Seeking My Tribe

today is the last day of Bloom True Boot Camp.  and i'm both ecstatic and sad.  ecstatic because this has been such a life changing experience, i honestly could have never thought at the beginning that i would be where i am now.  i will be forever grateful for this experience.  it has deeply and profoundly changed me.  and it has strengthened my resolve to become the artist i know i am destined to be.

today's prompt is to gather my tribe.  these are women and men that inspire me, egg me on, make me a better person.  i'm related to some, friends with some, some i've never seen in person, and some i've never even said two words to.  but they are all special to me and help make me who i am today.  please meet my tribe:

my mother Barbara Westcott - my mom has inspired me every day of my life.  to be a better person, to be a better mother, to be an amazing artist.

my niece Meghan Blake - she is one of those truly special souls that has followed her bliss and makes it work.

Andromeda Ross - she has been with me through thick and thin.  we may not talk every day, but we have always been there for each other when we need each other.

Deina McIntosh - Deina is so very deeply my soul sister.  we've never seen each other face to face, but i know her and love her like she's been in my life since the day i was born.

Dallas Tomasello - my sweet baby girl.  i would not be who i am today without her.

Mark Tomasello - the man that started it all.  he allowed me to bloom into who i am today and never lets me apologize for who i am.  i do not say this lightly when i say that he has saved me.

Danni Suplicki - she is such a talented artist and inspiration, and meets me geek for geek in all things geekery.

Chris Zydel - she is an amazing artist.  she inspires me every day to create and let my goddess flow.

and yes Flora Bowley - her book changed how i paint.  and her boot camp has changed everything about how i create.  today is her birthday, and i cannot think of a better present to her than to live my life EXACTLY the way i want to, as is her example.

this is my tribe.  stitched together by love and respect.  you all mean so much to me.  thank you for coming with me on this journey.

i love you.

Be Brave

today's #bloomtruebootcamp is to be brave.  i started this out on facebook, but it's too long so i've blogged it.
here is my bravery.

I am:

a mother
a wife
a pretty damn hot looker
a wit
a brilliant mind

a scared little girl
a survivor
a terrified mother

a slightly neurotic zombie apocalypse conspiracy theorist
a yogini
a mediator

a crone
an aspiring Volva
an empath
a kitchen witch
a heathen

a geek
a gamer
a nerd

a liar
a cheat
a person that has broken an oath
a person that's vowed never to do it again

a lover of the truth, even when it is so painful

a feminist
a humanist
a person that thinks it's just stupid that we still have to be these things, but we really do need to be right now

a talented artist

this is what i am, and oh so much more.  both good and bad.  and i have faced each of these things, and i am so very aware of what i am.  and what I'm not.  and that my friends, is so very very brave.  

Rocking my style

today my Bloom True Boot Camp work is all about finding my style as an artist.  honestly, i think i'm too new to really pin down my style.  it changes all the time.  from abstracts, to swirly fiddily details, to weird creature shapes...  i've come a long way in a short amount of time.  

there are a couple of prompts from the Brave Intuitive You blog  about finding your style:

What makes you stand out from a crowd? i've been asking myself that for a long time.  i'm not sure exactly what it is.  but its something inside.  some inner light and playfulness.  

How do your friends describe you? hehehehe, that depends on the friend.  lets ask them...  leave a comment below on how you describe me

What are your favorite color combinations? it depends on my mood.  sometimes i'm all about the light pastels and greens, and other times i cover everything in black and red

What type of art makes your heart beat faster? Why? impressionism.  the breakdown of color, the 'almost there' images...  i love it

What brings you the most peace? my family.  there is no where i'd rather be than surrounded by my loves

Where do you love to travel? i have to be in the MOOD to travel.  i'm a homebody by nature (which is why The Plan involves an RV, so i can travel and still be at home), but i like going places with either friends or adventure.

