Self Portrait Challenge: Celebration (week four)

for this weeks self portrait challenge i want to celebrate the community at Planet Sark

i felt pulled today to visit the website Planet Sark which is a long time favourite of mine. way back when i first got internet-ized the main two things i came onine for was my email and the planet (actually camp...it wasn't a planet yet!) sark magical message board. it was packed full of inspiring artful people. i didn't post much but read posts almost daily. i felt very at home in that circle of beautiful people. at times there was far too much drama, so i'd take a break...but always return.

a few years ago the message board got really over run by spam. i think they called them trolls...people who would post nasty stuff and cause trouble on web forums. so the message board became only for paid members. i thought about joining but it really wasn't something i could afford. plus i think i needed a break. that was around the time i started blogging. when i started i didn't tell anyone about it, so it was really was like a journal. then a few friends. now its in a very different place. i still write for myself but i seek community in terms of other artful bloggers. i don't know if any of my face-to-face friends come here...perhaps....its not a secret...but i guess i've been seeking kind of what planet sark offered in terms of community.

so today i went back to the planet. and i'm overjoyed to find that the message board/forum is now free again. it felt so good arriving there and posting an introduction as it was one of those reminders of who the woman i am becoming is. the shyness was gone and the confident me present. you always wonder...will anyone respond to my post? will i connect with anyone here? but before that would have been a fear that stopped me from connecting. now just something to ponder....

i can't resist but share some of my favourite authors in the creativity genre. you've probably heard of 'em all..but just in case!

sark (of course)
keri smith
sabrina ward harrison
danny gregory
julia cameron

and here's a few out-takes (a.k.a. me being silly).

Self Portrait Challenge: what i wear (week four)

i love my necklace collection. though i never actually wear them all at once, as the picture called for...but nearly every day i am wearing at least one of them! that and earrings have become part of my 'uniform' of sorts.

my favourites include:

my joy necklace from superhero designs
my bird necklace i picked up at mabel & zora on alberta st. in portland
my zoecite and ruby necklace (the big green stone) that i got years ago on granville island
and the purple vintage beaded necklace that my mom gave me

check out more beauties and the things they wear here

Self Portrait Challenge: the bathroom (week 4)

Earlier today I was feeling like I was kinda done with this months spc theme 'the bathroom'. My bathroom is pretty little and somewhat uninspiring. But on my daily adventures I snapped some shots that are my favourite of the whole month.

Here are a few outakes that I can't resist but post!





Check out more Self Portrait Challenges here.

I love taking pic's in public bathrooms. I rarely have the guts to take it outside the stall, but the above black and white were taken in at my favourite movie theatre after seeing a matinee of '2 days in paris' and the b-room was empty so away i clicked!this has been my second month of doing the spc's and i'm full o' gusto for the next month!

its taking a bit to get back in the swing of things after my recent travels. before i left i was in a great daily art making groove and i'm yearning to get that back. i'm also super glad to be back in the swing of things over at the visually lovely citygirl/countrygirl

artfully yours,
v

painted on the bathroom mirror

Tuesday flew right by me (rather busy playing monopoly and such).

I'm shocked that I forgot too because I'm pretty excited about the new Self-Portrait Challenge theme 'the bathroom'. I'm a big fan of bathroom self-portraits. Public bathrooms, decorations in bathrooms, yes even on the throne, and most of the best pictures I've taken of myself have been in the mirror in the bathroom. So to start off this month's theme...here is a little bathroom mirror action.



It is very common for me to paint on my bathroom mirror. at first it was affirmations to encourage myself to have a better relationship with the person in the mirror, stating things like 'you are beautiful'. since then it has been poems, quotes, hearts, really anything with intention. plus its something to read while you are sitting on the toilet!

the most recent words are from this poem that i first read in a post at superhero designs. it goes like this:

Love after Love

The time will come
When, with elation,
You will greet yourself arriving
At your own door, in your own mirror,
And each will smile at the other’s welcome,

And say, sit here, Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
To itself, to the stranger who has loved you

All your life, whom you ignored
For another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

The photographs, the desperate notes,
Peel your image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

~ Derek Walcott ~

for more bathroom themed self-portraits look here.

Self Portrait Challenge: Creating New Patterns

for this final week of the theme 'patterns' for the self portrait challenge, i decided that i wanted to end it off with intention. so here it is.

the other entries this month have focused on visual patterns, but this time i wanted to focus on patterns in terms of behaviour. in the last year art and photography has become a vital part of my life and i intend to make it even more so. now that my art desk is actually functional and no longer a dumping ground for bills, i want to make sure i sit down there daily, even for a wee bit either to journal, paint, collage or even print/work on photos.

i'm looking forward to finding out what the next theme is!

look here for more of the self portrait challenge.

Self Portait Challenge: Patterns (week 4)

i love tuesdays. i wake up wondering what todays theme for the SPC shall be. lately i have changed some daily pattens, specifically surrounding the setting of this photo: my bed. i have hmm....4 different rather obnoxious patterns on my bed. i love it. some people have said it would likely keep them awake, but not i. i feel ready for vibrant dreams wrapped up in all this bright beauty.

i am the type of person who jumps out of the bed upon waking ready to start the day and to some degree i have some guilt around staying in bed. no matter how much SARK i read i just can't seem to get in the swing of it. even naps, though i enjoy them, mean to me that i am either not getting enough sleep or need to be exercising more. i love when i have a visitor and can lounge in bed together...having someone else in my bed somehow gives me permission to just revel in resting. alas, that only happens once in a while, so up i get in the morning (or early afternoon if i am sleeping off a night shift).

but the last few days have been different. i have been waking up to the sounds of meows demanding attention. usually i would just get up and deal with them, make coffee and start my day. but i've been attending to their needs and then dissapearing back into the beautiful patterns of my bed. perhaps it has been that i am a dedicated reader these days. and also i have not been craving coffee in the morning, which is something that has been a pattern for oh, a decade. whatever the reason, i am enjoying my slow mornings, listening to what i need rather than what i should be doing with my day!