Reverb 12 - day 8

What was the most important relationship that you fostered in 2012? How will you continue to nurture it in 2013?

This is the question for today in the #Reverb12 challenge. 

For me this is easy - my relationship with God. It's the one that all the others spring from. Being rooted in God allows me to show love to others and grow in my relationships with them. It was the nurturing of this relationship that led to me starting to art journal in the first place.

One of the things about a relationship with God is that you learn about blessings. I find myself in a position to bless someone today. You may know that I won the one of the giveaways in the Fall Fearless and Fly challenge a couple of weeks ago. Having looked at the online shop I can use it in, I find that actually the postage to have anything sent to Australia is the entire value of the voucher :( 

Being a thrifty sort, I thought that rather than spend money just because I have a voucher, I could pass it on to someone who can make better use of it (and be blessed with some freebie art materials). If you want it, be the first to email me at tracywoodsford(at)gmail(dot)com telling me that you'd like it. (It's a $35 voucher for Dreaming in Color)

Hope you're enjoying your day!

Reverb12 - day 7

A week in to the Reverb12 challenge (click the button in the sidebar to see who's taking part and how they're answering these questions about 2012). Today's question:

What's the one thing you want to take with you into 2013? 

One of the things about having a question a day is that you have to think and work fast. I tried to think about what this last year has given that I didn't have before and that I value enough to carry on into the future.

Then it hit me - I know more now than I did a year ago.

Now that I am in my mid-forties I am more comfortable in my own skin. I have a lot more wisdom and knowledge than I did in my twenties or thirties. I want to carry that through into the future. If I don't learn from my mistakes, if I don't build up my skills, then what use are they? If I don't understand the value of joy, peace, love, grace, and contentment then my life will be empty.

So, I'm going to take my accumulated wisdom and knowledge with me, and hope to live better in 2013 than I did in 2012.

Reverb 12 - day 6

Any of you who have been following my blog or have looked at a few posts over the last six weeks will have noticed that I have been taking a drawing class. So when today's prompt came up it was obvious to me what the answer was.

What did you learn? Compare the 'you' from the beginning of 2012 to the 'you' that you are now. What new skills have you learned or discovered this year?

I learned how to draw accurately what is in front of me. I learned how to see light and shade and put them down on paper in several different ways with different media. The class gave me confidence. I'm still not sure I can draw things out of my head, but if I have something in front of me I know I can get down a good rendition of it. A drawing that I am pleased with.

And that's a big step forward.

Reverb 12 - day 5

The prompt for day 5 is: What was your dream destination in 2012 and why?

As a family in church ministry, getting away from home is important and difficult. This year we have been blessed with two trips to Kangaroo Island. As the name suggests this is an island just off the coast of South Australia. It is like a nature reserve - mainly wild, low population even by Australian standards, and four main roads with no traffic lights on the entire island. There are a lot of dirt tracks with that red earth that is so definitive of Australia. 

We had such a great time seeing all the native animals in their natural habitats - koalas, echidnas, snakes, roos, wallabies, cockatoos etc. We haven't yet seen a platypus or a wombat other than in a zoo, but there's time yet :) We were able to relax, and that was so precious.

Here is a close-up of the tree. That isn't blossom in it but cockatoos! Imagine rounding a corner and seeing that wonderful sight.

Reverb 12 - day 4

Prompt for day 4 - How are you going to celebrate your self this festive season?

This was a difficult one. If you refer back to this post, or this one, you will find how a northern hemisphere girl finds a southern hemisphere Christmas difficult.

After thinking about what I am going to do in the next month I realised that I celebrate myself by being who I am. I am a nurturer and helper. I will help my husband by preparing the Christmas package that we give away at our Christmas Day service - I will celebrate my creative self in this way.

I will cook a nutritious meal for my family that does not indulge in the excess that is often seen at this time of year but will be well-balanced and the right size, even though it will still be festive. I have made my own Christmas pudding so I know exactly what is in it - I will celebrate my nurturing self.

To see how everyone else will be celebrating, click in the Reverb12 button in the sidebar.

Reverb 12 - day 3

The prompt for day three is:

Imagine a scenario where you had one year to live. What is one thing that you really wish to do that you just haven't had the chance to accomplish yet?

