January Stencil Club

I'm on the Stencil Girl Talk blog today with lots of step out photos showing how I made this little shrine using stencils from January Stencil Club.  

The substrate is an old drawer that I purchased at Art is You two years ago.   I love how it looks as part of my home altar. 

I hope you'll hop over and take a look at how the January Stencil Club Stencils inspired me.

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

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Face #10

Thank you so much to all the people who signed up for my newsletter!  I sent out two downloads yesterday and I hope you like them.  I'm very excited to see what you make with them.  Here's face #10.  The journaling around it says:

I go for refuge to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha
Until I reach enlightenment.
By the goodness of all I do, in giving and the rest,
May I reach Buddhahood,
For the sake of every living being.

This is one of the most profound and beautiful prayers in Buddhism -- the prayer to reach enlightenment not for oneself, but for the sake of others; to reach perfect happiness not for oneself, but to relieve the suffering of others. 

Thank you for visiting! I read and treasure every comment and will answer any questions as quickly as I can.

Create With Joy, Mandarin Orange Monday, Make it on Monday, Pin and Tack Spark Your Creativity (Anything Goes), and Monday Mantras.

Security and Stability in Unlikely Places

Today's Fall Fearless & Fly challenge is all about feeling safe and secure.  Here are the prompts:

Headline Prompt:  Security:  What makes you feel safe and secure?  What rattles your sense of security?  Where do you go for comfort and refuge?
Color Prompt:  Cool colors (blues, greens, violets, etc.) 

Quote Prompt: You can't make a place for yourself in the sun if you keep taking refuge under the family tree.  Helen Keller 

I decided to go with the first two prompts, which were challenging to contemplate after seeing my states (New Jersey and New York) devastated by Hurricane Sandy.  My sense of security was badly rattled.  Normally, my home, or my cabin at the lake, are where I feel safe and secure, and where I go for refuge.  But I've been rethinking that. 

In the past two weeks, I found stability on my meditation cushion, where I connect to all that exists.   I found strength in the community of my yoga studio, where we dedicate our practices to freedom from suffering and its causes.  And I found refuge in my path - knowing that creating art, teaching yoga, and being a good friend, mother, daughter, wife, and citizen of the world, give me joy and peace.

All of these thoughts went into the creation of this 12 x 12 mixed media canvas.  

As I worked on it, I thought about how having electricity does not necessarily confer the feeling of power -- how often do we feel powerless despite all the comforts in life?  And yet, how many feel strong and stable, even without traditional sources of power?  Weathering an outside storm can be quite easy compared to the storms we weather within.  

I started with a canvas prepped with blue, green and turqouise sprayed paper towels that had been my placemats for lots of fun with spray inks at Joanne Sharpe's class at Art is You.  As I scraped paint and glazing medium around it, I began to see this woman appear, standing in a storm, saying "bring it on."  I created all the circles with layers of Maya Road kraft doilies and layerable flowers.  Among the many stencils I used were Balzer Designs' Leaf Frame Stencil, and Stencil Girl's Swirly Floral Stencil.  I made the winged heart embellishment in Laurie Mika's fabulous class at Art is You -- I knew I'd find a home for it!   

I hope you'll go to Artists in Blogland and see the wonderful piece that Maria McGuire, our guest designer for this challenge, created.  LuminArte has donated two $35 gift certificates so we'll have 2 winners over at AIB.  I also can't wait to visit my co-host, Carolyn Dube, whose art always inspires me.

AND...the winner of my giveaway for FF&F #3 is Joanna, who wrote: 

BEAUTIFUL!! I love these pages on the black background, they really stand out!  Would I like to win one of your paintings? Hell yeah!!

Joanna - send your address to me at jessicabethsporn (at) gmail (dot) com, and I will get "Joy" right out to you. 

MY GIVEAWAY FOR THIS CHALLENGE:  Leave a comment below, indicating that you would like to win this Butterfly watercolor/zentangle design, and I will pick a random winner in my post for the 5th FF&F challenge.   Indicate whether you follow my blog and/or my facebook page too for extra chances to win!

Linking up to Artists in Blogland, Inspire Me Monday, and Art Every Day Month.

Thank you for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.

PS - Please consider purchasing my 2013 calendar.  Called "Living With An Open Heart," it features 12 of my mixed media designs.   All proceeds go to Hurricane Sandy relief.  Thanks!

PPS - A few more of my stencil designs are live at Stencil Girl Products!   The Hebrew lettering is a beautiful ancient prayer:

May God bless you and keep you
May God cause the divine light to shine upon you and be gracious to you
May God turn toward you, and grant you peace
(Numbers 6: 24-26).

We can all use a little of that!

The Magic of a Grateful Heart

To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance.  The Buddha

Her grateful heart...

turned what she had...

 into enough.

