Contradiction?

Last week’s assignment from The Artist’s Way included writing and hanging this mantra:

 

So is the mantra a contradiction to this:

Matthew 16:24-26 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (25) For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. (26) For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

What do you think? What does it mean to deny oneself in this context? Especially you, Amber (who is also working through this book), what do you think?

I have an opinion and will share it in a few days, but I wondered what other reactions there might be.

amanda ∞
 

They Touched My Heart

My sweet family gave me such touching gifts for Mother’s Day, I just had to share.

From my daughter, a beautiful letter in Latin, and a soldered ring with my favorite dog’s name, Daisy:

From my son, a special coupon that will keep giving throughout the year. MRSs are My son’s Room Service:

From my husband, this quirky card along with 3 tickets to Sigur Ros on June 12:

amanda ∞

 

How Charming

Remember that Sept. 1948 issue of Calling All Girls magazine? My husband had the wonderful idea to make a charm from its cover. Here is is front and back. The image of the man is also from the magazine. I added the word HERS beside his face. I’ll be making more of these with different color marbles on each charm. This one is listed in my Etsy shop. The rest should be ready next week.

I love working with old things, especially magazines, catalogs, and photos. They have such a story to tell. The way that women thought, or the interests they pursued appear to be so different in 1948 if I look only at this magazine. Some things haven’t changed, such as the media directing the interests of the masses.

amanda ∞

Son of a gun

My dad’s birthday is next week. I’m hoping he doesn’t read my blog before then because this is his gift. The photo is him as a boy. I collaged a 1940 Hunting and Fishing magazine ad page onto an old dictionary cover, 6.25″ X 8.75″. The silver strips are soldered. I was a little nervous that I would burn up the paper with the solder iron, but it worked great. The finishing touch will be adding wire on the back to hang it.

This piece also fits into the Mixed Media Monday theme of Paint, since I painted the paper and around the photo using acrylics.

amanda ∞

Quirky things

Sheri shared some fun odd quirky things about herself, and has tagged me to share as well.

1.)  I always carry books with me where ever I go, just in case. Although I seldom have the opportunity to read while on the go, the moment I leave them behind, I regret it.

2.)  I don’t like holes in things. Once we were served a stuffed pizza with holes on the top to let out steam. I couldn’t eat it. 

3.)  When I go out, I have to have something on my lips. I may not wear any other makeup, but feel naked with a little gloss or something.

4.)  I always let too much time go between haircuts. I don’t make the appointment until my scraggly stage. When will I ever learn?

5.)  I hum, whistle, or sing all the time. It is very hard for me to be quiet. I got in trouble alot in school because of this.

6.)  I love to roam around in my pajamas for half the morning. I don’t always get to, but it’s my preference.

Here are the rules:

* Link the person who tagged you

* Mention the rules in your blog

* Tell about six unspectacular quirks of yours

* Tag six following bloggers by linking them

* Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged

And now for the taggees:

Earthen Vessel

Always a Work in Progress

Red Tin Heart

Subtly Catty

Dewa Sono Uchi Ni

WhoTube

And my own rule for all tags is that you are never obligated to play.

amanda ∞

the Right Side of My Brain

I’ve desired to know how to draw for years. After several tries with “learn to draw or sketch” books with instructions and suggestions, I’ve finally decided that The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain was worth the time investment it would take to read. It is more than a “learn to draw” book, but rather a “learn to see” book as it delves into the functions of the left and right sides of the brain. Combine this with the Artist’s Way and I have a fresh perspective on the walls I’ve built around creativity.

According to Julia Cameron, author of The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain:

The left hemisphere [of the brain] analyzes, abstracts, counts, marks time, plans stop-by-stop procedures, verbalizes, and makes rational statements based on logic.

Using the right hemisphere, we understand metaphors, we dream, we create new combinations of ideas. When something is too complex to describe, we can make gestures that communicate…and we are able to draw pictures of our perceptions.

Her book has many more examples of L-mode (left hemisphere mode) and R-mode characteristics. I absorbed them all eagerly, fascinated. All the while a thought was making its way to the surface:

I have been taught somewhere along the way that R-mode is bad and L-mode is good.

Now I understand why I loved playing the piano. I knew the keyboard well and would switch to R-mode as I played. I felt free and alive, but I never felt comfortable playing the piano in front of others. Somewhere along the line, I also learned that revealing one’s soul was bad and that is what I did in R-mode. No wonder it has taken me this long in life to let go and truly express myself. I was putting my soul under the guillotine every time I left L-mode.

I entered college with a piano scholarship. As part of the scholarship, I received money and also piano lessons from an excellent instructor. The catch was that I had to accompany vocal soloists to receive the scholarship. I made it through two semesters and then caved because of the pressure of having to play in front of others. But my piano instructor was so unbelievably fabulous. I could play in front of him. He introduced me to some of my favorite music and taught me so much. After the scholarship ended, so did my piano playing. I was 18.

