A-Z: Today it is L for LIMITATIONS

Last night I started putting together a small white cabinet from IKEA for my new studio gallery space. I opened the box (one of three), got the required screwdriver to use, and some ice tea to drink. I set up a card table in the garage so I wouldn't have to do a lot of bending over. The next thing I knew I was dripping wet, exhausted, and frustrated!!!

There are a couple of artists on the Internet that I admire for their talent and skill. Donna Downey is one of them. I took an online class from her. She is a very authentic artist. She uses more different mediums than any artist I have ever taken a class from. It seems like Donna opened up the limits I had placed on myself as to what "kind" of art I could do, and she taught me how to really work "outside the box".

DONNA DOWNEY OF DONNA DOWNEY PRODUCTIONS

The second artist that I really admire is Lisa Kaus.  I think she has the most magical imagination and touch! I have loved her work for a long time and have, in fact, much of her stuff hanging in my home. 

LISA KAUS, ARTIST

A BIRTHDAY CAKE PAINTING BY LISA KAUS

 Somehow, I don't think either of these women knows the meaning of the word "limitations". Donna teaches both online and in her store in Huntersville, NC and Lisa is from Portland, Oregon.

I know I've come a long way over the past six months and am able to do so much more than now, but I get so frustrated and upset over what I can't do! I tire much more quickly than I wish I did, I have reactions to the pain medication I have to be on to have any quality of life, and have to stop doing things I really want to do long before I wish I had to. 

Sometimes we place limitations on ourselves by thinking that we can't do this or can't do that. I know I have done that, but that isn't the case now. I have limitations because of age and health. It just pisses me off and relying on others isn't always an option. 

So there's my rant on limitations. I'll come up with a better blog next time.....PROMISE!

A-Z TODAY IS G FOR GALLERY

I never in my wildest dreams thought that at the age of 69 I would be lucky enough to be in the position I am tonight. 

First of all, I have been a frustrated artist most of my life. Way back in high school, the school was brand new and our basketball team was called the Wildcats. The art department students were asked to turn in to the team a drawing of a wildcat. The winner would get to put that "drawing" on the wall of the gym....in paint and use a scaffolding to do so. I drew a stylized head of a wildcat and it was the one chosen!! So, every free minute of that year (I think it was my junior or senior year) I spent up on that scaffolding and literally left my mark on the school. 

Also, while in school I had thought I wanted to be an architect and I designed a round house that some professors from the University of Montana came to look at. They were very impressed at how I had used the space. I was never encouraged to go on to college....just get married and have babies, otherwise, I might have become an architect. 

After I got married I took one of those drawing tests that they used to have in magazines and on match book covers. I was told I had a lot of talent so I took an "at home" course that cost me $200!! That was a lot of money then but I could do a lesson and send it in and they would critique it and send it back to me. I was still able to take care of my daughter and husband. 

At one point I branched out into using oil paints but that didn't last long because I had a stroke at age 37 and lost all eye/hand coordination. It was several years before I did anything creative. I did some sewing and then started Tole Painting and some other things just to have things to take to the bazaars to earn some money. 

While living in Alaska I had a one woman show at a men's clothing store, of all places. It was a nice fit and I had a wonderful time doing it. Out of that show I got a nice commission which was really exciting. My art has always been different...something that two people can see and each really "see" something totally different. I love that. 

Then a few years ago I decided I would get really serious about my art after I retired. I gathered up all the supplies I could as I could afford them while I was still working. I got really sick and ended up selling everything I had which to this day I deeply regret. I should have put it in storage or something.

Then we moved to the Olympic Peninsula. Wow!! Sequim turned out to be an artsy community and right next to it (about 15 minutes away) is Port Angeles, also an artsy community. I joined a wonderful art organization (SequimArts.org) and volunteered to do what I know best...doing the newsletter. I love doing it and have made some really wonderful friends in that organization. Just last week they put me on the Board of Directors. I am pleased and humbled by it. 

I was selected to show one of my pieces in a Juried Art show recently and while I didn't get a "prize", it was prize enough just to be included. I am scheduled to be in a show in Port Angeles over the Memorial Day week-end, have a one-woman show scheduled in October, and one even already scheduled for 2015!! I'll probably have some pieces in the Fair as well. 

