Catalyst One Hundred and Twenty-Five

Catalyst One Hundred and Twenty-Five

December 8, 2010, 8:00 am
Filed under: catalyst

 

As always, thank you to all of our visitors and all the encouraging comments you left for us. For those of you who did, thank you for playing along with us.

 

Ok! Here’s catalyst number one hundred and twenty-five:

 

Write a love letter.

 

We’re thrilled to have Lori Portka as this week’s Guest Artist.

 

Here’s a quickie self-bio for Lori:

 

I am an artist, doing what I love, in hope of spreading a little happiness around. I believe in loving kindness. I am trying to be as authentically me as possible. I am mostly sweet and compassionate and learning to say “no” when “yes” does not feel right and accept (and even embrace) the non-optimistic, angry, spitfire part of myself. I travel as much as possible. I love animals with all my heart. ./p>

 

 

Make sure to check out Lori’s blog and her site

and she also has an etsy shop.

 

 

 

Here is Lori’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version and a lot more detail.

 

 

 

Lori Says:

My friends and have a birthday tradition that we have been doing for almost ten years. On the friend’s birthday, we say what we love about the friend and one wish for her. It is always the sweetest gift. I was thinking about that when I started this painting of a love letter to my husband. But once I started creating, the painting took on a life of it’s own. I think this painting was also inspired by my dear friend, Elle, who when I tell her I love her, she says, “I love you more.”

 

Technique Highlight:

I am a mixed-media artist. I use gloss medium and a foam brush to adhere various handmade and tissue papers to the board or canvas. Then I draw and cut out the subjects of the painting and paint over the entire canvas with acrylics and gouache.

 

 

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Here are some interpretations of the catalyst from members of our team.

 

Dina:

 

Dina Says:

This page is an expression of love to my sweet husband. We’ve been married for 20 years this December. I appreciate his support, his goodness, and his friendship.

 

 

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Karen:

Journaling Reads:

My love letter went to my husband for father’s day. It was long and deep and I worked hard to express the depth of my love and gratitude for him. I love and adore my husband and the life we’ve created together. I consider myself very very lucky. And I wanted him to know this. I made this little card and put my letter inside the card. On the back, I stamped “love.”

 

 

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Opal:

 

Opal Says:

As I tried out different paths for this catalyst, first writing a love letter to my beautiful Madrona tree, and then to my cat, Kitty Boy, and numerous other objects of my affections, I kept coming back to a song that rings true in my heart every time I hear the words…even just the tune…simple words that say…”You are the sun in my sky, the light in my day, and you’ll never know how much I love you….” I have been working with triangles on another project, so these were perfect to configure my sun. The background is batik, the quilting in gold thread, and the words stamped on linen.

 

 

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Wendela:

 

Wendela Says:

I wrote my text on a hidden tag…a love letter to my sweet daughter!!

 

 

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Amy:

 

Amy Says:

The story (and song) of an unlikely pair: the goldfinch and the chicken.

 

 

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Anna:

 

Anna Says:

My love letter is addressed to my husband and my best friend in one. I’m not good at writting poetry or emotional texts, so I decided to express my feelings using scraps from old magazines… and I really like the effect! The text says: What really happened? Should I wait a bit more? Am I sure? Love had smelled like vanilla. Compromise from the first sight. What next? You forget to tell that you love. I love the person who you will be in the future.

 

 

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Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “Write a love letter.” I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

 

Leave us comments with your work so we can share in your creative therapy, too. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

 

 

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

 

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

 

 

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