It’s Wednesday my sweetums…and you KNOW what that means…ta-da….RANDOM ACTS OF ART! Whoo-hoo, that’s right. Time to spread some luvvvv one arty token at a time.
RANDOM ACTS OF ART…make a little arty something. Hide it in public where someone can eventually find it. Photograph the hidey spot and share it with the rest of us online.
In my case, that means little bitty painted heart rocks. Easy to make. Easy to hide. And weatherproof.
This week I decided to plant some love at the local hospital. I mean, who doesn’t need cheering up when they’re sick, right? And it just so happens I had an excuse to be there. Friend Amee’s Granny took up temporary residence with a broken leg. And I am a sucker for little old ladies. I took care of Mama for seven years and one thing I know for sure is they love company. Doesn’t matter if they know you or not. Someone popping in to say hi and hold a hand for a few minutes is a day-maker for sure.
So I drove to the hospital after work. I planted the first rock on a concrete thing just off the walkway between the parking lot and the main building. Plain site hide if someone is looking at the ground.
This is the entrance to the main building. The blue benches on the left are a bus stop.
Well, someone waiting for the bus after visiting their loved one could use a little cheering up, don’t you think?
As I walked through the lobby I left one on the newspaper rack. Maybe it would balance out the ugly stuff in the paper.
I found Granny’s room. Walked in an introduced myself. Then I reached in my pocket and gave her a rock.
Here it is on the bedside table. Seeing her there reminded me so much of Mama. Oh man, I love little old ladies. We chatted for a couple of minutes but I didn’t want to wear her out. I told her I’d be back and next time I’ll bring her a cookie.
On the way out I stopped at the nurse’s station. I explained what I was doing, what Random Acts of Art is all about. YAY! They were enthusiastic. Oh, yes they were! I gave them the last rocks I had in my pocket and they promised to hand them out in the unit. Who knows…maybe I have a couple more RAA converts on board.
Okay, now it’s your turn. Yes indeed! Do you have any Random Acts of Art to share this week? If you posted them on your blog enter the URL of the POST down below where it says You are next. Click Here. Follow the directions and what d’ya know…just like magic your link will appear. Everyone in the universe who reads Arty Life can then read your blog. The blog hop link will remain open until midnight Saturday, California time (PST)
If you want to join us but don’t have a blog, no problem. Send your photos and a brief description to me before Tuesday of next week and I’ll add them to my gallery in my next RAAW post. Please be sure the photos show the hiding spot. Much more interesting that way.
And be sure to spread the word. Get your kids to do it. Your friends. We want to spread luvvv all around the world. One arty token at a time.
Before I go, don’t forget to check out my FaceBook page. There’s always something new there, usually art. And if you like what you see, please do me a HUGE favor and click the ‘like’ button at the top of the page. I’ve got enough ‘likes’ now for a toaster but I’m saving up for a blender. Or maybe a puppy.
Oh. My. So many adventures in Arty Life land the last couple of days. Brace yourself because this post is going to be skipping from one thing to the next, each topic guaranteed to make you more dizzy than the next.
First…and only because it happened minutes ago and I’m still as jumpy as a tweaker from the adrenalin rush…my brush with wildlife. There was a bear rat in the hay shed. Big sucker. But I was BRAVE. Oh, indeed I was, even with flip flops on my feet. No girly screaming like I did with the mouse. No. This time I was brave enough to stomp and shout with a very big voice like a very scary person. And bang a couple metal trash lids together like a one woman marching band. And Mr. Rat was so impressed he fell off one shelf and jumped down from another. The last I saw was his bare naked tail as it disappeared behind the hay.
Begone with you Templeton!
Now that I’ve impressed you with my wildlife management skills…you ARE impressed, aren’t you…now we can move on to Precious Man Dog (AKA Bean, AKA Benny) If you read Friday’s post, you’ll recall PMD was sorely in need of a haircut. Being a poodle mix the hair just grows. And grows. I let it grow over the winter to keep him warm. Dreadlocks happen and matts and clumps of thick, dense felt take over. Then in the spring I take to him with scissors and we start the cycle all over again.
So this was PMD last week.
This is him today, half the size he used to be. But so darn cute I can’t stand it.
Sophie is in the middle of her spring trim. I have to wait until she’s dead asleep before I can get certain spots. Like her chest. Right now she’s sporting a whole lot of chest hair. Throw a couple gold chains around her neck and she’d be a ringer for Burt Reynolds.
Okay, now it’s time to move on from critters, both wild and domestic, and get to art. Got a couple works in progress to show.