Last Friday, I went to see a space in an artist's working gallery in Port Angeles as I knew some of the artists that work there. I am so pleased to say that now, at this moment, I am a part of that wonderful group and will be officially moving in around the end of the month. 

The ad poster about our gallery in the Landing Mall....Landing Artists Studio

I will be showing and working at The Landing Artists Studio Gallery. I will be working with 5 other artists, each doing something entirely different...Fractals, Felted Scarves, Beading, and an Acrylic artist, as well as a fellow who is building a canoe. I don't have to work every single day because everyone looks out for each other and it's more about relationships with each other and doing art at the same time. Cruise ships come in there and who knows what the future will bring. This is something I have wanted for a very, very long time. I am so thankful for my friend, Pam, who is giving me this opportunity and being so supportive in so many ways. It feels as though I've known her forever and we have become good friends. I also need to give my wonderful husband the recognition he deserves for being my driver everywhere and supporting what I want to do with my art. His support has made all the difference.

So, as my saying goes "Don't Let Weeds Grow Around Your Dreams"....it is true and anything is possible from the time you get up in the morning until you go to sleep at night. 

I may not be Grandma Moses but there is still time......~laughing out loud~

Be Creative in your own way, Janie

A-Z TODAY IS Q QUALITY OF LIFE

QUALITY OF MY LIFE

This month is my favorite month, not just because it's my birthday month, it was my mother's birthday month, and Sunday would have been my oldest son's 44th birthday. But it seems like May is the turning point for a lot of things....We are generally past winter and spring is beginning to come out. Here in Sequim EVERYTHING is blooming....everything is soooo beautiful!! 

The OH MY is because for the first time in a very, very long time I am beginning to feel like my old self, but better. My system is getting rid of toxins that made me so ill I almost died. My mind is more clear than it has been in months and months. My energy level is up higher than in a very long time. I'm starting to come out of a depression that has plagued me a long time too, and even though I'm a year older, I feel almost reborn, brand new, ready to take on the world and enjoy the hell out of it!!!! 

Quality of life...we hear that a lot but unless you haven't had "quality" in your life, you don't know what having it is!!

I am beginning to understand what quality in my life means:

• Waking up every day to a new day full of possibilities....the only limit is my capability.
• Doing things that make me feel good inside....leaving a sink full of dishes to go play in my studio.
• Giving into relaxation when there are still chores that probably should be done but can wait forever, as far as I'm concerned.
• Enjoying the little things in life instead of just letting them pass you by unnoticed.
• Eating what you like instead of eating what you SHOULD eat. Who says that you can't have salad for breakfast? Who said that you can't have a glass of tea for dinner and a small dish of cherry vanilla ice cream over sliced bananas before bed? 
• Making my own schedule....staying up until 3:00am if I'm enjoying the quiet, solitude of the night, listening to the waves hitting the beach, and having more clarity of thought OR sleeping for a couple hours about 6:00pm just because I'm tired.
• Having a housekeeper come in once a month and do all the things that I can't or don't want to do. 
• Giving things to others that they really will enjoy even though I probably should spend the money on something more practical or pay bills. 

These are just a few things that give me great Quality of Life. I am dedicating myself and whatever years are given to me to live to have the best Quality of Life possible. I owe it to myself. I have lived almost 70 years and it is high time I think about that. All my life I have thought of others feelings, of other's needs, or other's "quality of life" even at the expense of my own. I am learning....and good things are coming my way. I can honestly say that I'm learning to understand and know what happiness is. I'm lucky to be able to share it with someone who is truly my soul mate, a loving, caring person who makes me feel special.  Life is about choices and hopefully my choices aren't going to hurt anyone else because that would defeat the purpose of how I wish to live. I will never (well, there might be one exception :)) intentionally hurt anyone just so my Quality of Life is good.

I have met some exceptional people in the past year, and most of these people have been through their own trial by fire. Life isn't easy but these people have taught me a lot and I love each of them because they have brought to my life a greater understanding of love and friendship. I hope that I can keep "Paying it forward" which maintaining my own Quality of Life.

Janie

A-Z TODAY IT IS: T FOR TECHNOLOGY

TECHNOLOGY IN MY LIFE

SO, I just barely missed being a "Baby Boomer"....I'm a little too old. But I got to thinking about technology that we use in our every day lives....My mother, born in 1917, passed several years ago. We didn't have cell phones even when she was with us. Today, she would be so amazed by them. But let me back up.

