my good girlfriend sarah hosted a camp for me in her lovely home a few weeks ago. i wanted to share some photos..and also wanted to check in with my mermaid warrior students and their camps. if you have photos on your blogs, please link! i want to see!

here are the journals we made out of kids board books. the spray paint was a huge hit with the stencils. (so much to the point where i worried if some kids were going home high. we will wear masks next camp) they also had a great time with medium mixed with glass beads (which we blended with acrylics-so cool!)

the I AM BRAVE pages:

“joy.”

“i am brave because i am alwase (always) with macabe.”

“i am brave because i am funny. i am brave because i am me.”

“i am brave because i can do anything.”

i will tell you what i told the mini mermaids at camp. (you already know this of course, i do realize this, but it is the kind of thing we need to hear again and again…)

do not let the dream-stealers get you down. your dreams remind them of their own lost dreams that may not have worked out as planned. your joy may trigger their bitterness. watch out for these types, but by all means keep making art. keep making joy.

no matter how many times it has been done before, no one can do exactly what you do the way you do it. no one can ever be you.

do art because it feels good. do art because you get to make up your own rules. do art to help heal others.

getting messy while creating is the fun part, and no, you can not wash your hands yet. finish what you are doing and then wash your hands. the paint that stills sticks to your fingers will wash off in the tub tonight. artists have pretty hands.

enjoy the process. don’t judge the art until you are finished….and when you are finished, don’t judge it then either. judgements are for cranky pants who have nothing better to do. not every piece of artwork you do needs to go on the fridge. make art for YOU. not the world.

lets try to replace the word “copied” with “inspired.”

art=love

your words matter. your art matters. you matter.

art will be your friend when no one else understands. art will listen and be gentle with your heart. art has a crush on you.

art, as my wise student and friend tess says, “tells your own story in way that other people can understand.”

most importantly, art loves you for you. unconditionally. art will wait for you no matter how much time passes.

art believes in you.

and so do i…
(and the mermaids!)