karenika

Thank you for teaching me to slow down

This is the one of the projects I did for Pink Paislee for November.

A few weeks ago, we went to a local park/zoo as a family. It was a sunny day and the kids ran around and had fun. By the time we were ready to leave the park, I felt grouchy and tired. I just wanted to get home.

But the kids were still having fun and they took their time walking out of the place. After a few steps, I realized they were falling behind and turned around to tell them to hurry up. What I saw was my six-year-old and my two-year-old holding hands and walking from one corner to another slowly and touching each of the painted footsteps on the ground. They were laughing with so much joy that it melted away my frustration and reminded me that magic of life is in these moments.

That’s the focus of this layout.

The full title reads: Thank you for teaching me to slow down. You make life worthwhile.

And the journaling says:
On this particular day, I was tired and ready to go back home and frustrated that you two were taking so long. But then I heard all your giggles and turned around to see you were holding hands and touching each dino footprint on the ground and laughing every single time. It’s moments like this that remind me I need to slow down and appreciate life more. Thank you, my boys.

Details:

Reading with David – Homer Price

David says:
I gave this story five stars because I thought each story was interesting and funny.

I thought it was funny that Super Duper drove into a ditch and the kids had to rescue him. I also liked the part where he arrested the bad guys by making the skunk go on the bag of money. The doughnut machine not shutting down was funny too. And it ended up being lucky that the bracelet got lost in one because it gave them an idea of how to get all the donuts sold. It was so neat how the donut machine worked and how it flipped the donuts over. The one with the yarn was also funny because the lady ended up unwinding pieces of her own dress to win the competition.

My favorite part of the book is when they built all the houses and couldn’t tell them apart because the sign builder fell asleep.

Reading a book a week with my six-year-old son David is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.

Us Right Now & Weekly Update – November 26

jake
As with all of us, it was a quiet week for Jake. He went to work only Tuesday and Wednesday this week. We had a meeting with an accountant on Monday so he ended up working from home and then he was nice enough to stay around for Friday, too. He did work quite a bit, but also spent a bunch of time with the rest of us. I think the balance was just right and made this a lovely week.

karen
It was a quiet week for me, too. Last Sunday I made quite a few layouts and go ahead of my todo list. I then spent the rest of the week relaxing and trying to take it easy. Around this time of year, I make a considerable effort to slow down and think and reflect. I am now in the middle of two classes: I love drawing and She Art 2. And in a week the class I am teaching starts, as well. So, in preparation, I am trying to go through my todo list and finish off all the little items that have been sitting there week after week.

david
David had no school all week. He came with me to Nathaniel’s school twice this week and it was so nice to have him around. He’s been wonderful about playing in his room, being quiet, and keeping me company all week. Nathaniel, too, loved having him around all week, of course. He’s such a joy and blessing that we are all happier when he’s around. I am grateful that he’s a big fan of reading and models it often to his little brother. (They do quite a bit of loud stuff, too, of course but Daddy has more tolerance for that than I do.)

nathaniel
Nathaniel’s school was open until Thanksgiving Day so he got to go to school twice this week and he was thrilled about it. On Wednesday, the whole class had Stone Soup to celebrate the holiday and all the parents and siblings were there and it was quite lovely. but Nathaniel was super shy so we ended up leaving early and coming home for naptime. And, on a different note, he now says six and seven, much to my delight!

Here are some of my favorite captured moments from this very full week:

David feeding Nathaniel some of his meatballs. I just love these kinds of photos with the two of them.

Nathaniel’s still drinking a lot of water but now that we have him tested, I worry a lot less.

The boys being mischievous.

more mischief, of course.

and some choo choo time while the big boy plays on the computer.

Nathaniel loves looking through my notebooks and I love watching him as he looks.

David making faces. Not a lot of opportunities to photograph him anymore. He has less patience for it than he used to.

The stone soup table at Nathaniel’s school.

David playing in the playground while he waits for Nathaniel to come out of class.

Nathaniel and Daddy sitting and eating (or not eating, really).

My three boys. Loves of my life.

we took the family shot on Thanksgiving this week.

and there was tickle time, of course!

I never get a good photo of Thanksgiving table. But better than nothing.

Right after dinner, we put Christmas songs on and put up our tree.

Both the kids helped with much joy. I know there will come a day they think it’s lame to decorate the tree so I am enjoying these moments as much as I can.

Nathaniel, looking out at the garbage trucks.

David playing Wii. He’s gotten quite good at the lego games.

Nathaniel loves the pockets in his pants.

So does David.

The silly boys, together.

David giving Nathaniel a hard time.

and Nathaniel attacking him.

thankfully, it often ends with hugs.

as for me, I spent quite a bit of my day painting.

