Today, I want you to try to be honest.
with your partner
with your children
with your friends
Don't hold back. Say the things that you keep hidden inside. Say the things that have been on your mind, but you don't know how to put into words. Say "I love you".
And tonight, spend some time alone. Perhaps go for a walk or take a nice hot shower and then,
Be Honest With Yourself.
Listen to the answers, you might be surprised....
Some times I like to look back through old posts here, at CAC. I like to remember the ones that I took part in and consider "catching up" on some of the posts that I missed. Something that I have noticed when doing that this week is that there used to be A LOT of comments posted here. Like 40, 50, 60. Recently it seems like those Comments have dwindled down. The past several posts have had like, 4, 2, 0, 1, 4 comments each.
I know that I myself am often lax in commenting. Sometimes it is because I don't have anything more to contribute to a post than what has already been said. Sometimes I want to take the time to write something really meaningful, and then I forget...
I know that there are a lot of people who read this blog. I REALLY KNOW that there are tons of people who love Melba and want to continue supporting her efforts here. I mean, just look at the side bar of blog links. And that is just the icing on the cake!
This weekend, while she is away at The Creative Bazaar, maybe we can all surprise her. For today's Try Day, I would like to request that EVERYONE post a comment here. Seriously, whether or not you have commented before, whether you feel like you have something to say or not, whoever you are, PLEASE, leave a comment for our girl. Tell her you love her, tell her she has awesome hair. Tell her that you don't know her, but think she is cool. If you don't have anything else to say, just say hi!
For this weekend's try day, I CHALLENGE YOU...can we get over 100 comments on this post? Pretty please? If we do, I promise to choose a winner (completely at random), and I promise to mail them a fabu goodie!
What are you waiting for? Start commenting!!!
Last month’s hostess was so wonderful, encouraging us to try so many magical things. I loved her posts, but now I am filled with angst. I have spent the last 24 hours toiling away over my first “Try Day” post, wanting it to be worthy…of Melba, of all the past hostesses, of all of YOU wonderful CAC bloggers and readers. You see I have this problem where I care; a lot; too much really, about what other people think of me. Sometimes I let this get out of hand and I go beyond just putting my best foot forward. Instead I overcompensate and make myself feel miserable in the process. Last weekend was a prime example of me, overextending myself. And since then, I have made a promise to myself that I would try to express my feelings better.
I know that I am not the only person who does this. We all, at times, choose (for whatever reason) to hide our feelings. We mask them or sometimes just try to make them seem less significant. We say that we are not hurt or disappointed, when in reality our hearts feel like they are going to break.
So for this try day, I’m asking you to express yourself. Actually, that isn’t true. I am asking you to join me in a little experiment. Rather than lessening your feelings, lets all try to over exaggerate our feelings. Just once….(trust me, it will be fun). Some time in the next week when you are feeling stressed out or annoyed, go ahead and over exaggerate it. Sigh loudly, Howl in Pain, Wallow in Self Pity, Break down in Faux Tears, Punch a Pillow, Act Out, throw yourself a good-old fashioned Temper Tantrum. We are talking crazy over-acting. Think high school drama queen.
You’re probably wondering if I have lost my marbles. Why would you ever want to over exaggerate bad or negative feelings? Isn’t it better to just forget about them or plaster that nice girl smile on your face? NO. Ignoring our feelings is not a permanent situation. It doesn’t make them go away. All it does is repress them until you least expect it and them you blow up and take it out on some poor stranger for no apparent reason. By actually feeling your emotions, even the negative ones, you are allowing yourself to have a more “real”, fuller existence. And sometimes, by OVER exaggerating your feelings, you can quickly get over them. You can laugh at yourself and how ridiculous you are being and then get back to normal. So try it out, just once and see if it works for you. See what kind of reaction you get from those around you too. And please, if you do try this experiment, I would love to hear about it!! Smooches, Tanaya
It's KJ again and I want to start out this time 'round with a confession:
I am not very good at resting, taking breaks, laying around, or being even remotely lazy.
