TYPE ON A PATH/PHOTOSHOP

My computer has been wonky lately, so I was trying to dump big files (audio and video) to maybe de-wonkify it. I'm noticing some improvement already, but the biggest gift is that while I was pruning podcasts from iTunes, I looked at an episode of Photoshop User TV and I learned something really cool: how to type on a path. I use Photoshop quite a bit for photos, but I work with the most basic tools. I love the cool things that other people do in Photoshop with graphics, but I don't spend a lot of time just playing around or even watching the great videocasts I've got stored away. Anyway, I'm jazzed because I think this will be a useful thing. I would recommend subscribing to this show through iTunes if you're interested.

And just for fun, I thought I'd throw in another corner of my kitchen.

HOME FROM WORK

We had guests this weekend that I've been getting ready for all month, really. Why? Because the guest room defaults as a treasure storage room for all my finds. It was a hodge podge of assorted gems: rolls of vintage wallpaper, a cool outdoor lamp that looks like a column of sculptured marble vines, awesome ephemera torn from encyclopedias, dictionaries and magazines, vintage and contemporary fabric, vintage clothing and stacks and stacks of books. What do I do with all that stuff? Well, I sell on Etsy:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ColoresCorona

I sell to local resale stores Village Merchants, Red Light, etc.

What doesn't sell in those venues goes into huge garage sales. I'm having one this weekend:
4826 NE 15th (Alberta)
Portland, OR

I'm a collector-packrat-artiste. I love to arrange quirky beauty into vignettes and tableaux. They make me happy as I go about my everyday routine. It drives the love of my life mad because I cover every available surface, but I am obsessed.

I'm home from work today because I've had a stomach bug since Friday night. I had to lay low while our guests were here. Today I feel better, just not great yet (looking forward to that). Because I've been so busy cleaning and organizing, I've been able to only dream about being creative. I still have some wrist pain, so actually making something is a stretch, but I took some pictures of my tableaux.

Inspired by Yoko: Book Recommendations

I was inspired by Yoko Ono to list books that I love. I always start with these because they completely changed my schema of the mind-body connection. In other words they blew my mind in a good way. This is the material that excites and impassions my spirit. I loved Yoko's list:

http://imaginepeace.com/archives/3365

and I've read many of the books that she recommends. It was the brain books that caught my attention and she had Louise Hay on her list also. She is such a gift to our world. Her website is wonderful.

"Biology of Transcendence: A Blueprint of the Human Spirit" Joseph Chilton Pearce;
"Waking The Tiger" Peter Levine;
"Spiritual Initiation and the Breakthrough of Consciousness: The Bond of Power" Joseph Chilton Pearce;
"Evolution's End" Joseph Chilton Pearce;
"Trauma Through a Child's Eyes" Peter Levine;
"Traumaproofing Your Child" Peter Levine

Chilton Pearce is one of the great communicators of our time, I believe. He harnesses huge blocks of thought from numerous disciplines, distills and enhances it and makes it not only comprehensible, but a joy to read. My only caution: his conclusions are not always optimistic even though he illustrates the great power of the human spirit.

Levine I call a bodhisattva. He refused to accept the notion that trauma permanently cripples us and invented Somatic Experiencing, a modern form of soul retrieval.

OBSESSED WITH FLOWERS

I went to my friend, Glenda's, house after my last blog post and discovered that she had a large array of flower punches. Serendipitously, I had just purchased a partial roll of some vintage wallpaper that featured pink roses and gray accents. She went off to work and let me play in her scrapping area and I punched a lot of flower shapes. When I got them home I mixed up more glimmery paint using puffy fabric paint, Pearl Ex, Diamond Glaze, acrylic paint and gum arabic and painted a lot of the punched flowers. I also painted some pages from a cook book in French and cut circles for some larger flowers from that paper. I had a lot of fun working in a range of pinks and lavenders. I used some of the same glittery Stickles-like stuff on a number of the flowers and since I had just cleaned out my pen drawer and had a Signo on my work table, I decided to add some white. I also had a gold gel pen and used that on some of the flowers.

