melita and fellow dancer's getting ready for the recital

Terah doesn’t want to hear what you can’t do. Just ask her prima ballerina, Lauren. Lauren came to Terah. just two years ago with no dance experience. This March, Lauren auditioned for, and earned spots in the dance program at two prestigious east coast colleges. In Fall, Lauren leaves us to attend Eastern University in Pennsylvania, on a scholarship, where she will minor in dance.

Moreover, Terah can herself, and quite nicely thank you. You see, Terah began construction on a beautiful, state of the art studio this year. It should be complete by the 2011-2012 dance season. Talk about courage!

But, this is not a story about dancing. Or canning, or stamping, all of which I mentioned. I won’t bore you with Ballet terminology, or talk about acid foods, or pigment versus dye ink. If you don’t do those things, you wouldn’t get it anyway. But, as artists, which I assume you are, if you read Sue's blog, you will get the type of raw courage it takes to tell yourself “I can,” and listen.

First, it takes setting aside the opinions of all the Miss Browns of this world, and anyone else who discourage you, for that matter. Instead, surround yourself with courageous women, like Sue, Heathers, and Terah. Listen to what they have to say, because their criticisms construct, rather than destruct.

Finding the courage to be artistic also takes suspending a need for perfection. You need to make mistakes, and embrace those mistakes. I remember my dear friend Sue Simpson scolding me for tossing out one of my hand stamped cards. “Never throw out your art! Save it and learn from it!” she lectured. “Art?” I thought. “Is that what I’m making? Well, Sue is an artist, and if she says I’m one, then who am I to argue? I guess I am, then.

So anyway, now I can can, stamp, and dance, en pointe, even. (For a little while more, anyway.) I eagerly await fall, and canning season. I relish quiet afternoons when I can sit at my kitchen counter and stamp greeting cards. And dance class days tend to be the days which end on the best notes. I certainly strive to do these things well, but I don’t do them perfectly. But I let them enhance my life perfectly because I can.


Camano Dance Academy Faculty

Melita will join Camano Dance Academy this Fall as their tap instructor. Be sure to check out their Fall schedule in their new building here on Camano Island!! Congratulations to Terah and her team!!

Dinner

2011-06-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

Dinner-

Fresh chili peppers - tomato - cabbage - green beans - carrots - cilantro - fresh basil - onion - bean sprouts - baby spinach - rice - splash of Tamari sauce! Simple stir fry using fresh left over veggies from the weekly menu.

The MBA Kitchen by Crystal Mangahas

2011-05-31T12:50:00.000-07:00

This weeks guest post is Crystal Mangahas from The kitchen MBA. !!

“Live, Laugh, Love” reads a cloud-blue print enlightening my office. The print, by Sue Simpson, contains flowers – cake frosting roses – which peep boldly from behind wind-swept grasses. After taking a break to contemplate the laughing lines and startling colors, I feel relaxed and rejuvenated. I feel immersed in the immeasurable.

available as a print from Sues online store

That’s quite a change from my background in business. I have spent a lot of time in corporate cultures that believed that the only things that get changed are the things that get measured. For example, if a business wanted a product to be delivered to the warehouse on time, we kept detailed records of shipping data and then publicly reviewed and gave rewards for hitting company targets. Metrics, dashboards, analysis paralysis. It is all about quantifying the business and the bottom line was always saving money for the company.

In my blog, The Kitchen MBA, I detail places where such analysis is applicable in our homes. The grocery budget is natural place to start. Saving $50 on groceries per week, is $200 a month or $2400 a year. That amount invested annually would almost double your money in 10 years assuming you earned 10% interest.

But, my family is not a company. Instead of prioritizing savings for the shareholders, we chose to invest in the immeasurable. For instance, donating to the local county park commission, taking in a local chamber concert, or purchasing art - something that speaks to our souls. We want to be surrounded with paintings or sculptures or poems that stir the spirit, with things that can not be counted, and with reminders that we are more than the amount in an a bank account or the car in the driveway.

-Crystal Mangahas

The Kitchen MBA

Run Your Kitchen Like a Business and Save Money!

What's for lunch?