I can SAY I'm going to take a break at 3:00 to watch Guiding Light, and I can even flop out on the couch at 3:00 to watch Guiding Light, but by the first commercial break, my feet are itching to get up and DO SOMETHING. And by 3:20, what I'm doing is kind of, sort of, halfway listening to Guiding Light while back to work on one project or another.
Now, I get up at 5:00 a.m. the vast majority of mornings and work until my eyes literally feel like they're going to jump out of my head and roll across the floor in protest, until I'm almost too physically tired to clean my paintbrushes and put them away -- and even then my main reason for calling it a day is that I know if I get anymore tired, I'm not going to be able to do my best work anymore, and that's not fair to me, the paintings I'm working on, or the people who the painting will go home with.
Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking: Whine on, artist-girl, it's not like you're out digging ditches in the hot sun all day long!
The truth is, I work so hard, because I love what I do, and I don't want to ever have to go back to doing anything else. I would rather work around the clock than to have to one day give it up and go back to being an "officemonkey" (my word for legal assistant, which is what I used to be, in what seems like a past life). And honestly, there are so many ideas swirling around in my head, so many projects I want to complete, so many new things to try -- it just never seems like there are enough hours in the day and it seems such a shame to waste even one second of one minute of one of those hours!
But Thursday night, I was watching the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy...and during every commercial, I was jumping up and working on the computer to work on my website. And I thought: This is just ridiculous!
Now, don't get me wrong: Being productive is a GOOD thing. I got my website completely redone Thursday and I'm so proud of it (psst...shameless plug...it's here if you want to take a peek!), BUT we all need a day off here and there...or even an HOUR off.
Are you like me? I bet you are...life is BUSY and full and the to-do lists get really long.
SO, what I want you to try this week is taking the weekend, or the day, or whatever you can manage OFF. OFF from everything. For whatever block of time you can manage, clear your schedule, clear your head of doubts and fears, and I-need-tos...and just chill out. Read a book, or lie down and daydream. Go for a long walk or veg and watch and entire movie without getting up to check your e-mail (you know you do it!). Whatever is "relaxing" for you, even if you ARE better than me at "being lazy", even if you relax regularly, reserve some time this weekend just for yourself, just to be unbusy.
My two year old niece, Kaylee, is staying with me this weekend, so other than typing this post, I plan to do NO work, and instead, play with her and lay around and watch PLENTY of the Sprout channel...without getting up to check my e-mails!
The painting at the top of this post is titled "All Packed Up With No Place To Go", which I thought was fitting, since it's my last time to host Try Day this month, so I'm sort of figuratively packing up (though I do have a place to go -- you can find me regularly at The Adventures of KJ & The Dreamy Giraffe)...and because the little suitcase girl looks so serene...positively, absolutely doing nothing at all!
It's been so much fun this month and I hope you guys have enjoyed it as much as I have! Keep trying...'cause as they say...you don't know 'til you try!
Dream on,
KJ
P.S. The realistic portraits I mentioned last week, that I was so afraid to do, aren't finished yet, but once I started, I found that it was a lot easier than I'd ever dreamed it could be! So, one final lesson: DON'T let things intimidate you. Just begin -- that's the best way to conquer a thing that seems impossible -- take the first step!
Hi, again! It's KJ, from The Dreamy Giraffe, back again for another TRY Day. I can't believe it's the next to last one already! This month has FLOWN by like a bird with a few pairs of extra wings. That fast.
So, this week, I want you to try something that scares you.
Now, I don't necessarily mean jump out of a plane (though you could do that if you want to, but I think I should add: I bear no responsibility for jumping-out-of-plane related consequences, okay?) or stick your hand in a bear's mouth (PLEASE, say no to sticking your hands in anything with teeth) or call that cute dude down the street (though, if he's single and you're single, that might actually be a good one -- he might think YOU'RE a cutie, too, and if it goes awry, you can always just say, "KJ made me do it!" and hang up real fast).
But...is there something new you've wanted to go for but you're a little bit afraid you won't be able to do it? Something you've been putting off? Something that intimidates you a little bit?
