I Am Art

a HAPPY artist

I decided to take a break from all my moaning and distract myself by blog hopping. It's my favorite type of hopping-no sports bra required! I see that so many people have made New Year's resolutions to take a self portrait per day every day (or every week) of the new year. I think that is GREAT! I am excited that people are taking pictures and being IN the pictures. These resolutions seem way easier and cheaper to keep than the one that involves a gym membership.  I take pictures every single day! The pictures are rarely of me, but of things I want to remember or that inspire me. Sometimes, the picture taking (art creating!) is just to entertain myself. And some days, when my arthritic hands can't keep up with my brain, photos are my journal pages. They need no words or embellishments.I've said what I need to with the photo. A few weeks ago I received a gift from a friend and when I emailed her to say thanks, she emailed back asking if I was wearing the gift or was I just being nice. In the wee hours of the night, without makeup and with flat hair, I snapped a photo of me wearing the gift and emailed it to my friend. It was SO FUN! As you can see, I was laughing while I did it and now this photo is part of the gift. She didn't just give me a cute shirt. Part of the gift was the funny experience of taking the picture and the conversation that followed. I printed the email and the photo and that was my journal page for the day.

As I look at many self portraits on blogs and flickr, I am really surprised to see so few people smiling! People, what is going on? Why isn't anyone smiling? What's with all the I need more fiber in my diet facial expressions? Nobody looks like they are having fun with their portraits. Taking your own photo should be fun. I have a really hard time NOT smiling when I take self portraits.  I understand feeling like not smiling (uh, earlier today) but the fact that so many people are expressionLESS has me a bit worried for people. Art and self expression should be enjoyable and invigorating. Or is it that people fear not being taken seriously if they don't look really serious? Is an artist less of an artist if they are HAPPY? Or, is it just that so many people haven't gotten to the time in their lives when they are ok with who they are and what their faces and bodies look like? Do Karen and I need to write more letters to Shape magazine? What I loved most about that video the bloggers made for Rosie is that people were being themselves, in all shapes and sizes.

If you are doing a self portrait thing, and are posting your  pics to flickr, please add them to the Art Army group. We want to see what you look like and we want to celebrate YOU...remember, YOU ARE ART.

Be inspired

Check out these super cool art stamps created with a Journal Revolution postcard by Art Army member Natalie Roebasia. Click the image so you can see all the stamps in a good see-able size. Or, go here to see.

filling with sparkles

Hey, what happened to all the postcards I sent out? How come I have only seen about ten of them online but sent out hundreds? What did you do with your card? Take a picture of it where you set it down and let's see!
To be fair, a very long time ago I met one of my favorite artists. She wrote my name all big on a piece of paper and told me to make some art with it.

But I couldn't make art with it because SHE WROTE MY NAME ON A PIECE OF PAPER. It was art. It is art. Never has my name looked so good, all curly and cute. She spelled it right! She didn't write Lisa. When I saw it, I could feel my eyes filling with sparkles. I don't even write my own name like that. No way was I gonna tarnish this masterpiece. I totally get having intentions then watching tv instead.

I have about 20 postcards if anyone would like one. Email me your address and it will be yours.

postcards + contests + lemons

I just finished mailing the last batch of postcards and have about 20 more up for grabs. If you want one, email us your name and address then get ready to MAKE SOME ART and EXPRESS YOURSELF! We love seeing what you are all doing with the cards. This is so fun for us!

You know what else is fun for us? Contests and giving stuff away. On Monday, we're going to have another contest and the prize will be a Limited Edition Collector's Item version of Visual Chronicles! We'll even sign it and point out why it is so special. We didn't even know such an item existed until a few days ago and now that we do...well, let's just say we're turning lemons into lemonade. Or dough into donuts. We prefer the donut comparison.

11 Brave Women

With a little love, and some tenderness
We'll walk upon the water
We'll rise above this mess
With a little peace, and some harmony
We'll take the world together
We'll take 'em by the hand
--------Hootie and The Blowfish

