2008: Altered Self ~ Altered Art

So, straight in, without any preliminaries, I mean its only been a year - well not quite - since I posted. Where does the time go?

A summary of the second half of 2007 might look like this; I continue to work with Plant Spirit Essences, currently in a more personal way, though I am still offering them to the 'world at large'. My focus is on experiencing their influence and learning more about how they can be effective, alone and in combination with each other. I am still only on the tip of that iceberg, yet it is fascinating.

I completed my certification as a Doula through DONA International. Having done my training before my son was born but not completed the requirements, I managed to attend the births and submit all the paperwork (essays, resource lists, birth 'stories') within a few weeks. I now have post nominals!

I graduated year one of IKH school, and am now into my second year. The transformation progresses, I continue to discover and reveal territory within me that I had not previously been aware of. This has resulted in a need to move and dance often, explore music and sing, and most recently, convert half my dining room into an art studio. It seems I need to 'see myself', and so I am creating mirrors in which to do just that.

The format for my art is still unfolding, I am frustrated by my conflict at needing to create and then needing the creations to be perfect or look a certain way. How holographic! Yet as I keep going back to my studio (ooh, la-dee-da) I am learning to just create and see what happens rather than have an end result in mind. Both the creating and the creation are informative. How exciting!

So ATC and Altered Art? Well I decided to choose a format and focus. The realm of ATC seems so free and all encompassing to me, like free dance, where I can't really do it wrong and most things 'work'. Mixed media is where it is at for me - then I get to ask why that colour? Why that trinket? Why that meduim? The end result seems to be much more a representation of my humanity and being; complex, multifaceted, dark, light, messy, beautiful and when seen as a whole, enchanting, captivating, perfect.

There are some great blogs and sites out there on the subject.
Check these out:
artist-trading-cards.ch
atcards.com
atcquarterly.com

OK thats it for now.