away over weekend in Rutland..having more adventures..see you Monday 1st Feb!

away over weekend in Rutland..having more adventures..see you Monday 1st Feb!

Hi.

just to let you know that l may not be here over the weekend! We are moving my son and his wife to Rutland from London. Lets just hope it goes smoothly! see you soonxx

Art Therapy session at 4am!

For the last 3 months or so, l have been having really bad nights because l am not sleeping...come 5am and l can then go to sleep...very weird! Hence during the day l am so tired and fight to stay awake, not good when you are trying to work as well. Anyway, the other night or should l say morning, l got up and decided to do a journal spread about being awake, tired, cross, dizzy, angry, frustrated, lonely and so much more! I did the writing and the sheep very quickly, then realised it was very childlike. I even painted it with a childlike movement. I didn't really realise this until l had almost finished. I don't particually like this image but l have done my own Art Threapy session at 4am in the morning! "Therapist heal thyself" comes to mind! Ha!

As you can see from this image , l am not a tidy worker! but l enjoy making a mess! Perhaps that's why my family say l really only 4 years old!!!!

As you maybe able to see, l wrote a lot about how l felt and how sleep wouldn't come and why people take sleeping tablets and get addicted to them! It would be sooooooo easy, especially as l have an additive personality! Then l decided, actually there were certain words that stood out and l found myself putting them inside circles..almost like thought bubbles, without really thinking about it!...and covering up all the other words.

This is just a closer view of some of the words you can still see.

The whole process of creating this was very theraputic and l hope it will help people to see Art Therapy is not how good your art is, it's the process that counts.

Fairy tales!

I know this is a topic l have talked about before but please read on and you will understand why l am talking about it again.
I was under the impression that young girls were very aware these days, of how images were being altered in magazines and newspaper to make models and "famous" people, look thinner, have thicker hair or longer eye lashes. So you can imagine how surprised l was, to hear the young teenagers l was with last week, discussing how they didn't really believe that images were altered, or that TV ads were not always honest. So l asked them what they thought about  Cheryl Cole 's advert, the one that told you how it had made her hair thicker. Did they believe it ? "Of course" they said. So l told them that her hair was made to look thicker with added hair extentions! They were shocked and replied "But that's lying!" So I asked them ihow much knew about Photoshop and video editing software to alter images? One or two of the 8 girls knew about Photoshop but thought you used it to make images bigger,brighter or move thing around.
If these intelligent teenages don't realise they are being fooled by TVand magazines....help! I know there are teenages that understand they are being tricked but l am worried by how many l meet, who still believe these fairy tales.
I was under the impression that schools were trying to overcome these body image problems..now l wonder if they really are? There are so many articles in magazines, newspapers, on the TV and also the radio but maybe we are not reaching the right people...the children rather than adults.
I know the success l had, when l showed boys and girls what  Photoshop could. I know it is an expensive piece of software but it can be used in all sorts of ways not just in the Art Department. It seems a shame not to use it as an add-on to body issues as well. I think we have a time-bomb with too many children either becoming too thin or obese..isn't it time we tried harder to get through to the children rather than just adults?

Body issues, Photoshop, teenages and the media = confusion?

Sorry l haven't been here for a while...Christmas, New Year, family death and snow!!! but l am back now. From tomorrow 13th January 2010 l aim to blog every other day or so and never leave it more than 3. So until tomorrow, when l will be blogging about body image and teenages. I know there have been a lot of newspaper and magazine articles, radio and TV programmes about these issues but having been working with teenagers lately, l have been shocked about how much they still don't understand or know about what people can do with photoshop tools!



The other subject l will be covering this week, is long marraiges and the subject of love. On that note, l will leave you with this quote l have just come across.

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person."

~Mignon McLaughlin~.