Back to L-mode, this is the mode in which I have learned to function. Something deep within me kept turning me towards the creative, but every time I would get slightly involved, my L-mode self would tell my R-mode self that I didn’t have time to do those unimportant things, like learning to draw. And my R-mode was still was extremely self-conscious. 

As I began down the path with my altered hymnal, something inside me awakened. Still the only time I would allow myself to work on the pages was when I was alone. (Being a homeschool mom with a self-employed husband does not allow for much alone time.) The more I worked on the book, the more I wanted to learn. With the more I learned and experienced, the more I felt that this is what I was supposed to be doing. And then my L-mode would kick me in the pants and tell me that I was wasting time again.

The combination of these two books have given me a creative freedom that is also allowing me to be fully who God created me to be. I no longer view the creative mode as a “treat” that I might get at the end of the day - if I have time and am not too tired. My right hemisphere is rejoicing as I allow it freedom to roam almost all day. I am once again reminded of the childhood me that always thought of herself in 3rd person. My life was a story that was being continually played out. I was narrator and also the main character, She.

Some side affects of this freedom include a little messier house, and a lost concept of time. My stomach is the only clock left. Okay, also the coffee alarm. The difficult part is breaking bad habits and finding that delicate balance between creative freedom and irresponsibility. I am also learning to allow the kids more creative freedom in their school day. School can take longer this way, but is much more enjoyable along the way. In this I am also still finding balance.

And now, because I am practicing and learning to let go of all fears, I’m revealing my first self portrait and my hand. These were to be done with no instruction yet as to how to draw. After I work my way through the entire book, I am going to post a comparison self portrait. I’m hoping by then to conquer that dang nose.
  

At this point, I would appreciate no comments about my drawing, even if they are encouraging. Thank you.

amanda ∞

Someone’s life is in a box

My neighbor had purchased a scrapbook at an estate sale. It has now found a home in our dining room. The dates of the contents stretch from the 1940s to 1960s. The scrapbook has fallen to pieces and now fills a large box with mementos from someone else’s life, her children, her relatives, scrapes & bruises, awards, letters from teachers, get-well cards. As we piece through this woman’s life, we find joy and peace. I like this scrapbook. Since I don’t recognize the faces and have only clues to the stories, I get to make up my own, to dream of the stories each picture or card holds. Can’t wait to use them in my art!

amanda ∞

Where’s My Pants redo

Yesterday, we got a great chuckle out of Suzan’s artwork over at Thrify Collage Artist, so much so that my son made his own version:

You should walk a mile in someone else’s pants,
’cause then you will be a mile away.
And you will have their pants.

amanda ∞
 

Les Miserable on ?Contentment?

Another favorite passage from Les Miserables:

Jean Valjean  Book First XVI: “There are people who ask nothing more; living beings who, having blue sky, say: “it is enough!” dreamers absorbed in marvel, drawing from idolatry of nature an indifference to good and evil, contemplators of the cosmos radiantly diverted from man, who do not understand how anybody can busy himself with the hunger of these, with the thirst of those, with the nakedness of the poor in winter, with the lymphatic curvature of a little backbone, with the pallet, with the garret, with the dungeon, and with the rags of shivering little girls, when he might dream under the trees; peaceful and terrible souls, pitilessly content.”

I find this passage even more intriguing after delving into Contentment myself. Biblical contentment is being satisfied with one’s state of being no matter what. It is, in a sense, being grateful, no matter the circumstances. The people described in the passage above are seemingly content. Victor Hugo describes them as “pitilessly content.” They have no compassion, so lulled with their own dreams and the beauty of nature.

Pondering why this passage struck me so, I think it’s from the fear that I would become such a person, so content with the happiness of my family and the ease of my life that I would forget the needs of others. God has created me in such a way that my heart grieves for those in need. And we have chosen to live in a part of our city that is not white-washed and beautiful. The need of mankind is evident here. But occasionally I do forget, or ignore the needs, so that I can just simply be. In this state, I have never found true contentment, but often depression as the my heart responds to the the cries of the people even when my mind does not.

amanda ∞

Contentment

This page in my altered hymnal has a theme of contentment prompted by the latest challenge at Salt.

The words around the edge read: Paul says “for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, to be content.” I desire to be this way all the time, but sometimes contentment eludes me. Then I find it again.

