Blog
January 2022 Blog – Congratulations and Happy 1st Birthday to Art Instead of!
No matter what we say about it, despite whether we have any opinions on it, 2021 was a really just another year when we think of the history books. When we look back at history, some years had more highlights than others. Maybe 2020 will be remembered more, due to the sudden changes with the beginning of COVID-19, but 2021 did have a few amazing, unforgettable highlights, pretty much in every category a person can think of; just watch the news for a few days.
However, for me, my art project of Art Instead of hasn’t made any highlights. None of my art will be in the history books. Me, myself and Art Instead of did not make any news clips or even Youtube videos! Yet, on the other hand, I really have felt no pressure to grab the spotlight, get in the right art show or make a ton of contacts. Have I been slowly doing this? Yes. At my own pace, also playing with art techniques, setting up my studio, training a new puppy, taking care of myself. Working out what really Art Instead of is vs pressing myself with lists and goals driven by pride and $$$. When I assess, perhaps if anything, I haven’t spent enough time yet getting to know what Art Instead of really is, to me, to others.
There seems to be so much going on, so much in our faces, so much distraction, I don’t think I need to get pushy with my stuff – be that Etsy or Instagram or Facebook or in-person shows. Would I like to create more of a presence with my art, such that one is drawn to my website, Etsy shop and Facebook Page? Absolutely. And there then, is my intention for my new, and second year of learning my way around making Art Instead of!
.May all your intentions manifest as well. Keep making your own Art Instead of…..Blessed 2022 to you.
PS: Just so you know, here are my other social media sites:
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December 2021 Blog - Make Holiday Art Instead!
Merry Christmas everyone! Wow, where has the fall gone off too? If you were like me working hard at keeping up and moving on. And slowly, but surely, we will get there, where ever that is.
For me, it has been much focus on developing my social media platforms; attempting to learn the various systems, which seem very foreign to me; how they function, and don’t; who they reach, and don’t. There sure seems to be a lot of learning going on out there, with all the change and what not continuing to go on in our world.
Yet, I have successfully published my Etsy shop, started posting on an Instagram account, figured out how to run a Square personal credit card machine, and got myself into a holiday art and sales event! While in the midst of this, it didn’t feel like I was making any progress, i.e. didn’t have any sales -- yet now today, it seems like mini-mountains have been hiked!
So, I’m going to be at the Flagstaff Art and Leadership Academy’s Winter Event this 4 th and 5 th , if you are in the area! If not, hopefully you will follow me on some of the other platforms I hope be posting on here in 2022!
And in the meantime, keep making Art Instead!
Happy New Year and God Bless!
Shannon
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August/September 2021 Blog
Today's Agenda? Wake up, Be fabulous and Make Art Instead!
How are we all doing? Did you notice the days getting shorter already? Really, less daylight brightens the day. There is a slight chill in the mornings, bringing with it an urge to roll over in bed and doze for a bit. Which might feel good at the time, but tends to bunch and rush things during the day. The agenda gets thrown off. We might feel like there is “less time” and often “art” is tossed under the sheets.
I’m all for caving to creature comforts at times, but I’d rather wake up and make Art Instead! Our lives generally have a seasonal flow, and I want to incorporate these changes in my art, to document the magical differences within mother nature. Every day, every season, carries a reason to wake up and be fabulous. If we roll over, we might miss some of it! Instead, we can slowly sip coffee in our robes, longer, and play with coffee dying the paper after we’ve read it.
Maybe you’ve left behind a photography hobby, yet recently gotten a new phone – with a new camera! We always see things in nature– the fall sunrise, moss covered rocks, golden leaves, fluffy flower seeds, water seeps, thunder clouds - in more artful depth when focusing through a camera lens. This awareness often comes home with us and we even cook better, as we want our food, our lives to be richer, have more depth. I found this when I made Mom’s Peach Cobbler (Imaginagarden Cuisine Cookbook, September 20th, page 272). The juicy syrup and plump dumplings from a homemade recipe are so much better than frozen dessert.
So, while we might have a little less sunlight to the day, we still have 24 hours to decide what to do with. I hope we all keep choosing to Wake up, be Fabulous and keep making Art Instead!
PS: Happy Birthday to my Mom, a fabulous woman!
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June/July Blog 2021
Wow, it’s hot out there! Summer On with Paper-Making Art Instead!
What with the heat and all, you’d think the Art-Making-Creative Juices would dampen a little? Not here!
The simmering temperatures have opened the season for Water Crafting – and I don’t mean in a boat on the lake. This summer I’m making homemade paper. Tearing up recycled paper into tiny pieces can be very meditative. Swirling the torn bits with water makes paper pulp. Mixing this feels similar to making a big bunch of cake batter, but this mixture doesn’t heat the house to bake! The outside heat dries out the pages quickly, allowing one to move on to other crafting soon! Watch one of my favorite crafters share her paper-making technique:
The projects one can create with this luscious paper is endless! And ever so fulfilling to all the senses:
Touch – first playing with the pulp in cool water can literally be cooling to the body and calming to the mind. The final paper textures created with seeds and different types of paper can be very soothing when the hand is run over them. See the photo below.
