I can hardly believe I'm writing this post already

Who signs up for a 9 week art course and

 within 3 days of it beginning, blogs about it?

Me

Why?

It's all because of this woman.

 Jeanne Oliver

This is not the first time I have taken an art course by her.

This is not the first time that she has managed to blow me out of the water

with her teachings and how much she shares of herself and her love of art.

This is the latest art course that I'm taking part in.

Studying Under the Masters{Becoming an Apprentice}

(You can find it here)

Those that may not know this about me already,
I actually have a degree in Graphic Design.

Being engrossed in the world of art has
always been a part of who I am.

I paint. I sketch.
 I love museums.
I love reading about other artists.
Present day and those of the past.

Art history really is a big part of creating.

Can you really begin something like creating art
 without looking at the past?

This art course that Jeanne Oliver created was going
 to have her and 8 fellow artists;

take us on a journey of different "Masters" in the art world. 

What we can learn from their work?

How they created the masterpieces that they did.

How can we as "apprentices" learn from
 these Masters and weave it into our own?

Week one literally just began a few days ago.

Week one is Jeanne's week.

I'm blown away.

I have been watching the videos she created
and just repeating in my head WOW.

The art Master for her was Henri Matiss.

This is not the first time I've been introduced to his work.

I've seen paintings and known they were his.

His work is something I've never felt a strong pull toward.

This is however the first time I've seen his work 

thru the eyes of someone

who truly loves his work.

WOW

What a difference.

I am giddy with excitement.

The way she describes his work and how he created.

The way she lights up talking about how to
 incorporate some of the things he did into her own , 

and therefore my own art pieces, has me excited.

I was surprised to learn that
some of the things, I already do!

I just want to grab the largest canvas I have and explore.

Expand myself in new directions.

It's like day 3 .... what am I going to be like
 for the rest of the 9 weeks?

Thank you Jeanne Oliver.

For letting someone share in the excitement
 of the world around us.

For what I can infuse into my own work
 from the Masters before me.

For letting those of us taking this course
 from you,

see a new "Master"
share her heart
 and soul.

{Love Yourself}

Inspired by a post that my friend Jeanne Oliver just wrote and shared on her own blog.

Since discovering how much enjoyment I get from capturing moments of time, it is usually a rare sight to find me without camera in hand. Photos of anything that catches my eye will be snapped.
My primitive dolls, the latest painting being worked on, the newest plant to poke thru the dirt in the garden. Day trips to the beach or to discover an old headstone in a cemetery. Countless photos have been captured thru my lens.

To be on the other side of the lens tends to make me feel a little nauseous.
Instant scrutiny erupts in my mind.
Some days are better then others. My youngest niece LOVES what she calls our "spontaneous photo shoots". Indulging her in this joy has given us incredible memories together filled with laughter. A few of the photos have even turned out awesome. Bonus!

Jeanne shared photos of herself in her post that took my breath away. She shared thoughts about herself with them. She asked to have folks share photos they took of themselves.
In the same moment that my heart jumped and said "I'll do it"..... the rest of me screamed NOoooooooooooo.

Woke to rain this morning and caught myself sighing with relief; giving into the quick option of cancelling.
HOLD UP!
Nope.
I can do this.
I thought the idea was fantastic when I read her post yesterday and I still did.
Putting on my big girl panties and grabbing my camera, outside I went to capture a few photos and then when the rain became too hard, finished off inside the farmhouse. A tiny wee "freaking out"dance may have occurred at the beginning. I caught myself wanting to peak at each photo taken and delete. Took a deep breath and started snapping.........

Who knew that only a few years ago so much would change for me? Being outside in torn clothes and ripped jeans, swatting bugs out of my face would make my heart smile. Hair tied back and hardly any makeup on. Planting and playing in the backyard area of the farmhouse. I still do the other things that I did....but THIS makes me happy.

My big green boots have somehow become my "go to" footwear. I am madly in love with these foolish things. When he first told me he was going to be buying me a pair of boots, my first thought was something knee length in a soft leather, that I could wear with jeans or a dress. Ummmm no.
He walked me right past that style of boot to the "work" section. I may have actually been a bit speechless.
Then I started wearing them for working around the farmhouse and fell in love.
I wore them all winter no matter where we were going. He laughed and teased me so much.

Wrinkles. Sunspots. Natural hair color.
It's all part of what makes me who I am.
Each of those wrinkles has been earned.
They came from laughing and living life.
Why fuss about dying my hair and trying to keep up with trends?
Is it clean? Does my husband like to run his hands thru it when he tells me he loves me?

I could focus on the crows feet and how my eyelids seem to "move" more when applying my eyeliner.
What a waste of energy though. Does it change anything? So what if I seem to wake each morning with more grey hair? So what if I happen to have a chin hair?
Ok......no...... that chin hair has to be plucked each time. Who am I kidding?!
I have imperfections but I refuse to send my energy there.

