The Indiana State Fair Tragedy and Memories

It has taken me two whole days to put this post together as I have gone back and forth about should i publish this or not. Please understand that I have chosen to focus on the wonderful family times to be had at the fair due to all the controversy about who is to blame for the tragedy that took place on Aug.13th. After much prayer i feel it would honor the victims more to focus on love rather than blame. Thank you in advance for your understanding.

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Indiana State Fair Memories

Lot's and Lot's to do at the Indiana State Fair...

                                       

Can't forget the Midway rides!

 The TREATS!!

The wonderful people who work at the State Fair year after year...

 The familiar and welcoming sights that let you know you are at the Indiana State Fair.

 And of course the music and special events...

Mercy Me and Third Day Aug. 10th 2011...I'm becoming a Gomer:)

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As I'm sure many of you have recently seen on the news, a terrible tragedy stuck my Indianapolis In. community this weekend. 5 people lost their lives and, as of this morning, 18 people still remain in the hospital, many in critical condition.

These are the photos i took of the memorial, outside the collapsed Grandstand 2 days after the accident.

 

Please lift up Indiana in prayer, especially praying for the victims who lost their lives on Aug.13th, the injured, the families of the victims, the people who rushed to aid those hurt during the event, those that witnessed first hand the accident and the people who work for the Indiana State Fair in all capacities.

May God grant them all healing, grace, and forgiveness.

 
 
****Please be aware that the footage below is disturbing and shows the collapse of the Grandstand stage on Aug. 13th 2011.



Life is short...God be with us all.

Renewed by TRUST & Collaborating ART

 

Feeling so much better these last few weeks as I've taken time to really fill up again. Crazy how quickly life can take a toll on our spirit. I really just needed to get out of myself for a bit and focus on my Blessings. God has me in some challenging places right now and I have to lean on Him and TRUST. Like i've said before, this is a process for me and trust doesn't come easy. It's hard work emotionally and spiritually. But it's good work and it's good for me to be tired from it:) The Lord continues to humble me and put me in places where I have to trust Him. I need you Lord and i thank you for your faithfulness.

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A few weeks back I held a workshop called "Pass Me the Canvas". I had this on my schedule for 6 months and had been anxiously awaiting the nights that 7 brave artist would spend two evenings playing the artistic version of musical chairs. This creative exercise allowed each artist to tap into the deepest part of their creative spirit and challenge themselves to just TRUST the artist within.

I began the workshop with a relaxing meditation, full of positive affirmations, that would help to free us from any strongholds and lies we may listen to.

Here is part of the meditation...

"When we pull back the layers of our TRUE SELF and bring LIGHT into DARK, hidden places inside us, then we will begin to know who we really are inside.

Expose the gentle child inside yourself…the trusting, vulnerable child.

Share her tonight with us."

After the meditation i had artist choose a pattern, color palette, and inspirational word to guide the collaboration of each artist. I also had artist write out nouns that they thought would inspire the progression of their artwork. Of course I chose nouns like bird, circles, flower, and nature. I chose my inspirational word by closing my eyes and TRUSTING God to pick for me...He picked the word Beauty .

Next, i asked each artist to write out their fear about coming to the workshop and this took an additional dose of humility.

                                 

Then we began the music and spent the first evening building our background by using mixed media supplies and lots of TRUST. We passed the canvas every 35 minutes for a total of 3 rotations.

Here is some of the amazing backgrounds creating the first night...

The next night we passed the canvas for three,15 minute rotations to complete the circle of artist. This allowed each artist to work on every canvas.

The backgrounds were complete and each canvas had a ton of depth and color.

 For the final hour of the workshop the artwork found it's way home to it's inspiration and true owner. Artist then added the final touches to their collaborated art. I assisted artist in their final hour so i haven't finished my piece yet but will post it as soon as it is done.

Here are some of of the finished pieces...

I think we were all surprised and pleased with the final outcome of our artwork. It was a journey as we stepped out of our comfort zone; it took a lot of TRUST. I was inspired by the strength of the other artist who attended the workshop. Thank you BRAVE GIRLS!!

We all experienced humility, creativity, and TRUST and the workshop turned out to be more than i could have ever dreamed.

Gotta be a lesson for me somewhere in that!

All Puckered OUT!

I just love this picture!!

This week, as we near the end of summer, i find myself feeling like this little guy. Just plain tired, all puckered out! Writing this, admitting that i'm tired, causes me to feel a little embarrassed. WHY?! Are we not allowed to feel tired and want rest? My Mom and Grandma are always telling me to slow down, that I take on too much. Truly I enjoy biting off more then i can chew but sometimes I feel disappointed when i don't accomplish all i set out to do. 

