How Crystal Got Her Groove Back
On the making it so we don't have to fake it life
Hello dear friends and curious readers,
I’m laughing over the title, but I couldn’t resist. It’s exactly how I felt after my live State of the Studio1 tour ended last week. It was the first live post I’ve attempted here on my blog—and the first one I’ve hosted in nearly two years. I used to do them monthly in my Facebook group.
Anyway, back to that groove I was laughing about. There is no groove—at least not in the conventional sense—for someone built and wired like me, to be honest. Not the kind that involves any sort of coordinated dance moves, that is. It’s more like the groove of being able to engage in a meaningful way, to make plans for future events I’m genuinely excited about, and to finally, finally, be getting ready to move back into my own place.
It’s the recognition that finding a groove is something akin to the slogan “Fake it till you make it”—except without the fake part, if there’s to be any hope in it. And with a full understanding of what making it actually looks like: it’s making my own groove. It’s moving ahead even when the inner critic—on its endless running track—says, “Just give up already.”
Yes, the slogan needs a bit of rebranding to be more accurate. I’m making it so I don’t have to fake it—my own groove, that is. Something akin to forging our own path. And if that path comes too easy, maybe it wasn’t really our path to begin with, comes to mind.
But the path shouldn’t be an uphill trek through a thorn-infested forest either. Holly Whitaker wrote in a recent post, “For so many of us, just being ourselves is an act of resistance.”
In the skin and with the brain we were born with—being ourselves and moving about freely in the world, whether in a disabled body or one with a hidden (but no less disabling) mental or physical health condition—just existing, and refusing to hide that existence, is an act of courage. In a world that increasingly demands more and more conformity, being an artist and living a creative life is an act of resistance.
Which is absolutely the groove for me.
With gratitude,
Crystal Marie
Read on for news and events . . .
Popup Shop/Moving Sale Updates
This week’s flash feature artwork has sold, along with several works from the under $100 and under $50 categories, but there are still plenty of deals on original works of art to be had.
Only a few days left to grab the Flash Feature Large artwork for one third the regular price!
Begin Again
12” x 30” x 2.5”
Collage Mixed Media$1500 Flash Feature week: $500
Last week for these three works in the $100 and under category!
Here are just a few of the sweet deals you’ll find in the $50 and under category:
And perhaps the best for last, my first online workshop in my new studio/home is open for registration. I would dearly love to have you join me at the virtual table for this one:
Konjac Glue and Techniques in Mixed Media Collage
