shana emily: art

Thursday, October 20, 2016

FindingFaith: Creating an inspiring book of positive thoughts and phrases

Hi friends!

As you all probably know, I love altering things like books and thrift store finds. Recently my mom gave me these adorable handmade corset art pieces that were part of an art exchange she was involved in. An art exchange is where everyone in the group makes a certain amount (according to the number of people in the group) of their own version of one thing and exchange it with everyone else in the group. I decided to make a little book out of them by punching out a hole in the top corner of each and using a ring to hold them together. I then pasted my little positive words and phrases along with some pins from Brave Girls Club, and this is what I came up with...

Till Next time!

Creatively Yours,

Faith

FindingFaith: At home by the ocean

Greetings from Florida! I'm going to keep it short and simple and just share a few pics from my trip so far. More to come next week! May I just say, I really am most at home by the ocean. It's so healing! Here's Fort Myers beach with a rainbow, sunset and moon all in the same day!

I also got to visit Matlacha, a cute little artsy town, love the colorful buildings! And what would tropical paradise be without a tropical cocktail?!

Until next time!

Creatively yours,

Faith

Finding Faith: Pursuit of Happiness

Hi friends! My apologies for not posting last week, lots of personal issues to deal with, but this week things seem to be back on track. I've been working on a book of collaged elements and sayings inspired by Brave Girls Club. It's called "hello, believe in yourself.

The first page starts with a tab labeled, "I am free to make a change" and the page collage with Dear Authentic Me, free your soul, I am free to notice beauty, good fortune, and everything is going to work out beautifully. (Pass it on). There is a tab that opens, and inside are the things I am free to do that might not seem good for me. This was really a way of dropping judgements and allowing myself to not have to be "perfect" all the time.

Giving myself the power to choose, knowing I'm not powerless in my choices. Good or bad I get to decide. That made me feel a little less enslaved to "bad decisions". I am free to numb myself out...even when it will keep things as they are. I am free to disappear for a while...even when others expect more from me. I am free to be selfish...even when others might not like me. I am free to be reckless...even though it might hurt me. I am free to blame...even though it would keep me stuck. I am free to eat junk food...even when I know it's not the right choice. I am free to walk away from it...even when others might reject me. I am free to shame...even when it might make things worse. I am free to resist...even though it might hurt my life. I am free to admit how I feel, I am free to give up, I am free to say no, I am free to say yes...even when I don't know how it will turn out.

The second page has a tab that reads, "I can make and keep boundaries". This is often a challenge for me. Elements collaged on this page include, I am free to ask for what I need, making boundaries is an act of love, you are worth taking care of, today I will be brave enough to enforce my boundaries, I can make self-care a habit instead of a luxury, I will protect my soul, ...even when others might get mad at me.

Page three has a tab "I will stay peaceful". The page reads, I will spread peace everywhere, I protect my peace, no one has the right to hurt you, I will behave in ways that keep my heart at peace, I will do what brings me peace of mind, bliss, and I can create peaceful places.

Page four is "I am free to speak up". I am free to let go, I am free to honor how I feel, she is doing her very best, it's all ok, I don't have to hold the world up, ...even when it seems too selfish.

Page five is labeled "I am free to live how I live". I am free to be who I am, I can connect deeply with others when I don't hide, you are good enough, it is so important to surround yourself with souls who believe in you, I can ask for help, and do not allow others to take advantage of your weaknesses.

I find collage to be an extremely therapeutic and meditative practice. Using chip board books, decorative papers, found objects and ephemera with pictures and sayings. It also gives me something to look at and ponder on days I need a little encouragement.

I leave with this thought...

Until next time!

Creatively yours,

Faith

Finding Faith: Practicing Acceptance & Going with the flow

Hello friends!

This week I'm going to share some pics of the progression of my large painting I've been working on. I honestly don't know where I'm going with it. I might even turn it into several small paintings. I like certain elements of it, but I'm not sure if it works as a whole. This is the challenge with spontaneous painting. It usually ends up completely different than what I think it will be. The more I try to plan or force, the less I like it. So I'm practicing acceptance with it and going with the flow. A metaphor for life in general!

And here are some details I like that may make more sense as smaller paintings.

Enjoy your holiday weekend everyone! Happy Fourth of July! Be spontaneous!!

Creatively yours,

Faith

Finding Faith: Experimenting with color, creating your very own mini art retreat!

Hi friends! Been having some fun this week with spontaneous painting on scrap pieces of canvas. Just experimenting with different types of materials and techniques including freezing paint in ice cube trays and letting it melt, scribbling, and experimenting with color. Here are some pics of what I came up with. My own little mini art retreat.

The next couple of days I'm going to be working on one big piece of canvas. I may incorporate some of these things, or I might just spread paint around and see where it takes me! It's really just about allowing the process to flow naturally.

And until next week, I leave you with a couple of quotes...

"I don't paint for a living, I paint to live." - Willem de Kooning

"Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do." - Edgar Degas

Creatively yours,

Faith

Finding Faith: A Positive Rock in my life

Hi friends! This week, I will share with you, my rock collection and my childhood friend...A plant named Fred.

First off, let's start with Fred. Fred has been in our family for most of my life. Although he has been with my mom since I left home, he has found his way to Vegas and is now under my loving care. We got Fred during a very difficult time in my young life. I was being bullied and teased daily at school, my self esteem and sense of how I fit into this world were challenged to say the least. Now I'm not saying that Fred was my friend that I talked to because I felt so alone and misunderstood. He really was just a plant that we got during that period that we decided to name to be fun. However when my mom brought him to me, there also just so happened to be some rocks that were in the pot underneath. My mom saw them and said, "Oh wow, these are rocks from our old apartment we lived in when we got Fred." Suddenly, it occurred to me, that these rocks came from a place and time that I often tried to forget. Then it also occurred to me that FRED was THERE through all of it! Now here he was, bringing back to me an opportunity to look at and (possibly) heal the pain of that experience.