After some thought I decided that having a studio large enough to hold classes and host retreats is the thing I would love to do. At the moment I have an art room that will just about hold three people. I have held classes elsewhere, but it would be great to have a studio attached to the house.

I love to share skills and see people released into creativity. I'll never forget the evening I taught one particular woman how to make a book. She told me that everything she ever brought home from school that she had made her mother threw straight into the bin. She was convinced that she wasn't able to be creative but for some reason felt that she wanted to come to the informal class I held in my home once a month. That woman made a book that evening and her face shone when she left.

I would love to see that more.

To join this challenge or see what others are up to, click on the Reverb12 button in the sidebar.

Reverb 12 - day 2

Today's question is: What was your most significant expenditure of 2012 - the one with the most impact? What difference has it made to your life?

I had to think about this for a while. Then I remembered that this year was the year that we bought a new laptop. Not such a special thing, you might think, but there are three of us who all do everything from home and we had one laptop and one desktop between us. I was sharing the desktop with my husband whenever I wanted to access the internet and the laptop with our daughter when she wanted to write (which was quite often!)

Now I have a laptop with internet access and our daughter has a laptop of her own and I am not reduced to everyone else's leftover time! Plus our daughter can now write whenever she likes and is up to over two hundred story ideas. The extra laptop has allowed me to expand my blogging, start to get to grips with Photoshop, and continue with my writing.

The expenditure has allowed us all to expand our imagination.

Now that's priceless!

Reverb 12 - day 1

December 1st. The start of advent, the lead in to Christmas. And the first day of the #Reverb12 challenge.

The first prompt was: How are you starting?

For me that can be summarised in one word: discombobulated!

My insides and outsides do not match up on this. My head is in the north and my body in the south. On the outside I am at the beginning of summer, the sun is shining, and plants are flourishing. On the inside I am at the beginning of winter, things are dying down and I'm heading for a time of hibernation. Outside it's all floral, inside the days are drawing in and getting darker (not in a depressed sort of way, but just like the short days and long nights of winter).

So there you have it. That's how I'm starting.

How about you?

drawing and collage

Today was my last mixed-media drawing class and I feel I have learned so much. I seem to see things differently now, noticing the light and shade, proportion, etc.. Earlier in the week I drew the rhino at the top and added a little watercolour. Today in class we did collage so I decided to collage the rhino. I'm pleased with the result :)

Now for new challenges! 

If you look in the sidebar you'll notice a new button. I've joined the reverb12 challenge. Click on the button to go have a look. It starts tomorrow and goes on all through December and I, for one, am looking forward to it. Thanks to Gumnut for putting me on to this.

Fall Fearless and Fly #5

When I logged in to Artists in Blogland to find the new challenge in the Fall Fearless and Fly series I was delighted to find that I had won the giveaway for the challenge #4. Not only a brand new challenge but a bonus as well :) Thank you, Jessica and Carolyn.

So, challenge #5:

Headline Prompt:  Lifelong Fan:  What or who have you consistently valued or looked up to in your life?  What lessons have you learned from people you admire?

Color Prompt:  Your favorite color now or from childhood or both!

Quote Prompt: "Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator; but among those whom I love, I can:  all of them make me laugh."  W.H.Auden

Again, so much material! Favourite colour was easy - red. As for the headline, I could have done half a dozen pages. Instead I ended up making a list of what I admire in others, what I am a lifelong fan of, in no particular order.

Integrity - people who stand up for what is right even when it costs them something. People who are the same wherever they are and whoever they are with.
Humility - those who serve others and do not seek to gain at the cost of others.
Friendship - as an only child my friends have always been precious.
Courage - those who face fear, especially when they are doing it to help someone else.
Learning - I love to learn new things!
Giving - there is something so satisfying about being able to give something to someone, whether it is in terms of money, time, or skill.
Loving - so much more powerful than hate and more useful than apathy.
Sharing - I so appreciate those people who are good at what they do and secure enough in their skills to share generously with others. They do not hold tightly to their expertise but take joy in teaching others.

This is the sort of woman I would like to be.

I am a work in progress :)


Linking to Fall Fearless and Fly and Art Journal Every Day.