I'm almost 42.
Not every day is wonderful and without moments of wishing something was different on my body.
Overall, I am content. I don't jump on every bandwagon to lose weight. Working the farm and eating the food we grow has helped me lose weight and gain a healthier body which I am grateful for. I don't push myself. If I want something naughty, trust me, I eat it!
I don't beat myself up over having eaten it either.

My life makes me happy.
I'm at a place where I can smile.
I'm loved.
There is no pretending going on.
I've managed to get to a place in my life where I am comfortable on so many levels.
It's not perfect and it's not meant to be.
I'm living my life and enjoying the journey.

Come on in....we are open for business

Thru all the nerves and jitters, I did it.
 I launched a website again.
THRU THE ATTIC DOOR
I'd forgotten how exciting and fun it was to have one. Found myself really missing it actually. It was time to open one again and take my business further.
Did much needed research, crunched numbers,dreamed big, shed some tears, pulled hair out in frustration,laughed and took a deep breath. May have sounded crazy a few times to the friends and folks I was asking a zillion business questions too but they never gave up on me or my dream. Found an amazing eCourse to keep me pushing on in the right direction. (Building a Creatively Made Business - by Jeanne Oliver) She shared some incredible insight and became just the push I needed. If you are thinking of starting a business for the first time or are like me and opening one again, I can't talk about this course enough. What an huge difference it has made for me. She shares so many insightful tips, tricks and techniques from running her own business. Plus has guests that shares their own insights. I filled a full journal with their information and am putting it all to good use with my own business now. Some of the best money I have ever spent on my business.

I have been making primitive style folk art raggedy dolls for over 10 years now. It is something that I will always continue to create. Something about going from a simple pencil drawn sketch on a notebook page to sliding muslin thru a sewing machine makes me feel alive. Watching the raggedy doll have a personality emerge with the addition of button eyes and whimsical wool hair. There will be plenty of new dolls in the future.

Having said that though, I must confess that my artistic dreams have expanded in directions I couldn't have imagined. I'm playing with paints, inks, canvas, papers and so much more. I'm spreading my wings and discovering my place in the world of mixed media. That realm of creativity has my brain spinning. I'm feeling challenged to expand and grow.

At the moment I'm also tangled up in fibers. Blending strands of wool roving with my felting needles as if they were watercolors under a brush. Each twist of a thread slowly morphing the colors into a scene from my minds eye.

I hope you will enjoy this next path I am walking on. Each step taking me deeper into the artistic world that makes my heart skip a beat and my soul sing loudly. Please feel free to bookmark my website.
I have plans to share many different things.
You can also find me on Facebook where I share sneak peeks, laughs and much more.
Come *like* me and not miss out on anything happening Thru the Attic Door.

How Jeanne Oliver Changed My Life

                                              

I have talked about my addiction to online workshops before. I live in a very rural part of Nova Scotia so finding courses and workshops covering what I'm interested in learning; happens 99% of the time, someplace online.

One of the courses I am taking part in at the moment asked us to write a special letter.

A "paradigm shift letter of thanks".

For those that may not know; a paradigm shift is a change from one way of thinking to another. A transformation, almost a metamorphosis of thoughts. It doesn't just happen, but rather this shift occurs because it is driven by agents of change.

The objective behind this letter was to reflect upon people who had a significant influence on our lives and had caused us to shift our values and beliefs in some form . Contact that someone who had caused such a shift, to thank them for it. Some of the other members were posting how they were going to take a few days and figure out their moments and to fathom which person they were meant to write about.

I on the other hand, finished reading the assignment and knew at that exact moment, my letter would be written to Jeanne Oliver.

It started simple enough for me. I was taking a workshop and another was mentioned that was coming up.(It really is how I stumble across almost all I've taken part in). I opened up another tab on my computer and typed in her information. 

Her Website

Her Blog

                                             (photo source)

I started reading her blog. I was enchanted by the way she took photographs of her items. The way she wrote flowed so easily and went so well with my morning ritual of blog hopping while drinking my daily two coffees before 6am. Before I knew it, I had read every post in the blog. She created and sold different items then I was usually attracted to but they still somehow spoke to me. I looked at how she had captured their essence with her camera. How each photo told a whole story to you in one glance.

I signed up for the workshop she would be hosting. Not sure if her style would be something I would be able to convey in my own work but also knowing I couldn't let that hold me back. The course was Creatively Made........and it changed my life. It was the beginnings of my many shifts.

The course was 4 weeks long and had videos each week to watch. A discussion board and Facebook page. Supplies were bought and techniques were shown. Pretty much exactly like any of the other workshops I had taken in the past.

Somehow.....I sensed something different in this one. Something was changing for me.Within moments of finishing the first video, I started to shift inside. I found myself watching Jeanne in the videos and REALLY taking in her words. She was not just talking into a camera and giving a step by step on how to modpodge onto something. She was sharing. She was telling things from a personal outlook. She was giving of her heart and what she truly believed in.

Jeanne was showing each of us how to accept the gifts given to us and to help us grow them. She was showing each of us that our art and creativity was really an extension of ourselves and how we were supposed to be within our lives.

