Nothing You Can See That Isn't Shown

Secret Hope

2012-01-12T10:40:00.003-05:00

Patty Griffin has this fantastic song called Nobody's Cryin'. She says the song is about everyone hanging on during the weird changing times in our world. I can't get the song out of my head! I listened to the whole album over and over as I painted this one.

"...may the voices inside you that fill you with dread
Make the sound of thousands of angels instead"

Art is my therapy and here is another session. And something in me believes I am meant to share it. Secret Hope.

Creating Your Own

2012-01-05T10:37:00.000-05:00

...happiness. I can create my own happiness was the lesson I learned during my trip to Greece over a decade ago. I remember the timing of the lesson well because of the precious photos that were taken on that trip. You could see it on our faces. I'm so grateful for the snap shots. Especially yesterday when I painted this one. I needed to remember. I need to share. That is why I am an artist. I need to re-create. Creating Your Own

Flirt

2011-12-05T16:16:00.001-05:00

Just finished another piece. I LOVE the words on her MIND.

adore
witty
happy
charm
flirt
clever
giggle
silly
home
family
fresh
adore
joy
sassy
dream
divine
quirky
yum
hope
smart
sweet
tiny
bliss
fab
hip
true
always
play
wonder
reach
guess
juicy
share
quick
very
wow
wise
lucky
friend
strong
sweet
laugh
live
love
smile
grow

Flirt

42 Dreams

2011-12-04T20:38:00.001-05:00

I just finished this tonight. 42 Dreams

Inspirational Story

2011-11-29T12:29:00.001-05:00

I just read this in an Eckhart Tolle newsletter and had to share it! This is for all the parents and teachers out there. Enjoy.

Inspirational Story

It is the little things that are really the big things.

This year I have been teaching kindergarten students.(5 & 6 yrs ) We start off each morning with a visualization so that we can find the still place that is inside ourselves. When we find that place we can get rid of all the silly stuff that has come in from the playground etcand make room for all the great learning to find its place and settle into our minds.

Throughout the day I ring my special 'peace bell' and we have a minute of peace. Usually this is when the class is off task and getting out ofsorts. It also gives me a chance to stop still and gather myself rather than losing my patience. Id rather that than feeling ugly, angeris an ugly thing in the classroom.

When we have our minute of peace, I say 'freeze and breathe'. For a minute we breath in and out slowly. At the end i ask them to cup thereears ''Can you hear that? Can you feel that?' I ask them. 'Its beautiful isn't it?' I say. The children agree. Then the best part, Ilove to remind them, 'that's who you really are, beautiful, still, calmand full of love and happiness. You know you can go there anytime, anyplace'.

Perhaps it sounds a bit ideal. They go on to make a racket again in a short time. But my learning is to accept that too as a teacher.

After a year of Mondays only on this class it is lovely to see that children are starting to stop and breathe on their own now, when they come to floor for lessons, standing in line etc and they say 'look at me I'm taking my breaths'.

Imagine everyday having this in kindy and right through their schooling, wouldn't the world be a calmer, more relaxed place to be?

Namaste,

Julie Pappas

Small Works Considered

2011-11-08T10:33:00.002-05:00

She Loves

A Letter to Her

I Will Express it

General Rules of Gender

Here is a preview to my work that can been seen at Arts on Douglas Gallery in the Small Works Considered show. Each piece is mixed media collage and is 8" x 8". The opening is December 3rd from 4 to 7pm and the show runs until December 31. I will be at the opening and I hope to see you there!

Time To Think

2011-11-01T11:31:00.003-04:00

This is a question for you Moms out there. Remember when they were babies...the sleep deprivation...the relentlessness...when completing a thought, never mind a sentence was a small miracle? Well I guess I had forgotten it this morning because after 2-1/2 hours of painting, I had to stop and I got angry thinking "I don't even have time to think!" Well, after I asked myself that first question, I did remember that things have changed...a lot. The demands that come with raising a 4 and 6 year old are at times still relentless (and I mean relentless with the utmost affection.) BUT, and there is a but, is DOES get easier. Different and easier. Today I had 2-1/2 hours to think. I do believe in miracles.
Time To Think