2011-05-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

For the past few months I have been taking pictures of the meals we eat. As a family we are focusing on better eating habits. I think one of the mysterious, curious, grabbing words here is habit! For a great number of years we have made eating whatever we want a habit. Easy meals. I am not a cook and on most occasions I don't even like to cook. How then did I raise my family if I didn't cook meals? I opened a can of chili, a package of hotdogs, and a package of shredded cheese. I did slice the onions and ever so often made fresh salsa. Walla -we now have chili dogs! I admit, a good chili dog and a nice cold beer are great on a warm summer day.

So how does one change a habit? For us it has been one step at a time. Each step moving us closer to our goals. I wish I could say we have walked a great distance on our healthy eating journey. I guess in a sense we have, it's those steps backwards that are some times hard to overcome. Yet! We do. We overcome and continue to move in the direction of our destination.

I invite you to join our family in this journey. I invite you to leave comments on recipes you enjoy. Secrets you may have at breaking those old habits. I will be posting pictures and recipes of some of the meals we have enjoyed.

Corn Tortilla * Chicken * Sprouts * Tomato * Flax seed * Avocado * Sunflower seeds * rice...lunch.

2011-05-25T18:43:00.000-07:00

Do you self sabotage?

I confess, I do.

It's not something I want to admit.

And if you ask me tomorrow - I may tell you differently.

I don't do it on purpose.

It's been a pattern.

One I tend to ignore.

Just when I am making progress

it happens.

Celbrating My Acceptance to the American Craft Expo by Crystal Neubauer

2011-05-17T10:59:00.000-07:00

My Dear Friend Cyrstal Neubauer is having a sale! I love a good sale and sharing it with others. This is a wonderful opportunity to add some beautiful art to your home. Especially if you like antiques. Crystal uses found objects to create her work and it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Be sure to stop by her blog and leave a comment too.

Here's the info.........from Crystal Neubauer.

Celebrating My Acceptance to the American Craft Expo!
Over the past few years I have had many reasons to celebrate on my journey of growing as an artist and this week it is my pleasure to announce I have been accepted as an emerging artist in the highly competitve juried premium fine craft show, the American Craft Expo. This is a goal I had set for myself that I hoped to achieve 5 or so years down the road. The emerging artist category was even more competitive this year, being cut from 13 available positions in the past to 10 this year, and to be accepted on my first attempt to apply is beyond my wildest dreams and expectations. I am floating on the excitement!
The show is annually presented in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois by the Auxillery of Northshore University Healthsystem and is also a major fundraiser supporting breast and ovarian cancer research. This year the show will begin on August 25 with a Special Benefit Preview Party and open August 26th through the 28th to the public.
To show my appreciation to all of you who have supported me over the years in so many ways, I am offering a 10% discount on all art sales and FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE on any purchase you make between now and next Friday. You can find my available work now at my website, here, or if you are a member of Etsy or would like to become one, you can still purchase most of my pieces at my Etsy studio, here.
Purchasers from my website: Click on the item price to be taken to a PayPal invoice and payment details. In the note to buyer section please include the coupon code: celebrateACE and make your payment. Your discount and shipping charges will be refunded to you within 24 hours, and most likely within a few hours of your purchase.
Purchasers from my etsy store: Make your selection, entering coupon code: celebrateACE when prompted. This will deduct the shipping cost from your purchase. Proceed to PayPal and make your purchase and your additional 10% discount will be refunded to you within 24 hours, and most likely within a few hours of your purchase

I will be hosting some other artist and blogs here in the coming weeks. Thanks for stopping by. Take a little time to smell the flowers today. Maybe even pick one for a friend.

Sue

My Friend Crystal Neubauer Will Be Teaching at EncaustiCamp!!

2011-04-21T11:58:00.000-07:00

EncaustiCamp bloggerama; Crystal Neubauer!

‘When you share your strengths you create competition. When you share your weaknesses you create community.” ~Rick Warren

Recently I have been sharing a dialogue about a dream of developing a series of workshops and retreats where women can go deeper in their creative lives, a place where they will be supported, encouraged, and strengthened in their identity and worth as a woman and come away with the tools they need to begin to trust the voice they hear inside to guide them. A place that feels more like a community of friends who have gathered for a weekend of fun and fellowship then just a series of art-project oriented workshops.

The process of using art as a tool in healing from the past and uncovering my true identity has been such an integral part of changing my life that I’ve begun to share it with other women in some of my art workshops, uncertain of how they would respond or receive it knowing they were expecting to simply learn how to create a specific project. But each time I’ve included something as simple as a breathing technique I learned in my own journey, I find at least one woman who writes to say it was the most important thing she learned that day.

