Tag: painting

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Welcome Friends!

Journaled Lady: Intimacy

Welcome if you’re new here, if not, welcome back!

I’ve been slack in updating and blogging since the move to Florida. I came here sick with bronchitis, it got worse, and long story shorter, it took me quite a while to get back on top, so to speak. I’m feeling great now though, and really enjoying my Art Journaling classes I began to take last December.

Art Journaling has been such a THING for me, it has changed my life. I’ve learned a ton about how to draw, I’ve come a good way in finding my own unique style, and it is a fabulous way to process emotion. I’ve always found doing my abstract art and paintings to be therapeutic, but journaling has taken it to the next level and has helped combine both of my artistic loves together; writing and painting. In journaling I use pencil, colored pencils, markers, acrylic paints, watercolors, pastels, and just any and every medium.

I’ve even started my own YouTube channel (Pam Swyers is the name of it), and I am beginning to share some of what I’m doing in order to encourage others to grab a pencil and paper (start with the basics!) and dive in. You will not regret it. Having done some traditional therapy, I found going from that to the art journaling to be quite a natural segue and helped me transition into working out my emotions on the page or canvas. My focus is very much Art as Therapy for beginners (because there are many out there doing so many amazing things in this area and I’m still relatively new at it!) but I’ve had friends ask me about it so I found that doing videos is a much easier way to SHOW someone what I’m doing, rather than just trying to TELL them about it.

If you are at all intrigued, give the YouTube channel a look-see. There is not a ton of content up yet, but working on it weekly to add more.

So this is a big thing for me these days, as well as trying to get plugged in to our new community, make local friendships, and go out into beautiful Central Florida and just ENJOY being here.

I’m so happy to be feeling good, out walking in the park again, and back to living my BEST life right now.

Have emotions to process?? Join me! We all do!! Have a great FALL my amazing friends!!

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Artistic Priority (When My Worlds Collide)

I’ve been writing for many years, but that’s not to say there weren’t times that I went for long spaces of inertia with writing. During one of those down-times I began to get into painting. It felt like the right thing to do at the time; focus on something else for a while.  (I began writing full-time in ’09 and have written ten novels, and have put together and published other’s work as well, and now write a lot of poetry.)

Painting has settled into a spot in my life I didn’t even know I had. It soothes me, inspires me; it’s meditation as well as creation. It’s therapy for me.

When I first began to feel like I was figuring it out (to any degree) I got very excited and set up this site to sell artwork and my books, as well. I still sell one on occasion, but now my writing has kind of taken it’s place back (first place), for my time and attention. It may be possible to give 100% to both things, but if so, I don’t know how to manage it. So, as writing has always been there, a part of my DNA, I’d say, it will stay top priority for now. I just don’t have time to write and paint and try to market and sell books AND artwork. So, I’ll leave the ones up that I have listed for sale, and may continue to sell one from time to time, but painting has settled into a spot that’s just for me. It’s a special thing, like massage for the soul.

Recently I dreamt up ideas for two new fiction novels, so those will keep me very busy for a while, and I have a poetry compilation due to publish next summer. I plan to do more anthologies for young, aspiring writers and poets as well, so this must be my focus…. at least for now.

It’s very cool that art (painting) discovered me (or I discovered it, either way). It’s become a very welcome part of my life. For now it is priority two, but it is still very special for me. I adore combining both of my loves when possible (like the above poem posted on a piece of my artwork). It’s the best of both worlds.

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Come at me, Canvas.

So today was stinky in the art studio. A day of utter frustration and dissatisfaction. Nothing looks the way I want it to. I’ve come to the conclusion that painting pretty pictures doesn’t come easy for me, not like it does for others, and that both annoys me and challenges me. In fact, it’s probably why I started doing it in the first place. The challenge.

Writing comes much easier for me, it always has. Put me in a room with a pad and pen or a laptop and tell me to write for ten or twelve hours straight and I could do it. Not a problem. Give me a subject and I can write a story about it, maybe three or four stories, given enough time.

But a blank canvas…. (shudder). That still intimidates me. It mocks, me, challenges me, dares me to create something worthy, something that ANYone could find value or beauty in.

I suppose that’s just the sort of thing I need in my life right now. These things tend to come to you when you need them. Something that baffles me, puzzles me, makes me try harder.  Persevere. I don’t want those “muscles” to go soft on me, after all. I don’t want to just be spoiled to doing only that which comes easy.

So. Tomorrow I will face the canvas again with new resolve. It won’t get the better of me, it won’t beat me down or scare me away. Gonna put on my Big Girl Panties and my painting clothes and get after it.

Bring it.