So I was born in 1945. The town I grew up in had no TV, no movie theater, it was just a little "cow poke" town in Montana. Beautiful, but nonetheless, a "cow poke" town.

I was 12 years old when we got our first television. That was about the size of a normal desktop computer screen and was only in black and white and ONE channel. Either you liked what was on or you didn't. 

 

NOTICE THE RABBIT EARS? ALSO, THE ROTARY DIAL PHONE.

Then I went away to high school and lived with some folks who didn't have a television and wouldn't have one in their home. So I really didn't watch it for the next 4 years. 

REGAL TYPEWRITER: GOT MY FASTEST TIME ON THAT ONE!!

When I entered the work force. My "claim to fame" was that I could type 110 wpm on one of those old black clunky typewriters you see in museums with the handle that sticks out so you can do a carriage return at the end of each line. No saving anything. No correcting anything. Fast and Accurate. That's what the employers wanted. 

 Right before I graduated school, the typing lab got Selectric typewriters. They couldn't keep up with me and I hated them.

THE SELECTRIC

 
Then one day I went for a job interview after we moved to Alaska and they had a typewriter which was kind of a cross between a computer and a typewriter and no one there knew how to use it. But I did! I got the job and loved the machine. 

The next job I had I worked in a program that inherited a computer, the first one I had seen outside of our old Commodore 64 at home. The job I had was as office manager so it was up to me to learn to use the computer, the printer, etc. That was back in the days where all you saw on the screen were DOS prompts. I taught myself DOS. It got me a long way until the world got the idea that computers were not a fad, they were not going away and they were here to stay. The same with television...now we have so many channels that we couldn't possibly watch all of them even in a year!!

Essential DOS Commands and Concepts

• Backup Files
• Change the Default Drive
• CHDIR (CD) Change Directory Command
• COPY Command
• DIR (Directory) Command
• ERASE Command
• File-Naming Conventions
• FORMAT Command
• MKDIR (MD) Make Directory Command
• Rebooting the computer (Ctrl-Alt-Del)
• RENAME (REN) Command
• RMDIR (RD) Remove Directory Command
• Stop Execution (Ctrl-Break)

 No mouse to use and only a blinking light cursor on a black background on the screen.

Then the next thing was a cell phone...a phone I could take with me in the car and call someone for help if I needed it. WOW! That was really a big thing, especially in Northern Alaska where winter is REALLY winter!! 

A PROGRESSION OF CELL PHONES

Now we use social media to keep in touch with people we know and those we have never met but have become friends with from all across the globe. I "talk to" and "keep up" with what my children are doing more now than ever before. I feel closer to my friends and my family though I don't see them very often. We can reach out and touch someone at the slightest touch. We can order anything our heart desires, pay for it relatively safely, and not skip a beat or leave the comfort of our bed and jammies. Not only that but we can share experiences through photographs as well. And we can send images that seemingly fly through the air and materialize in a different place....Fax machines.

Who would have thought that when we first started watching Star Trek that a lot of their fancy "accessories" would literally come to pass and we would be using something similar in our everyday lives. 

A few months ago I went to visit my son and he had a new printer. It is a 3D printer. He "builds" things on this printer from a program and I have a little plastic man who sits on my dresser and holds up my cell phone overnight with one of his out-stretched hands, and it was made by my son. He make nuts and screws, and pieces for remote control cars. He makes things in different colors and sizes and shape. It's almost like the beginning of the "Beam me up, Scotty" era. 

THREE-D PRINTER

 
One evening my son took me for a ride to the store and before we left his driveway he handed me a little remote looking device. It was a "game" that we would play on the way to the store. I could "capture" a fountain on the sidewalk we drove by if no one was virtually guarding it. I would see other places on this device to capture other things. It was so much fun but in the morning the original owner had gone out in his car and captured them back! We played this game from a car that only runs on batteries. 

THE NISSAN LEAF - ALL ELECTRIC CAR

 

MINI SMART CAR - AREN'T THEY THE CUTEST???

I'm only telling you what amazes me in my own little piece of the world, because I know there are a lot more things, technologically speaking, that are used everyday that I know nothing about. 

