Catalyst One Hundred and Thirty-Five

Catalyst One Hundred and Thirty-Five

September 21, 2011, 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. I wanted to let you know that this will be our last catalyst. I will write a longer, more detailed post at the beginning of October, once we’ve announced the recipient of the last giveaway but I wanted to make sure you knew this is the last catalyst we’re planning on posting.

 

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

 

Tell us about a friendship you currently have.

 

We’re so very excited to have Christy Tomlinson as this month’s Guest Artist.

 

Here’s a quickie self-bio for Christy:

 

Christy Tomlinson is mixed media artist who loves mixing paint, paper, canvas, wood.. you name it.. to create art. She believes in art. there are no rules and that everyone is an artist. She loves teaching and currently has three online workshops teaching her mixed media art and techniques. She also travels and teaches around the world to other creative spirits. She and her husband also own Scarlet Lime and Scarlet lime BeadArt, two online stores the sell mixed media a jewelry products to her workshop customers. . Scarlet lime is a mixed Media Shop and Scarlet lime BeadArt offers unique jewelry kits and supplies.. Christy has been in the art industry for over 10 years: first working for a papercrafting manufacturer, and then for Scrapbooks Etc. Better Homes and Garden Magazine as an editor. Christy loves reading, snowboarding, camping, Boating, surfing, and spending time with her family and friends. She is married to her best friend, Ben, for almost 17 years and loves that she gets to work with him every day. They have 6 awesome children.. five boys and one girl; ages ranging from 15 to 6. Christy also loves blogging and uses her blog as a way to share her art , offer tutorials and just her everyday life story. She feels blessed to be able to create art and support her family at the same time.

 

Make sure to check out Christy’s blog.

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

Christy Says:

 

the word friendship is evolved for me many times throughout my life. I remember my very best friend in Grade School, Suzi Q (that’s what I called her). We did everything together, we dressed alike, we wore each other’s clothes, we had the same teacher, we liked the same boys. We were best friends. Then as I moved, and got into high school, I soon found that I had several “best” friends.. girls that I bonded with, all in different ways, but truly had strong connections with. As I got older and married and our lives grew apart, I came to find that some of my closest friendships were my own family.. my husband, my sisters, my children, my parents. Friendships I didn’t realize were possible when I was a kid and thought my family was pretty much the vain of my existence! lol.. but it’s a wonderful thing to get older and mature and realize how important those people and relationships are in our lives. Over the past several years I have realized that we don’t have to live close to have strong friendships with others either. I was lucky enough to reconnect with an old friend from high school and realize that relationship we had in high school was just as strong if not stronger than ever. I also had the opportunity of finding friendship in an community of creative women.. WITH women who love and adore the same things as I do, but also women who I can share my soul with. It’s a rare find, when you find someone that you can trust yourself with. That you can be totall yourself, you can let them have all your good and all your bad and know. KNOW that they will not judge you for it. I have also realized that it’s important to let them help you be a better person.. that when they tell you things they worry them about you, or see things maybe you don’t see that you are doing to yourself or others.. that it’s only because they love you.. not because they want to bring you down. I was driving in the car once with one of my very closest friends.. and she turned to me and said.. you are my TRUE. .. and in that moment, I knew exactly what she meant. She meant that she could trust me, no matter what. She could give me her bad, her good, she could trust me to love her and always be there for her. Even when she wasn’t making the best decisions. She also knew that when she wasn’t, I would tell her so.. because that is what a true does. That has become a very sacred word for me over the last year.. TRUE. I have a very small handful of people I consider my Trues. Outside of my family, there are only a small few.. but it’s a beautiful things to find and have. I remember my sister once telling me, she was jealous of the friendships I had. When my dad died.. and my trues came and took me on a much needed road trip, I remember when I got back my sister telling me how blessed and lucky I was that I had friends like that in my life. She said, she didn’t.. she only had her family and that I should always remember how rare and special that is..

 

I have to admit that most of my experiences with friendship have COME through the creative community I am apart of. We are so blessed as creative woman to have communities where we can meet and share and get to know each other. We also understand each other and we “get” each other. While we may live miles apart.. or even oceans apart, we create these connections that bond us like nothing I have ever seen. Seriously.. have you? I can’t think of any other hobby that forms more friendships than the creative industry. Friendships, that are true and real and beautiful. Not to say every friendship or person we meet creates that connections.. there are so many different levels of friendships.. but I think we all in one form or another can honestly say we are pretty lucky to have each other in this awesome community we call art. And when I say art, I mean art in all forms.. papercrafting, mixed media, painting, photography, sewing.. cooking.. we are pretty lucky. Actually I like to use the word blessed. I created this piece of artwork, a simple background with the phrase.