What art mediums do you love to play with? i love acrylics, but i've been playing with oil pastels for a few days and I LOVE THEM.  but only for small things, 

What’s your idea of FUN? honestly.....  my ideal fun time is being at home and playing video games.  i know i'm supposed to say something like "yarn bombing the artist quarter and picking up recycling" but i'm not that girl.  give me chips, salsa, and Darkspawn any day.

What objects would you put on your personal altar? i have several altars actually.  the main one in the fireplace has statues of Odin, Frigga, and Thor, as well as offerings, a stone knife, herbs, and other bits.  i have a more "family" altar in the kitchen that has photos of grandparents, little "chotchkis" and trinkets.  so i guess that one is my personal altar.  probably should have read the question again.

What makes you feel most alive?  coffee.  sounds flippant, but it's true.  i love me some coffee. 

i have to say that this boot camp has been amazing.  i have grown more as an artist in the few weeks of this boot camp than i did in almost a year on my own.  it's truly sent from the gods.  artistically, this has been the best thing to happen to me since Hubby.  i'm going to be sad when it's over.  

the ripple effect (it's like the butterfly effect, but not*)

* as in it's not a crappy movie


today the Bloom True Boot Camp is about the ripple effect.  you share some of your favorite things, people see those things and try them out too.  it's very cool.  so this blog post is going to be a little different in that it's just a list of a bunch of stuff i love, and maybe a link, or a reason i like it, or whatever.  here we go:

favorite musician - Voltaire.  if you've never heard him before, be prepared to love it.  he's gothy, meaningful, damn funny, and loves sci-fi as much as the rest of us dorky geeks.  it also helps that he's pretty.  so pretty.

favorite artist - Van Gogh - i've always loved his work, but seriously, even more so since watching Vincent and the Doctor.

favorite tv show - Doctor Who.  i'm not even going to quantify this

favorite artwork - While i love Van Gogh, my favorite work is done by Cibot.  Fallen angels is the most beautiful piece i've ever seen.  wrought with emotion and symbolism, it speaks to me.  i'm lucky enough to live in Omaha, and it is housed in our Joslyn museum.

favorite movie(s) - The Fifth Element, LOTR, and The Hobbit.  don't judge

favorite color - pumpkin orange

favorite smell - fall.  the air. oh the air

favorite medium - i work mainly in acrylic, but i've been LOVING my oil pastels lately

favorite people - My children Dallas and Balin.  they are the reason i am who i am today.  i love my Bugs and Bam

favorite words - "so you wanna?"  this was of course, how Hubby proposed to me.

favorite time period - the viking age.  i'm a viking at heart, and i love the idea of the Volva!  she was a Norse witch, and able to go anywhere unencumbered.  the viking age was awesome.

favorite god - Odin.  he is my favorite of the gods, and awesome.  he loved magick and knowledge.  and he was a traveler at heart.

favorite goddess - Frigga.  she is definitely my patron goddess.  the goddess of home and hearth, she also ruled when Odin was away.  very awesome

favorite song - right now, it's Hopeless Wanderer by Mumford and Sons.  i listen to it on repeat a lot when i'm driving.

favorite new age hippy thing - right now, earthing.  walking barefoot as often as possible.   it sounds weird but i really do feel better and have more energy.  and seriously, the problems i've been having with my foot are all but gone.

other favorites - Bikram yoga, toeless socks, cuddels, art dates, road trips, coffee with lots of cream

yes, a lot of this list is fluffy stuff, but at this point in my life, i've earned a little fluff.  