Smell – add essential oils to the water while making paper pulp for a wonderful calming effect, while swirling the paper pulp and the lingering hints of fragrance while working with the paper sheets.
Sound – the wet splashing of water is always welcome to the ear! The sound of tearing of paper is an earthly sound which deepens the breathing.
Sight – one can be pleasantly surprised with how easy this project is, the entire process a sight to see!
One idea for the paper sheets is in the making of Junk Journals. Again, this is a wonderful summer craft, as can be done with minimal movement and little cost. With just a few staple supplies, such as glue and recycled items, one can make wonderful memory keepers. Again, one of my favorite inspirational you-tuber’s:
For my Art Instead projects, I use the homemade paper as a base to my Encaustic Creations. The visual textures are amazing, something I can’t fully capture in the photo’s (working on improving them!). See photos below for some ideas and contact me with questions on your projects!
So now, be sure to Summer On and make Art Instead!
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Blog
May 2021
“What’s Going on With My Brain?” Keep it sane this summer with Art Instead!
Recently a client shared with me more of a comment than question: “What’s wrong with my brain?” A friend of mine, who home schooled her children all year, now has to prepare for summer school. Her comment, “My brain just hurts.” Personally, I could relate with my client and friend.
Despite working hard to maintain a decently healthy lifestyle, my client was experiencing a lack of energy and motivation. Mostly in attempting to pick up speed with reentering society as the pandemic appears to be winding down. Sharing it felt like “more work” to get to the agenda, to drive, to interact. Constant attention to self-care, diet and exercise seems to be more challenging than rewarding to the brain, feeling overwhelmed.
My friend has been able to continue working part-time from home, her spouse provides lots of support. So, she feels guilty for what she feels is “a lucky situation” and has been cooking for several elderly neighbors and doing more online support for her church. Yet, she is always exhausted, having no fun
Many of us in these or similar situations are feeling drained, overwhelmed. We are taking care of ourselves, yet often feel crappy. What is happening, with both our bodies and brains, we wonder? Why aren’t we feeling more joy yet?
Experts are conflicted from what research I can find. It might be all the stresses to navigating life, might be so many changes still happening; most probably a universal grieving of some sort.
As a mental health provider, I’ve been taught to not spend too much effort pondering over the why of something, but more so to look at dealing with the “something” that holds us back. Research has proven that art does improve our overall success in opening up our brains, to do what we need to do to feel better and move on.
Artsy? Here's How Making Art Helps Your Brain
So, as with all my other blogs, I say: Make Art Instead! I’ve outlined a few options in past months if need ideas, such as Land Art. Prepare to make kids crafts even if you haven’t any kids, should you feel you lack experience or talent or time.
7 Amazing Benefits of Art for Kids That You Might Not Know
Open your brain to just having fun, to experimenting, releasing.
Keep yourself sane with Art Instead this summer. Enjoy!
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April 2021
How will you be remembered? Let’s make Art Instead for 100 years from now!
Now that we are cooking creatively in our kitchens (as encouraged in last month’s blog) are we looking at other activities creatively and opportunities for art? Food items we might usually toss away or throw into the compost bin can be crafted into Art Instead! Take avocado pits or red onion skins, toss them into a water bath along with watercolor paper and the resulting eco-dyed papers are beautiful enough to want to preserve for 100 years!
While doing spring yard work, are we mindful not only for Land Art opportunities, but also the weeds and dandelions that can be used for eco-dying paper?
With these papers, we can craft homemade cards to express greetings and wishes to our loved ones, for them to tuck away. Or we can create junk journals which within the pages we can write our thoughts and dreams and accomplishments and memories for our future generations to reflect on. These cards and journals turn kitchen and yard waste into Art Instead for our ancestors to discover in our artwork in attics 100 years from now.
One thing we learned from the pandemic is that things can change in a hurry. That life is short. I encourage us to be more mindful of how we are spending our time, our energies, considering how others will remember this time. What art will you leave behind for future generations to learn about you from?
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March 2021
What are we Eating? With Imaginagarden Cuisine, make your food Art Instead!
In my February 2021 blog, I mentioned we sometimes turn to food as an unhealthy coping tool to deal with stress and other emotions. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do not mean to insinuate food is bad! Good food is often offered in wonderful ways during celebration and for the obvious, to nourish our bodies. I was referring to the negative types of eating, such as overeating in isolation or avoiding food to avoid our feelings. If you should suffer from disordered eating in this manner, please seek professional support from a therapist or dietitian. Instead, from birth to death, we can healthily eat and share food to comfort others and cope in loving ways.
Short story: I shared in the My Story section on the home page that my father attended most of the funerals in my rural home town. Secretly, he often went so he could share the meal that was provided by the family or church after the funeral. He loved what he termed “funeral foods”: creamy, meaty casseroles, buttery warm bread rolls, homemade pies…you hopefully get the picture. Many of these recipes are found in my cookbook, Imaginagarden Cuisine. There are even cookbooks written by funeral directors:
A Good Goodbye with Gail Rubin
And wonderfully, food can be great fun to create with! Many of us usually do this for our kids at birthday parties with cakes made into their favorite action figure or animal. Weddings always have a beautiful centerpiece of a wedding cake. Food often marks special occasions, part of the memories to these events.
