Sketchbook Bag

I've been wanting a little bag/pouch to carry my sketchbook and pens/pencils in so that it's easy to transport wherever I go. After looking around and not finding anything I liked, I decided to make my own. And the best party....it was free because I used stuff I already had at home.

Side #1:

Side #2:

Inside:

GREAT Article!!

This is a wonderful article by Anne Lammott (she's also a great author) about finding the time in our day to be creative, take a stroll through nature, do whatever it is that gives us life -- and how it's not easy, but we have to fight for these moments. This is how we live a life that is satisfying, full of beauty and how to bring peace and happiness into our lives!!!

Click here:
http://www.sunset.com/travel/anne-lamott-how-to-find-time-00418000067331/

A Few Meaningful Quotes

I hope these speak to you, encourage you, brighten your day - like they did mine...


"Life can be like a roller coaster...
And just when you think you've had enough, and your ready to get off the ride and take the calm, easy merry-go round...
You change your mind, throw your hands in the air and ride the roller coaster all over again.
That's exhilaration...that's living a bit on the edge...that's being ALIVE."
--Stacey Charter


"This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, Love to complete your life."
--unkown


"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others."
--Pericles

Are You Impassioned or Apathetic?

Impassioned = filled with passion or zeal : showing great warmth or intensity of feeling

Apathetic/Spiritless = having or showing little or no feeling or emotion

************

This week I have seen my husband be impassioned/passionate about this new work-out & nutrition plan we are starting. Normally, I would be very excited for him and love watching him be passionate about something, but....I'm sorry to say that this week I've just been frustrated with him.

At least, I thought I was frustrated with him but in reality, I'm frustrated with myself. I feel like I'm at a place where I'm apathetic about life - I feel like I'm just living life, surviving the daily routine and not really enjoying it. And I HATE being this way.

I want to love every day, I want to live life to the fullest and I don't want to miss a moment!

Sometimes I hate the roller-coaster of life but it's just life and this is my journey.

Thanks for listening :)

Transforming One's Self

"In all our creativity, we destroy and rebuild the world, and at the same time we inevitably rebuild and reform ourselves." --Rollo May

Creativity for me, and I would think for most people, is a window into one's soul. I don't just mean a window for other people to look through and see a piece of me...it provides a window for me to see myself more clearly.

I learn so much about myself through the simple act of working with my hands. Using my hands to create/form something new connects me with the world and with myself. I am able to shut out all of the "noise" around me that comes from our giant to-do lists. I am taken to a peaceful place where I don't worry about the dishes, or the laundry, or who I need to call, or the drama that's going on with a friend, etc.... I am just simply there - sitting, creating, thinking, dreaming. I am able to find that peaceful spot where I feel connected with myself and am then able to look deeper into my heart/soul and deal with what I find.

Art has helped to teach me who I really am - me, Erin Drez. It's been a tool and a safe space to shut out the world and the voices of "do this" "do that" "this is right" "this is wrong", and find what I think and believe for myself. I have a much stronger sense of who I am because of the artistic venture I have been on.

"The creative individual is the one who not only attempts to make some order out of his music or art but to make some order in his own life." --Rollo May

At this point I am trying my best to follow my interests with my art. I've always struggled because I've been told I have a talent for drawing & painting but I find myself often wanting to do more crafty-type projects, rather than the traditional "fine art." It's hard for me to let go of what I think I "should" do and follow what I want to do.

A good example of someone who followed his heart and stayed true to himself is Rembrandt. In his younger years he was a very successful painter and was selling his work right and left. As he grew older and experienced tragedy in his life (the death of his wife & children), his paintings changed and had a more somber feel which made them less attractive to buyers. His popularity and success were gone by the time he died, but over the years as people have begun to study his work he is considered one of the greatest painters that ever lived because of the transformation that happened. The transformation of himself and his art went hand in hand and that is a true artist.

So, my current goal....follow my heart and stay true to myself.

The sad part is, this terrifies me in a lot of areas of my life (not just art) - but I'm going to try.

Random

Journal entry...

I know these pictures are fuzzy, but here is a necklace I put together last week. I've always wanted a locket to wear - this is one I found at the Rose Bowl flea market and I added some old charms I had lying around. It's a a very sentimental piece to me...

Plotinus

I read this in a book last night and I thought it was really beautiful. I will be the first to admit that I'm far from perfect and I have a lot of work to do on myself to be the person I want to be - but this writing gave me a great visual of how to work at becoming a beautiful person...and I find it fascinating that something written in 270 A.D. holds so much truth today...

"And if you do not find yourself beautiful yet,
act as the creator of a statue that is to be made beautiful:
he cuts away here, he smooths there,
he makes this line lighter, the other purer,
until a lovely face has grown upon his work.

So do you also:
cut away all that is excessive,
straighten all that is crooked,
bring light to all that is overcast,
labour to make all one glow of beauty and never cease chiseling your statue,
until there shall shine out on you from it the godlike splendor of virtue,
until you shall see the perfect goodness surely established in the stainless shrine."

---Plotinus, 270 A.D.
(Plotinus was a major philosopher of the ancient world who is widely considered the founder of Neoplatonism)

What's Your Fingerprint??