Also the imagery is related to Matthew 6:26: Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

This verse is a great reminder to me that God will take care of my needs, and my response should be contentment and gratefulness for this care, not worry or greed.

amanda ∞

Trees

I’m still not reading and still not enjoying not reading. I’m curious when I get done with this assignment if I will appreciate something about it. I have been busy though. Today I soldered a bit more. Here’s the result:

I painted the trees on Scripture and then gave them a blue glaze to tone down the printing. The back of the charm is painted with an ochre glaze with a small green border. I thought the word Grow was a perfect complement as trees are such a beautiful picture of man in the Bible. And I personally desire to Grow spiritually.

And exciting news for my daughter. She sold her first item in her Etsy Shop today. It was her favorite charm she has made.

amanda ∞
 

Light Box

So I recently opened my own Etsy shop. In order to do this, I had to photograph my rings.

After viewing the photos on my Etsy shop, my husband went to his shop and quickly made me a Light Box covered in silk and gave me some instructions on taking photos.

So today, I tried again. The silk filters the sun nicely. I feel another skill is to be learned. This will be fun.

 amanda ∞

Redeeming the time

I’ve been working through the book, The Artist’s Way, these past few weeks. I highly recommend it for growth in any creative area of life. Each week there are new assignments to enable one to strip away the barriers from creative thinking and doing. This week I am practicing “reading deprivation.” I am not reading anything except the Bible and my assignments from The Artist’s Way. I’ve also chosen not to watch television. The point of the exercise is to allow one to listen to one’s own words, rather than continually absorbing the words of others.

My first day of reading deprivation was a bit unnerving. I kept sitting in front of the computer gazing at it longingly, or wandering around aimlessly with no purpose. I’m settling into it though, and am enjoying fewer distractions. I find myself actually drawn to the sewing machine after much time away, and I’ve soldered some really fun rings. But I do find myself wondering what is going on in your worlds. I miss reading blogs.

Prior week’s assignments in The Artist’s Way have also revealed a great error in my thinking. I am so glad to be set free of this thinking. A burden I didn’t even realize I was carrying has been lifted. This burden was my skewed view of “wasting time.”

Almost a decade ago, my Savior grabbed my heart and changed my world dramatically. I didn’t really know how to be a Christian, so I did much reading about what a Christian woman, marriage, mother, wife, etc. should be like. Then I set out to be like that. In all these very helpful books, I was taught that I must be busy doing something productive all the time or I was not utilizing my time in a way honoring to God. And if I was doing anything other than serving others, I was being selfish. Believing this way of thinking was conterproductive to allowing myself time to be an artist.

I am creative. I amazingly identify myself as an artist now. If God created me this way and gave me such awesome ideas and visions to express and such delight in being creative, why would I be dishonoring Him by spending my time doing such? My art, like my life, reflects my relationship with God. How would He not be glorified in my artistic endeavors? And if my highly creative children seldom see me doing anything but the practical, yet I encourage them to develop the gifts that God has given them, which will they do as adults?

Liberty. No more guilt. No more procrastination. I am free to be the creative individual that God created me to be. I am not selfish for not spending all my time serving my family. Rather I do a disservice to them by not being wholly who God created me to be. I still value the wealth of information in those “how to be a Christian” books. They did teach me to become more organized and manage my time more wisely. I learned a great deal about child training, and how to better meet my husband’s needs. But I became a cookie cutter Christian. In my home I became a Martha, when there was a Mary in me trying to express herself. I would allow Mary very little time to reflect or be still, to sit at the feet of Jesus and soak in His Presence, to hear His Words, and then to act on that moment through creative expression. Welcome home, Mary.

amanda ∞

Prayer Chain for Mica

This request is from Patti at Treasure Barn:

Please help me start a prayer chain for my daughter in law Mica at Folk Art Dolls by Mica Garbarino.As most of you know she had a birthday last Saturday but was ill and could not enjoy the day. She had an ear infection and was seen by the ER doctors and they said she had an inner ear infection, gave her oral antibiotics and sent her home.I spoke with Mica on Monday and she said she was not any better and the pain was unbearable! I spoke with her again this evening and she is no better . She is still in a lot of pain and her face and ear are badly swollen.She saw her family doctor today and he said that she does not have an inner ear infection but an outer ear infection which by the way is much worse. He gave her the strongest pain medication that they have without admitting her to the hospital and they also gave her a stronger antibiotic intravenously. She is seriously ill. If she does not respond to the medication within two days she will be admitted to the hospital for further evaluation and treatment. She may even have to have surgery. The main concern is that it may spread to her brain. I am asking for all of your prayers for Mica. Your prayers have helped many situations in the past and we need them now for Mica. Thank You and God Bless

Sharing, but not the germs

I’m still not well, not well at all. I have blogged some lovely posts in my head, but have not the energy to type them out. But I’d thought I’d share a couple favorite blog entries that I’ve read lately. Enjoy.

Amusing me some more

the moleskine song and other journaling goodness

amanda ∞