Dwell

2011-10-13T08:48:00.000-04:00

What a great word, dwell. Emily Dickinson wrote "I dwell in possibility." This is the mantra of an artist. The belief that if you can remain aware, any emotions, good or bad, can be channeled through a person and molded into an image, a song or a sentence that inspires. I had a roller coaster ride of emotions this week and I am so grateful to have been able to focus it and and release it onto these 4 panels of wood. I've said it a hundred times, "Any day in the studio is a great day". This is my therapy. This is for me. Esther Hicks-Abraham says that when we talk about creators, we are talking about the creating of your state of being. I hope to always linger in the idea that art in all its forms has the potential to fill me, to heal me, and to save me. I dwell in that possibility. Dwell

Reach

2011-10-11T10:35:00.001-04:00

New 6" x 6" little pieces; Open, Reach, and Yes Bloom.

Not Too Late

2011-10-06T14:34:00.000-04:00

It has been brought up before, but I believe it's worth repeating. Should a 90 year old try to learn to play the piano? I say yes! Because by the time that 90 year old learns how to play, they will be EXACTLY the same age if they hadn't. It's NOT TOO LATE. It's never too late. It's not about mastering piano or conquering concert halls. It's about PRACTICE. Doing it. Loving it. Being in the moment with it.

My dear friend is teaching her Mother (who has Alzheimer's) how to paint. Every lesson starts anew. But she says that its bringing pure joy to a frustrated woman who is forgetting her children's names. You are an amazing daughter Kathleen! (See her great work here: http://kathleenbrodeurfineart.com) If they can do it, we can do it. Go try something new today!

Not Too Late

The Line of Life

2011-10-04T13:25:00.000-04:00

The Line of Life

"What we know as life is but existence,
A waiting place, a haven by the sea,
A little space amid immeasured distance,
A glimpse, a vista, of that life to be."
-Cheiro The Line of Life

Mind

2011-09-30T13:11:00.001-04:00

A work of art is above all an adventure of the mind. Found this great quote by Eugene Ionesco and had to collage it! We are attracted to people and situations that mirror our energy and awareness, but art can really pull us past the conscious zone and take us on a voyage into the unexplored. Make some time to get lost in art this week! Make some, look at some and by all means enjoy it. Mind

Abundance

2011-09-21T12:51:00.000-04:00

Some of my collages I love too much to put a face or figure onto. This is one of them. Each panel has its own composition and then each panel is arranged into a final composition. Abundance

This is Your Life

2011-09-11T09:16:00.001-04:00

Occasionally I experience disaster during the artistic process. This painting started out with extremely bright colors that I loved! Then something happen to my clear coat and the entire painting dried white. I cried. Then I got out a few tissues, the sand paper and painted my little 4 year King all over again. Saved. Is it a better painting now? I'm still debating. But story line here is not lost on me. We all wish to be the Kings and Queens of our playgrounds and then sometimes things go not according to our plan. Grieve a little, brush it off or in this case, sand it off, and start over. This Is Your Life

I just realized after posting this, that today is Sept 11. I hope that the families and friends of all the people that were effected that day 10 years ago, can start over too. This IS your life.

Imagine

2011-09-10T09:50:00.001-04:00

Since Nate and Nick have been born, I have wanted to paint them. I have drawn them numerous times but I have spent more time staring at their precious faces than painting them. And to be fair, I've spent more time being a mother to them than an artist by about 99 to 1. So now that I have gotten around to it, I wanted to paint for them. So here you have it Nate, "you can do most anything" and "for the extras that add so much to life." Imagine

Lived As Play

2011-09-09T14:39:00.001-04:00

Life must be lived as play. Read somewhere that Plato of all people was quoted as saying that. I wonder if he spent his days building sand castles or drawing his children. I hope he did- for his sake. Lived As Play

Comfortable Being

2011-08-29T09:13:00.001-04:00

I remember reading somewhere that Picasso said he would keep working on paintings even years after he originally thought they were finished. Paintings can be the silent flat children of artists, so as we grow, so do they. Our work and not just our careers are a continuing work in progress.