As the dialogue with my artist-women-friends begins to solidify into a clearer vision of a deeper more meaningful art retreat experience and dates and locations begin to be penciled in on our calendars, I’ve wrestled with letting go of my desire to teach at some of the larger more well-established venues, but then an email shows up in my inbox telling me of how the breathing technique I shared became a lifeline during a family crisis and I know in my heart this is the direction I was intended to go.

This July I will have my first formal opportunity during a two-hour breakout session at EncaustiCamp to share what I have learned along the way. I will bring a kit for each student who wishes to participate, that will include collage materials to be used as we walk through exercises designed to release that “inner-self” and allow one to experience what it means to “hear” or “listen to” their own voice and allow it to tell their story. The tools I hope to pass on in this exercise will go beyond paper and glue. This uncovering, discovering and releasing-of-self, is a journey so many women find themselves in the midst of and often without the resources or knowledge of what to do with all of these unexpected feelings and emotions. I will come, not as an expert or teacher, but a fellow sojourner sharing what I have learned along the way.

Of course, encaustic art will be the main focus of EncaustiCamp, but I am excited that the intention is to create an atmosphere that will be safe, cozy, intimate and restorative. This is where art becomes more then just a pretty picture; this is where it becomes a seed through which inner-healing can flow.

EncaustiCamp July 2011

2011-04-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

When I pick something up outside, in the house, while out and about, I can see it evolve into something beautiful. I enjoy bringing these items together with paint, glue, or one of my favorite mediums, encaustic.

That's what happened when I was cooking breakfast one morning. The egg carton screamed at me...."Do something with me. Don't just throw me away". Once in the studio the fun began. I was working on an encaustic piece that wasn't going well. Out came the larger scraping tool. As I worked the wax off of the board it was fused to it started to curl. I see a flower here. I rolled the wax and created roses. After adding the egg carton, a carton of roses was created.

mixed media encaustic - 6"x18" on birch.

That's why I was thrilled when Trish asked me to be an assistant at EncaustiCamp. I believe this is a fantastic opportunity to meet new people with the same likes that I have. To create and play with a medium one may or may not be familiar with. The workshops offer a great mix of ways to work with beeswax and encaustic medium. If I wasn’t going as an assistant to EncautiCamp, my biggest question would be which workshops to take. They all have so much to offer.

I hope to see you there. Please find me and say hi. We'll talk wax!!

Coming within the week....Instructors Crystal Neubauer and Jan Harris

2011-04-18T13:49:00.000-07:00

Judy Wise we'll be teaching at EncaustiCamp this July!!

2011-04-18T10:02:00.000-07:00

Judy Wise will also be teaching at EncaustiCamp!! This is what Judy says about her workshop.

EncaustiCamp Preview - My Class

Just a little reminder that I'll be teaching at EncaustiCamp July 13-17. My class is entitled "Painting from the Hot Palette" and will cover the techniques of adding colorants (dry pigments, oil paint) to encaustic medium and then painting with those colors just as you would paint from a palette of colors in oils. The difference is that wax hardens immediately so there is no waiting for paint to dry. In addition, the texture is yummy!

I'll be throwing in some transfer techniques (the above painting includes a transfer) and some collage tips. This class is suitable for beginners as well as experienced encaustic students.

The way the retreat is set up is that you'll choose 3 instructors for 3 days of intensive wax study. After hours there will be extra-curricular activities on schedule as well. Trish has worked hard to make this event affordable as well as inspiring and we hope you'll consider joining us for a weekend of intense creativity and fun.

2011-04-12T14:51:00.000-07:00

Spring is here!! This also means July is getting closer...here's another look at one of the instructors for EncaustiCamp.
Bridgette Guerzon Mills

encausticamp preview: me- a book of images + wax

I mentioned in my last post that I will be previewing the instructors that will be teaching at Encausticamp this July in Salem, Oregon. This week it's my turn.

I am really excited to be combining two of my passions in one workshop this summer- bookmaking and encaustic. Well, actually three, come to think of it, because I will be covering mixed media techniques and incorporating those into your encaustic practice.

As readers of my blog, you all know that I have been creating handbound journals for many years. But my love of making books, goes beyond binding blank journals, it goes into the book art forum.

