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I think I’ll never say too much how my BIG experience is affecting who I am. I am no longer affraid to say that yes, is some way or another, I am an artist.

And I realize that you don’t have to sell artwork that worth billions of money to BE an artist. Even people who don’t paint, or draw, or sculpt, are artists.

Click to enlarge

A few weeks ago, Connie shared a moving text where she declared her artist self. And each of us did the same afterwards. I read so many beautiful statements that tears fell off of my eyes many times.

I wanted more than words, something I can look at when the Gremlins attack and cast doubt about it.

I took a big poster board and just started to create. I had no idea what it’ll be. I just knew I had to do it. So it’s not pretty. It’s not the most beautiful artwork I’ve created. But I like it. Because I am not perfect.

And you know what ? I recorded it, i always keep somewhere in my head what Kerri told me once: “always record, you can always erase if you don’t like it” 😉 Very good advice, isn’t it !

It says:

My Artist Statement.
I am an artist because I say so
I am an artist because I create my life everyday
I am an artist because I feel I am my self whith paint on my hands
I am an artist because I collect art supply instead of shoes
I am an artist because I am BIG & FEARLESS
I am an artist because when I see skies, I imagine them on canvas
I am an artist because I’m proud to keep (tons of) diaries
I am an artist because it flows in my veins
I am an artist because I fill my walls with MY canvases

Of course, this list can go on and on.

I’m sorry, I had some issues while editing the video, it’s not the best quality but I really wanted to share it with you 🙂 Here it is:

PS: there is still room for you in the next tribe of BIG, so have a look, if you want to experience something you’d never imagine so juicy and so life-changing. No need to be an experienced painter to join. Read more about it here.

Sometimes, when you discover a workshop (online or in real life), something starts stirring inside of you, and a voice is screaming in your head, telling you “this is your time, NOW, sign up !“. Of course, Gremlins are never that far aways “And where will you find the money to pay this class ? you don’t earn any penny ! you are a family of four, you’d better buy food than spending dozens of dollars in this kind of stuff, don’t you think ?”

That’s exactly what happened to me when I read Kelly Rae Roberts‘ blogpost announcing the launch of her eclass.

I knew Kelly Rae first thanks to her book, Taking Flight, that is a “must have” in the mixed media world. I bought it when we arrived in Vancouver, if I remember well it’s the first book in the subject I bought. Inside, she explains her Journey in the creative world, and gives some tutorials; I really like it and still flip through it now and then.

I follow her blog, and am always glad to witness how she expands her business and her life.

She listened to her Inner Voice and created a jam packed eclass. Not a class about painting, about creating pretty faces as we would have expected, but a class sharing all her top secrets about creating a successful creative business. 5 weeks, each one focused on a precise subject. This was  A GIGANORMOUS amount of precious informations. She interviewed people in different creative areas that gave us their own input. This was just fabulous.
A huge tribe gathered around her, and everyone shared personal experiences, helpful tips and tricks, it was just exactly what I needed and it was well spent money. An investment in my future. The step I needed to take to finally learn and go further.

And since I took this class, everything is changing around me. I’m less affraid of buying my artwork. I am meeting amazing people. Building strong relationships because I finally accept that yes, I am an artist and yes what i create is liked by some.

I have a passage of Gene Simmons (you know, one of the KISS member) tv show in mind, a sentence my husband always repeats to me when doubts come around: “whatever you have to offer, there will ALWAYS be someone to buy it“. And if you take time to think about it, it’s true.

I am putting my Heart and Soul in this business I am creating for you. I really hope it will work, and if it doesn’t, at least I’ll have no regret because I’d have tried.

Kelly Rae is becoming a mama and doesn’t know if she’ll run this workshop again. That’s why she created ebooks from it. Each week is an ebook, that you can buy seperately if you don’t think you need everything, but you can also buy what she calls The Whole Shabang that regroups EVERYTHING (and costs cheaper than if you buy each ebook separately).
The ebooks are more than beautiful and you’ll so be able to have all the infos handy when needed, to read it again and again and again.

Click here to learn more

I needed some time to digest all this and that’s why I only write this now, despite the workshop ended ages ago. I won’t lie: it was sometimes overwhelming. And the ebook format is very handful because you don’t have the pressure of understanding everything in a short amount of time: take all the time you need to read, do you own researches, make it your own… and then, you just have to spread your wings and soar.

PS: click on the image to be redirected on Kelly Rae Roberts’ page. You’ll learn more about it. I promise you won’t regret to spend some money on this, think as I do: it’s an investment in your future 🙂
PPS: yes, it is an affiliate link, that means I earn a little money when people buy an ebook via the link on my blog.