Comfortable Being originally got its name because of the ease and relaxation of her pose. But as I stared at the painting in my studio, I realized that comfortable was the one thing I was not when I looked at her. Time to keep working. Now that I have completely redrawn and repainted her face, I can say that I am now comfortable being renewed.

Comfortable Being

Artistic Medium of Summer

2011-08-05T10:32:00.000-04:00

All stay-at-home mothers are performance artists. Children are our mediums....especially in the everyone-staying-at-home days of summer. School will be starting soon and once again I'll be able to concentrate on my own paintings. In the meantime, I'll be working with my two greatest creations.

Give Back!!

2011-05-23T10:54:00.000-04:00

I have created a foundation through https://www.giveback.org/onehundreddays.aspx?refid=37631 called the Imagine Learn Create Foundation (ILC). My foundation's goals are to help promote awareness and raise funds for charities that educate children with the arts. The education of my boys and my continuing growth as an artist are always present in my mind. I am inspired to take action by all the recent cuts in education funding in Florida which have angered and frustrated me. I believe that the education of ALL children is crucial to our future and I believe that the arts can help us all envision and create better lives for us all. Donate if you can! (Its tax deductible!) If you can't, start your own foundation! Give Back!!

Maya

Show Them

2011-04-06T12:05:00.000-04:00

I want to

show them it’s ok:

to be a seeker

to be scared

to question

to not have the answers

to rewrite

to start over

Show Them

Good Fortune Be With You

2011-02-23T11:08:00.000-05:00

Good Fortune Be With You is a continuation on the theme of Raising the World. Both of these pieces are being considered for placement at the South Lake Hospital in Clermont, Florida and I wanted to include inspirational words and ideas to inspire the patients, their families and the staff that help these people. I want these two pieces to be about healing.

Once again, I am using phrases in the work to complement the contemplative nature of the piece. The words on it are small, giving the person in front of the painting a visual experience both near and far from the piece. Since the painting is 5’ x 4’ and my camera can not catch these words clearly, I am using this format (for you web viewers) to dictate the words. Small cards and scraps read;

“Good Fortune Be With You”

“How Foolish I was to travel without”

“X Gratitude

X Joy

X Love”

“Laugh everyday with Joy”

“Live everyday with Curiosity”

“Love everyday with Passion”

“Be everything you dream to be”

“Make the most of your life”

“Dance like no one is watching”

Good Fortune Be With You is 5’ x 4’ charcoal, acrylic, fabric and paper collage on 4 wood panels.

Good Fortune Be With You

Raising the World

2011-02-23T11:04:00.000-05:00

I wish I could write as comfortably as I can draw. Since I believe that practice is what makes you better I continue to blog about my work and have started using more words in the paintings. I borrow and edit quotes, phrases and lyrics from words that inspire me. I can only express my gratitude to these authors by saying that I stand on the shoulders of giants.

My new painting Raising the World has these phrases collaged onto them;

“The most beautiful action in the world is to love- Bertha Von Suttner”, “Remind Me of what I Love” and a Baking Powder Ad that reads, “Best on Earth-A Gift with Each Can-Miles Baking Powder-Raising the World.” I just love the ad with the can raising the Earth. Using these words gave me a moment of clarity. Love and art are the baking powder of our world! You could say that our basic needs, food, shelter, safety, security, constitute the main ingredients in our lives. Art and self actualization and above all else, LOVE, help us ‘rise’ to the occasion of our best lives and become more of ourselves.

Raising the World is 5’ x 4’ charcoal, acrylic, fabric and paper collage on 4 wood panels.

Raising The World

Just the Same

2010-11-10T10:07:00.000-05:00

Sometimes when I paint a piece, the inspiration comes from the music I’m listening to when I’m working. Just the Same was painted while listening to KT Tunstall’s album, Eye to the Telescope, over and over. Many of the songs lyrics are a part of this painting. They helped me create a composite story and face. The song that resonated most true for me and during the making of this piece was the song Universe & U. I really believe that the people in our lives are there to teach us about ourselves. Thank you, Ms Tunstall, for putting to music, the story of friendship.

