::this should be my mantra::

entry from my altered book/art journal

Free flowing, illuminated layers. I chose the phrase "this layered life" for my blog because that's what and how I live....a life of layers...shedding the old, embracing the new. This doesn't come without pain (what life doesn't?), but it does come with growth (a good thing).

I've been meditating a bit today on what it means to be a "healer." I have a background in the arts as well as the nursing field. My Enneagram is type 2 "the helper." I feel that my genre of art is at times, all over the place, but I've also been slowly (at times veering) accepting this. I start new blogs, I believe, because I've been trying to find my niche. I don't have one, when it comes to my style of art. Nostalgia and healing DO play a role in my work, as well as deeper awareness. My art aims to heal something in both myself and others, if it resonates.

Art journaling, conceptual self portraiture, alternative processes, mixed media, collage, found poetry, painting, ALL play crucial roles in my creative process. I use these various mediums as a way to further explore the layers (with layers) that are my life....my past, my future, my everyday, my wants, my desires, my light bulb moments, my sifting through multiple feelings about life's happenings, on a big level and a micro level. It's ALL important, and I'm finally okay with that.

College was a favorite time of mine because in what other arena can you learn/absorb so much and take so many classes that interest you all at once? Darkroom photography, papermaking, alternative art processes, expressive drawing, my art writing course (which I didn't know at the time, but I made my first art journal in that class!)...I somehow now, incorporate all of those niches into my work.

Art heals...creating art soothes me, and there is no "right" way to do that. It is highly personal, but when shared with others who feel or have felt the same way at times, it can bring a sense of community in the healing process.

I'm looking forward to sharing more of my healing arts endeavors here, in this space.