That’s right, I’m a murderer… I am holding back tears.

I should have known today was not the good day to re-bind my Art Journal as the ernergy around me was not the same as usual. But i’m stubborn and wanted to finally reinforce my journal that was falling apart.

When I started Creative Journaling two years ago, I simply bought a pack of paper that are a little bit stronger than regular printer paper, and went to a small store in downtown Toulouse to bind it. So until today, it was bound thanks to a plastic thing, with a clear “plastic” transparent sheet as front and back covers.
But as I was filling it, it became heavier and thicker, so it was more and more fragile; so what was meant to happen happened a few weeks ago: the back cover fell off completely !

Since I have a bind-it-all machine and the holes look the same, I thought “no problem, I’ll rebind it with my bind-it-all, it’ll just take a few minutes”.

PFFFFFF ! it does not fit… the pages curl when I put the wire in it, it means the spaces are not the same.

So now, all my pages (about 100 something pages !!!!!!) are “free”, nothing is binding them together anymore. And I realized that a lot of pages have several holes that are nearly torn.

Currently, it looks like this:

As this journal is a reflection of my Journey, the order of the pages is kind of important to me.

I thought… maybe I can use ribbons in some of the holes ? but I won’t be able to turn the pages easily.
Or maybe some Rings ?

I’m holding back tears, trying to think “you’ll find a way to fix this mess you did”, but this journal is so precious to my heart that I could slap myself 🙁

Any suggestion is welcome, I am sure it’s not as bad as I think it is. Right ?

By the 4 winds is a project I do with other women in our Journals. One subject, several points of view. If you want to know more about it, go there.

This week (note: this blogpost should have been fully published on July 13rd, I update it today on August 12th), I wasn’t inspired at all, and as my mum was with us for a last week together I didn’t take time to think and create for this week theme, that was “OBSTACLES”.
The majority of my peeps are in vacation right now, only one did her “homework”: thank you Sofiah !

Look at what Sofiah created:

Click to enlarge

Journaling about Obstacles is tough. Some words came but images didn’t.
When I was in front of my blank page, I realized that the best way to go through an obstacle is to fully Trust. Trust Life, trust the process, Trust the fact that nothing is impossible.
The Universe puts on our way only obstacles we can overcome. It can take some more or less long time to succeed, but we can if we never give up.

I recorded while I was doing this page. I hope you’ll enjoy watching it.
I’m appreciating going out of my comfort zone in terms of colours. And I am currently in love with this combo of yellow+red+greenish blue ! I use it over and over again. Until the next colour combo I’ll fall in love with 😉

I tried to use light modeling paste as a base for texture (you know how much I love texture) instead of gesso, but I’m not fond of it; I don’t really know why. But I have a huge jar of it, so I better gotta find how to use AND like it ! What do you do with it (as it’s too light for using with stencils for example) ?

Here is a close-up on the heart:

And here is the new Art Journal Video I made (yes, i am really enjoying making and sharing these videos with you ! You can click on it to see it directly on YouTube if you want):

You felt inspired by this journal theme and created about it ? Enter your NAME and URL below so we can see what you did:
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You know how much Connie‘s BIG workshop means a lot to me.
I am so happy that I followed my gut feeling and signed up for Connie’s Workshop.
I warn you: this post may be cheesy, but I don’t care because it is how I feel about it. And I think I might share it with you.

When I signed up, I had in mind “you’ll learn how to get rid of your fears and how to just enjoy the painting process“. I was right. But it is SO much MORE than this.

Connie knows how to explain things clearly; I sensed the teacher side in her (and I can tell that every kiddos she taught too was very lucky to have an art teacher like her in their life).

Each week, there is a specific theme, something to work on, assignments, exercices, creative juice flowing, discussions, sharing, dreaming, tears sometimes, but a lot of joy; and each week we celebrate what we experienced and encourage the others. I speak for myself but I think my Tribe mates would agree: it’s a life changing experience.

It’s not only about painting. Trust me, it’s so much more than this.

I know I am not the same I was six weeks ago.
For example, during these siw weeks, I began recording my art making process and sharing it with you, I started painting on big sheets of paper and enjoy it, I am taking huge steps in my artist life I was affraid of six weeks ago.

This was exactly what I needed, and I feel so blessed to be part of this first tribe of BIG & FEARLESS painters. I met lovely Souls there, and I really hope that someday we’ll all meet in the desert for a few days, gathered around a huge fire…

Look at this amazing video Connie made, featuring each of us in a way or another. Meet them, see how BIG they went. I’m so proud of them, of me, of Connie.

If you feel your heart calling, don’t overthink and sign up. NOW! 😉 It’s there: BIG is back !