And those are some of the moments from our week. It was another wonderful week and I am deeply grateful for it.

Us Right Now is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.

Healthy For Life – Week 47

So I think it’s finally time to admit to myself that I did, indeed, gain a pound. It’s been showing up on the scale on and off and I’ve been sort of avoiding it until now but this morning I finally just decided to acknowledge it. I know it’s not a big deal. One, two, three pounds are no big deal. But I also know that the hardest part of losing weight, eating healthy, working out isn’t doing it.

It’s keeping it up.

It’s not gaining it back. Not falling off the wagon and eating a lot of chocolate and cheese and making one bad decision after another. It’s lacing up the shoes even when I completely don’t feel like doing it. Even when it’s dark and rainy and cold. Staying on the plan is hard. But this past year was relatively painful for me and a lot of work and I have absolutely no intention of letting it all go to waste. I have no intention of having to go through all of this again.

So one pound symbolizes so much more than just what it sounds like. It means I have to pay attention and get back on the plan.

and here’s this week’s card:

Healthy for Life is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.

Published Scrapbook Trends – July

I rarely submit for publications. But every now and then I get lucky enough to submit and to get accepted. This was one of those cases.

My layout that I made during Ali’s Yesterday Today class in 2009 was in the July issue of Scrapbook Trends. Here’s the cover:

And here’s my layout in the magazine. A super simple one with mostly just photos and words.

Thank you for letting me share.

Art Journaling – Komtrak – Set 5

And here’s the next Komtrak page:

The full text reads: Remember it’s crucial to take the time to replenish your soul.

I used pan pastels, acrylics and my fun new stencils.

And here’s the next Komtrak page:

I posted this one a few weeks ago for Julie’s stencil hop

The full text reads: Remember to always be true to who you are.

I used acrylics on this page and some pan pastels.

And here’s the next Komtrak page:

The full text reads: You already are what you hope to be.

Quote from a Jewel song. Another one from the Julie stencil hop. I used acrylics on this page and some pan pastels.

And here’s the last Komtrak page:

The full text reads: Don’t hesitate: stand out from the crowd.

Another julie hop one and the last page in my book. This one is all pan pastels and for some reason I didn’t take any detail shots.

Well here we go. I finished another art journal. Here’s the first set:

and the next set:

Here’s a video where I explain the binding and show all the pages.

I am creating multiple art journaling pages a week for now. You can read more about it and the book I am using for these pages at the top of this blog post.

A Book a Week – Artist Unique

It’s been a while since I read an art book but I decided I had to have Artist Unique when I heard about it. One of the things I struggle with is finding my own voice in art. And I thought this book might help.

And it has. Not a huge amount but it did help me think about what makes someone’s art unique and gave me a lot of ideas about different techniques and types of art to try. It also helped me discover some artists I didn’t know.

And finally it encouraged me to seek my own path. To not worry. And it’s a journey I am happy to take. This one is recommended.

Daily Sketching – Week 33

The sketches for this week are all the illustration style I am trying. The jury is still out on whether I like it or not and I definitely don’t feel like I have innate skill. but alas I am going to keep at it for a while.

Sunday (this is an Abigail Halpin sketch. She’s awesome isn’t she?):

Monday:

Tuesday: ( i started to make some notes to myself. Really dislike this one.)

Wednesday: ( i like the colors on this one)

Thursday: (this one, too, I like.)

Friday: (this one is eh.)

And Saturday: (she looked old to me so I gave her gray hair.)

And there we go. A yucky week.

Daily Sketching is a weekly project for 2011. You can see a detailed post on my steps here.

Declarations and Qualifications

One of the things I’ve often wondered about is how one gets to earn titles. Not the typical ones like “doctor” or “judge” or whatever. I guess maybe it’s labels. Like “artist” or “photographer” or even “programmer.” One simple and obvious answer is: school. When you have a piece of paper from a university saying you’re an art major, I guess you are officially an artist.

But what if you never practice it?

What if I study computer science but don’t write one line of code; am I still a programmer?

Ok, so maybe school, alone, is not the decider. Let’s choose the second most commonly accepted method: making money with it. So if I am making money as a photographer, then am I officially a photographer? Which, of course, brings me to my next question:

How much money?

How much money do I need to make before I qualify as a photographer? Do I have to make a living doing it? What if the amount of money I need to make a living is way higher than you? Is there a particular monetary value that makes the label earned? Or is it about having a certain number of clients? People who pay me to do shoots. If I have more than 20 clients, am I legit?

What about external validation. What if I have an award? What if I had a gallery show? What if there was an article in a major newspaper that mentioned me as an artist? If I talked at a conference. Where’s the special line where I go from being an amateur to earning the label?

I see a lot of signs on Pinterest (or elsewhere) that say “just because you have a camera doesn’t make you a photographer.” Ok, I’ll bite: what does?