Milagro
a flag book I created of my xrays
2005

What is book art? Book art is works of art in the form of the book. Simple as that. But when you think of the book as a medium of visual expression, well, that opens of a whole world of visual exploration! Book art is the artist's interpretation of a "book". What I love about book art is the interaction between the artist and the audience. A book is not just meant to be looked it, but opened, touched, perused. So form invites exploration, while concept also engages. My first ever exhibit I was in was a book art show in Seattle, that included two of my pieces. I have been experiementing with book art forms since high school when my ceramics teacher, an exhibiting book artist, took me under her wing and introduced me to this fascinating art form.

Sheltered
mixed media book, includes pigmented beeswax
2005
published in L.K. Ludwig's True Vision: Authentic Art Journaling, 2008

It was only a natural progression that I would start exploring marrying encaustic with books. I am excited to be sharing my process at Encausticamp this summer in the workshop entitled "A Book of Images and Wax".

In this workshop we will go over incorporating photographs with encaustic with either collage or transfer techniques. We will create these on boards which we will bind in an accordian type of binding. I will also go over using paper with encaustic, one of my favorite things to do, and incorporating those creations into our book of wax and images.

If that sounds like fun to you, then head on over to Encausticamp to register for 3 days and 4 nights crammed with all things beeswax. This is a retreat that is for all levels and beginners in encaustic will feel at home here too. I think that people are often intimidated about starting to paint in encaustic, so this is a wonderful way to venture into painting and creating with wax.

a little sample book I made of encaustic pages coptic bound

2011-04-04T13:42:00.001-07:00

EncaustiCamp preview! patricia baldwin seggebruch

I feel like I need to start this blog with a big, 'it's just me!'
It's just me:

It's just me.
Having fun.
Fitting into this thing called life.
Playing with my passions and making them work!
Stitching up torn edges and frayed seams.
Daring to stand on the edge: and take the leap.
Committed to staying in my committments.
It's just me.
A lucky, lucky, LUCKY girl humbled by the fact that others want to come have fun; figure out this life; play; stitch; dare; commit; alongside me.
It's just me. Come on! Let's do it~
Foundations in Encaustic: EncaustiCamp 2011
Everything deliciously 'no way' becomes 'why not' and ends up here as a 'look at what we can do!' Join me to indulge and explore. From plaster to tar; wood icing to panpastel; propane torch to shellac...yes, it's all that good :)
in love. trish
Join Trish and five other instructors and six passionate assistants this summer at EncaustiCamp 2011. Three days and four nights of all things beeswaxy and beautiful~July 13-July 17. www.encausticamp.com

2011-04-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

Encausticamp Spotlight: Michelle Belto!

Over the next few weeks I will be hosting a "guest blogger" series which will spotlight each of the EncaustiCamp Instructors and assistants. I couldn't be more excited about this event and I hope that you will be joining us!

Today's spotlight is on Michelle Belto. Michelle has developed her own luscious technique and I have to admit, there is a big part of me that wishes I weren't teaching at EncaustiCamp so I would be free to take Michelles workshop!

Here she is to talk about it~

All Roads Lead to Forever by Michelle Belto

18”X18”

Encaustic, Tar, Torch on Handmade Paper

"When I got married, I didn’t know the first thing about cooking. Unfortunately, my new husband liked to eat…and eat often! Thinking that it would be something easy, he informed me that his favorite side dish was mashed potatoes and that “it would go with everything.” What he didn’t realize was that even the lowly mashed potato was beyond the level of my expertise. I remember calling up my mom with a raw potato in my hand and asking the question: How do you get from here to there?

I often get asked that question about my work. How did you get there? For those who will be attending the first ever Encausticamp in [outside of] Portland this summer, you will get there yourself! Beating cotton and rag into a giant slushy pulp and then reforming it into something wonderful is addicting. What’s more making your own supports will open the door to endless new ways to explore mixed media work, sculpture, and, of course, encaustic painting.

Here is a visual overview of the process that you will learn when you come to camp:

Participants will first learn how to make pulp from ordinary recycled materials. We will use the pulp in a pour-mold (1) which will allow us to add cool things like glitter and cut up newspaper or embed threads or botanicals. Our form, created from foam core and other materials, will be embedded in the pulp. This will make the support stable enough to take the wax. (2)The next step is to remove the water by pressing. One of my students is hand-pressing the pulp. See she is smiling! It is fun! (3) The final step is to allow the form to dry…and voila! You have just created your one-of-a-kind support."

