Five Words Musing - February

The new post for Five Words Musing is now up for your enjoyment.  This month's words are:

Companion
Crazy
Love
Memories
Win

When I created the painting for this month's entry, I decided to use a painting that I had started last year and never finished.  The painting had dark black lines and dots of rainbow color splashed all over the canvas.  It was a rainbow forest waiting to be finished.  But as you can see, that's not how it ended up.  As I tried to put a kissing couple in that space, I made the mistake of trying to hand write the words I ultimately ended up with on the final painting -- as a result, I had a lot to cover up, hence all the yellow and gold.

I'm not sure why, but I am finding this new project more difficult (but equally as satisfying) as the My Moon, Your Moon project.  In the moon project, I used primarily watercolor and ink.  For this project, I am using primarily acrylics and origami paper.  Though I am comfortable using both mediums, I think it is the assignment that is tripping me up a bit.  The subject matter just feels more expansive.  It is the expansiveness I am finding challenging (and that sometimes means I am not always pleased with what I end up with), but I am letting go and letting what becomes, be.

I guess art is a lot like love.  I may have expectations or romanticized thoughts in my head of what it's supposed to be like and find that it's anything but -- and I have been pleasantly surprised by it.  It has been the unexpected that has been the thing I never knew I wanted.  Opening myself up to new experiences and new challenges opens me up to the possibility of something wonderful.  And that, in and of itself, is amazing.

"In the measurement world, we set a goal and strive to achieve it.  

In the universe of possibility, we set the context and let life unfold."

- B. Zander, The Art of Possibility

Five Words Musing - January

Today marks the day of a new collaborative project I am participating with two colleagues and friends.  After our collaboration on the My Moon, Your Moon project, we just couldn't bear to think that that was the end of our work together.  Our desire to continue our creative connections spawned a new project called Five Words Musing.  The premise for the project is simple:

Five words presented on the 5th.
Two musings, painted and written, on the 20th.
The reasoning behind the choice of words for the close.
Twelve months in a row.
One year.

 Like the moon project, we create our pieces independently and put them together on the agreed upon due dates.  It's always nerve wracking to see if everyone's pieces will mesh together, and, like the moon project, we remain pleasantly surprised.

Here is my contribution to January's collaboration:



The five words for January made me think of my mother's homeland and their beliefs about death and rebirth and the afterlife.  In Okinawa, when a family member dies, they are cremated and placed into a family tomb.  These tombs, known as ohakas, are sometimes shaped like a turtle's shell (a symbol for birth).  This design of the tomb has often been compared to the shape of a woman's womb, the place where life originally begins.  So when you die, Okinawans believe that you return to the place of your birth to live again in the afterlife.  Every year in April, Okinawans celebrate their ancestors during shimi.  It not only serves as a time for families to honor and remember those who have passed, but it is a joyous occasion that brings families together.  It's a different way to look at life and death.

With the arrival of the new year, I've been thinking about those I have lost and about my own mortality in getting older.  With a new baby, it's hard not to let your mind wander and think about the future - the one where you will both exist and not exist in her world.  Oh, don't forget about that dark cloud looming over my head about the end of days that is allegedly falling on my 34th birthday this year...  Death seems like a scary state of being, but I think the Okinawans got in right.  It's nice to think that it isn't an ending but a new beginning.  So here's to new beginnings.
 

Source: tumblr.com via Diana on Pinterest

My Moon, Your Moon: Cold Moon

The final installment of My Moon, Your Moon is ready for your reading pleasure.

For our final moon, I was inspired by the memory of my nephew Brady who passed away last year.  The night of this month's full moon fell on the one year anniversary of his death.  That night, I remembered the precious time I got to spend with him and how suddenly it seemed to end.  I was away on a business trip when I received the news that he had passed.  That was a hard pill to swallow.  I felt so helpless and so far away.  I cried for my nephew.  I cried for my sister and her family.  I cried for the pain I felt in my heart.  In the days that followed, I tried to be there for my sister as best as I could, but how do you ease the pain of something like that?  A year later, it still stings.

But there are still miracles to be had.  A few short days ago, my sister gave birth to a second daughter, Piper Quinn.  And I am happy to report that mother and baby are doing wonderfully.

These two events, juxtaposed, inspired this full moon winter scene.  Barren trees on a cold night made beautiful by the magic of soft falling snow, giving wonder and appreciation to a scene that was once desolate and cold.

"No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow."

-Proverb

Art Every Day Month - Twenty-nineth and Thirtieth Entries

Here are my final entries into the Art Every Day Month Challenge:

Before

After

Before

After

I present to you a happy stingray and a goofy dog... Now that December is right around the corner, what ever shall I do with my time?  Just kidding!  A Patten family Christmas card is already underway!  Yippee!

Craft Night!

It had so long since I hosted a craft night, so when my best friend, Angela, suggested that we have one, I was in!  I did a few before Izzy was born, and, now that she's getting older and I'm getting a hang of this whole mommy thing, I couldn't wait to get them started again.  A recent trip to Dillard's inspired our craft for the night -- feather headbands.  The one I fancied at Dillard's was $88!  Surely, we could make some equally as stylish for the fraction of the cost.

To set us up for success, I gathered the appropriate materials:

Ample Snacks and Wine

Plenty of Feathers and Headbands

There is just something to be said about gathering around a table full of craft supplies and envisioning the possibilities for creating something new and fun.  Plus, it's just nice to relax, sip wine, and create with a friend.



 


After we made our feather headbands, we began making flower headbands and pins, too.  We were on a roll!


















At the end of the night, we had so many new goodies to wear.  It was just what the doctor ordered.

"Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop."

- Ovid

Art Every Day Month - Twenty-eighth Entry

Here is my twenty-eighth entry into the Art Every Day Month Challenge:

Before

After

I give you sad old dog with no teeth... Depressing, I know, but it's the thing I saw.  Life ain't always pretty, my friends.

Art Every Day Month - Twenty-seventh Entry

Here is my twenty-seventh entry into the Art Every Day Month Challenge:

Before

After

I present to you a seahorse roaming the ocean floor.  Aren't seahorses just amazing?  I saw the most amazing ones in Tennessee at the Ripley's Aquarium:

Fascinating creatures, no?