Creative therapy whenever wherever whoever you are, and my first day on ETSY!

F  R  I  D  A  Y!!!!
“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” ~Rumi

Well...I'm ending this week on a high note!
(Ahhh.......)

It's been a busy week, I've been doing a lot of painting, my fingers are filthy, and I've got a lot of exciting events coming up!

Exciting!  Yay!  Go Crazy!
I can't wait until the end of this post...so here's my big news!

I figured out Etsy!
Well, I guess the bigger news is that I have a shop now!  Eventually, everything is going to be sold through amyoes.com, but here's my shop in the meantime!

I'm so excited to be selling posters of "Singing Tree"

and greeting cards of my little happy tree :)

And I'm also selling greeting cards of my two other favorites, "Mommy Can't Fix This" and "Fishing For Stars"

I feel like these three prints make a cute little set, and the hardest part was figuring out which paintings to choose!  My problem is I paint too much...

 I'm running out of room to store these things!!!

Anyway, I'd love to hear some of your opinions - is there a painting I've done that you think would be awesome on a card?  Let me know!  I'm a bad decision-maker :)

But first, check out my Etsy shop and let me know what you think!


Updates...
amyoes.com is getting a few more images uploaded to my galleries every day, and my writer section is being updated with a bunch of new fun articles I've written, so lots of art, random inspiration and goodies...

Creative Therapy...
I've been writing a few guest posts on creative therapy and the healing power of art.  It makes me so happy to know that more people are becoming attuned to what a powerful vehicle creativity can be.  Painting, sculpting, music, poetry, writing, dancing, singing, nature-gawking, cooking - whatever speaks to you...they're all amazing ways to tap into what's really going on, to expand in the direction that our heart leads, and to get in touch with our emotions.  And emotions are really just arrows pointing which way we truly want to move in life.

Through painting, I accept all of life's colors and allow them to flow through me.

Painting my fear, loneliness or other scary feelings puts them right there before me, out of me and onto the canvas.  Difficult feelings become a character in our lives that we can visualize and talk to...

"Oh, hi there "Fear"...funny I ran into you today!  Do you want to tell me why you popped up this morning?"

And then you can have a conversation with that fear, etc. as it doodles itself onto the paper.

Anyway, I'll be sharing many more little insights on creative therapy in the upcoming weeks - I'll be writing for a few blogs on that topic, so stay tuned.  

Anything can be therapy.  Did you know there's even sand box therapy?

And laughter yoga?  (I've tried it - really fun!)

If you want to learn a bit more about a bunch of creative therapies, check out the National Coalition of Creative Arts Associations, Inc.

Thanks to addictionrecoveryguide.com... (where you can find some other resources too)
Founded in 1979, this coalition brings together the professional associations dedicated to the advancement of six creative arts therapies. Their web site provides basic information on each approach: art, dance/movement, drama, music, psychodrama and poetry. Each modality uses the creative process to support health, communication, self-expression, and positive change.

And did you know there's water therapy too?  Well, not sure about that, but I created my own water therapy when I was unable to eat or drink for years - I was hungry, but I was REALLLYYY thirsty.

Believe it or not, I'd spend hours playing with my sink and my secret collection of every possible drink container - flasks, baby bottles, pitchers, and I'd be hypnotized pouring liquid from one vessel tot he next, imagining how it would feel to finally have a sip of water.

That's a pretty depressing example actually.  But the point is, that the tactile sensations of feeling the cold water, playing, experiencing something physical...it got me out of my head.  I could appreciate the beauty of the clear water, the cool sensations on my fingers, and I could visualize a clear picture, as vibrant as a painting, of the day I'd finally be able to drink.

(No pity story here - I can drink now and everything's good!)  So don't be sad :)

Moral of the story is:  Creative, expressive, artsy therapy rocks.  And I'll write more later.

In the studio...
But the more fun thing is showing you!  So here's what I did in the studio today:

 and finally...

Although I'm not sure if it's done yet.  But oh well.

And coming up...

Well, the next tine I check in with y'all I'll have performed my monologues, shared my art, writings and recipes at Beechwood Arts Immersion Salon event on Resilience and the Power of the Human Spirit!

 I am so excited...off to rehearse my monologues now - have a great weekend!

Oh wait - check this out: 23 really exciting DIY projects from the dollar store - well, there goes my weekend.

“At some point in life the world’s beauty becomes enough. You don’t need to photograph, paint, or even remember it. It is enough.” ~Toni Morriso