Maybe everyone already knows this?

This Monday morning, my first task of the day, was to clean out a big closet. I needed something to entertain me and egg me on, so I listened to two episodes (it was a big closet)

Here is the link:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Archive.aspx

in case you have anything to clean today.

Renovated gas station

Via MAKE:

"Tired of seeing the abandoned eyesore on a daily basis, artist Jennifer Marsh decided to cover this old gas station in 5,000 square feet of fabric.

With the help of professional and amateur artists from 15 countries and more than 2,500 grade-school students in 29 states, Marsh covered the 50-year-old former Citgo station — pumps, light stands, signs and all — with more than 3,000 fiber panels that are crocheted, knitted, quilted or stitched together."

I am impressed with a lot about this, but the sheer SCALE of it. Wow.

Say what you will

Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Interesting blog post

Why do some people get PTSD and some don't?

It is thought that between 40-70% of Americans have experienced traumatic events yet only about 8% go on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) over the course of their lifetimes. Researchers from Yale University studied 1,252 people aged from 17 to 79 who had experienced adversity in their childhood and/or as an adult. People who had experienced adverse events in both adulthood and childhood were much more likely (29%) to develop PTSD than people who had 'only' experienced adversity in one part of their life (9.9%). A gene called 5-HTTLPR was also found to influence whether people developed PTSD or not but it was only found to increase in people who had had a double dose (in childhood and as an adult) of trauma.


http://mentalhealthupdate.blogspot.com/2009/11/why-some-people-get-ptsd-and-others.html

Images from the latest book

collage without thought

Finishing up this last altered book. The last book was super lovey dovey, this one is super heart broken. *sigh* I tried to put myself on every page, as if to say "I am my own true love". But I didn't totally mean it.

more art for breakfast

This encompasses all I find good and needed - art in the most unexpected places, beauty for no reason, inspired thinking and yummy, yummy pancakes! I do sometimes work at the glorious Blue Moon Diner here on Main st in Charlottesville, and I am a friend to Jon Hampton, powdered sugar stenciler extraordinaire, but these are great all on their own.

Henry Darger, custodian, artist

Henry Darger was a reclusive American writer and artist who worked as a custodian in Chicago Illinois. He has become famous for his posthumously discovered 15,145-page, single-spaced fantasy manuscript called The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, along with several hundred drawings and watercolor paintings illustrating the story. Darger’s work has become one of the most celebrated examples of Outsider art.

Darger had troubles from the start with adults and children. He was diagnosed as being feeble minded at a young age and taken from his home and institutionalized. He himself felt that much of his problem was being able to see through adult lies and becoming a smart alec as a result, which often left him beaten by nuns. He also went through a lengthy phase of feeling compelled to make strange noises (akin to Tourette Syndrome), which irritated others. The Lincoln asylum’s practices included forced labor and severe punishments, which Darger seems to have worked into In the Realms of the Unreal. He later said that, to be fair, there were also good times there, he enjoyed some of the work, and he had friends as well as enemies.

The Godmother of Creative Journaling

http://www.healthy.net/CreativeJournal/

Meet Dr. Lucia Capaccione, author of "Creative Journaling". This is a great site for very simple exercises that involve dialogue with your pictures, inner child work and more. Some people will find her far out, but for others this will be good medicine.

Here is a sample from her web page:
Close your eyes and ask yourself:

What does the word creative mean to me personally? How does the creative spirit live in me? How do I express my creativity in my everyday life, activities, relationships?

Meditate upon your creative self.

Draw your creative self in any graphic style that feels right for you: symbols, abstract design, doodles, cartoon, picture, etc.

Look at what you've drawn and write down your reactions. Then let your creative self speak to you (in the first person, singular), e.g. "I am your creative self . . ." and write it out in your journal. Have a conversation with your creative self, if you wish, asking questions and responding to what it says to you.

Uses: This exercise can help you explore and expand your definition of creativity and to actively experience and express this innate human characteristic. By recognizing and cherishing the creativity you already use without perhaps being consciously aware of it, you can tap hidden potential. This exercise helps you to affirm yourself as you are now and to build inner strength and self-esteem for taking on new challenges.

Back from the city of New Orleans

I've sweated out my demons in New Orleans for a very full week. Now I'm back in the groove. Please come to McGuffey Art Center in Charlottesville this Saturday at 11:30 for our art making support group. malainajean@gmail.com for more info.