"Universe & U" by KT Tunstall

A fire burns
Water comes
You cool me down
When I'm cold inside
You are warm and bright
You know you are so good for me
With your child's eyes
You are more than you seem
You see into space
I see in your face
The places you've been
The things you have learned
They sit with you so beautifully

You know there's no need to hide away
You know I tell the truth
We are just the same
I can feel everything you do
Hear everything you say
Even when you're miles away
Cause I am me, the universe and you

Just like stars burning bright
Making holes in the night
We are building bridges

You know

When you're on your own
I'll send you a sign
Just so you know
I am me, the universe and you

Just The Same

Nowhere Fast

2010-10-18T10:47:00.000-04:00

I wanted to do a piece about the ridiculousness of listening to your own thoughts. I mean really. When I am aware enough to acknowledge the differences between the ego and the spirit the way Eckart Tolle observed when he had the thought “I can’t live with myself anymore”, I find my ego is pretty clever at letting the negativity, the doubt, the frustration and the anger creep back in. Luckily, my spirit knows enough to keep bringing me back to the present moment. I know that “Your judgments about others become YOUR prescription for how to live.-Byron Katie.” And I know that “only when you dwell in the awareness in your relationships, can you rid your ego of the wanting.-Eckart Tolle” I am learning everyday that “Once you see the ego for what it is, it becomes much easier to remain non-reactive toward it. You don’t take it personally anymore.-more fabulous Tolle” Like the woman on the left, I am ready to turn this ship around in any direction it needs to go. I am ready to go along for the ride.

Nowhere Fast

Gift Horse

2010-09-23T08:47:00.001-04:00

“Looking a gift horse in the mouth” is one of those expressions that always made me laugh, so I googled it. Turns out, horses used to be evaluated by their age and their age was determined by their teeth, specifically, how ‘long in the tooth’ they were. I find it ironic that this has evolved to become an expression for “being grateful for what you get.” Is it essential or prudent for us to determine a value on the things given to us? Is it necessary to determine a worth on the things that are ‘gifts’? Is this level of evaluation actually being ungrateful? Maybe we should stop looking our gift horses in the mouth and instead start looking them in the eye and just saying “thank you”.

Gift Horse

Piecing It Together

2010-09-13T12:13:00.001-04:00

“Piecing It Together” originated from a photo of my grandmother Helen and her sister, Julie, working on a puzzle. On the back of the photo, in my grandmother’s handwriting, she wrote “1943 and still at it”. The image and the quote got me thinking about how we spend are lives doing just that; piecing it together and figuring it out. The silhouetted bird represents the things we do and think that hold us back and prevent us from seeing the complete picture. The irony of it all is that the key to piecing together the big picture is usually hiding right in front of us in plain sight. This 4' x 6' painting is charcoal, acrylics, fabric and paper collage on 6 wood panels.

Piecing It Together

I Am Willing

2010-08-27T15:40:00.000-04:00

If being what you already are is step one, then the next move in my mind was to get rid of what was not me. Willing came about after painting over 2 unsuccessful past paintings and letting the flow take me in a new direction. My last piece, Be What You Already Are, was so tight and controlled, so the pendulum swung in the direction of messy. It was a joyous experience. I didn't think. Just painted. The letters for 'I Am Willing' can be found in small scrabble letters (giving me a 16 point sentence) and the face grew out of the work that now lives beneath the paint. We are both surrendering and smiling.

Willing

First Day of School

2010-08-23T14:12:00.000-04:00

Well sort of... Nate started school today. Nick started 2 weeks ago, so I had a jump start on my first new work of the school year. The collage and drawing were done this weekend, and I painted today. It came flying out of me like a cork from a champagne bottle. I'm back.

The painting is called 'Be What You Already Are' which is a quote from Eckhart Tolle. The piece is about shedding the ego, youthful expectations and the roles we play, and uncovering the true spirit that resides underneath. Finding yourself. Again. And Again. And Again. I took the mask of Mom off for a whole 3 hours today. And the spirit of Mom underneath is still smiling.

Be What You Already Are

More Tea

2010-03-30T18:29:00.000-04:00

After Nick woke up and saw what was going on, he wanted to be in on the action...........

