Thursday, July 12, 2012

True Catharsis

     Lately I've been going through a true catharsis in body, mind, soul, and spirit.  For my body I've been eating healthier, playing tennis, and taking long walks.  For my mind I've been doing some meditating in the mornings and some self-reflection in the evenings.  I've been using the book mentioned in this previous post to guide me in my meditation which includes bible scriptures.  For my soul I've been listening to music by artists from the neo-soul movement and those who influenced the movement.  Growing up I was heavily drawn and influenced by this sub-genre of music and it still manages to stir up my soul.  This is one of my faves, makes me get up and dance each time and this one..and this one...

     Spiritually, I have also been praying more and asking for what I need and interesting things happen when one does that.  The other day I was looking at the cork board I have over my desk which has a bunch of creative knick knacks, messages, pictures, etc.  It was a bit cluttered.  I have the words FAITH in the middle of the board which is part of a beautiful collage that someone special gifted to me years ago.  It has been with me through lots of changes.  Its a beautiful collage that I have added to over the years and I realized that it was so full of stuff I could barely see the words FAITH anymore.  So I decided to give it a little makeover.  Its been sitting on top of my desk for days but today I decided to work on it.  I didn't want to stay indoors so I decided to pack my things and go down the block from my house.  This is a block which the city closes up to traffic all summer so the kids in the community can have a place to come together, play and do activities.  The block is right next to a playground and its always full of parents with their kids, teenagers playing basketball, and even older folks doing yoga or jogging.  I decided it was a good place to get creative so I went.  As I sat there painting, two little girls and their moms from the neighborhood came over and kept me company.  I spoke to the moms and gave the girls some paper and paint and they were painting away! They all thought I was an art teacher even though I told them I was not.  They kept saying teacher....lol.  Now I'm in trouble though because they expect me to go back tomorrow! 

     I am blessed.

     Below are the before and after photos of the collage center piece I painted.  I will be using these words as a centerpiece to a bigger collage which I am looking forward to completing this summer. 


This is the way it originally looked for a long time..really beautiful! 
but its time for a little makeover to focus on the word FAITH.


I stripped it of all the images and here is how it looked..Now you can read the words! 


 My next step was to paint the whole thing white and hide the residue of the images.



  and WALLAH!  Now FAITH is clear.  My centerpiece is ready for the next project. 
(to be continued) 



This was one of the images one of the little girls made...She calls it the sea monster..she did a good job!


2 comments:

Hil said...

you are so talented! beautiful to beautify the beauty of FAITH... funny thing when I read your statement "Wallah" my initial instinct read it in Arabic-- which translates to "i swear to God"

Rose will be Rose said...

Thank you Hil...Wow that is so interesting I had no idea that is what Wallah meant in Arabic..I will always remember that..thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my blog it really encourages me to keep on writing : )