As I am writing these words I'm actually reminded of an experiment done by Masuru Omoto on the effects of words on water. Here is a YouTube link of a short version of a documentary on the subject that I encourage you to check out. Pretty fascinating. https://youtu.be/9WIAMN2dw0A

Back to the rocks, and a fun side note... they may even be the same rocks I went door to door with trying to sell as "pet rocks", which apparently one neighbor in particular didn't appreciate, but back to the story. As I held these rocks in my hands I thought about the effect of all those negative words that I still sometimes continue to carry and I knew what I needed to do. I needed to write POSITIVE words on these rocks. It was so fun and liberating! Here is a picture of Fred and my word rocks.

Now comes part two in my journey. What to do with these rocks now, and another fun idea. Share these positive words with others! I decided I'm going to leave these rocks in places where they can be found by other people. Try to do my part by interjecting a positive thought into the mind of another for even just the briefest of moments. Who knows, maybe it will start a kindness revolution that just might change the course of history for the better! Yes! I'm going with that idea! :)

Left one today for a friend amongst his little collectibles...

I also left this on a bookshelf in Barnes and Noble yesterday

So if you happen to be out and about and see a stone somewhere random, pick it up! You never know! Or do some of your own! Would love to hear about it if you do! Until next week...Spoiler alert...I will be doing a little self-imposed art retreat all next week that I will share. I'm so excited!

Leave no stone left unturned!

Creatively yours,

Faith

FindingFaith: Creating sketch books, collage journals, and painting like a child!

Hello friends! Happy Thursday!

This week I thought I would just share a little bit about what I've been up to in my art studio lately. It's all been about just having fun. I've been sketching, finger painting and collaging. It's very therapeutic and has really allowed me to tap into my own artistic intuition. No rules, no expectations, and no attachments to the outcome.

My sketch books and magazine collage journals.

Some collage cards I made

One very helpful resource for me has been expressiveartsworkshops.com I've been part of a 90 day collage challenge (featured above as vegasartchic) and a 100 day art journaling online class.

Another fun and totally unexpected art process has been what I call my Princess Pretty Face Girls...

It all started on a thrifting excursion with Shana. She happened to find a bunch of dolls she liked, and suddenly I felt like I wanted to draw some doll images. This is totally not within the norm for me as an artist, but apparently my inner child wanted to come out and play! Finally I added my girls to other things I had been experimenting with and this was the result. Circles, flowers, finger paint, paint drips and some repainted thrift store finds all became backgrounds. Top right image is the first drawing I did. Bottom right inspired by an old photo of me with my favorite puppy Sugar, and both left images inspired by images of Shana.

So what is next? I have NO idea, but I'm enjoying my little art therapy time. It's all just a part of the "Finding Faith" process. Until next time!

Creatively yours,

Faith

FINDING FAITH: LIFE happened, Italy, & What I have been up to!

HI FRIENDS!! GUESS WHO'S BACK?! That's right! It's Faith from Finding Faith!

I know it's been a LONG time, so my apologies for being away so long. Apparently Finding Faith meant losing Faith for a while, or similar to Finding Waldo! So much has happened since my last post. A full time job, a trip to Italy, family and friends staying with me, diving deeper into art, finding my path, losing my path (and my mind at times!), and just an all around roller coaster of self discovery.

Well I have a lot to update you all on, so I will get started in this post by talking about my trip to Italy!

This REALLY was the trip of a lifetime. I went for 10 days with my mom on a Faith and art retreat with A Kiss On The Chic. Here's the link to the website if you would like to check it out. http://www.akissonthechic.com/#welcome We flew into Milan, highlight was definitely seeing The Last Supper by DaVinci! From there after meeting with our group we traveled to Bellagio. Such a beautiful place! From the time we arrived I felt like I had stepped into a dream. Each day was better than the last. I remember after about 3 days feeling like, if I had to go home right then, that the trip was worth it. Then after Bellagio, we spent a couple of days in Venice. It was a life long dream to go to Italy, and I definitely plan on going back.

I'm not going to bore you with every detail, but here are some highlights. First of all, I felt so blessed to be able to have experienced all of this with my mom! We really bonded and connected in amazing ways, and really have become much closer since. That right there made the trip worth it. Add to that making new friends, eating delicious food, sight seeing, excursions to surrounding towns, creativity, art and spirituality! Yes, I felt like I was in heaven! It was such a lovely experience of how beautiful life can be, and I will always carry it in my heart.

Since that experience, my life and my art has really expanded, grown and changed in unexpected ways. I will share more in my next post about the crazy direction my art seems to be going in, but will share a more relevant experience now. The following pics are of a mural of Italy and some wine bottles I was commissioned to paint.

Well that's all for now. Thank you for letting me share! Until next time!

Creatively yours,

Faith

P.S. For anyone interested in learning more about commissioning me for murals or paintings, feel free to email me at vegasartgirl@live.cm

FindingFaith: Black & White with a pop of color!

Hello friends! I have been working on some art for the spa this weekend. Black and white prints that added color to with ink, then added words to. I really love how it turned out.

I have also been working on some art journaling projects. Here are some pics of that process.

More to come with that!

And lastly, I want to share some pics of my mom's mantle and some garland she made from an online class by Jeanne Oliver, Becoming, the unfolding of you...