I have a to-do on my to-do list that makes me a little bit, okay, a LOT of bit anxious and nervous and nauseous and a bunch of other words ending in "eous"...but it makes me a little excited, too. I have to admit, though, the Eous Gang and Excitement have been arm-wrestling and the Eouses have been winning out and I've been procrastinating a bit. But today, I'm just going to JUMP IN and just do it.
A couple of months ago, a friend of my dad's asked me if I could do a couple of portraits for him. A couple of realistic potraits. Now, I'll be honest with you: I'm not yet at the point in my career as an artist where, if someone asks me to do a custom piece for them, I can say, "OH, no, no, I don't want to."
And to be honest, I don't really want to ever get to that point in my career. I love doing commissions. It's so much fun and such an honor to be chosen to get to create something so special for someone. I never want to have to say no to that! Now, if it was something I was morally opposed to, I would turn down the work, but otherwise, now, in addition to just plain old wanting to do custom pieces, I kinda need the money...they didn't come up with the phrase 'starving artist" because those two words just had a nice ring when said together, after all!. So I want to do it and I need to do it...even if it's something that kind of makes me doubt my abilities and skills, something that makes me shake in my socks (I rarely wear boots). And the thought of doing a realistic portrait? Makes me shake in my socks. A LOT.
I still do a double take when someone refers to me as an artist and probably look at them like I have no idea who they're talking about. "Wait, did you mean ME?"
But as an artist (even one that's not 100% sure she is one!), I've developed a pretty specific style -- and I'm kinda fond of it, but realistic it's not:
I have done a "more realistic" portrait before and I'm proud of it, but it's still miles and miles away from realistic:
Anyway, I've had the check in hand for a couple of weeks and was using the assurances of "no rush, do it whenever you can, no hurry, really" as an excuse to put other projects first, because I've been a scaredy cat, letting "what if I can't do it"s crowd up my brain. Well, today, we find out, because along with that check, I'm getting my paintbrush in hand!
I do hope that I'll have a bunch of Create a Connection-ers knocking their fears out and just TRYING it along with me this week!
KJ
P.S. I don't know about you guys, but I have to admit, I did NOT do the best with the "no negativity" trial from last week. It was a pretty rotten week where just about everything went wrong and it seemed like everyone in the world (except maybe my Momma) hated me and in all my wanting to hide under the bed and cry, I got amensia off and on about the idea that I was supposed to be trying to be positive. So I'm gonna give it another go this week.
P.S. X 2: Kaylee loved the toybox! At just forty-eight hours away from turning two, she got down on the floor, right in front of it, up close, and proclaimed, "It's beeyoooooooooutiful." And her Mommy cried (tears of joy!) a little bit and her Daddy put it together right away. So the surprise definitely went over well.
It's me, KJ, from The Dreamy Giraffe, back for the third time!
That's my painting, "Pandora's Boxes". I usually write a story to go with most of my paintings, but with this one, I just used one line: You only hear about the bad one, but actually, she had quite the collection...
You can read more about the actual story of Pandora (and her box or boxes) here, if you'd like, but the gist of it is, if you've got a box full of notgood things, don't open it.
What does that have to do with Try Day?
WELL, this week, I'm asking you to see how long you can go without opening up any Pandora's boxes -- or rather, how long you can go without saying anything negative. I know nobody WANTS or intends or tries to be a negative person, but when life goes awry and we find day after day that our schedules aren't really our own and this and that come along to trip us up...it's so easy to let a complaint or two or ten slip out, isn't it? And worries, goodness, THOSE get vocalized, don't they?
The thing is...our words the thoughts behind them are so powerful. A pessimistic thought becomes spoken rant. And then that becomes your outlook. And your outlook is basically your life. And not only does that affect you, it affects the people around you! Your co-workers, your friends, your loved ones.
So this week, I guess I'm actually not just asking you to try and see how long you can go without saying anything negative...I'm asking you to try and see how long you can go without THINKING anything negative. Oh, the negative thoughts will creep in. The worries, the fears, the doubts -- you betcha. But tell yourself they're lies and don't dwell on them. Try to turn the negatives into positives. Ask yourself will it even matter tomorrow, next week, next month?
