Heart Your Art: The Finale

It's been a long month! I am so not used to posting this much. I need a blog-nap.

I'd like to say a big Thank You to all the artists who allowed us a peek into their journey and to all those who commented here and through email! I'd also like to thank Kim - although she wasn't available for the interview, she did create this worthy post. I think, all together, we helped the campaign accomplish its goal - helping us to Heart Our Art or at least get closer to it!

I want to leave you with some thoughts, some quotes, and some art........

Some thoughts from my journal: October 2007

I have a feeling that this self-love, this self-acceptance, this hearting of me and of what I create is a lifetime process. There will be strides made, hills climbed, mountains conquered. And there will be valleys camped in, forests lost in, deserts survived in. The fullness of it perhaps will not be reached in the here and now. And that's perfectly okay with me. But perhaps it will.

I'm gonna keep going. See what happens. I know there is so much luscious'ness to be found. And I will find it.

~~

Some quotes:

I'm more a movie/tv quoter than a book quoter, so here goes -

"You can't second guess yourself as a designer and an artist and you really just have to be 100% confident in who you are and just go for it." Blane from Project Runway (tv)

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"Why did you call me a loser?"

"You try too hard. Winners forget that they're in a race...they just love to run." With Honors (movie)

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"You value yourself only as others value you which is often the result of unmet childhood emotional needs." Big Bang Theory (tv)

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"There are no rules you can follow. You have to go by instinct and you have to be brave." How to Make an American Quilt (movie)

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"Write a first sentence. Then write a second. Kiss men if you want to. Horrify your parents!!" Evening (movie)

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"Everybody in their life is on a journey of discovering who they really can be. That's a tremendous opportunity. Every moment! People hear calls all the time! And one of the ways that you know it's a call is the first reaction is, 'not me', 'I can't do it.' That's how you know actually it's the beginning of a heroic journey. The self-doubt is essential. It's no big deal to say, 'Okay, I'm going to have dinner tonight.' But the real call, the real call is something 'I can't do', 'It's beyond me.' That is the invitation. That's the beginning of the journey." Irwin Kula from New Morning (tv)

~~

Some more thoughts:

I think that's the biggest lesson I've learned through this journey: the struggle is part of it (period). There is no WHOLE without it. There is no going around it....only through. No one can pep-talk us totally out of it, permanently. We must accept its bony grasp on our shoulder. We must give ourselves to its chilly embrace. It has wisdom to gift us with and we must thank it for our growth.

Being an artist of any kind is not easy in any sense (although some people may think so, "Oh big deal, you paint."). But it has it's great rewards, perhaps they will not be monetary, but that doesn't mean they aren't to be sought and claimed as ours.

We are deserving of our own love and affection, our own gratitude and respect. It's up to us to give it to ourselves regardless of what anyone else does or doesn't do.

We will never appreciate the beauty and magnitude of the mountain top, if we do not crawl and wander and fight and bleed our way through the thorny valley.

I accept the challenge. Will you?

~~

Some art:


I've already dissed this woman several times. I just kept forgetting to put her up here! But I did put a peek of her before. She's actually completed....can you believe it? Me, finishing a painting! :)


Back to my norm.....these are so unfinished, but beautiful! Next week, while I'm taking my blog-nappy next week, I vow to finish every painting that's not finished (except for the one I want to put a tattoo on......I still cannot find those things....go figure, you clean up your studio and then can't find stuff! :)















I'm grateful that we shared this journey.

~I wish you magick always~
Melissa