We all have to eat every day, yet do we take the time to creatively and lovingly prepare our meals? Or do we just microwave the cheapest frozen meal we can find? Are we mindfully taking care of our bodies through wholesome and healthy foods? Again, Imaginagarden Cuisine is packed full of recipes intended to be made with love and healthy intent. See that section of this website for daily recipes from my cookbook, along with inspiring quotes.
I challenge you to throw out the mass produced, artificial ingredient, non-nutritious stuff we often call food and start cooking with your own Art Instead!
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February 2021
What are you creating? Try Land Art!
In my last blog I encouraged easing the blues and potential sorrows through Art Instead. As a Registered Dietitian, I am fully aware of how we can use food and alcohol, lack of movement and sleep to negatively deal with life. So, consider letting go of those alternatives, and turn to Art Instead! To use creativity as a tool to cope with stress and sadness and isolation. To play with art can be a means to moving positively forward in these challenging times.
How are we doing? What are you making? Some of you have most probably been creating for some time and this just comes naturally. I hope so. I also hope for others you are working at starting to play and find it interesting, pleasantly distracting, fun, challenging, helpful. I’d love to see your photos! If you would, email please to: sheffernrd@gmail.com.
If you aren’t yet creating, how come? Lack of motivation? Lack of supplies? It dawned on me that some of us might not have supplies. And with the state of the world, might not have money to do so or desire to go out shopping. If so, maybe consider Land Art.
Land Art is basically going outside into whatever nature you have, observing your surroundings closely, noting what’s of interest to you, seeing the potential and leaving the world a little brighter, richer for your efforts. It doesn’t mean to destroy or deface anything. Just taking what’s available and allowing yourself to feel and caress, smell and sneeze at, see and dream -- and create Art Instead.
Arranging rocks and pebbles, sticks and branches, shells and seaweed, leaves and pinecones, sand and gravel, bones and feathers, flowers and weeds, snow and coal – whatever you find – into something you feel motivated to create in the moment. No planning. However big or small is up to you and your environment. Knowing that you can’t take it with you might ease any performance pressure. But, hopefully, getting the body moving, the mind engaged releases pent up stress and ill energy, helping us to feel a little lighter. And hopefully helps the motivation to do even more, to keep looking deeper!
Take a good deep breathe of Art Instead! I wish you the best.
Rediscoverd Families
Living Your Wild Creativity
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January 2021
What are you grieving? Let’s deal with it by Art Instead
Seems since the New Year, a lot of folks I talk with are feeling even a bit more down. I know I am feeling a little bit “flatter” today (not to be confused with “fatter” – working on cleaning out the sugar and walking!) No, a bit more down in the dumps about the past year coming to such a miserable end.
2020 started with such optimism. It was going to be the “Year of the Woman” celebrating 100 years of women’s right to vote with art shows and special ceremonies planned to honor this amazing right that took so long.
https://www.2020centennial.org/
https://issuu.com/sedonaartscenter/docs/2020sac_yearofthewoman
Then Covid-19 hit and just didn’t go away, despite most of putting in good efforts. And 2020 ended with much chaos surrounding our entire voting and election systems. Ugh, seems it is still thumping away here in 2021, you know the news, will skip further details.
For many, family good times were being planned, ski trips were in full swing, kids were at college, babies were playing at daycare. Fun was a daily thing for most of us.
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Then Covid-19 hit hard and everything converted to a stay-at-home model of fun and learning and playing. With mixed results. Ending with less family fun, job losses, less money for most any type of fun, not even being allowed to be present when a loved one passes. I am so sorry if you are one of these.
We have worked hard to remain positive, strong for others, socially connected if still physically separated. Yet, today seems to be taking even more energy as more bad news seems to continue to fly into 2021, with fewer of us planning any real flying. What to do?
I’m going to turn to Art Instead. Turn on the music, pull out the supplies and start to create. I hope if you are grieving 2020, the loss of a loved one, falling short on the routine of setting resolutions, having to cancel yet another family event, that you’ll also turn to Art Instead. I ask you to keep working on processing the feelings, going deeper into yourself and maybe whatever faith source you might have. And ultimately grow to know yourself better. Softly letting go of the past and grief, turning this sorrow into seeds of optimism for the future.
Water Under the Bridge
Please support this band and click the like button. Artist Tow'rs. Video directed by Jordan Fatke
Below is a link to helping yourself plan end-of-life events for yourself as well. I don’t think this is morbid, I think it is a mature, healthy thing to do. Because, as we know, any of us can go anytime from a huge variety of unwanted things.
Let’s stay mentally healthy with Art Instead. Now that’s a goal for any year, any time.
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Dying paper with coffee and vegetable water |
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Marble dying paper with fingernail polish |