Who gets to decide if I am a photographer?

Artist, writer, programmer, trader. It doesn’t matter what the title is, what I want to know is who decides if I earned it? If I self-publish a book, does that count? Am I still a writer?

I’ve learned over time that people’s lines in the sand vary drastically. Some people will not call you a writer unless a major publishing house has put out one of your books while others call you a writer if you’ve written 100 words for the book sitting on your computer.

Who’s right?

That’s the thing. I think no one is more right than anyone else. No one besides me has the right to make declarations on what my qualifications are for a title. If I decide I am a photographer, no one else gets to take that away from me.

Because, you know what: there’s always someone more accomplished than you. If you claim to be a photographer, I can ask you if you’ve published work that looks like Ansel Adams and say that unless you’ve sold thousands of copies of a book published by a notable company, you don’t qualify to call yourself a photographer. Can you dare say I am wrong? As long as the other person gets to make the decision on what “qualifications” you need to earn, they can always move the bar.

You might be setting the bar too high yourself. For example, back when I wrote novels, I used to think that unless Random House published one of my books, it didn’t count. That’s a ridiculous bar. But still, at least it’s my bar. No one else is telling me what I need to do, who I need to be, to call myself whatever title I want.

I think that’s why those signs irritate me so much. It makes it sound like the other person gets to decide what I am. “Who made you the judge” is what I often say out loud when I see them. To me, they are all about making the other person feel small. If I call myself a photographer, does that make you less of one? Only small people think that way. There’s enough room in the world for each of us to call ourselves whatever we want.

So, here’s what I think: if you want to call yourself a photographer. Go for it! Artist. Go for it. Musician. Go for it. No one gets to tell you that you are not.

You are whatever you say you are.

Weekly Art Journal – Weeklong for October 24

for this week, i started with birdhouses:

And I added slowly little bits here and there.

here is the left:

here is the right:

And here’s the filled page:

And there we go.

Weekly Art Journal is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here. And you can find out more about the weeklong daily journaling here.

Exposing Your Roots

Each time I read one of those funny, witty blogs, I think to myself “I will never be funny or witty like that.”

I will never write stuff that makes people’s drinks come out of their noses. I will never use sarcasm cleverly and have everyone marvel at my ability to make self-deprecation funny. I will never be able to be cutesy, either. I am not clever (at least not with words.) I am not ironic.

There are many times where I’ve beaten myself up for not being like that. When I wished I could just be funnier so I could be better liked. But here’s what I learned: trying to be something you’re not is like dyeing your hair. You can fake it for a while, but your roots always grow out.

And it’s a lot of work to keep dyeing them, especially if you want them to never show.

Acting differently than what’s authentic to you is possible. I can be more outgoing, funnier, sillier, cuter, more sophisticated and more sarcastic when I want to be. If the desire is strong enough, I can fake it.

But only for a while.

It’s like walking in those new high, high heels you bought. It’s possible but deeply uncomfortable. And when you get home, the first thing you do is take them off, push them aside, and put on some super-comfy socks. (Or, in my case, go barefoot.)

One of the reasons I moved to the United States 18 years ago was to stop having to be something different than I actually am. There’s so much work, shame, and frustration involved with having to be someone else and having to hide who you are.

It’s all about not feeling enough.

While there will always be situations where I have to act slightly different than what might be fully authentic, there’s no reason I need to do this regularly.

I’ve noticed that the biggest reason I feel the need to be something different is to gain the affection and acceptance of others. Whether it be family, friends, acquaintances, or workmates. Or even blog readers and students I’ve never met. If only I were funnier more people would comment. If only I were more fun, I might have more friends. If only I were….

You get my point.

The problem is that this kind of thinking never works out for me. Even if I can be that thing for a while and gather those kinds of friends, I quickly grow to resent them for not liking me just the way I am. I get tired of acting like someone else constantly and either get really mad or start to pull back. Neither of which is a great step forward in a friendship.

Which leaves me with the only (and scariest) option of being me. I’ve often thought that I am too weird to have friends. I’ve never met anyone exactly like me. I can go on and on. But what I’ve learned is that the only relationships that last are the ones built on me being myself. Those heels I coveted often give me blisters and are thrown aside permanently within weeks. The comfy socks…I keep forever.

If nothing else, it’s just so much easier to be me. So much less work. And instead of focusing on what I am not, I can make a bigger effort to see all that I do naturally have to offer. Kindness, thoughtfulness, strength, wisdom, consistency and reflection. I am not saying these are more valuable than the other characteristics. They are just ones that come naturally to me and maybe if I spent some time focusing more on these and less on beating myself up, I might make friends who prefer me just as I am.

And that would be something.