Feb 15, 2012

40 years old and focusing on the future - making a Vision Board with Pinterest


So this is it! I am officially an old fart. I just turned 40 years old. Not that I feel any older. Actually I feel a lot better about life these days than I did a few years ago, so overall I think I am ahead of the game. There is a lot I want to improve about myself, but I feel like I am on the right track - I'm more involved with art, have more control of my own schedule, I'm working for causes that I believe in, and am less angry and more positive than I was years ago.

I am a lucky girl. 

And guess what! My wonderful husband just threw me a surprise party over the weekend (the sneak!) and as a former community theater actor, he acted his pants off and threw me some curves so that I wouldn't see it coming. We had a get-together with a few friends, and I am so very very grateful for the love and support from everybody that participated. It was a blast!

My vision board

Today I wanted to sort out some future goals, so I made a vision board. This is an exercise I started during my retreat workshop with Tama Kieves that I really wanted to expand on. The idea behind the vision board is that you take a lot of pictures of things you like (cutouts from magazines and such) and paste them to a board, so that you can visualize and therefore manifest what you want in your future. I've added a lot of text to my vision board, most of it handwritten stream of thought writing that is similar to what I incorporate in my artwork.  There are a couple of copies of my art in there as well - reminders of what I want to create in my future.

Close up on my board

What's cool about vision boards is that you don't have to go all old school and make one by hand. There is some software out there to make digital versions of vision boards, not to mention using Adobe Photoshop or another image editor if you just want to move images around and print something out. But I thought I'd try using Pinterest to create a vision board.

Now Pinterest is getting a lot of buzz out there right now, and I think it's the simplicity behind this social media site that has it growing so quickly. It allows users to bookmark images and videos from all over the web (or uploaded from a computer) with the push of a button. You collect those resources on one of your "boards" and can add a note about the link. Clicking  the image on your board brings you back to the original link, and it's easy to "like" and "repin" images from other users. I found that if you add the price to an item you've pinned, the site adds a little banner over the image. All in all it's very cool. And very addictive. So look out with that!

My Pinterest Vision Board

After experimenting with a board of heart resources, I started my Vision Board. It's pretty easy, and I can always delete a pin or move it to another of my boards. The only drawback I see right now is that I cannot move the pins around the board. They load in order of most recently added and that's it. But it's still a very easy to make visual reminder of my goals.

It's worth playing with either format of Vision Board - I felt like I got to be more artistic with the tangible one, but the digital version allows for more flexibility. Currently these is no option to make a Pinterest board private, so that is a consideration. In any case, stay focused on your dreams, and may good things come to you!




Feb 14, 2012

Using Pinterest for heart inspiration on Valentine's Day

Pinterest board with images and links to resources found on the web

Happy Valentine's Day out there! I've been playing around with Pinterest lately. If  you haven't checked it out yet, it basically allows users to collect images and video, either from the web or uploaded from their computer onto a "pin board" which links back to the original source. Since it's Valentine's Day, I thought this would be a fun way to collect a lot of heart resources, from instructional sites, to jewlery and homegoods, to some of my art. Here is a link to my Heart Board. Enjoy!

Feb 10, 2012

Art Hearts Opening Night!

Adree's Art Heart and portrait at the QVCAH

Wow! January was a busy month. With the last of the preparations completed, we got an exhibition of the Art Hearts up and running! It was a squeeze to get everything done in time but it was totally worth it.

Laurie's Art Heart and portrait

Our opening night of the Art Hearts show for Olivia's Heart Fund was a blast! Brian and I arrived a little early to set up the last part of the exhibit - a laptop with a multimedia presentation detailing the Art Hearts project. My paintings and Jessie Coristine's photos were hung earlier that day. Each painting is paired with a portrait of the heart recipient, with his or her name and a brief synopsis of the heart story.

Katelyn and Julia's Heart and portrait, by the multimedia presentation

Olivia's pieces on the piano, with Cloe's in the background

The Quinebaug Valley Council for the Arts and Humanities is a lovely restored colonial building, so a number of the hearts are displayed over a fireplace. Others are paired up over available wall space. Olivia's are centered in the main room on a piano, right where the action was at during the reception.

HUGS!! Thank you, Adree!


Adree and I pose for pics in front of her painting

I was very lucky to get hugs from some of our participating heart families during the opening. Brianna and her grandparents came to see her painting, as well as Anna and her parents. I also got to meet the talented Adree in person, and she brought me a beautiful handmade scarf, courtesy of Adree Creations™! As you can see from the photos (thanks to hubby as I broke the cardinal rule and forgot my camera), we are all wearing red for National Wear Red Day for the American Heart Association. My scarf matched perfectly (and was full of awesome!) so I sported that the rest of the night.

Julie and Pete Ostiguy, founders of Olivia's Heart Fund

Julie and Pete from Olivia's Heart Fund made it up to the exhibit, and brought some prints and cards to sell for the charity. Thank you to all those who supported us by coming out to visit and brought home a little Art Heart of their own. It was a great night, and an auspicious beginning to showing the project as it develops. We are hoping to bring the artwork back to the QVCAH when the series is complete.

Info about the OHF mission, with prints and cards of the Art Hearts

The Art Hearts project will be shown at the QVCAH throughout the month of February. The building is open 12-4 on Saturdays and Sundays, as well as by appointment. It was a wonderful night, and a successful collaboration. Pictures of the event and Brianna, Anna and Adree with their paintings even made the local paper! Many thanks go to Monika and Dimitriy and the board members of the QVCAH who totally made this happen. :-)