I am not a religious person in my own life. Jeanne's faith comes across strongly but not in a "this is how you should be" way. She awoke something in me that I didn't even know I was missing. The way she spoke of our creativity being a "gift" for us to nurture and then share with others. My faith and understanding of why I have always been drawn to being creative became unobstructed from the invisible ropes that had tied it down. She took away the knots of self-doubt and fear that had been holding me back from my true self. She expanded my perception and helped me turn fear into empowerment.

Many times during the length of that course, I caught myself thinking along the lines of "what would Jeanne say she'd do" or "how would Jeanne look thru her lens" or "Jeanne would probably say this about how to paint this concept". I was writing in my journals more. Ideas were flooding my mind at all hours of the night and day. 

I felt like I had been awoke after a slumber of a thousand years.

I was creatively inspired in so many ways. My sewing altered. My painting shifted. The way I wrote in my journals was different. I was beginning to feel ALIVE about my life and creative journey again. I hadn't seen how much I was missing it. I hadn't seen how deep I had fallen into a creative rut and had no color to my life anymore. She showed me that I had to have the courage to be vulnerable. Vulnerability is the birthplace of real creativity. That if you look deep within yourself, you will find truth. She showed us how to own our beauty and honor our gifts.

Those shifts then began showing up in little every day happens of my life. I was making changes in many different aspects of my life. I took some deep breathes and eliminated some negative aspects that had been holding me back. Anytime that I felt self-doubt in a choice I was about to make, I would close my eyes and see Jeanne. She was telling me that I WAS A GIFT. That the real me had to be shared. People around me saw change. They made comments about how wonderful it was to hear me laugh or see me smile again.

I thought to myself how incredible it would be to shift this new way of thinking into making my business be what I had really always dreamed it could grow and be.

I swear it is like Jeanne hears you whisper when you wish such dreams onto the first star of the night.

I am now taking her 2nd online workshop Building a Creatively Made BusinessE-Course

She has once again given more of her heart and soul into this course. She is sharing information that is just striking so many cords within me. I open my eyes each morning and smile. (I know....who does that?!) As I am bustling around the kitchen making coffee and gathering my lunch stuff, my mind is racing with the steps that I am going to put forth that day for my business and for myself.

I was, I'm sure, really supposed to write this letter then mail it off for her to read in the quiet of her own home. She caused such a profound shift in my way of thinking of myself, my creativity and now my business......that I wanted to write this letter for all to see.

Jeanne.....I am well aware that I have rambled away here but truth be known.....words can't fully express how you have come into my life and changed it for the better. I thank you from the depth of my soul for opening my eyes to everything around me again.

You are the real gift I have in my life now.

 Tracy(Cedara)Dunn of Thru the Attic Door and Thru the Attic Door 2

Creatively Made Ecourse

I am not even 100% sure where to even begin telling you about this amazing ECourse.

I've taken a few different art related Ecourses before. Wanting to expand my way of expressing myself thru art. Have loved them and really liked the new accents they have brought to my work.
One of the ladies that I took a class thru, has a blog that I now follow. She happened to mention she was going to be taking this course. I clicked on the link she provided to read more about it.
A number of things caught my attention right away.

1. I had been to the blog before and really loved her work. Something very soft and subtle about her pieces. They had spoke to a different side of me then I was usually drawn towards. I instantly wanted to learn more from her

2. Santos dolls. They have been a secret obsession of mine for awhile now. It jumped right off the page at me. I may have actually let a little squeal out.

3.The price. I know it seems terrible to say but with having been laid off from my job, "extra" money really doesn't happen very easily and I have to really be sure something is going to be worth while to make the commitment on spending it. I had been looking at a number of courses that folks were talking about and just stunned by some of the prices. One was over $400! GULP

I sat down and crunched some numbers. Shifted a few things around and then signed right up for it. I learned about the class like 4 days before it was starting. I didn't have any time to really second guess my choice. I spent the next few days making a list of supplies that I most likel would be using and needing. Cleaned out a space and waited for the course to begin.

The course is 4 weeks long and full of videos and samples. There is a community group thru the course as well as a Facebook group that she started. I was asked to be friends by a number of the gals taking the course. We are learning so much.

Today was the beginning of our second week and I am blown away!!!!!!

Jeanne Oliver has somehow connected to me on a level that I didn't even know I was needing or missing in my life. She is teaching more then a few art lessons on how to create something. She is making me dig deep into my being and connect with what has been given to me as gifts. I'm sitting back with my laptop and scribbling notes galore in my journals with every sentence out of her mouth.
It never comes across preachy. She never says its her way or nothing. She just in her own special soft spoken way opens your eyes to something and you instantly feel a level of joy and happiness.

I'm looking at so many areas of my life at the moment with different eyes. I'm feeling creative.
I'm feeling brave enough to open up and share things that I've been hiding and keeping to myself.
She calls it "your gifts" and shows you how to think differently about them.

I look forward to sharing so much more with you over the next while.
If you have the chance, please go check out her blog and her class.
You will not be dissappointed. She will show you the best ways to hold your head high and open your heart to those around you.