I love this mantra so much!!!
Hello friends!!! Okay, well, here we go....my first official post on my new blog, on my new journey! Yes! Hi! Thanks for stopping by and visiting my little world. Many of you know that for 12 wonderful years, I was the proprietress of The Dreaming Bear in uptown Marion, Iowa. It was a glorious space, and I had a wonderful time running my store and my make and take studio. I am blessed to come away from that venture having made a lot of wonderful friends, young and old!
This is what The Dreaming Bear looked like inside!
But about a year and a half ago, there was a small tugging at my heart, that was calling me elsewhere. You know the feeling....twitchy, unsettled, not as in love with what you are doing. I was getting weary of the grind....having a store means sticking to your hours, and sticking to your hours means feeling a wee bit tied down. I was having fun hosting events, and sharing and teaching....but I wasn't finding the time to dive into the art making I knew I should be working on.
I found this pic of our empty backroom haunting and beautiful.
Lovin' Man, always supportive and long suffering, helped me come up with a plan to become more free....and here I am! We closed our doors on May 21st, vacated the space, threw a graduation party for my son, and then I promptly got sick! BLAH! Isn't that the way? And then Lovin' Man got sick. We both haven't been that sick in a long time. So, I have only recently been able to "get settled" in my new space....my home! I'll share pics of my two new workspaces on another post. (one upstairs for small projects, and one downstairs for large projects) I've been nesting like a crazy woman!!! I'm excited! There will be tweeking to be done, naturally, as time goes on, and I figure out better ways of doing things. For the moment, I'm quite tickled with how it's working out!
Not gonna lie though, finding a new routine, and figuring out my "new way of being" has been an adjustment. As my sweet friend D said, it's a little like a death, and then a rebirth. Not to be underestimated, as I'm learning. I'm still deciding what is my best routine, and what to focus on....but I'm getting there! Yesterday, after getting some yard work done, I was able to spend a nice chunk of time, uninterrupted, with my art journal....and here's what came out.....
First, this funny little red head girl....I suspect she appeared because we had to say goodbye to a sweet girlfriend with red hair who had to move to Chicago this week. I loosely scribbled a face down with ball point pen, added some collage, and then painted her in.
I love her funny shaped red hair!
Scribbling, with pens and pastels. Can't get enough!
I've got flowers on the brain these days too.....so these guys showed up.....
Thinking of covering a piece of furniture with this pattern.
This is an inclusion (a small flap) that I attached to the journal using an old envelope. The placement wasn't ideal....it flaps over my poor little red head girl's face....but I'm learning to just let it go...turn the page.
A good message discovered in my paper scraps!
And this was the final page I completed before Lovin' Man cooked up some dinner! I might love this one best.....maybe because by then, I was in a groove.....warmed up....loosened up. The first page after several weeks of not creating is always the roughest, isn't it?
Yes it is!!!!
Thanks so much for visiting, friends! I hope to share what I'm up to often and with plenty of pictures! I've gotta run and eat some breakfast now, and paint a piano. Yes, a piano. Hee hee!