Do you ever feel like this?  

In February of this year, I turned 40. My husband planned a amazing surprise party and my mom, knowing i love birds, made me this BIRTHDAY TREE.

She had all the special people that came to the party, sign the back of these beautiful birds she made. I have placed the tree right nest to my bedside and  it is a great daily reminder to me of where i've been and where i want to go.

As I read the words of encouragement and love from my friends and family, it renews my spirit.

I do this often.

I have also place name tags which I have recieved from various events i have attended this year on the tree.

As i look again at the sweet little bird in the nest, i am reminded that I'm growing. I'm not where i was last year or even yesterday. I am not stuck or bored and believe me, i know what that feels like.

 I'm growing and this takes hard work sometimes.

I'm gonna take it easy this week...on myself and those i love.

Join me? 

Repuposed ART

My very favorite thing about art and being an artist is the transformation of things. It is in the creating!
It can be the clump of clay that gets made into a beautiful piece of pottery, the blank canvas that is transformed into a classic masterpiece or a million pieces or tiny glass blown in to a colorful vase.

It truly is the gift of art that inspires growth and change in so many ways.

I love taking something that may be discarded and giving it new life. I get this from my mom, also an artist, who used to make me hunt with her for flattened pop cans so she could paint different faces or animals on them. She would get inspired by the shape the old, rusty, flattened tin can would make and transform them into little pieces of art. It was very cool and a very 70's kind of thing to do.

For a few years now i have been painting on cabinet door fronts.


 I really love taking the door and turning it into art! I also enjoy working on the versatile hard wood surface. I can paint acrylics directly on the door front, like what you see above, or i can use mixed media layers. I can even pound nails into the piece if i want. Sometimes you just wanna hit something:)

Recently I held a workshop on repurposed assemblage art working on a cabinet door front. The idea was to take personal items from home and assemble them onto the door using mixed media techniques. It was  awesome to see old cabinet doors turn into these amazing pieces of art...

 This artist created a tribute to Grandma and Grandpa

 This artist gave healing to a broken heart

 this piece was made for a first grandbaby

 Commemorating Grandma, this artist used her Grandmother's earring collection!

 This artist used lot's of color and texture, awesome

 Who wouldn't want this in a beach themed room or vacation home?

An old broken doll from childhhood gives this artist her inspiration



All the doors were unique and inspiring as these women opened themselves up to the world of assemblage and repurposed art for the very first time. Two sweet artist had never even done mixed media, they totally blew us all away with thei work!

As women i think we all enjoy making things new and fresh.  It's just in us to make things pretty! We redecorate, cook and bake, sew, we even spend time making ourselves pretty.

What do you REPURPOSE? I would love to know!



Happiness

I really want to like this quote, in fact i want to love it, maybe even live it! But, as I really let it sink in, it falls in the same place as "ignorance is bliss" and "what you don't know won't hurt you" and i'm not sure i like where that path is going.

Some things, i feel i need to go deep with. I need to set boundaries in my life and have the integrity and self control to live within these boundaries. I think that takes wisdom and maturity. I think that takes time.

I can have knowledge and still not be wise.

Wisdom is different than knowledge.

According to our dear friend WEBSTER wisdom means....

1.The quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise

             2.The soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of such       

                                     experience, knowledge, and good judgment

             3.The body of knowledge and principles that develops within a specified society or period

           I like number two. I like the word soundness which could also mean faith or peace.

I can't help but think about Galatians 5:22-23 in the bible.... But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Where is the word HAPPINESS? Actually the Bible doesn't use the word HAPPINESS often and when it does it usually refers to serving others to give them happiness, not gain it for ourself.

So back to the question? Is it better to be HAPPY or WISE? Can we both both?? 

I would love to know your thoughts on this.

As usual, i didn't intend to get so deep!

Linking up with the sisters today...

                                                                   

We have a winner!

WE HAVE A WINNER!!
That was quick and so much fun! I couldn't be more thrilled that the sweetest lady and my bloggy friend won...SHUG http://shug-stepsoffaith.blogspot.com/ ! Stop over to visit her and she will quickly touch your heart too, so sweet!
We did go on vacation to the beautiful SMOKEY MOUNTAINS in Gatlinburg Tn. We love it there and my sister in law gave us the use of her time share for Christmas! Best present eveh!!

One last shot of our trip, hiking on the first day...thought this would have given our location away... Thanks to everyone who played along. It is such a Blessing to have a give-away and i will be doing that again for sure!


I wish everyone a safe, Blessed 4th of July celebration!
Happy Birthday America and may God Bless our troops!