For those of you who like, appreciate and buy the wonderful and whimsical art of Suzanne Woolcott of Gorjuss art, you may be aware that Suzanne has been very ill for quite some time. In fact Suzanne underwent a very serious spine operation a year ago that did not go well. It left her with a hole in her spine and consequently many complications, not least of which contracting meningitis. Throughout it all, both her and Grant soldiered on, creating art, running their business and caring for their children.

Sadly however, her health has deteriorated to such an extent, that things have reached crisis point for both her, Grant and their family, and they all face a hard and uncertain future.

They don’t want handouts, or charity, what they need is our support and encouragement. Please read Grants latest post, and learn how we can help support them most effectively.

Thank you…
Lorrie

Well, after my loudly trumpeted start to the ‘Journaling for a Cause project, sadly, I am going to have to bow out. Three days in and I am struggling.

It’s not just trying to do the prompts, play with Orla, answer emails, work on new art, get to the post office etc.  I then have to photograph the journal entries, get them onto Flickr, blog about it etc. It’s not doable. First day I was working on my Day I entry at 11.30 p.m. Day II, I was working on it whilst Orla was playing and she kept asking me to play with her.  Today…just not doable and tomorrow we are out for the day. So…

I really looked forward to doing it, but I need to  look after my little girl and keep up with my commission work and paint. I will do the next one when term starts in September.

Aaahhh well.

So, here is my entry for Day II of Journaling for a Cause, today’s prompt from Janel:

Journal Prompt 2:  I am a huge fan of writing out my goals, short term and long term.  I thought it would be appropriate to have some journaling goals for ourselves too!!  What are your goals for your journaling?

Now, I was not able to make today’s entry as original or interesting as I would have liked, it was pretty much created sporadically and snatching spare moments whilst looking after Orla and Ella (her best friend), as it’s the school holidays. I feel that a lot of us Mum’s who are doing this may struggle a bit over the next 30 days, but I will do my best. I elected to post this here, and not on my art blog asI  felt it was less about my art, and more about me. I will probably post them here every day, and summarise on my art blog at the end of the week.

My five bullet points for my entry are as follows:

• Be spontaneous
• Less obsessive
• Do something different
• Challenge myself
• Be authentic and true to myself
• Most of all make it fun and enjoyable

The crux of the above is this; I am tightly wound both personally and in my work  and always have been. I have a tendency to OCD which I have to continually fight against (which means I can be overly perfectionist about my work and have been known to destroy as many as five or six (or many more)  working versions of a piece of art. I  liked the idea of a group project, and felt this would challenge me  to do something different, and given that the subject matter would be dictated by another person, would take me out of my comfort zone. Above all, that I remain true to myself, am authentic and resist the urge to compare and fret over it But last and not least…to enjoy the experience and not make it too onerous and something that becomes stressful or a chore.

Journal Prompt II

Oh, and if you are wondering about the melon. I asked Orla to choose from one of her many stickers books a sticker she felt would most suit the content of the page, and she chose this one.

So, our project kicks off today, (see post) and here is our first prompt for the new ‘Journaling for a Cause’ class being run by the lovely Janel.  The prompt was to commence with a “Welcome” page which was to include a little blurb with five adjectives explaining our lives  right now. Ergo: Welcome to my ______,______,_______,_______, ______ life.

So, what can I say?! I am arty, a Mum, laughing most of the time (I hope), definitely striving and most importantly loving Luke and Orla.

The little illustrations are symbolic (though not hidden). Pencil, paintbrush, a pot of paintbrushes, a winged heart, the stormy sea and I am the little boat, my crown because I am the Queen of my own little soap opera, and the sun. The adjectives are in my own long hand, which I don’t use often anymore.

'Welcome to my arty, mumsy, striving, laughing and loving life'

Anns Hallway

I want to tell you a story about a friend of mine.  A friend who worked and saved hard for her dream home, and had that dream shattered.

Many of you may have seen that show “Cowboy Builders” on five, whenever I have seen it I have sat aghast at the sheer devastation these unscrupulous people leave in their wake. It’s not only the buildings they destroy but very clearly the lives of the people/families who they prey upon.

Sadly, a friend and designer-maker Ann of handmade eco homewares Snowdrops and Daisies and The Tea Cosy Shop and her family have fallen prey to just such an unscrupulous builder. The house, which was meant to benefit from a beautiful new extension, now lies in a total shambles: no electrics in the kitchen, wonky floors, windows that open inwards instead of outwards, in some areas no protective material on the outer skin of the extension, exposed gas pipes and electrical wires in outside walls, garden used as a building materials dumping ground….I could go on. You can read the whole nightmarish ordeal here on Ann’s blog.

What WE can do to help Ann and her family:

1. Spread the word!! Obviously Ann cannot name the builders in question for legal reasons but by telling Ann’s story and raising the profile of this all too common issue we can help! So, get blogging, twittering and facebooking about this.
2. Subscribe to Ann’s blog, just click the “subscribe” button;
3. If you live nearby (South Lanarkshire, Scotland) donate your time to help them out. If you have specialist skills (electrician, plumber, carpenter, plasterer etc) even better! Ann says there is room to camp if anyone is willing;
4. Donate something: If you are an artist, designer-maker, crafter Ann and her family would welcome donations of your work to make their house feel like a home again. They won’t have any funds left for little luxuries like these as their funds will be wiped out with trying to fix the botch job they have been left with;
5. Buy something from Ann’s shops: Snowdrops and Daisies and The Tea Cosy Shop.

Read more details of how to help here.

Ann's Cup Cosy