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Hello Lovelies, Firstly let me wish you a very Happy New Year!

Grab a coffee, tea, or whatever you like, sit back and get ready for a BIG post.

Here was I thinking my facebook feed was loading updates, right here on my blog…. nope! Eeeks so I must apologise if anyone visited and saw nothing new here. I’m not really sure how many people are actually reading my blog anyway. It’s different to Facebook etc, where you can see if there’s any traction on your outpourings. Sometimes I even wonder if I’m just sat typing and talking away to the stratosphere of emptiness hahahah, but I hope not – and if you are the one person that reads my blog and enjoys what i share – then that’s perfect.

Welcome to 2019 –

So here I go, a big catch up of some of the artwork I’ve completed over the last few months & a little insight into my world of late.

Since my whirlwind and super exciting trip to the USA with GelMoment, I’ve been finding myself in a bit of a slump. It was such an incredible experience, filled with meeting wonderful ladies (& gentlemen) that it blew me away!! The sister-hood vibe, was so different to what I’m used to. The way the Canadian and American ladies supported each other was phenomenal. They all welcomed us 3 Aussies into their hearts so openly <3 I miss that.

I have good news though!! One of the amazing ladies I met (Theresa) is now going to visit Australia!! How fantastic is that! We connected through our love of a GEL POLISH! Yeah a gel polish, and now we have both been able to tick something off our bucket lists. I am really feeling very blessed to have met a wonderful friend and I’m thrilled I will have the chance to share some of our beautiful country with her and her husband. Also Theresa totally understands my situation with my health issues, as she too is a fellow fibro warrior!

Today I wrote about the word slump, LOL. I wrote slumpity slump slump. I did a live video on my facebook (personal page) and shared the mountains of lettering that was on my desk. I love writing and have been practicing a lot. Sometimes it’s easier to grab a pen than it is to drag out all the paints, stencils, collage bits etc, and just put some words down on paper. I’ve really enjoyed practising various styles of lettering.

We are spoiled with Instagram, pinterest and facebook pages, oh and not to forget blogs! Wow, I remember back (Yeah I’m old) to the days BEFORE any of these things and I wonder, what did I do? How did we all get so inspired, learn so easily? We had to attend classes, we met people in groups and we were probably more social, just in the sense that we actually met face to face. I miss creative days with creative others. I’ve considered a weekly art get-together for a while, perhaps 2019 is going to be the year for that.

I’ve got to admit, there’s been days where I haven’t been feeling on top of the world – that’s Fibro for you! I keep going, I write, I paint and draw – it’s all so healing for me. This awful thing is unpredictable though, so I worry that I will not be reliable enough to host a regular meet up. So Instead, I get into the slump and let my own space, my art do it’s thing – distracting me & fulfilling me, along with taking up some time that I’d otherwise be wasting watching too much netflix! LOL. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but yeah – you know what I mean right? It’s hard to get the mojo some days.

“Everything is energy” Indeed it is, and I really like the colour mixes of energy in this one.

It’s funny because I have some people say to me that they would love to be able to spend all the time in the world doing art, as if my life is somehow ‘better’ and ‘easier’ because I don’t have to work – I have heard the words ‘how lucky are you’ and firstly, It’s not actually that I don’t ‘have’ to work, it’s that I can’t! Simple as that. I just physically can’t. I don’t consider my constant fight to stay positive, to keep going, to feel my body hurting constantly “Lucky” – Sure, I’m lucky – but not for that reason 😉 I’m lucky I’m alive, as we all are. Everyday we wake up is a day to be grateful for. I’d actually swap places with some people in a heartbeat, it would mean I don’t have to suffer 24.7 It would mean I could earn a ‘real’ income too, which would make life a lot easier. Anyway, I’ve waffled a bit, thing is I couldn’t have ‘spoken’ all this without getting at least 10% of the words mixed up! LOL. I often feel useless, as I can’t accomplish things I want to. I can’t physically cope with a lot of things I used to – so I had to do this piece as a reminder to us all – because no matter what – we are worthy, each of us!

The last few days have been a write-off, and yesterday I was crazy with my words. I don’t think I strung one sentence together without messing up words, usually i get the first letters of words mixed up. For example I might say “Tup of key” for “cup of tea” – sometimes what I say makes me laugh out loud!! Even though it’s really not funny. If you haven’t read the spoon theory, i highly recommend it (especially if you have family or friends who are affected by fibro, rheumatoid arthrits, lupus, MS, crohns or any other auto immune diseases) https://butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/

I’m so grateful to have the ability to share my art with you, and yes I do love being able to have the freedom to create when I want to create – but it doesn’t always happen whenever I want it to. Creating is a great distraction, but doesn’t STOP the hurt, and there’s days when the hurt is too much that it takes over my ability to concentrate on anything. Even the mindless tasks are difficult. Getting dressed is often very difficult, showering is exhausting! Sometimes if I art too much, I have to take a break. So, I tell you this so you understand a little more about my art, my life and why I do what I do, and why art, drawing, lettering and painting matters so much to me.