Sometimes I think we just make ourselves unhappy...don't you want to try being happier this week? Not bringing yourself down? Seeing the glass as half full and proclaiming that it's half full?
I'm not asking anyone to hold stuff in, because that's not healthy either. But, you know-- just try looking on the bright side and THINKING before you speak: Is this going to help, or hurt?
You might even want to try writing down your top five negative thoughts, the ones that bring you down and make you sad with yourself, and then just balling up the piece of paper and throwing it away. Making yourself feel bad isn't making anything of the not-so-great things about life go away -- it's probably just causing you to miss out one things that ARE great in life.
Last week I asked you to try surprising someone -- this week, I want you to surprise yourself! See that you, too, can be a Miss (or Mr.!) Positivepants.
Hey, did you surprise someone this past week?
My surprisee hasn't been surprised yet, but by the time you're reading this, she will be! Saturday is my niece's second birthday and I've been promising and promising my sister since last Christmas (eeep!) that I'd get the plain white toybox our mom bought them painted -- well, when we go to the party, the painted toybox is coming with us!
Wanna see a picture?
Merry September 8th! Happy Saturday! Welcome to September's Second Try Day, everybody!
It's me, KJ! I have a little cottage industry called The Dreamy Giraffe and document all of the adventures and misadventures my Dreamy Giraffe & I have here. And I'm back with you to try, try again, as they say!
This past Tuesday, I was lying on my bed (I have a studio, but lying on my bed is my favorite place to paint), working on a commissioned piece (I wish I could share more details, because I really am so proud of how this one turned out, but it's a surprise gift for a wedding so I gotta keep it under wraps for a l'il while longer) and watching Mission: Man Band (yep, I admit it shamelessly -- I'll even go as far as admitting that in my sordid past, I've seen two of those fellas in concert, but I won't tell you which two) (unless you ask nicely)...where was I?
Oh, yes, I was on my bed, painting, and watching embarrassing reality t.v., when a car horn honked about three or four times in my yard. It was not, in fact, the Embarrassing Reality Television Watching Prevention Committee or the People Against Painting On Beds Action Group -- it was my mail lady!
She was armed with the usual mail type stuff -- a bill or two (or five), a couple of pre-approved offers from credit card companies and a nice-sized box from Canada -- wait a second -- a nice-sized box from where?
I don't know about you, but I tend to run out of every single supply at once -- it's like I wake up one morning and someone has robbed me blind of paper, paint, boxes, packaging tape, labels, sleeves for prints, canvases, pencils and, oh, yeah, toothpaste and shampoo, too. Or else all those things have sprouted arms and legs and have run away together to start their own little travelling supply circus. Or...maybe...just maybe...I managed to serendipitiously use the last of everything, all at once?
Anyway, last week was that week for me, so I had ordered quite a bit and was expecting several packages -- but none from Canada.
It was addressed to me -- Kathy Jeffords -- though, the package from Canada, so I took it, though I had my doubts. On the customs slip, it declared that it was a ceramic plate and a bowl, which REALLY was cause for doubt. Now, my friend A., who has been keeping and stocking a hope chest since we were about five, she's the type of gal you buy a ceramic bowl and plate for. Me? Those who know me well, when buying me a present, tend to go with a giftcard from Hobby Lobby or Target or maybe pay for me to have my hair cut or get me a pair of pants not spattered in pant. Not that I have anything against decorative flatware, mind you, it's just -- when one is on an (not starving but not eating out every night either) artist's budget -- free neccessities are much appreciated, the more practical, the better. Besides -- it's nowhere near my birthday (January 31st!) or Christmas and my friends are not exactly wealthy heiresses and movie stars -- so why would I be getting a present on a random Tuesday in September? I really was wondering if this was actually for me, or had been misdelivered and was in fact supposed to be in the hands of some bride-to-be-next-week down the road.
Nevertheless, I brought the nice-sized box inside and opened it. There was lots of newspaper-padding and I pulled it out, piece by piece, looking for a card or a note. There none, no info about who'd purchased the plate and bowl, only a business card letting me know where they'd purchased it from.
