An Ode to Childhood - with a shiny glaze of new memories in the making...

"Childhood"

First - READ!

It's the weekend - and a wonderful time to open up a good book!  I just wanted to start off by sharing some wonderfully inspiring books I've been reading on creativity...

Living Out Loud by Keri Smith

Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon (who has a great blog by the way)

The Creative License: Giving Yourself Permission to Be the Artist You Truly Are by Danny Gregory

Three really awesome books to get those creative gears turning - try out one and see how it inspires you - make sure you comment here, on amyoes.com,  or pin it to my Show Me You heART Pinterest Board!

Passover!!!

It was a wonderful seder - and I even got to wear my seder and matzoh earrings!

We spent the whole night before cooking up a storm...

The charoset was freshly ground, turkey necks for the soup...

 Seder Plate set - had to throw some Mickey Matzoh cut-outs in there!


A wonderful night, filled with food, stories and family...
 
It definitely made all the running around cooking and cleaning worth it!

Ahhh!  Don't look at all the mess!!!

And some nature, of course...

Before all the guests arrived, I finally got me some time to commune with nature, and get inspired by some real trees!

 I even discovered an interesting cluster of 'em that would be great in my next painting...

In the Studio...

I haven't gessoed any magazine pages lately - I've been working so much three-dimensionally with the spackling - I decided to finish off another magazine ad for fun...

Always so therapeutic to color these in with crayons, pencils, paint, drippy things - I'll see what kind of background I place it on later.

Then I just wanted an excuse to get messy, so I absolutely used no thought or technique whatsoever for the next 40 minutes - just LOTS of paint :)

No real explanation needed here - no excuses either.  I just had fun making a mess.  Art is art - I'll see how it turns out tomorrow after all the rotating, banging around, spraying stuff on it, shmearing, etc. has dried and settled!  See - be shameless in the studio - 'cuz...who cares?  :)

(And if I don't like it, I'll just paint over it again!)

One last word on Passover - the ultimate New Beginning...

And this is PART 3 of the journaling I have been sharing from when I was fresh out of the hospital around 2007, unable to eat or drink, and reflecting on my own personal connection to Passover (you can read the first and second parts from earlier this week...)

I made this out of a leftover chocolate box :)

"Now this all makes so much sense – the Passover connection.  Every year we say next year in Jerusalem – will this be the year for me?  I am breaking free one trying moment at a time.  One day we’ll get our seder back.  We’ll all be around the kitchen table, like old times, eating, laughing, simple, happy…

"The Promise of a New Spring"

Did a perfectly innocent life have to be blasted apart, does what go up really have to come down?  Can’t it just float there for a while?  I miss those care-free times when I was my bubbly old self and the family was just full of good times, when family, myself, friends, life was just joy and spontaneity and a keen satisfaction with the ups and downs of the time.

more trees...

I know that the old-time joy Passover reminds me of is always within me, just frozen, but – I don’t know.  I’m grieving too much to be poetic here.  I want a good cry.  I want to clutch my family photos and long for the days of yore.  But I hate facing all of that because it makes me feel empty inside.

"Warrior"

            But cheer up Amy.  Because you have lost, but you are working so hard to gain now.  Gaining in every way from every angle.  You take to god like a bad habit – he fooled you once and he’ll fool you again and again but that’s just life, you fall down and you get back up but from a different place and into new uncharted territory.  Just gotta laugh it off, dust yourself off and start all over again."

"Girls Playing"

Again, my stomach exploded the second night of Passover on April 25th, 2005.  For years and years of Passovers, our family's fridge was barren, and together we all wondered when that magical time would come when we could all celebrate again, like old times.  No timeline, no clue, but endless hopes.

Passover has always been my favorite holiday and one of special spiritual and family significance to me, but this year it will be a full decade, which felt so strange and poignant this year.  Because I have lost so much, but I have also gained new experience, discovered a new self, and met thousands of people I never would have met had this not happened to me.  And I got to share this new decade with my family, like old times, as well as a new member of my family, my soon-to-be-husband in under three months!

May the next ten years bring about even more everyday miracles, moment-by-moment discoveries, and beautiful detours - for all of you.  And may each tear drop, giggle, goosebump, fear or desire inspire you to create, appreciate, and fully feel the vast potential of your aliveness.  Being Alive - it's a beautiful thing...

One of my favorite songs by Stephen Sondheim - listen to it here.
(And one of my favorite shows I was in!)

And...always leave room for dessert.  Even if it's made with matzoh meal :)

Gotta love when my birthday cake falls on Passover...

May the journey continue - have a great Saturday!!!

My art at Temple Shalom...