Changes, Gratitude and Instagram, 1.31.15

This will  be the last long blog post for a while, as the next few months will be pretty busy around here, with personal extras (bridal showers, rehearsal dinner, dance lessons and my son's wedding) and professional extras (student murals, bigger/better plans for our annual art show and keeping up with my daily/weekly paintings for Olive and Ash)- all mixed in with all of the regular activities. So, the blog has to be put on the back burner for a while, although I will still be using it to post my daily/weekly paintings (during the summer, I'm shooting for daily; during the school year, I'll be lucky for weekly!).

Actually, this blog was started specifically to do just that- to post updates of my paintings. Then it evolved into more of a personal journal as a way to work through the hardest time in my life. Thank you for letting me do that here. It was extremely helpful. But now, thankfully, things are settled down to a new normal- for everyone, I think. And because things are so normal, I have a hard time coming up with things to write about. Maybe, when I come back to blogging on a regular basis again, I can write more about gratitude, which I have an abundance of right now. 

So, I hope you enjoy the painting posts. And I'll also be posting my Instagram collage at the end of every month, as that was one of my goals for the blog at the beginning of the year. (Still working on the Instagram thing, so try not to judge!) So I'll leave you today with a few things that I am grateful for right now and my first Instagram collage of the new year.

I'm grateful for the big things: my family's and my health and happiness (of course), a job I love, the peacefulness and normalcy that has settled into everything right now and the fact that my kids (after everything they have been through over the last ten years) are the most positive and happy people I know.  And the little things: the way Peanut, when playing hide and seek, gets so excited when he finds you that he just has to give you a hug; the way Baby G. still has a smile on his face even when he cries; my mom and dad and my kids being able to drop by and visit, anytime, now that we live closer; having a really good Mexican restaurant practically in our back yard; and, of course, being able to listen to the Splendid Table as I write a blog post (yes, doing that right now!).
*probably incorrect usage of semi-colons in the paragraph above-sorry!

And, I'm grateful for Instagram- which is a really nice way to keep in touch with people, but isn't time consuming. Enjoy the pics!

January 2015

 Have a great week!  Juli

Daily Painting and the High Pointe, 1.19.15

Third coat on, painting finished. There is only so much you can do with a small (8 x 10) painting of two bottles, so it didn't take long. But, like I said, it's good practice- basic shapes and forms, odd angles and playing with the color a bit.

Even though I haven't had time to paint for several days now, I'm setting a new goal to paint for at least an hour a day, most days of the week and hopefully more on the weekends. It's hard to say how many paintings I'll finish each week, as there are so many variables, but that isn't really the point anyway. It's all about practice. And practicing on a regular basis. Because that is the only way to get better, right? My goals- to be more confident with color, to be more confident with my brushstrokes and to be confident enough to play and experiment with the paint. I've been painting for a long time now (off and on) and teaching it for 10 years, so I'm confident with the basics. Now I'm looking for a style to develop and that will only come with consistent practice. I'll be documenting that practice here, so be prepared. I'm sure there will be some stinkers along the way! haha

This is the start of the second painting in this series. I thought I'd show how I start the under painting with very basics shapes that will become the eventual forms. Also, how I measure the placement of the shapes against the canvas by marking the half way points, vertically and horizontally.

I've been really inspired by the Carol Marine Daily Painting book that I got in the mail last week. She talks a lot about her daily routine, how she made it a habit to paint every day, how she sets up her painting space and what inspires her.  I've been looking for a book like this for quite a while now-SO glad I found it! A few more tips I've learned from her book- how to avoid 'muddiness' in a painting, how to clean your brushes with Murphy's Oil Soap (it cleans and conditions your brushes at the same time. Love it!) and some tips on colors for your palette.  I was glad to learn that Carol uses a pretty limited palette and that most of the colors that she uses are the same ones that I use. Yay! No pressure to go out and buy more paint. (It's expensive!)

I'll leave you with a collage of a cute little theater we went to yesterday in Clayton, MO, called the High Pointe. We've been there a few times, but it's been a few years and I had forgotten how cool it is. It was built in the 1920s and almost everything in it has been kept the same over the years. It's definitely like stepping back in time. Only one screen (yesterday they were showing Mr. Turner. Click here to see the official trailer) and tickets were only $5.00! If you are in the area, you should definitely check it out :)

Have a great week!  Juli

Wild and 10% Happier, 1.11.15

Nice title for a blog post, huh? Well, there is an explanation, as we saw the movie "Wild" last night and I got the book "10% Happier" in the mail this week (along with my Daily Paintworks book, which I  LOVE! And which I will discuss along with my next painting post). The connection here is that "10% Happier" is about calming your inner voice and "Wild" uses the main character's inner voice as the narration for the movie. So I feel like there is a little bit of a theme going on here this week. And I can totally relate to that ever-present, sometimes nagging inner voice.

