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«Out of the Journal» weeks #1 & #2

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Hello !

Todaym I am participating to the new project from Samantha and Dina: create two canvases a week. If possible 82×102 or more. I combine this with our 52 paintings done in 52 weeks. Here is Sam’s blogpost for more clarity: right there.

2011 seems to be a really prolific year here in Inner Voices. Which bring a good, very very good feeling in my heart. And now that I am more confident regarding the fact of selling my original paintings, pleasure is even bigger, knowing that it will speak to someone who will be loving having the painting home.

I could not blog about the first week, so I do week #1 and #2 in the same post. Here is week #1, with only one painting (my work week was shorten to 3 days because of our vacation in the US):

«Our World» 14"x18"

It’s been quite a long time since I painted on bigger canvas, this one is 14″x18″; because of practical shipping reasons, I mostly paint on 8×10 or 9×12 canvas board. And thanks to Connie from Dirty Footprints Studio, I LOVE to paint big…

I really like how she turned out.

And now, here are the 3 (gloops) of this week:

«Open Up»

I am so over the moon to be able to express what happens inside of me onto a painting. Even if people do not necessarily get it, or not as I feel it. The mouth located in her throat is something powerful to me.
I don’t usually use 3D elements but I had fun painting this paper flowers with Lindy Stamp Gang’s product (there are two-toned flowers thanks to it) and add it in her hair. This is this je ne sais quoi that makes all the difference.

«Proudly Born This Way»

The words on this one are missing. And I really don’t like her eyes… but I am affraid to make it worse by wanting to fix it.

«I Dwell In Possibilities»

I just adoooooooooore this painting and its little imperfections. Inspired by the famous Davy Jones in «Pirates of the Caribbeans». This is in these moments that I appreciate having the sketchbook nearby with a pain (in this case, this time was in bed, with the sketchbook on my night table !). These movies are visually jam packed with inspiration, just amazing ! I wish I’d know how to draw…

Gratitude Friday 08/12/2011, inspiration strikes.

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Gratitude Friday is a weekly ritual I started in order to focus on all the small and big positive things that happened during my week. I invite you to join me, you’ll see how much being thankful can change your life. If you want to know more about it, read my introduction post.

Hello !

How is it going in your part of the World ? Here, it smells back-to-school, which makes all my family happy. We are not the types to cry when school is back, but to wait for it impatiently. It always were, for both our girls (especially for Grenouille, indeed). She will be a first grader, in a new school, while Koala will be in her last year of preschool (and can’t wait to go to kindergarten !). Since I was little, my favorite thing in summer was August so we can start shopping for new school stuff, new notebooks, pens, glue, and most of all: agenda !!!

As I already told you, I attended a workshop with Teesha Moore a week ago (already) and I am still filled with inspiration it brought. Oh and don’t forget the giveaway at the end of this blogpost, you could be the lucky winner of an amazing book !

This week, I am grateful for:

  • Stretching my creativity beyond my comfort zone.
  • Trespassing the big fear of putting my original paintings in my shop. On the two I listed, one is gone. You can see it right there. Pricing it correctly and then estimating the shipping fees are now, honestly, what is holding me back. Pricing too high, not enough, asking for $30 shipping to add to the bill… it makes me wanna curl up and not do it. BUT I know my artwork can resonate with people who would love to have it theirs, so I am doing it anyway, thinking of it.
  • Sunshine
  • Our little vacation in Seattle area. We spent a day at the zoo, which was amazing by the way, shopped…
  • I met Kym and Violette, finally.
  • Ladies at the workshop seemed to have loved my MOO business cards, I gave some of them and they looked really happy.
  • I am not listening to my body telling me «i am fucking tired right now. and in pain» because i would not do anything. I do pay the price, though. But at last I get work done…
  • I can’t wait to get the new stencils by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer with The Crafter’s workshop, that the shop Clipper Street specially ordered for me. Kim, who I dealt with, is very nice.
  • More people seem to find their way toward here, makes me happy and I hope they will come back.
  • I really feel like I have something important to share with the World. I just have to find out how to get there because there are so many other people with amazingly fantastic messages as well. I just want to be seen too.
  • The dulce de leche cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. Gosh this was soooo good ! Why isn’t there a Cheesecake Factory in Vancouver ? Yes, right. because I try to manage my weight. Duh !

There is more but… just keep it short today.

A bit of eye candy until I post more properly about them:

 

Much love,

If you wrote your Gratitude Friday on your blog, don’t forget to enter your NAME and URL below so I’m notified and can come to read you (you can also join by commenting this post):
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Inspiration packed vacation in Seattle, learning from Teesha Moore (& a giveaway).

