Mather Class: Creative Mildfullness.

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October has been a "Life's Challenges"or "Hell in a Hand-basket" sort of month, as Auntie Nana used to say. Her other favorite saying was, "Cat's-Asstrophe", which was the Iowa-way of mild swearing. Me, today I would use the full blown F---K October with an extra Kick-in-the-A-S/pants.

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We had a dear friend take seriously sick and pass away in a matter of 15 days or so. Honestly a  blessing in disguise. BUT, my Hubby is executor for his messed up 'Will' which got signed, but the attorney is in a different county than the Friend, or us, so it is now all in Filing Limbo waiting for a judge to certify it.

Meanwhile, we had his property to take care of and his animals, too. Arrangements had been made following the will, but neither location was aware of our friend's wishes. UGH. So literally Cats'-Asstrophes and Parrot's-Asstrophe, as we scrambled for proper places for these sweet creatures. We did and they are doing well.

We personally don't have animals now, because we are too old. Our kids have allergies, and we are toddering around barely upright now in our late 70's, so having animals just isn't a safe or good idea. Making accurate plans for your animals is a must, with arrangements made ahead of time.

And, in the middle of all this, 5 days after the friend passes---I have heart surgery! Gracious, I'm doing fine---but with all kinds of restrictions. So, I'm more into the Chicago type of Profanity at this point.

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Monday, I finally get to take my Mather Creative Mindfulness class, which is an experiment in being in the moment and relaxing, which I really needed.  

The class begins with an emptying your mind relaxation exercise, which I definitely needed. Monday was a week after my surgery, and my muscles and mind were still pretty wrought up. 

However once my creative juices start flowing--- LOOK OUT! 

This particular class was arranged around aspirations-You know those, "I'm brave, wonderful, and competent," etc.- BS.

Well, I don't do aspirations. Life is complicated enough without having to follow resolutions, aspirations, or more rules and goals to fail at. I'm more of a kind of "Go with the Flow" girl, always managing with plans B through F. When it gets to the G-plan,  ...I sort of stutter and stumble a lot. 

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One of the class suggestions was to start your project with  ripped magazine words, artwork or phrases to start your process. These are inherited publications from a friend. Definitely OLD and REDO.

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We only had an hour, and I started 15 minutes before and ripped my little heart out and start pasting this and that on a large page of Water color paper when we were to begin.

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12x18 Canson rough side

The class TIME always goes pretty fast, and I pasted a load of bits of mind-bursts in some sort of order that might make sense, I even used a few photos of artwork, here and there, altered them and started my own scribbles with sharpie's and alcohol markers and then added some more color with colored pencils. 

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 And faster than you can say POOP, our hour was up. We ended with another relaxation session and some poems about Fall. I ended up working another hour or so with markers and drawing details.

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Today, Thursday, I added more pencil, ink, and some layers of watercolor washes to bring down all the white tones. 

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When I removed my tape holding the paper, some stuck badly, so I washed all those rough edges in black, the textures of the torn edges was even more interesting.  

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The Final  Artwork.

I usually never use black in any of my artwork, but this POP-ART style sort of demanded it. 

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 IF I framed this it would be with a black Mat and a black Frame and probably would put it down in my work room.

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But it really isn't ART, only my personalized process, which is far more important than the final result.

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Calling this, "Profane October".

I may chop this up into sections and use it somewhere else. It was a Fun Project! and I'm always surprised at the results.

 Materials I used:

Canson 12 x 18 watercolor paper

Magazine tear outs from these magazines I inheirited from a friend.

Gluestick- I had three old ones the Scotch one was the best.

Fineline markers and pens, Sharpie, etc.

Alcohol Markers -5 Below brand (LOVE THESE!)

Colored Pencils-PrismaColor (bought with 40 off coupon Michaels.

Watercolors-these came with my easel kit--I think they are semi opaque, so maybe a gouache type watercolor a just a bit grainy--(Michaels) Nice depth of color though.

I may Modge-Podge or spray seal this entire page. We will see, when it fully dries.

I'll keep you posted.

How's Your Week Going? 

Any Cat's-Asstrophes? '

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 Sandi Magle

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