I finally got to the contents themselves, wrapped and wrapped and rewrapped in bubblewrap, and it was obviously, indeed, a ceramic bowl and plate. Curiouser and curiouser.
"This can't be for me," I said.
Still, I unwrapped the bubble wrap, layer by layer, and when that final layer fell off, I knew, without a doubt, that it WAS meant for me, and only me, and though I'm normally the type of girl who likes to get a giftcard from Hobby Lobby or Target or a pair of unpainted pants, on this day -- a ceramic bowl and plate, THIS ceramic bowl and plate, couldn't have been a more perfect gift, arriving at a more perfect time.
Why was it the perfect gift, at the perfect time?
For starters, I'd been sick off and on with this that and the other (migraine, flu, more migraine, etc.) for...well, it seemed like most of August! I'd lost a lot of work time and was stressed out and stretched out and that morning, was worn down and anxious, worried about money, second guessing my decision two years ago to leave the officemonkey life behind and make a living doing art and, you know, in the back of my mind, even kind of wondering if it would be so bad to call up the law firm I used to work at and beg them to take me back.
Do you ever feel like you're just given a sign? Like a flashing neon sign? Because Tuesday, that's exactly how I felt, and my neon flashing sign was sort of like a hand patting me on the back, saying, "Sweetie, it's gonna be all right. This IS the right thing for you. This IS what you're supposed to be doing. Just keep at it."
The hand-painted, just-for-me ceramic bowl & plate:
The bowl and the plate, done by Oladesign, is of giraffes, butterflies...and the word dreamy. What a reassurance, a little voice whispering in my ear 'you can do this, you ARE doing this, this isn't some temporary vacation from real life...this IS your life, baby' on a day when I really, really needed it!
But WHO was this perfect gift from? I had no idea. Which made it seem like even more of a flashing neon sign from the universe, from fate, from God. I've since found out who it was from (luckily, as I mentioned, the company included a card and I e-mailed them and inquired) - a past buyer who couldn't have possibly known how much their kindness and that particular gift would mean to me on that particular Tuesday.
It was such a lovely surprise, bringing much-needed comfort and support. That, along with the wedding gift I've been working on most of the week, had me thinking of surprises a lot, and how fun it is to be surprised AND how it can be even more fun to be the surpriser -- and how much a surprise can mean to the surprisee. Thoughtfullness is always an excellent thing, but when you have no idea it's coming -- it turns into a WOW! thing. So I HAD to make this week's Try Day about surprises.
This week, I'm inviting you to surprise somebody -- or multiple somebodies. Spend today brainstorming and scheming and plotting -- and then, sometime this week, make someone's day with a little unexpected kindess or treat. Whatever you plan it totally up to you and it may seem like a small thing in your mind -- but you have no idea how big it will be to the recipient.
I already have my surprise all planned out -- I'll share pictures of it next Try Day Saturday - and if you have a surprise story or pictures you'd like to share, post'em in the comments section and I'll include some in next week's post!
Have a dreamy week, everbody, filled with pleasant surprises!
KJ
P.S. Megan, if you happen to be reading this, thank you so, so, so, so very much. My eyes still get teary when I think about it.
P.S. X 2: It was Chris Kirkpatrick and Rich Cronin.
Hi, I'm KJ (of The Adventures of KJ & The Dreamy Giraffe), I'm so excited to be your Try Day hostess (hopefully with the mostest!) for September -- and, yes, I've just encouraged you to try someone else's idea.
Now, before you think: "Wait a second! I've just met this girl! We haven't even shook hands yet! I do not know what the K or the J stands for! And yet she thinks it's cool to encourage me to be an unoriginal copycat thief?! What's wrong with her?!"
...hear me out. Because I'm really not encouraging you to be an unoriginal copycat thief, I promise!
I have so many ideas for paintings and drawings, I keep a whole file with a numbered list of them and it's now up to around #400!