My GelMoment matters to me too, I sell it because I LOVE it, and it also is an avenue for me to earn a little extra income, get out and meet lovely ladies and share gorgeous Polish that I’m passionate about. I love the nail art and colour mixing GelMoment allows me to do. It’s fun, it’s fabulous and most importantly, I can do it in MY OWN TIME! No regular hours, no expectations to be somewhere every single day, but the chance to book parties when I know I’ll be on top of my game (well as best as I can be anyway) I love sharing the products with others, I enjoy seeing people feel good when they are proud of their pretty nails, or have created an art piece inspired from me. I love teaching others, and this is another thing I love with art too – the thought that a little piece of my heart can make someone smile, or make them ‘feel’ something because of what I created – well that’s rewarding. If I sell anything, it’s a bonus 🙂

There’s usually a meaning, or message contained within my art. Often my writing is inspired by quotes I’ve seen shared or my feelings on different things. People can be so interesting. As I’m getting older, I don’t have time for the drama a lot of people seem to roll around in and collect as they go, haha. I’ve done some writings that might reflect this! LOL I don’t have the energy for that crap – oh I have feelings, I have emotions and I have passion about a lot of things. I can get riled when I’m upset about something and yeah, I can get brutally honest, but I’m a ‘what you see is what you get’ type girl! and… I’m human LOL I just don’t find myself wanting anything to do with unkind, fake people anymore. I just want a peaceful, happy time when I’m with others. I’m finding it so easy to cut ties, or bless and release and let them go on their merry own way. I don’t have time for self serving people and yes, I’ve dealt with a lot of them! I don’t feel the need to impress anyone either, other than myself. I guess what I go through each day makes each little success a whole heap more rewarding for me. Sometimes, just creating a little piece of art can make me smile, as It’s an accomplishment for the day!

December saw me having an exhibit in my local council library building – I was lucky and thankful to be given a whole room to display my art AND it was there for the entire month of December. It was very humbling to see a whole room full of my work and it made me realise just HOW MUCH art I’ve done. Every picture has a story, a special meaning and the room was full of memories and emotion, colour and fun!

What are my plans? If I tell you them then it makes them real – GOALS, if you don’t have them, you can’t ever achieve them! Writing them down gives them even more power.

So, I’m going to be making some changes to my fortnightly Meditation Group I run – This group has been going since 1993!! That’s a LONG time! I’m thinking of changing things up a bit this year though. So I have to make new plans as change can be good.

You may know that I love working with essential oils and making my own blends too. So I have to share with you that my “Lorri’s Linament’ has been going really really well, I’ve had some amazing testimonials from lots of people who think it’s amazing. It’s the linament I developed to help myself… and it does help (I’ve tried just about everything on the market, including prescriptions for muscle pain and spasms) THIS linament is the only thing that helped a spasming (is that a word?) muscle that aggravated me constantly for over a year.. now if it cramps up a bit, the first thing I reach for is my Linament!! My Healing Oil, is still my top seller and I truly couldn’t live without it – it’s just purely magical, it’s uplifting, it’s cleansing and it simply smells great!

January I’m attending Waterford Market with my GelMoment & on the 30th January, I will be having a great time with my friends from Canada. Craig and I are looking at taking them down south to Margaret River to visit wineries, beaches and all the wonderful places & little towns we West Australians are blessed to have. Of course I’ll be taking my art supplies!

February the adventure and traveling will continue, and it’s also my birthday month – so I’m sure to have lots of fun times with my family & friends. I’m not sure whether i will be attending the markets this month.

March is an empty book, so I get to write all the chapters! I’d love to run a collage workshop and share how to make these cute Pen Cups you will see below! – Let me know if you are interested in participating in that.

This one took me forever to get the mojo flowing and I mean ages! I sat and stared at her – made changes, still wasn’t happy and then all of a sudden inspiration HIT ME and I knew what I had to do. Turns out she is now one of my personal favourites – yet she almost ended up being thrown in the bin!! Perseverence pays. Her message is:

“Inside each of us is the peace we all deserve, take a deep breath, hold and let go – there it is”

Sorry for cursing teehee, sometimes you just have to go with the flow!

Lettering practice – I really enjoyed writing the word “Blessed”

This is the biggest piece of art I’ve ever attempted, and it’s been an ongoing process for several months – today I’ve added more to it since this photo – I’ll update it on the next blog post. Can you see the figures?