Some people feel that being "plugged in" is keeping them from really enjoying life. I have to disagree because we have the option of walking out the door anytime we want...right? But what about all those people who don't have that option for one reason or another? What about those people who are ill or infirmed? If I could go out for a 10 mile run today I'd be in my running shoes so fast your head would swim, but I can't. So I get online and check messages from family, friends, businesses, etc. I check my social media to see what's new in photos and activities and then I use my computer for my paid work and my volunteer work. I use it to find art venues to submit my art work to or activities to go to. I use it to book flights and check menus to see if my husband can eat the food at a certain restaurant. 

All in all, technology has certainly brightened up my life and made it open up the whole world to me. I am so thankful for it and for my ability to at least keep up with at least some of the technology. Oh, and one of the best things is being able to take classes at home to learn just about anything I want to!!

Janie

A-Z BIRTHDAY BUCKET LIST

I belong to many newsletters online and the other day I got this newsletter that had a 

BIRTHDAY BUCKET LIST

50 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOUR NEXT BIRTHDAY

 

Well, since my NEXT birthday is only a couple of weeks away it wouldn't be possible to complete this list. I have, however, completed some of it and I thought the list was a great bucket list and made me want to make a bucket list of my own.....

HERE IS MY OWN BUCKET LIST BEFORE MY 2015 BIRTHDAY

(which will be my 70th, believe it or not!!)

1. Do all I can to get back to being healthy again.

2. Travel somewhere I've never been or return to Paris with my Love!!

 

 3. See Bon Jovi in concert again (or Elton John or......).

4. Learn a new skill or take a class in something I've never done before. Maybe a drumming class.

5. Take new chances with my art. Think and draw "outside the box".

6. Take a hot air balloon flight.

7. Get out of debt (well, except for the house).

8.  Go to a professional baseball game.

9. Learn how to take better pictures.

10. Take a picture every day for a year.

11. Get prepared for a tsunami emergency...survival kit, etc.

12. See a Broadway show.

13. Write in my Blog every week for a year.

14. Update my Web site every month with new pieces.

Have a very good day and if you don't have a Bucket List, why not?

Janie

A-Z: TODAY IT IS A!

 

 

COLLAGE ON CANVAS, ORIGINAL BY JANIE BRACKNEY

A is for Art. Someone said that art is in the eye of the beholder, and I believe that's true. I know that I like a lot of different things...from sculpture to abstracts to photographs. I'm still learning how to translate what's in my brain and how to put that to paper or canvas. I believe that's the journey many artists make. I also believe that some get stuck in a comfortable rut because it is "saleable". That is always the problem...do you do what you love because you enjoy it or do you do "art" because someone will buy it?

Since becoming ill last October and having shaking hands I have had to change from my long traditional pen and ink work (shown below) to new things not requiring such extreme hand control. It has been a pleasant experience actually as learning new things usually is for me, but it has also been and continues to be a little too traditional in some respects. HOWEVER, we live in a very traditional community and if I ever expect to get "sold" here I must either be tenacious and "stay the course" or buckle and do something more "safe". 

Tonight is the very first Juried Art Show I have ever entered and been accepted into. The juror picks the entries and then does the judging and tonight there will be $1500 worth of awards given out by the judge. I really don't expect to win anything but then I didn't expect to get a piece into the show either. This is the piece that is being judged and is up for sale as well (at the show):

UNDERSEA GARDEN, ORIGINAL PEN AND INK BY JANIE BRACKNEY

The end of this month I am also entered into the Art Gallery at the Juan de Fuca Art Festival in Port Angeles. I started going through my boxes of art and have several things I'm taking but these are two of my newest pieces. 

A LADY'S SHOE, ORIGINAL BY JANIE BRACKNEY

 This is a kind of pen and ink but enhanced with watercolors and some acrylics on white artist's paper. I have it framed in black with no mat at this point. I want to get it professionally framed. It think that makes all the difference at a show.

THE FLOWER GARDEN, ORIGINAL BY JANIE BRACKNEY

This is a larger piece and has been professionally framed. It is one of my newer collages, using everything from muslin to wall board paste to watercolors and charcoal. I am very proud of it and I'm afraid my photo doesn't really do it justice.

I hope that you follow your passion, no matter what it is. 

Janie