What's your message?
I have been thinking a lot lately about message. What's my message? Around here we talk about it in reference to Chris' campaign and to my work and to how we want to raise Simon. You can have different messages for all kinds of different things in your life. Do you have a message?
When I first started thinking about the whole life artist idea I wanted it to include a message that transcended scrapbooking, that could be a life message as well as an artistic one.
On Two Peas today I read a post where someone made reference to not being a "life artist" (as in, "I am not a life artist.") - rather, they just wanted to record memories for their kids. Being a life artist does not mean that you create some dramatic, fantasticly creative, 12-hour work that takes over your entire being. A life artist is simply someone who captures life - through photos, words, etc - and then creates something with those pieces of life that they captured. A person who scrapbooks Creative Memories style is a life artist in my book. A person who creates altered books with photos and ephemera is a life artist. A writer/blogger/journaler/list maker can be a life artist. A mother who takes photos, writes a bit of info on the back and sticks them in a photo album is a life artist.
The life artist message has become one of attitude - ideas that I think tend to make my own personal life a little easier & richer & simply better. The attitudes of going with the flow, celebrating something everyday, cherishing little stuff, telling your story, finding your voice, not making things more complicated than they need to be...and the knowledge that it is going to be ok - these attitudes are what are really important to me. I repeat these messages to myself so often during the day - when I am scrapping, when I am picking up Simon off the floor, when I am feeling run down & frustrated & just yuck. These are the tapes I want to be repeating over and over in my head. These are messages for life and art.
I consider scrapbooking to be an art. Doesn't this sound like scrapbooking to you:
art 1 |ärt| noun 1 the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power
So, what's your message?
And, hey, thanks so much for all the awesome support on Simon and the potty! The report: yesterday at school he had two accidents (two schools - one accident at each). Today I am HAPPY to report that he came home in the clothes I sent him in = no accidents! It's all about going with the flow!
