The storm and tornado

I've been working on some different art pieces.  I need to decompress from school so I've been doing things that really let me run free.  I ended up with paint and ink all over my arms and legs from these.  And that's a good thing.

This one is tentatively called the tornado.  I was thinking about the many things in life that we just can't control.  There are things in our lives that are like a force of nature.  Can't be stopped.  The best we can do is protect ourselves from their damage.

My daughter called this one "Raindrops".  It's a good name.  Painting with watercolors helps remind me that I'm not in charge.  I put the water colors on the page, and water colors have a mind of their own.  They run.  They bleed.  They mix with other colors on the page.   I always love watching how the painting changes as it dries.  I am enchanted at every stage of a water color painting. 

I guess I've been thinking alot about what I can control, what I can't.  Sometimes all I can do is put up boundaries.  Other times I simply have to accept that I'm not in charge.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

5 year goal: Give a TED talk

In 2005 I hear about a study done on Harvard MBA graduates.  When they graduated they asked the graduates if they had goals.  There were those with vague ideas, those with no idea, and some with a 5 pages list of goals, sub-goals etc written out.  They followed these Harvard alum, these very successful people.  All of them were as successful as you would expect.  But those who had any written form of a goal were more successful.  Even if they had to adjust their goal along the way, make course corrections, or completely find a new goal.  It was simply the act of writing down their goal.  Higher rates of personal happiness, better marriage rates, earned more money, the whole nine yards.

In 2005 I set my goal, get an MBA in 5 years.  At that moment I hadn't even finished my BA.  My husband had left me a month earlier.  I hadn't worked in 5 years and had two small children.  My first priority was finding a job, not going back to school.

Well, it took a little bit longer than 5 years.  Closer to 7 years.  In December I graduate with my MBA.

And now I find myself wanting to set another five year goal.  Just as ambitious as a last goal.  I want to give a TED talk.

I don't even know what topic I would give a TED talk on.  Oh well, I didn't know how I could go back to school, and I did it.

So, I'm going to start recording my journey here.  Once I graduate in December I will make a daily commitment to work this goal.  I will be here daily working out my plan, finding my tools and climbing this hill.

Costs of recycled art

Cost of collecting colourful supplies (otherwise known as other people's waste stream)- $0
Cost of glue- $2
Cost of receipts for background (hmm . . . might need to ask my accounting prof about this one! I'll take a guess though)- $0
Cost of Frames- $50

Beautiful, amazing, recycled art-

Priceless

Finished piece

Recycle.

I know, its not a traditional English script, but it does say recycle.

The word was cut from the mosaic and glued onto a background of receipts.

Our consumer culture front and center for art. Bright packaging + receipts = Art Work. I like it. I like it alot.

I prefer this version, though. The word recycle is here in negative space, cut from the mosaic. It is hard for our eyes to trace the pattern of the word. The repeating pattern tends to capture our brain. Add to that, the fact that the word Recycle is in a non traditional script.

Recycling can be hard to locate. We have to work thru our long held assumptions, to view the world thru fresh eyes.

Save a receipt, save a tree

I was at UTA, buying my snacks to get me thru another long class.

"Do you want your receipt with that?" the young lady behind the counter asked me.

"No." I shook my head.

She nodded. "Save a receipt, save a tree."

As I walked out that phrase stuck with me. Receipts are fluttering all over the place. Most of the time they collect in my purse, wadded up at the bottom. They become trash.

I started collecting my receipts, not sure what I was going to do with them. Save a receipt, save a tree.

Today the receipts became the background for my artwork.

A modern mosaic

A modern mosaic. Done in the Islamic style. Six point stars. Everything cut from local material.

I'm struck by how different this does look from a traditional mosaic. Though the pallet is always deep with saturated colours, these colours are so much brighter. The color choices are traditional Islamic colours. Blue, purple, green, yellow, orange, red, and brown. I wanted to use the amazing silver, white and pinks that I've collected, but they simply don't go with traditional pallet. The colour are so much brighter than you would traditionally expect.

Modern marketing for ya!

Can you find your snack?

How many of our beloved snacks can we identify in this form?
I see Coke, Starbucks, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, Cliff Bars, Granola Bars, Chex mix. What do you see? Here, let me help some more.