In a couple weeks we'll be in New York to promote Journal Revolution at a huge book convention. It's kind of a weird time for us as we try to put the finishing touches on the book and prepare ourselves for what happens next. We've just received our "author edit" copies of the book and the one thing that jumped out at both of us and the one thing we aren't feeling at all weird about, is the amazing bravery of the eleven women who have art in our book. It's not just art. These women are sharing moments of their lives, their truths with the world.  One thing we know we will encounter at this big convention  is conservative white men who don't think that books written by strong women that include art by a diverse group of women belong on the shelves of their big chain craft stores. When did art become something only certain people can do? We've got news for you: Art does not discriminate against its creator. Paper and canvas do not care if you are black or white, fat or thin, gay or straight, rich or poor, Jewish or Christian or Muslim. Paper and canvas are ready to absorb your truth, waiting for you to attach your life to them. Little bits of images, splashes of paint, swirls of ink...this is art. Your life is art. And art is for everyone. Art is for everyone.  There's nothing wrong with expressing your truth in art. NOTHING AT ALL. It is what connects us. It is what heals us. And, we are not stopped, worried, or slowed down because conservative big chain craft stores are made nervous by women who are: Brave. Outspoken. Happy. Sad. Lost. Found. Mothers. Wives. Lesbians. Not Lesbians. Jews. Single. Single Mothers. Christians. Lawyers. Teachers. Aid Workers. ARTISTS! We are honored to stand hand in hand -connected- to each of these women as we celebrate the birth of a revolution and encourage ALL OF YOU to express yourselves.

Roben-Marie Smith: Shares good brownie recipes, goes on Medical Missions, loves Starbucks.
Holly Dye: Really good at math,  is a patient teacher of crafty things, totally gets what it is like to feel blue.
Tonia Davenport: Can make anything out of plastic, eats pizza everyday, hates talking on the phone.
Marlene Hazlewood: Wrote the bible for legal secretaries, loves bright colors, always orders lettuce wraps.
Sheila Wilson: Thinks she's better at kissing than cooking, takes great self portraits, loves wallpaper.
Rosie O'Donnell: The best hugger, prefers normal chocolate over that 85% bitter dark stuff,  Donald Trump totally has the hots for her, has really good taste in music.
Erika Tysse: Excellent shoe shopper, cool Mom, speaks more than one language,  architects in Norway love her.
Suzi Finer: Gives really good hello, encourages everyone, knows the best dining spots in Beverly Hills
Mary Ann Moss: Loves her sisters, takes road trips alone (well, who is really alone when you have a camera?), is really good at being silly.
Marissa Bowers: She loves Tennessee and the 4th of July, has no false idols, her house burned down.
Christine Polomsky: Has the best facial expressions, never makes anyone feel like an idiot, knows good antique malls.

* And of course there is a lot of art and writing by us- but you know us already. And we would've included art by men, too, but none sent us any.

let's create!

Yesterday, my delivery of Journal Revolution postcards came- so- people, it is TIME TO RISE AND  CREATE!!! Here's the deal: Email us your name and address and we will send you one card (at random) that you can cut, tear, paint, tape, staple, sew, stick in your journal, put it on your fridge, whatever YOU want. Take a picture of your art created with the postcard and upload it to the Flickr Art Army or blog it or if you don't have either of those options, email us the picture and we'll post it for you.  If all you do  with the card is  tack it to your bulletin board, that is fine, too. Just take a picture of it. Pictures ARE art!
We have only 100 cards to  send out right now so it's one per person.  And, to save paper and time and money, I will address the postcards and stamp them as is (on the reverse side) without an envelope. You can use the reverse side in your creation, too! HAVE FUN WITH IT! Remember, you are the boss of your own art.

Best Designer Ever

...Everybody needs a friend, it's true, it takes friends in the end to make a plan come through...

One of the great things about making books is that we meet lots of wonderful people who become our dearest friends.  Over the next couple months, we will introduce you to some of these people ~ members of our Art Army. First up is The Best Designer EVER: Marissa Bowers . We call her BDE for short. Marissa designs our books as well as books by other authors and really cool theater posters.  Marissa has spent the last long amount of time working on Journal Revolution and she still likes us! And we love her!  The sad fact is that art book designers often spend as much time laboring over books as the authors do, yet they get very little credit and their names are only in tiny print on the inside cover. Marissa is not just a designer. She's lots of goodness!
* She is really good at finding delicious limited edition cookies.
* She wears red shoes.
* She stands in for Karen at book signings when Karen has to be in court.
* She is really patient and hasn't yet tried to kill me.
* She has 2 absolutely gorgeous children and a husband who is a firefighter!
* She can  find stuff  on her tv that I never new existed like On Demand Pilates.
* She is really, really, really funny.
* She loves Tennessee.
* She has perfect hair.
* She always finds good quotes.

Go say hi to Marissa.

Does anyone know what song that friends quote is from? We'll be very surprised (and impressed!) if you do.