The movie "Wild" was SO good. I highly recommend it, as I think anyone can relate to at least some of the things, on some level, that Cheryl Strayed has gone through in her life. Promiscuous behavior and dabbling in drug use as a young woman, ruining her marriage, losing a loved one and then setting a goal and making herself better to prove something to herself and to ultimately honor that loved one. Yep. I can relate. On what level and how much of that I can relate to, I'll keep to myself :)  The only thing I couldn't relate to is setting a goal to hike the Pacific Crest Trail... by myself! Absolutely no way!! But I admire anyone who would.

And, so...onto  that inner voice. Again, "Wild" is heavily narrated using Cheryl Strayed's inner voice. And you can sense the healing that is going on through this inner voice. At the beginning, it's all about beating herself up for her mistakes. By the end of the movie, it's about lessons she's learned and how she is healing. The 10% Happier book is all about taming that inner voice. I haven't had a chance to read much of it yet, but I have read many articles by the author and I love his writing style and his insight into this dreaded disorder that so many of us have- anxiety. I have only had two full-blown anxiety/panic attacks in my life (literally feeling like you're going to die because you can't breathe), but I deal with  anxiety on a daily basis in the form of some lovely symptoms like digestive disorders, ruminating thoughts (yes, that inner voice) and heart palpitations. But, I think it all goes back to that inner voice - choosing what you think about (keeping it positive) and learning how to just turn it off, if and when you need to. 

Well, I hope this post will be helpful to someone. I'm in no way, shape or form qualified to be a critic of anything, but I'm a sucker for a self'-help book and movies based on someone's REAL life, so I thought I'd pass the info along.  Again, I hope it's helpful because that's what it's all about. Right?!

Have a great week!  Juli

Happy New Year!, 1.1.15

It's a new year! I kind of hate to see 2014 go, as it was such a great one. As  a way to reflect on it,  I thought it would be fun to share this. Here are a few of my reflections:

Day this past year that I would live over and over - There were so many good days this year- Eddie and Falicia getting engaged, a weekend trip with all of my kids, a day at the zoo with all of my kids and my mom...but if I had to pick just one day, it would be June 18th- the day we met our newest family member, Gray Jameson (aka, Baby G.) Love his name and love that boy!

Best conversation I had this year- A conversation that I had with Little Man while we smoked cigars on the patio over the summer. I won't give details, but I'll never forget it.

Most memorable moment in pop culture- Easy. The day Robin Williams died.

Biggest lesson learned this year- To say much LESS (and be very choosy about who I say things to) and to listen MORE. 

Favorite song this year- Well, seeing Bob Seger in concert was a highlight of my year, so ALL of his songs are always at the top of my list. But, if I had to pick a new song it would be Sara Bareilles- I Choose You. Listen here.


Biggest piece of advice I got this year - Well, I didn't get it this year, but I'm continually working on this one- "LIVE IN THE MOMENT". (Wise words given to me by my sixteen year old boy, in November 2011.)

A late birthday/Christmas gift to myself this year.

Now, looking ahead. To 2015. I'll be continuing to pare things down to the basics. This means that, yes, I'll continue to focus on the reduction of "stuff" in my life.  But not just physical "stuff". The mental and emotional "stuff", the "stuff" that bogs me (and I'm sure most of us) down is just as important to get rid of as the physical "stuff". Either way, I've learned over the years that it's a constant give and take to let stuff in and then weed stuff out.  As part of this process, keeping priorities in mind is always the first step for me. Here they are:

First place- Family, always. And I include myself in this category. Taking care of myself is just as important as anything else. If I'm not healthy and happy, then, what's the point, really? And how will I be of value to anyone or anything?

Second place- My day job, teaching. It is what I was meant to do. It took me a while to figure that out, but the timing was perfect. I see teaching as an extension of being a mother. I really do.

Third place- This space and all things creatively related to it. Just as I see teaching as being an extension of being of mother, I see this space as being an extension of teaching.

Hopefully, upon retirement (in ten years!), this space will be a solid second. So, in order for that to happen, I'll be continually plugging away at it, hoping that, along the way, someone out there in blog land will find it useful, enlightening, motivational, etc. And if not, that's okay. It will still be a place for me to document what I've been doing, what I've been making and and what I've been thinking and that's a great way for me to continually re-assess where I've been and where I'm going. (I highly recommend it, by the way!)

I've also come up with a word for 2015.  My word is LEGACY. (Gosh, I hope I didn't pick that word last year! haha! Oh, well. If so, my word is still "legacy"!) Since I'll be turning the big 5-0 at the end of 2015, I thought it was a fitting word for the year. A reminder for me to always consider what I'm going to leave behind.

Happy 2015!! Have a great New Year's Day!   Juli