This is acrylic, 2’x2′. Don’t have a clue where it’s going but will know when it gets there. Layers and scribbles. Layers and scribbles.
This one is also acrylic, 36″x48″. Still very much a work in progress. Oh crap…as I’m writing this I’m wondering if I put the lid back on the jar of Titan Buff…well, let’s hope I did because it’s dark and I’m not heading back down to Studio Grande.
Speaking of Studio Grande, Mr. Spouse got some sheet rock up in the new! improved! Studio-Grande-to-be.
He was hoping to have it all rocked this weekend but it was slow going. Hard work indeed. But this is how Mr. Spouse relaxes from his desk job, he builds stuff. And I’m not complaining. By the way, this photo was taken after 6PM. Still good natural light, at least at this time of year. Even more when the tarps come off the skylights.
A gentle reminder that Wednesday is Random Acts of Art. I hope some of you will join me in sharing where you hide your treasures. You can send me photos before Tuesday (like, today) and I’ll post them on the blog. Or you can post the link to your own blog anytime between Wednesday and Saturday.
I’m posting art every day on my FaceBook page. Pop on over and check it out. And while you’re there, do me a GREAT BIG HUMONGOUS favor and click the ‘like’ button (for the page) if you haven’t done so already. And if you’ve already liked my page, pat yourself on the back because you are my BFF and I love you…truly love you… almost as much as I love chocolate!
Holy crap…went to bed last night all tucked up in my flannel sheets and when I woke up IT WAS SPRING!!! Sun shining. Birds singing. Felt so good I went for a RUN first thing.
I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I’ve gone for a run. And I didn’t go very far before I realized I was suckin’ pollen into my lungs like a cowboy and his Marlboros. So I cut it short but not before getting enough endorphins to be insufferably perky for most of the day.
In fact it felt so good I decided to wear lime green. LIME GREEN. Which does nothing to hide the muffin top. And I DID NOT CARE. Because I felt so gooooooood.
Spring is lasting until the weekend when it suddenly becomes SUMMER. Supposed to be in the 80s. I don’t think it hit 80 last year until July. Late July. So no studio time tonight. No art until Precious Man Dog gets a haircut.
If only I knew where the scissors were.
Somewhere under all that hair is a dog. And he’s hot. But he knows when I’m thinking about cutting that mop. And he does everything to get out of it.
See what I mean? First the glare….
Then the dead ‘gator roll over.
Finally…resignation. The last photo while wearing his winter coat.
Come back Monday to see what a maniac I am with scissors.
I have a friend. Her name is Dieter. No, her parents did not name her after a German boy, as Mr. Spouse thought was the case for several years. Dieter is her last name. She shares her first name with several English queens and at least one uber famous actress. It’s a lovely name, really. But for some reason she is, and always will be, Dieter to me.
But this is Wednesday. Time for RANDOM ACTS OF ART. The rules are simple. Make a little something. Leave it in a public place. Take a photo and walk away. What does Dieter have to do with all of this?
Well, Dieter and I have this…thing involving the local grocery. One of us sneaks up on the other and, umm…does this.
And then we laugh like a couple of middle schoolers and DO IT AGAIN! And again and again. Near the bananas. The ice cream. Pasta aisle. Wherever one of us thinks we can stalk the other one and get away with it.
Which says a lot for our mature-o’meter.
Well, today I ran into Dieter at the grocery. She was locking up her bicycle out front. I placed a rock and photographed it as we chatted.
It was on a light post or something in front of the store. Plain sight about waist height. Someone would surely find it. Then Dieter and I went into the store and made fools of ourselves sneaking up on one another and doing the Dramatic Chipmunk thing. Because we are so m.a.t.u.r.e.
I was the first to leave. As I walked past her bicycle I had to stop. And plant some love in whatever that thing’s called on the side of the bike. The thing she carries stuff in.
I figured she’d see it when she loaded her groceries. And I bet she heard Da Da Daaaaaaa when she did. So even though it’s not an anonymous RAA, it would still be a surprise and make someone smile.
And that’s what RAA is all about.
As I was putting the groceries in the back of the 4 Runner I glanced up the embankment next to the parking lot and noticed a perfect hidey spot at the base of a cedar tree. I scurried up the embankment, realizing about halfway up how steep it was. Not one of my better ideas.
But look. It was worth it, right? Easy enough to find from the sidewalk if someone happens to be looking.
And now it’s time to share RAA from around the world.
Sister Marjorie Ellen was inspired by the Kelly Rae Roberts poster I printed a couple weeks ago. You can follow the link and print some yourself. Or you can do what Margie did and make your own.