Linking to Paint Party Friday, Art Everyday Month, Art Journal Everyday, Show and Tell Saturday, Mandarin Orange Monday, Inspiration Avenue, and Create With Joy. 

Have a wonderful weekend, and remember that Sunday is the last day to be eligible for a prize in Fall Fearless & Fly's third challenge, both on the Artists in Blogland blog and my blog.  Monday, we launch our fourth challenge with guest designer Maria McGuire.

Thank you so much for visiting.   I read and treasure each and every comment!

UPDATE:  Welcoming Corey to the world!  If I look proud, it's cuz I am!

Another UPDATE:  I received my beautiful calendar in the mail yesterday, designed by Denthe, who will be giving away a copy to be drawn next Friday, November 16.  Check out her blog for details of how to enter.  Every month has a gorgeous portrait against a stunning background.  Samy immediately claimed it for her room. 

You can see details of the calendar  here.

Round and Round in the Circle Game

And the seasons they go 'round and 'round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came,
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

Joni Mitchell

This song is very much in my head and heart today.  Yesterday, we had to put down our wonderful cat Tory.  She was a rescue kitten who came into our family over 17 years ago as a present for my then 3 year old daughter, Mariel.  She was my companion through a contested divorce, getting my feet wet again in the dating world, several relationships, a new marriage, a new baby, moving to a new home, and transitioning from working as a lawyer, to embracing a new life as a yoga teacher and artist.  She was feisty and a diva -- she didn't like new people, new animals, or being transported to new settings.  She had a wail of a meow, and a purr that was so loud that it could be heard from another room.  As the lyrics from Stray Cat Strut go - she was a black and orange cat with class and style, who never bothered chasing mice around.  I will really miss her.  Although I don't often try to paint with any realism, this art journal page captures her and her regal, haughty expression.

It was fitting that this was the very last page in the art journal I started June 1.  I started it for Running With Scissors 30 day challenge, which was loads of fun.   Here are some pics of my finished journal!  I stenciled the front and back with Julie Balzer's Dashed Lines stencil and then added a zentangled mandala I did a while back.

Here are some spreads -- all of which I think I've blogged about in prior posts.  It's interesting to look at it all together -- I see that there are a lot of days I only feel like "arting," and not writing.  Because I tend to blog about the art in the journal, I'm not as drawn to write in it.  I save my journal writing for events and thoughts that are sensitive for me.

Of course, I had to start a new journal immediately!  Here's the first page, inspired by Inspiration Avenue's weekly challenge: wheels.

I created this page by:

1. stenciling an 8 x 10 piece of cardstock with Julie's dashed lines stencil using adirondack color wash sprays in stream and lettuce.  
2. I placed a circles template on the page and layered modeling paste on top it.   
3. Once the modeling past dried, leaving raised circles, I pasted the page into my journal using Elmer's art paste and a disposable brush.  The color washes ran, creating a nice effect on the paper.  
4. While it was still wet, I used the wooden tip of a paint brush to scribble into the "glue-color wash goop." 
5. I cut out a clip art of someone doing cartwheels and painted the figures black to make silhouettes and then cut them out and glued them on the large circles.
6. The orange mandalas are from a large sheet of Nepalese Lokta paper.
7. I wrote lyrics from "The Circle Game" on copy paper and sprayed them with color mists before cutting them out and gluing them down.

I really like this message to start my new journal.  Hopefully, in each  "go round," we accumulate the wisdom to change how we relate to our experiences.  The Buddha taught that lasting happiness can be attained only through becoming a “lamp unto yourself.”  Both Buddhism and yoga philosophy teach that nirvana or enlightenment is not a different place -- it is a clear perception of oneself and of the entire range of human experience.  This is the key to self-transformation.  Similarly - “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21).  Every great religious, spiritual, and wisdom tradition teaches that life’s ultimate truth, its ultimate treasure, lies within us.

Linking up with Paint Party Friday, Artists in Blogland, Art Journal Every Day and Creative Every Day.  Click the buttons on my sidebar and go spread some love!

Thank you so much for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.

Forgiveness

I've spent a lot of time thinking about the exchange with my brother on Saturday.  I've also spent a lot of time thinking about this quote from the Buddha:

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”

and this quote by Mark Twain:  

"Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it."

How can I stay angry at my brother?  His actions and speech are caused by anger and hurt.  They are not his true nature.  How can I stay angry at myself?  My response was caused by anger and hurt.  It is not my true nature.  With breath, I have washed the slate clean, recommitting to step forward with a peaceful, loving, compassionate heart.  I inhale deeply the fragrance of the crushed violet as I drop the hot coal that has been burning my hand.  Forgiveness is indeed a gift of the heart.