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Hello Shiny you !

I am back from our first real vacations. It was short, it was nearby, but it was really cool !

We arrived in Seattle on the Thursday, and came back home Sunday night. You won’t be interested in all the awesome things we did, but may be curious about the day I spent at the ArtFest Annex, the creative home of Teesha and Tracy Moore.

Here are some of the journals made by Tracy (click to enlarge):

I would have never thought of attending a workshop with Teesha… It seemed too big to be true. But it happened ! So this is my little sign that everything is possible…
I was kind of nervous to go, but it went so smoothly thanks to Kym (from Blissartworks) and Violette (who also came all the way from BC). Thanks ladies, it was wonderful to meet you in person, finally (click on the links to see what they both have to say about this workshop). These two women are just very fantastic. I am so happy I talked about the workshop on Twitter, where Kym found out about it. And then she enrolled Violette to sign up too 😀

The annex is located in the historical part of Seattle, called Pioneer Square. As we arrived with about 30mn to spare, we wandered around. It is a really beautiful place. With a lot of artistic creations, like sculptures etc. This is also where you can start the Underground Tour of the city. The line up was huge, even if it was pretty early in the day.

First of all, the annex is an inspiration all by itself. Filled with Tracy’s amazing journals, Teesha’s HUGE reproductions on the walls… (click to enlarge).

We were about 20-25 ladies, from all over the US and two of us from Canada. Some were already friends from JournalFest or other retreat organized by Teesha.

The workshop was a mix of creativity via art journaling and self-development thanks to the power of attraction. Teesha guided us with some exercises from the book «The amazing power of deliberate intent» by Abraham-Hicks and of course explained us her journaling process step by step. With some tidbits from her experience and her personal life.
It resonated A LOT with me. Some of the things were stuff I already do, or know.

We all created a small journal (the final size is about 5″x5″) to reflect our Intentions for our life. This was totally out of my comfort zone. Because even if I am an art journaler, I am not using collage. Not that I don’t like collage, I just never know where to find elements to use, how to create something coherent etc. I won’t say I like the journal that is coming up from this, because it doesn’t feel… me. But I so loved the vibe, learning new stuff. Maybe if I had great images to play with, I would do it more often in my own journal.

This is a work in progress, I will go back here and there.

So now… time for a little book giveaway. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY !

As i told before, Teesha used this book from Esther Hicks called «The amazing power of deliberate intent». I bought one copy while in Seattle, but already had it home (yes, I know…). But there is a reason for everything ! Maybe you, the lucky winner, were just meant to get this book to help you. It is filled with exercises and explanations. Very easy to understand.

Please, do enter the giveaway only if you are sure to want the book. To enter, leave me a comment telling me what is currently inspiring you. It can be someone, something…whatever it is 🙂

It will end on Monday August 15th, midnight Pacific time.

Gratitude Friday 08/05/2011, appreciating the gifts of The Universe

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Gratitude Friday is a weekly ritual I started in order to focus on all the small and big positive things that happened during my week. I invite you to join me, you’ll see how much being thankful can change your life. If you want to know more about it, read my introduction post.

Hello !

I have to say that the painkillers (that originally are meds for people suffering from convulsions… duh !) are helping quite a lot with the FMS pain. Not with the huge fatigue. But I can finally get some stuff done.

This week, I am thankful for:

  • The Medicine Bundles I finally received from Pixie Campbell. Not her fault, the first package she sent me back in mid-june never ever arrived to me. The Whale one is for me, she is one of my totems, the Beaver one is for my Mom.
  • The strength of my Mom; she is going through a lot of very bad stuff this week and she is the one telling me “everything is gonna be okay”.
  • The support from my Tribe Sisters and from my friend Anu.
  • My new tattoo is just way better than in my dreams.
  • The meds are helping. Dreams were gone the first 3 nights but are back, I wish they would be happier though.
  • My girls are healthy and happy.
  • My husband loves me as much as I love him. Unconditionally.
  • I pour my heart in my paintings, and people seem to connect.
  • We handpicked some berries and I made 9 jars of marmelade. I have to do strawberries. Will get us through until next summer.
  • I cooked vegetables couscous (in Europe, “couscous” does not name the cereal but a meal, originated from North Africa) and it was very yummy. Will do it again.
  • An unexpected phone call.
  • I was able to fix to of my favourite pants, with my sewing machine, myself.
  • We are spending a few days in Seattle.

If you wrote your Gratitude Friday on your blog, don’t forget to enter your NAME and URL below so I’m notified and can come to read you (you can also join by commenting this post):
[linkme]