Michelle will then teach the students to use the support to create their own encaustic masterpiece. Thanks Michelle! Who would have thought you could learn so much in one day of camp? Can't wait to see what else is in store!

I am honored to be an assistant in Michelle's workshop! I hope you'll join us.

Book of Bits

2011-03-06T22:01:00.000-08:00

A Sneak Peak of a Few Pages

A Peak into the Studio

2011-03-02T22:31:00.000-08:00

This last picture is a view from the doorway. I moved into this room last April. I tend to change things around often. The cupboards are a recent gift. Some from my Dad and some from my husband. The hollow core door painting is a project I have been working on for my son for about seven months. You can see the back of the hollow core door in picture number three. I would love to see your place to create. Please leave a comment with a link to your studio pictures.

Sue

First Things First

2011-02-28T15:33:00.000-08:00

Planned a great week in the studio!! All kinds of idea's floating around in my head. The plan....go in...and do! Just create, quickly. No second thoughts. No spending tons of time trying to get it just right. Plenty of canvas to just put it down and move on. First though...finish what you've started. Hmm...this could take some time.

So begin, I did. Now if you know me, you know I like the color orange.


My Orange Chair


My Orange Lockers


Orange Wall


Orange Bag

My artwork also has a lot of orange...so I decided to try and stay away from it for awhile. Maybe just add a bit here and there. As they say in texting world - LOL. Here's how my studio day has gone so far..............


Spilled bottle of orange ink!

Which leads to making orange "papers" for collage!! The ink did spill on the piece above which makes me very thankful for baby wipes. Now for those orange finger nails. Hmmm........

2007-01-26T07:30:00.000-08:00

I've moved my blog. I can now be found at http://www.earthtonestudios.typepad.com Thank you!!

Finding my way around...

2007-01-19T21:50:00.000-08:00

I am new to blogging and still trying to find my way around. I have a blog on typepad also. I'm not sure which one will be best for me. I am a self taught artist. Most of my work has been gifts for family and friends. I enjoy all kinds of mixed media work. I love to work with found objects and lately I have been incorporating pictures into my work.

Because I am self taught, I'm really not sure what "something" is "suppose" to look like. I find when I can touch and feel another piece of work it helps me to see what the texture and finished piece is. Now heres a good question. Am I a budding artist or a crafter? Oh boy!! Some say artist and some say crafter. Does it really matter? Actually, to be honest....I have always been a frustrated creative type. My creativity would come out in decorating my home. You know, changing the furniture...often! Whenever I went into a craft store, I would leave empty handed and extremely frustrated. Where do I start? How do they do that?

Then one afternoon a friend of mine brought over her rubber stamps to make Mother's Day cards with my children. I was a home school mom and I thought this would be a great project for "them". I was hooked!! Grabbed! I actually made something. It reminded me of fourth grade when we did some kind of art and my page made me smile, happy and excited. Then I remembered how the teacher didn't pick my project to be displayed.

Once I made the card and saw that I could make something, like I said, I was hooked. I bought stamps, paper and ink. Then, back to the doubt and feelings of not measuring up, I spent the next few years "playing" and wondering why I couldn't make cool stuff like others? Now that a few years have passed and I have realized that it's not about me! It's about the process. The way it makes me feel. The therapy as my husband calls it.

I now have a wonderful studio. It is stocked rather well thank you to yard sales and family and friends who keep me stocked. I am still learning and having fun and yes, I still have times of total frustration. I have been very blessed with a super supportive husband and family. My mom collects the coolest stuff for me. That is a great blessing. I have many local friends whom I love very much. We get together when we can to "play". I have also met some great artist on the internet.

I'm looking forward to growing, learning, playing and participating. I know there are blogs out there with challenges. I'd like to get involved. Be challenged and to have the courage to get involved and show my work. Isn't it funny...writing to n where about some of my inner most feelings.

Well, thanks for "listening". I'd really like to add your link to my blog so please leave a comment with your blog address. Thanks for stopping by.....

Freedom

2006-11-24T17:04:00.000-08:00

Freedom
This fabric collage is adorned with glass beads, art wire, buttons and more.