art community & imperfections

Bruises

The days are often overcast, the sun
struggles to shine through the layers of fog and
cloud that hover above our neighborhood.

Sitting on her butterfly chair on the
porch thinking of her sister, she presses
the purple spot on her arm, not yet healed.

It is hard to hear them bicker over
toys, shove and push for dolls and plastic food,
pull books not shared

someone eventually cries cradling
an arm or head or toe. or heart. I scold and sooth
over and over. And now my arms ache.

These days I’m often walking out on
the stones, face to heaven looking to
see if there is the slightest chance of rain.

By Shona Cole



This is a good poem & photo to go with my post over at the Wishstudio. My article is about finding the balance between the good and negative parts of mothering and not falling prey to the lie of perfection – of trying to being the perfect mother or expecting our kids to be perfect; feeling let down by the imperfections in light of what is often portrayed in magazines and online about being a mom.

To help me keep that balance I have found that I rely on community. I do not thrive alone. I love to be real. I like to lay out what is really going on in my life to my closest friends, my Mum, my long suffering husband (who knows every detail about every detail of my existence :). I am fortunate to attend a church with the word 'community' in it's name. My best friends are all there. We share life together. We are honest. We support one another. It is vibrant.

I have another community, it seems odd to call it real, but to me it is: the community I am developing here through my blog, through the regular commenters who brighten my day and the community over at the Wishstudio (I think there is a lot of overlap). There are a lot of real women, sharing real things online. I encourage you to leave me a comment here, tell me what you are thinking, I want to hear from you and also visit the Wishstudio ~ browse back on the posts, jump into the discussions.


There is a new growing community forming online as a result of my book! Trudy Callan has been bitten by the Artistic Mother bug. In a week she has formed a group of women who are going to walk through the workshop in my book, The Artistic Mother, together. How awesome is that? They are going to hold each other accountable and cheer each other on and create some family focused art projects. They are in prep mode now and plan to jump into the workshop next week, so it is not too late to join in.

Trudy has gathered an exciting group of women. Joining the group are 4 that are super special to me: Shannon Mucha and Audrey Hernandez are both featured in the book, Cindy Mayfield is a contributor and Marissa Bowers is the books talented designer! Man, I can hardly believe it. I will be eagerly following along.

Of course, let's be real for a minute ~ now I have to worry about any flaws in my workshop coming to light! Guys, just ask me. I have done it already, I can answer any questions! It is all about community, right?



Oh and Mindy (Wishstudio coordinator) is giving away a signed copy of my book at the Wishstudio! Simply enter a comment here to be in the drawing.

And you can win another signed copy over here at Ruffles and Stuff.