May has been a whirlwind of activity...from cleaning our home, having a yard sale, celebrating a birthday and planting flowers...it seems like everyday is another new big adventure. This can be oh so good...but there are times I wish for a bit more down time to contemplate who I am, what I want and where I'm going. Do you ever get this way? Do you feel like your swimming in a big ole' lake and the harder you kick and flap your arms the more you sink?
I recently subscribed to the on-line magazine "The Phoenix Soul". Each month Amanda (the brilliant creator of the magazine) features a Word-themed zine with 60 pages of uplifting and soul-stirring essays, poems, prompts and more. Our Word for May is Vitality. If you are interested go here to purchase yours!
Vitality...I don't think I have felt that in years. Seriously...life has been overwhelming and incredibly draining the past 4 years. But you know Amanda (along with her very talented writers) could not have picked a better Word for me to focus on this month...they made me realize that THAT is exactly what's been missing in my life and I WANT some right now!
Vitality...capacity for survival or for the continuation of a meaningful or purposeful existence
Yep...I want to live a meaningful and purposeful existence...don't you?!
I have noticed in shift in my art...the way I go about it and the way I create it. It's quite exciting...for you see I am finally creating MY style. Not Flora style or Melody style or Sarah style...not the way all those amazing artists do in Art journaling magazine...no I am creating Leslie Style. It's opened a whole new world for me and inspired me beyond any blog post or challenge or magazine article has.
The other day I noticed my sweet daughter, Emma had written on an index card I have clipped on my desk...it's a quote I want to use on a canvas and I had written "Flora Bowley Style". My very wise daughter crossed that out and well...you can see what she changed it to....
That really hit me!! Why have I always tried to venture away from MY style and copy someone else's? Why do YOU?
Since the beginning of January I have really found my artistic groove and I am LOVING it!!!!
No longer confined by the box I put myself in...I am creating FOR ME...using what I LOVE...words, bright colors and vintage images.
I am finding the more I create this way...the more creative I become!
Here is my latest canvas featuring Audrey Hepburn, acrylic paints, spray inks, stencils, white gel pen, my favorite letter stencil, pearls and a bright orange butterfly I picked up at The Dollar Tree.
"Keep seeking for the truth...everyday."
I love how it turned out so much that it now hangs in my studio:)
Girls...June 1st is just around the corner and it's TIME for a NEW Challenge! To go along with my newfound vitality I find myself putting more and more energy into my DREAMS...especially one...my DREAM of writing. Oh I have many more as I am sure YOU do!! The best way I know how to make our DREAMS a reality is to write them down...or better yet...ART JOURNAL them!! June is all about journaling our DREAMS into reality!
So excited for June's Challenge!! Be on the lookout for inspirational quotes, pages and other ideas to help YOU reach YOUR DREAMS!
**No need to sign up for our June Challenge
**Go to our Facebook page to share your Dream journal pages and find lots of inspiration
**NEW this month...Happy Mail Give Aways!! Anyone participating in the Challenge has a chance to win a very nice Happy Mail full of vintage photos, buttons, words, etc. from ME!
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
― H. Jackson Brown Jr., P.S. I Love You
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I appreciate your thoughts and ideas...they inspire me!! I will be visiting you soon. Have a CREATIVE day!!