For the longest time, I've been toying around with the idea of hosting an idea swap, where the participants all submit one idea they've had and the ideas are mixed up and given out to someone else playing along...and everyone uses the idea they've gotten to create a piece of art or writing in their medium or genre of choice and then whatever is created is sent to the original idea-haver. I'm not quite at the point in my blogging where I'm ready to host any kind of full-fledged swap yet...but I am intrigued of the idea of swapping...ideas.
I just wrote a post in my blog about the whole idea process and this is just a snippet:
For me, personally, the greatest thrill in being an artist is watching as a stray thought in my brain becomes a kernel of an idea...then a full-fledged idea...and then that full-fledged idea becomes a sketch on a blank canvas...and then, slowly but surely, step by step, stroke by stroke...it becomes an actual, tangible piece of art, that not only exists in my imagination but really and truly...exists. It's like being able to show the world what's inside your head. It's bringing something that was only yours to life so it can be shared...and it's awesome. It's fun. It's a joy.
As I wrote that, and the rest of the post, I began thinking, again, about the idea swap. Because as amazing as it is to bring one of your ideas to life...wouldn't it also be just as amazing to see one of your ideas brought to life by someone else, to see how they'd interpret it, what they'd come up with?
If you've ever particpated in Illustration Friday or just swung by to check out all the entries, you know how wildly and widely different the responses to each prompt are! Hundreds of people illustrate, paint, draw and cartoon the prompts every week..and everyone does it uniquely. Everyone puts their own spin on the buzz word.
What would one of your ideas look like with someone else's spin on it?
I was away from the computer almost all of yesterday. Our dryer is broken and I went to my MIL to do our many loads of laundry. Then in the evening we had a family party to celebrate the many birthday (including mine) there are in August. A great time was had by all. We got home late and my throat was hurting me (I have been fighting a cold/cough all week). Early this morning both Ethan and Maggie wanted to come into our bed. After they fell asleep I went into Maggie's room to get some more rest and meditate.
I feel a better, more clear.
I had no ideas for today's Try Day when I sat down at the computer. First I read the recent posts here at Create a Connection. Nina had me thinking about what inspires me.
Then I read my emails.
My friends inspire me; Images inspire me; The kindness of others inspires me....
Look what Jes created to spread the work about justBe...Connected!!!
Isn't it so cool? Thanks Jes! (Jes is having a creative contest...check it out here)
Seeing this image gave me the idea for Try Day...
Try creating a Photo Collage.
I have never created a photo collage before so I will be trying right along with you. We have an end of summer all day family party to go to early this afternoon so I probably won't get to my collage today. Which is OK!~ never feel like you can only participate in a challenge on that day...Create a Connection is Always Open!
I did a little research and...
Here and here are some links on how to create a photo collage. And here are some great examples of photo collages at flickr.
Once you create your collage please share the link to your collage in the comments here. Through out the week I will add your collages to this post!
If you have any other great links or suggestions on creating photo collages we would love to hear from you!!!
I am looking forward to next week when KJ will be the Hostess of Try Day for the month of September!
Have a great Saturday!
XO, Melba
here is another collage from Jes...
From Rissa:
From Nyjlm
Here's Jinny's:
I was surfing through blogs today thinking about Try Day when I read the news. Poetry Thursday is coming to an end. Although I have not participated much lately, I will miss sharing the Love of Poetry.
I started thinking about how much I love community blogs ~they are a great way to connect people. They are also a wonderful way to start when you are new to blogging...not only do you have a focus for a post, but you have something safe to comment on new blogs about as well as get a whole bunch of new visitors.
For Try Day I am encouraging you to Take the Plunge!!!
Share here in the comments your experiences participating in community blogs ~maybe link to some of your recent contributions.
~What do you like about community blogs?
~Maybe there is a community blog that you want to participate in but haven't yet; what's holding you back??
~Maybe while browsing through you will get the idea to start your own community blog....you could bounce some ideas off of us or maybe find a partner....
{Please share the links of any other community blogs you think should be listed here.}
Community Blogs
I am setting this to post on Saturday, but it is really Thursday evening...Early tomorrow I leave to go to NY for a Wedding. There is no way for me to test if the links above work. The links are also over at the sidebar under the header community blogs. ~Melba