Photo Scavenger Hunt

for the #bloomtruebootcamp today there is a photo scavenger hunt.  we had a funeral to go to, so there wasn't a lot of scavenging (as in i didn't do all the prompts) but i got a couple good shots in.  the prompts were

• Explore shadows and light.
• Find complimentary colors (blue + orange, red + green, yellow + violet)
• Take a close-up photo of the natural world.
• Capture something in motion.
• Find repeating patterns.
• Take a photo of something you love.
• Look up.  What do you see?
• Look down.  What do you see?
• Take an “artsy” photo of your art supplies
• Take a loving self-portrait. 

something in motion

something i love 

repeating patterns

nature

contrasting colors & look down

look up

a loving selfie

like i said, not the best pictures in the world, but better than nothing

Manifesto Destiny

my prompt today for the Bloom True Boot Camp is to write my Artist Manifesto.  a manifesto says who and what i am as an artist.  kind of a "hay, this is me, this is what i think" kind of deal.  every artist eventually has to create one even if it's just a couple of sentences needed to enter a jurored show.

the focus questions from the Bloom True Boot Camp blog are as follows:

Why do you want/need to create?  What are your intentions when you create?  What are your core beliefs about creativity?  What does creating add to your life? How you want to FEEL when you create?

this is quite possibly one of the harder things i've ever done in my life.

    why do i need to create?  the glib answer is that i love painting and making the world a better place.  the dark answer is that if i don't the horrors of my job start to creep into my phyche and this is a way to cleanse it.  there has to be a happy middle somewhere.
    what are my intentions when i create?  i don't really have any intentions when i start a piece.  it's all just chaos.  i rarely if ever know what's going to come out when i start.  i guess my real intention is to not get any more paint on the hardwood.
    what are my core believes about creativity?  easy.  everyone is creative.  they just need to find what moves them.  for me it's energy and emotion.  i have so much of both.
    what does creating add to my life?  a level of sanity heretofore unknown to me.  or madness.  it's amazing how often i mix up those two.
    how do i want to feel when i create?  depends.  i feel a lot of things when i'm painting.  happiness, pride, anger, fear...  you get it.  sometimes all at once.  the piece dictates the mood as weird as that sounds.  and it changes millions of times each painting.

so i guess my manifesto is a little bit of all of that.  i had already made an artist statement, and i'm just going to add on a bit more and turn it into a manifesto.  here goes:

i am a new artist that is deeply inspired by the emotion and energy of the world as it bursts around me.  it thrills me to see the layers of paint grow and develop, and the randomness of the elements come together out of the chaos.  for me, it's amazing to see how organically my paintings grow and change, and how one small detail can move the piece in a completely new direction. 

Bikram and Blooming

Theres not a lot of wiggle room in the budget.  Not enough to make the regular Bikram classes a staple.  I might be able to swing the 'Happy Hour' Friday class for 5 bucks.  That's probably more doable.  Which is ok with me, I dont think more than a class a week will fit into the family dynamic. 

Im torn as to if im even going to Bikram tonight or not.  My stuffyness is morphing into a full blown cold.  Im sure the heat will cause me to sweat out my toxins and germs, im just hot sure how much of the poses ill actually be able to DO.  Though at this point, the class is paid for, so even if I just lay there in corpse pose, im getting my money worth.  maybe ill go.  But maybe ill stay home and work on todays Bloom True Boot Camp prompt. 

I know its only been three days how, but this boot camp is exactly what I need.  I especially loved the first days gratitude prompt.  I dont take enough time to be greatful.  And my life is pretty amazballs, so ive got a ton to be greatful for.  Today's prompt is about gathering your supplies,  and ive already got that down.  All my supplies are in this AMAZING storage unit I bartered with my friend Kate.  I may tidy that up a bit.  It became a little disorganized when I did all my ren faire sewing.  

My sewing desk is going to get a face lift soon too.  I had such good luck with the chalk paint on the little table that im going to do the same to the desk.  It will be beautiful.   Oh yes.  Love it.

Ive had to back out of the Cirque art show.  Im a little sad about it, but im making up for it by really throwing myself into the Day of the Dead show.  Ive completed one sugar skull already, and am about to prep another.  Mortimer was very traditional,  but I think with Morticia im going to stretch the concept a little.   Im not going to leak any details,  its still in the planing stages, but it will be awesome.  

Thats all the update for now.