Behind the Art with Felecia

Merry Christmas to my friends who celebrate it!  I must confess, there are a number of holidays this time of year I know very little about. Some of you will spend today in the midst of these very holidays. Some of you may not be celebrating a holiday at all today - you are just celebrating that it is "today" and are engaged in living. Whatever the case, I pray this day finds you joyous and content. 

My final layout for the AUTHENTIC Kit is called Up Close - as in I pray I'm not found lacking when people get up close and personal.

Have you ever noticed that something looks amazing from a distance - the beach, a painting, the snow, perhaps your perfectly tweezed eye brows (or maybe that is just me). BUT when you get up close, it may not be so attractive? Maybe the beach sand is hot or the water too cold...or a painting is found to be a print and not the original...or the snow is heavy and wet and not at all romantic...or your eyebrows...well..maybe that IS just me!

When considering authentic, my personal goal is to be found genuine, even under very close scrutiny.

Its not easy.

It has moments of great joy, moments of hilarity, moments of great pain and honestly, moments of such embarrassment that I wish I could just sink into the ground...its not exactly a nice, smooth, straight road.

It often requires examination of things that I really would rather not get into.

But to reach genuine relationship and genuine peace, I must address these places where I may be hiding, or covering, or compensating...

I'm a slave to perfectionism...its hard to unlearn years of not trying things when they won't be perfect. 

To play, to try, to be in the process of learning and growing and changing and becoming...this is where I aspire to be. 

This paper, the "spilled' effect, the silver splotches, the things not totally level and straight...again, I'm attempting to revel in the beauty that is my art in my style in my wonky way. 

Silver polka dots and pink zig zags...these are things that "shouldn't" go together...but they do. Oh, they SO DO!. 

And ONE flower, ONE heart...there are no design triangles - shame on me! - and the only element that repeats are the butterflies...(an appropriate symbol for authentically embracing "becoming") these are my authentic expression of this moment, this project, this layout...and I love how it turned out. It turned out "me." 

As we bring this one to a close, I'm reminded that in this life, to be authentic is to be somewhat adrift. It is to embrace the very things within us that do not go with the flow, do not sign on for the trend, do not attempt to be like all the others...and make that OK. What a glorious thing!

Peace, ya'll!

Behind the Art with Felecia

Have you ever done a project that you loved...but not really so much?  This is one of those projects...

I love it. I love the color, the layout, the message...but I don't. 

It doesn't feel like my work - and yet it does. 

does that make sense?

Maybe like an outfit that you adore, that feels like your own skin, that is just your best go-to outfit...but its not that flattering. I'm thinking about my hot pink sweats...HAHA!

Its authentic to be authentic about a project but its not really your favorite, right? Well, that's what I'm going with anyway. 

This shot...honestly, I'm in my pjs. I have no idea what I was trying to accomplish. Its a good picture. But not. it shows all the glorious imperfections of my real, pj-wearing, messy hair, smudged makeup self...the one that sits in front of a movie on Friday nights and decompresses. 

I'm no Kim Kardashian when it comes to taking selfies. Selfies are an art form of their own, I think. Its not my art form. 

And the whole idea of selfie's seems to me to be a "here I am" exercise rather than a "who are you?" exercise. I prefer the latter. I want to engage in conversation and debate and transfer ideas. Frankly, you are just much much much more interesting to me than I am. I want to hear you...hear your point of view. 

I suppose in that way, selfies of OTHER people are good for me. but in a way they are NOT that good for me, because I want to know the REAL you...not the perfect you in that selfie that you spent hours trying to get just right. 

While exploring AUTHENTIC, this whole selfie thing was part of my exploration. Are our selfies authentic? and when they are, do we risk criticism and ridicule? Its an interesting phenomenon to think about. What are we trying to accomplish when we take a selfie?

These wonderful little cameras? I ADORE them. They are the cutest little things! and in terms of "selfie" they are a perfect embellishment. 

And truely the the picture does make me smile - for an abundance of reasons. 

I'm quite interested in how you think about selfies. or even IF you think about them? Some people never take them. Some people live for them? Do you think that selfies contribute or detract from our authenticity? I know I'm likely to take them over and over until I get something I think is flattering...how about you?

I'm also interested in the idea that we put our emotions and ideas out there into projects that maybe are not our favorite things... What do you think? 

Peace, ya'll

Behind the Art with Felecia

Hi, everyone!  

When exploring the monthly words at Inside Out, I make an attempt to consider the antonyms as well as the synonyms. For authentic, that would be the word counterfeit...

This is actually a fear of mine - that I will be examined and found lacking in authenticity. 

I happened to have attended an event where I wore a little mask and had a great picture for a "counterfeit" layout that speaks of not hiding behind masks. 

For fun, I did a little tiny bit of experimenting with paint, creating a spot for the picture...and then drew some additional "masking" on the green dots. 

As with many of my pages, this is a very flat layout...its has visual details without actual dimension. By far, the most important detail on this layout for me is the journaling.

As I said last week, the colors in this kit are so beautiful and amazing to work with. Its been so much fun to dip into these products to explore AUTHENTIC. The supplies have really pushed me to explore in a different way!  LOVE that!