My Cup of Tea

2010-03-30T17:06:00.000-04:00

I've always said that any day in the studio is a good day. Today was one of those days. Nate and I spent the afternoon painting, while Nick slept peacefully. Both of us painted our version of "My Cup of Tea". It most certainly was.

On The Issues

2010-01-31T18:31:00.000-05:00

Check out my work on the online magazine;
http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/2010winter_poetry.php

Crystal Clear

2009-10-17T07:23:00.000-04:00

I am one of the lucky ones. At age 3 I proclaimed I was going to be an artist when I grew up and I never wavered. I knew the what and the why of my life, but it was after college that I learned I needed to figure out the where and the how. I consider myself a river person. I always felt the pull to flow to the valley of art, but that river has taken many twists and turns to get there. For to combine your deepest longing, your voice, your calling with the aspects of the real world, can be one of the most challenging missions.

I had waited enough tables to figure out that I needed to have a job at something at least partially art related. So I took anything I found that could increase my skills; sign painting, faux finish, massed produced paintings for time shares, cruise ships and flea markets. Anything. I became a scenic artist working for the theme parks in Orlando and then started a company doing large scale murals. The whole time I painted for me, trying to find a way to combine my voice with the seriousness and urgency of “making a living”. I finally starting showing “my” work in restaurants and gift shops and then gratefully in art festivals and galleries. I discovered that some people loved my art as much as I did. My river had made its way over the waterfall into the lake of “I’ve made it.”

My river continues to twist and turn its way through raising my 2 children and has recently slammed against the rocks of a global economic crisis. Things, as always, continue to change. I now show my work in galleries around the southeast and I’m learning the balancing act of having a career that I love and being the mother that I want to be for my children. What I know for sure is that “what I want to be when I grow up” is an ever flowing and changing process- no matter how crystal clear the water may be.

Artist Statement

2009-10-06T08:19:00.000-04:00

The majority of my art work can be summarized as drawing and painting on fabric and paper collage. The subjects range from idealized faces and figures of women to landscapes, nature scenes and abstracts.

All the pieces begin with fabric and paper collage arranged, sewn and adhered to wood panels. The collages consist of any of the following; antique cloths, contemporary fabrics, antique dictionary pages, old children’s school books, atlases, architectural plans, wallpaper, tablecloths, napkins, lace, buttons, flowers, leaves and any variety of papers and 2D found objects. Over the collages, the drawings are done in charcoal and the work is painted with acrylics and mediums.

My intention is to weave an autobiographical tapestry invoking and addressing universal issues such as philosophy, spirituality, sexuality, motherhood and self-awareness. Most of the titles come from appropriate words found in the collage.

The joy in this process is the instinctual choices of rendering and harmonizing what I will cover up and what I will leave to be revealed.

Question of mediums

2009-06-01T15:49:00.000-04:00

Folks have been asking me lately 'how is your art going?" Just fabulous thank you. I haven't painted in probably months, but my 2 of my works in progress are developing beyond my wildest dreams. They continue to stretch the limits of my imagination, they've got me messier than oil paint, and they fill me better than the most fabulous day in the studio. Why did I paint? To channel something greater than myself was the answer on many days. Why I choose to play trains for hours and listen to the Cars soundtrack for the 2000th time? Same answer.

Just Keep Swimming

2009-05-22T18:01:00.000-04:00

Coming Nemos!!!!!

Cash and Karma

2009-05-22T17:15:00.000-04:00

Question to the Universe. My gallery has informed me that this painting is hanging in a lovely $30 million home in Naples since January, yet I have only received 1/12th of the retail price. Can I cash in some Karma points from good behavior in exchange for the parties responsible doing the right thing? With loving gratitude....

Nap Time Is Over

2009-05-22T15:35:00.000-04:00

Never start a new project at the end of nap time is always a great rule to follow. Just when things start getting interesting, there's a 2 year old crying at your feet to open more play-doh, that regardless of your pleas and wishes, will be eaten. Play now with your project, pay later with a rainbow you never dreamed of. aaahhhh The Life of an Artist-Mom.