 

She found TRUTH in them.. that is how my heart feels right now.. that I have found my trues.. and feel so blessed to continue to create new friendships and form new pockets of love in my life. I hope we all can embrace this wonderful creative thing we are apart of and be grateful for the friendships it has created as well. Friendship is a form of art. It comes in all shapes and sizes and colors and mediums.. it has no limits and no rules.. it constantly evolving and yet have major basic values we go back to again and again. Let’s always be grateful for the friendships we have and never stop looking to create more. It’s what life and art are made of.

 

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Here are some interpretations of the catalyst from members of our team. Since this is our last one, I asked any old team members if they wanted to join in as well so you’ll see some of our older members here, too.

 

Amy:

 

Amy Says:

This drawing represents many levels of an important friendship for me. It embraces the comfort of the friendship, the shared inspiration and trust that underwrites the friendship, and the flow of friendship. Very few people know me well, and with very few people am I able to simply relax and be “me.” This drawing pays quiet tribute to one true friendship.

 

 

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Fran:

 

Fran Says:

It took me until my 40s to actually feel comfortable enough with myself to share who I really am with other women. Oh, I had some friends, but not as true and dear as I do now. They have helped me to flower into a complete person with creative energy and a radiance I shared with few. My friends and I support each other and help each other bloom and grow – like flowers. Together we are a force to be reckoned with! Filled with love, creativity, and support, my friends have grown to being part of my family.

 

 

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Julie:

 

Julie Says:

My Mom is my best friend. Wherever we go, whatever we do, we always have a good time together!

 

 

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Karen:

 

Journaling Reads:

I have many good friends and I know I will have more in my lifetime but none of them will ever measure up to you. you have always been and will always be my very best friend in the whole world. The only person who’s seen me in my ups and downs and still loves me with all of his heart and accepts me for who I am. I am so very grateful that we have found each other. I love you madly.

 

 

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Larissa:

 

Larissa Says:

Friends are special people in our lives. In this scrapbook layout I wanted to tell about one adorable person, Luciana, a friend of mine that was able to change my life with beautiful colors. Unforgettable as all the time I worked for Creative Therapy

 

 

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Opal:

 

Opal Says:

My friend remembers the words to my song when I forget….

 

 

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Rachel:

 

Rachel Says:

For my layout, I chose to celebrate the life of a dear friend who passed away this summer. I know that the prompt is to tell you about a friend who I currently have, and in thinking upon who I wanted to acknowledge and celebrate I couldn’t help but always come back to my friend, Ganai Silverwolfe. I celebrate her today because even though she is physically gone from this earth, I’ve never felt her more with me each day than I do now.

 

Ganai, without ever really knowing it, taught me more about life than anyone I can think of, short of my own mother. She never let me get away with my tendency to be closed off and guarded with other people. She was always genuinely HAPPY to see me, even when I wasn’t happy to be in my own skin. She showed by her example how to live life fully and intently and with absolute clarity, with a song in her heart and nothing but dancing in her steps. She challenged me, she encouraged me and she loved me at the times when I needed it the most. She was a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a mentor, an artist, an activist and an ardent supporter of her community around her.

 

I miss her physical presence every day, but I am grateful to know that she is not gone, because I FEEL her with me everyday. In the laughter and joy in my daughter, in the moments of carefree living room dancing, coffee with good friends, holding the hand of my husband and especially in those quiet times of contemplation and reflection. I am a better person because I’ve known her and still carry her with me. These pictures of her capture her in her purest, most joyful element, dancing to the local music she loved and supported so much… absolutely infecting all of us around her with her passion, her beauty and her joy.

 

 

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Shelley:

 

Shelley Says:

The best friendship I have right now and have always had is my friendship with my daughter. I love everything about this girl. She is true, genuine, kind, smart, empathetic, sweet, and so much more. I love that we can disagree and 2 minutes later it’s like it never happened. I love that we can talk to each other about anything….and we do. I love that we enjoy being around each other. Even at 22 she loves being with me! We both know we would do anything for each other and we do. Her friendship is the most precious to me and I am so blessed to have such a beautiful daughter who is also my best friend.

 

 

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Wendela:

 

Wendela Says:

Tell something about a friendship you currently have….my first thought is..share! Sharing your feelings, I think it’s a good base for friendship.

 

 

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Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “Tell us about a friendship you currently have.” 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 month, enjoy each and every moment.

 

 

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