We learned that my father-in-law's wonderful careperson, Cindy, was in a serious car accident with her family so I made her a card using one of the flowers. Cindy is a really warm and gifted woman who has worked with Herb's family for a long time. She's one of the Visiting Angels and I got to meet her when Herb's fabulous mom was in hospice. Cindy was there when Herb's cousins and sisters and I sang Christmas carols to Pat as she made her transition to the other world. Here's hoping for a full and fast recovery to Cindy, her husband and their daughter.

Twitter Is Fun

Hey, I'm clumsy as all get out right now. I've had a flare up of some tendon problems and I'm back in a splint (self-prescribed), so typing is a bear. BTW if you have wrist or thumb problems, Jo-Ann's sells these awesome crafting wraps and braces that are really wonderful. I think they're about 10 bucks w/a coupon. They're green, so less homely than the blue velcro and fake leather splint I'm sporting right now.

I have been working almost every day, walking almost every day for 45 min followed by 15 min of weight resistance (small weights). I feel pretty good. I think the weights might be flaring me up, plus I've been on the computer a LOT more, so go figure.

I've been watching all the Prima flower and DIY glimmer mist tutorials on You Tube and I dove in yesterday and just did it all. 3 colors of glimmer mist (pink, brown and blue). If you follow me on Twitter, you'll see any video I've favorited or any that I've subscribed to. All the flower and GM links are there. I don't have much time to type right now, because I have to get out and walk before dark, but I'll link to the videos later. Besides the cool flowers, I ended up with background papers, too, because I misted the color onto the flowers as they rested on 3X5's or a notepad I keep by my worktable.

Twitter Account: twitter.com/judyfrida

Oh, quick triumph story. I sub rarely at a local male prison school. I had a group that was giving me grief and playing a lot of games (they usually want to mess with your head if they don't know you). They had an assignment, but it seemed when I quizzed them, that they knew the material they were supposed to be studying. Bored and frustrated, they began acting out. Nothing major, they just weren't on any kind of task. Okay, I said, those who want to study, grab a book and dig in. The rest of you I want over here, because I'm going to give a lesson on brain and nervous system function. (I studied Somatic Experiencing for a couple of years, have taught these concepts in this school before and have had wonderful outcomes.) Lots of griping followed, but within about 10 minutes all these guys were engaged, many asking questions, commenting and expanding on what I was saying. Amazing buy-in and wonderful info for guys who, like most of us, have some dysregulation of their nervous systems.

It's Been Years

Two-and-a-half years since I blogged!!! I just opened my first Twitter account and I've run across links to great blogs, so I'm reinspired. I also didn't have a laptop until a year ago, so here I am blogging while I watch "This Is It". I will want to watch this again and again--the creative process is inspiring to watch. I'm very thankful that my arms and wrists and forearms and shoulders are in a more healthful state than in the past year. I've journeyed through long-term chronic pain episodes and learned so much. I am so blessed to have been led to somatic experiencing which has helped me make friends with my nervous system and to resolve so much. YAY!!!!!

So, in all this time away I've been making and making. I've gotten more into sewing and I've made more dolls, which are labor intensive. I made two very cool polymer clay primitive folk art dolls and one flat painted doll (which I never dressed or quite finished wigging) from a pattern from Cloth Paper Scissors. I also did a line of Frida Kahlo flags inspired originally by a friend's idea to make our own prayer flags. We did that project and out of that came this idea to use Frida images. I finally surrendered to my obsession with Frida Kahlo and stopped feeling sheepish for using her image or her creations in a huge portion of my artwork. I am about to launch a new Etsy shop: FridaKahloStore.etsy.com. I've just done a group of ATC's, a Frida pillow and some other Frida-related artwork to list in the store. I'm also going to be selling Frida-ish vintage clothing/costumes. I think it's going to be really fun.

I'll dig around and find some pictures to post. They will probably be of the dolls and a few of the flags and maybe some other things I have floating around.

This Michael Jackson music is so inspiring. The film is really entertaining. Oh, I also got a Flip and plan to make some technique videos, which might not come together until the school year is over.

P.S. A long time ago I blogged about an artist's website I visited which inspired me to use spray paint and stencils. I could never find her blog again and recently found her through someone else's post on Inkjet Transfers or some other Yahoo group I read. Her blog is called "Dispatch from LA" and I was thrilled to see that she is also a teacher. Here's the link, which I will also add to my blog roll if I can remember how to do it.