It’s in Norwegian. She lives in Norway. If I dare believe her translation (and she has led me down the wrong path before) it says, Please Help Yourself. The tags from left to right: Hope. Courage. Respect. Forgiveness. Faith. Rest. Love. Beauty. Joy. Time.
She hung one on the message board in the kiosk that shelters the neighborhood mailboxes. She’ll be hanging more and sharing. Next week, right Margie?
Now it’s your turn. If you blogged about any RAA you made this week enter the URL down below where it says You are next. It’s a blog hop and the link will remain open until Saturday 11:59 PM California time. (PST). If you want to join us and you don’t have a blog, send me your photos and I’ll post them the following week. If I get too many for a post I’ll make a gallery. Easy peasy.
Oh, hey…don’t forget to check out my Facebook page. Think of it as Arty Life Lite. More pictures, less words. While you’re there be sure to click the ‘like’ button at the top of the page. Think of it as a free lotto ticket…you’re not going to win anything but you’ll make me feel good : )
Chocolate is calling to me. Not the good kind, the 88% full of anti-oxidents it’s-so-damn-healthy-you-can-eat-it-for-breakfast-and-you’re-happy-with-just-a-smidge-of-a-bit kind. Oh nooooooo, I’m hearing the seductive call of it’s evil twin, a well known brand of milk chocolate that tastes like…well, it tastes like my childhood. All sweet and sugary. Laden with fat and chock full of stuff that makes my inner nutritionist cringe. But that doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter at all because even if it glowed in the dark from radiation (and it might) what the hell…I WANT IT! And I WANT. IT. NOW!!!
I could eat a one pound bar All. By. Myself. In fact, I would go all ferrel and snap and snarl and growl threateningly at anyone who even looked at it, much less tried to take it away.
And after that, I would round out the day with potato chips. Salty yummy greasy crunchy chips. YAY!!! Let’s hear it for–
For what? Am I hungry? Umm…no. I just had lunch. A nice chicken tostada with extra guac and greens. To be perfectly honest (which I rarely am when it comes to food) there’s NO vacant real estate in belly land right now.
Then why do I feel the need to eat? Especially something loaded with sugar and fat and salt? Stuff that’s no good for me. That makes me hyper and tired all at the same time. That makes me look like I come from a long line of Sumo wrestlers.
WHY?
I’ll tell you why in a couple of minutes. But first go read a post I wrote back in February. Because even though I’m sounding desperate right now, I’m not. But I was back then.
Before I met AnaLisa Rutstein, MA CHHC. Before I took part in her Jump Start Program. Which was NOT a diet but six 45 minute one-on-one phone calls exploring and clarifying my issues around food. With handout and e-mail support.
That’s a whole lot of AHA! moments, believe me. A whole lot of getting back in touch with myself. Slowing down. Breathing. Meditating. Understanding the emotional triggers that send me scurrying to that bag of chips.
My emotional triggers? The biggest one…stress. But not stress like the car broke down or I had words with DearDaughter. The top hit on my personal Stress O’Meter…creativity. Or the insecurities I have surrounding my creative endeavors.
WTF??? Whack upside the head. My whole life is one big creative endeavor. Painting. Writing. Starting a biz…. No wonder my ass is so big.
Does this mean if I want to wear those skinny jeans again I’m going to chuck it all, get a 9-5 somewhere, a boring 9-5, and call it a day?
No. It means when I’m sitting at the computer searching for the exquisite turn of phrase, the perfect thing to say and I find myself getting all jittery and jumpy as a tweaker and I NEED to stuff my face with the bad bad bad bad BAD stuff so I don’t have toTHINK…it means I now have the tools to deal with that. Tools like BEING AWARE of what I’m doing. And why I’m doing it. So I can redirect myself by breathing, by acknowledging the emotion, by any number of little MINDFUL diversions.
The chocolate up there? The stuff I really, really wanted? I had some. But not a lot. It was a choice I made consciously. I didn’t have nearly as much as I would’ve six weeks ago. And honestly? If you’d come by and wanted some, that’d be okay. I wouldn’t have gone all ferrel on you.
I might’ve even shared.
Change of subject: Whoo-hoo! Over here! Be sure to check out my new FaceBook page. There’s art. New art every day. Imagine that!!! And if you click the ‘like’ button at the top of the FB page I will like you forever and be your BFF. Because I likes me those ‘likes’. So go ahead, do that RIGHT NOW because you wouldn’t want to forget or anything, right?
