Creative Fires Studio

I can't find my lipstick...

 

I can't find my lipstick...

 

I've always had conflicted feelings about how I look.
How much I weigh, how my hair is, etc..
I never wanted anyone to know I was fussed about it, but secretly I was.

And like many of us, I learned to fake it on the outside, when I felt like crap on the inside. Something I got so good at, I lost touch. 

 

Courtesy of 1000 Artworks to see before you die...read more here.

Self portraits grab me. Painting them teaches me.

I'm captivated by the look in those eyes.
Something quite intense happens in the eyes of a self portrait.

A longing for connection, to be seen.

The artist is looking so intensely at us, outward it seems.

An illusion, because what the artist is really looking at
is a reflection, intensely inward.

This play with the inside and outside self captivates as
we recognize the game.

 

There is also an element of intimacy as we look into the eyes.
Are we seeing the artist's soul?

All the while, we are aware that self portraiture is also performance.
What is the artist hiding or exaggerating? 

 

I found myself reaching for the lipstick before taking photos today.  
Something, I rarely do. Unless I am going out. 

I see my face aging and know I can't stop time's dutiful march.
I don't really want to. I like the grey, I like the wrinkles. 

Yet I do feel a little loss when I think of the years that I could not look myself
lovingly in the eye when I was younger.

 I am learning to now though, through the art of self portraiture. 

 

 

Love for poetry

Valentines Day...

A day where many people cherish passionate and romantic connections...
while others feel even more isolated.

Thinking of this, I wondered what passionate or romantic connections do I have outside my relationships - inside myself?

 

Poetry

 

Poetry is the place I go for rest, restoration, reflection. To look for answers. To find I am not alone. To find passion and longing. To find depth and humanity. To find humility and humor. To SEE myself.

In school, poetry was stupid. Riddles. Metaphor didn't seep in too deep back then. Today I realize what was really going on.

 I was scared of  feeling stupid, of looking stupid, of not getting it.

So I dismissed it.

A defense mechanism I am much more aware of today!

A few years ago, a wonderful teacher re-introduced me to poetry. The focus of the class was to wallow in the images poetry brought forth,
rather than make a grade with analysis or critique.

No pressure to UNDERSTAND the poem - my imagination was set free!
Intellect took a coffee break. Bliss! 

 

   

 

I invite you to step into poetry, to play with it. Take a poem that confounds you, or that you love and using WORDLE create a word cloud like the one I created

based on several of Rumi's love poems. 

 

Passion catches you. You are drawn to it, but you are also caught by it.

It can free you, and it can shackle you.

For me, the poet Rumi captures this tension beautifully - and so does this word cloud! And there is tension - the tension between following what you love and obligations in the outside world.

Right now my daughter is starving on the sofa, 
near death I believe (she's a teen) - as I follow my need to create this blog! I need to be attentive to my creative passion, she needs to get off the sofa and make something herself. Tension. : )

 

What do you love? What inner passions call to you?

What tensions arise when you follow them?

 

Here's another way you can play with what you love!

Sharing ART JOURNAL LOVE!

 

Connie at Dirty Footprints Studio is always up to something!

Celebrating with her, are some amazing artists who've donated all kinds of prizes - from art work, to journals to workshops!

To celebrate with her

I've donated a pack of ephemera LOVE that you can win!

Ahuh...the Swiss Sweet Heart Pack! Full of vintage originals and chocolate!

Click on the ART Journal Love Button

to find out how to play along!

Decaffeinated...

 
Really dipped into my journal today. Reveal, conceal, uncover, discover.

Sometimes painful, always a lesson in awe. Creating restores me.

Things have been a bit hectic - this is my wish.

Presence. 

Where I feel at ease, quiet, decaffeinated. 

Casting that wish artfully, soothes me.

The colors inspire me. Presence arrives.

I can see more clearly.

And I don't

want to "chuck a wobbly" quite so bad

any more ( for today).

 

Deep thoughts...

 

Dookie and I were hitting the books this afternoon. 

You can see what happens to Dookie when he reads too much.

Duke, as he is more formally known (only in his dreams)

is what the Swiss here would call a Lebenskünstler

which means in English

a master of the art of living

(at the moment he is the master of sun spot napping)

 

Imagine 

making art with your life

as your medium

 

Danny Gregory writes in his book Creative Licence (the one Dookie is napping with)

"We are in the middle of an enormous renaissance of creativity. Look around you. People are taking digital pictures. They're recording they're own songs. They're shooting, editing, scoring movies. They're scanning artwork. They're writing essays. They're sharing stories and recipes and patterns and ideas. They're supporting each other, inspiring each other, feeding and cheering and promoting each other."

 

I felt a jolt of excitement when I read this. Creativity is essential to me. Access and expression of my creativity keeps me healthy and happy.

The sun was shining and all this got to me

and a wave of hope for humanity took me for a ride. 

Sure, there's the dark side to the internet.

But the sense of community, inspiration, sharing of experience and support amongst artists online has inspired me, taught me, given me access to friendships, ideas, techniques, skills and materials  I would not have had only a few years ago.

And because of it...there are ripples in my life away from the computer.

 

I am making art with a community of artists.

I bring these experiences into my daily life

 As a stronger sense of my own resources and strengths

With slightly more patience and flexibility (no point in exagerating)

as I LOVE what I do.

I share what I learn with those who come to paint with me in my studio. 

I share my studio with my daughter.

 

I feel closer to making art with my life.

 

How has the internet influenced your creativity? 

 

When did I start to look like my dog...he's 10 now.

I know when he was a puppy, there was no resemblence...