I've been thinking a lot lately about how unique each person in this world is. No two people are the same. Now, you may think "Wait. What about identical twins." Yes, identical twins may look the same but their soul, their personalities, their facial expressions are each very unique. I have witnessed this with two twin girls I know - they look identical but even at 1.5 years old you can tell them apart by their demeanor, their personality, their actions, etc... It's really a beautiful thing that to the outside world you can look just like someone else but in reality you are still a unique, one-of-a-kind person.

I think a beautiful example of how unique we are is that we are all created with our own, individual fingerprints - no two people have the same fingerprint! That blows my mind...with all the people in the world, how many circular patterns for a print can there be?? Evidently, a lot!

So, yesterday I started to think about how if I am a unique, one-of-a-kind person with a unique fingerprint and this one life to live, what do I want this life to look like? After all, I only get one shot! What "fingerprint" do I want to leave? (and I am speaking metaphorically now)

As you can see from the picture above, I put my fingerprints in my sketchbook and wrote some questions I want to continue to think about...
What's my fingerprint on the world?
What's my fingerprint on Caroline? (my daughter)
What's my fingerprint on friends and family?
What's my fingerprint on strangers?
What's my fingerprint on society?
What's my fingerprint in art?
What's my fingerprint on me?

Just some food for thought. Leave a comment if you want or if you have any insight/thoughts. I'd love to hear from you!

It's About Love

A beautiful quote sent to me by my husband....

"Don`t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don`t walk behind me, I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend." -Albert Camus

This speaks profoundly to our marriage and what we desire but it also speaks to our life.

When I think about what I want in life, I really don't desire to lead or to follow anyone - what I truely desire is to walk with people through this journey we call life. To come along side those I love and to be a support, an encourager, a shoulder to cry on, a friend to laugh with, a buddy to drink with, etc....

If I can journey with people in this world, if I can walk among humanity and contribute positively to people's lives, then I will consider my life full and successful. To me it's not about money, fame, career success ... it's about love.

"Blessed"

I found a piece of Beauty this morning in a song I was listening to while sitting at work...

"Blessed" by Brett Dennen

I welcome the sun
The clouds and rain
The wind that sweeps the sky clean and lets the sun shine again
This is the most magnificent life has ever been
Here is heaven and earth and the brilliant sky inbetween

Blessed is this life and I'm going to celebrate being alive.

I dwell in the darkness
I let in the light
I sleep in the afternoon and become the noise in the night
I trespass in temptation suffer in sacrifice
But I awake each day with the new sunrise.

Blessed is this life oh, and I'm gonna celebrate being alive.

Beauty

I have recently begun a study of "Beauty" - it's a word that is used abundantly in our society but I feel like it is used in a very superficial way. We describe people, celebrities, homes, clothes, etc. as beautiful and it's true, these things are often nice to look at. But I would call all of this glamour, not beauty.

Real, true Beauty is deeper than what's on the surface. For example, the Beauty of a person is not external - yes, they may have a pleasing face but what makes that face truely beautiful is the soul underneath it.

Think about a time that you have witnessed true Beauty -- maybe a sunset in Maui, an eagle soaring over the Grand Canyon, a child running into the arms of her Mother, a swan swimming across a glass lake, a rainbow across the sky,...what did you feel in that moment? How did your soul, your core, respond? Did you feel peaceful? Did you feel alive? Did you feel courageous? Inspired? Joyful? Hopeful?

Continue to think about some of the truely beautiful moments in your life as you read the following descriptions of what Beauty is:

Beauty "suspends the desire to be elsewhere." --Ken Weber

Beauty is moving and uplifting.

"Beauty is the experience that gives us a sense of joy and a sense of peace simultaneously."

"Beauty is serene and at the same time exhilarating; it increases ones sense of being alive."

"Beauty gives us a feeling of wonder and a sense of timelessness."

"Beauty is dynamic." -- Rollo May

As I've been reading, writing, reflecting, experiencing Beauty I realize that it's all around us every day, every moment. We just have to be willing to take the time to see it. This is a great quote from John O'Donohue in his book 'Beauty: The Invisible Embrace'... "We can slip into the Beautiful with the same ease as we slip into the seamless embrace of water."

So really, it's up to us. Beauty feeds the soul in a way that nothing else can. When we awaken to the Beauty around us we become aware of a new way to be in the world - we are more joyful, more whole, we find more peace within ourselves and the crazy, busy world we live in.

I will leave you with two final thoughts (not my own, taken from O'Donohue's book)...

"The wonder of the Beautiful is its ability to surprise us. With swift, sheer grace, it is like a divine breath that blows the heart open."

My goal, Erin Drez's goal, is this..."to think, feel and act beautifully in the world; to create and live a life that awakens the Beautiful."


Below are a few Beautiful moments I've caught on camera over the last few weeks...

Nap-Time Project

A little piece I put together during my daughters nap last week.

Christmas Projects

I was very busy through the holidays filling orders for Christmas. Here are some of the items I created...

This was a gift I did for my parents this year - a collage on board with a matte photo of my daughter and I in the middle. I used a crackle glaze for the background and an antique varnish to give it an "old world" feel. They loved it!

Here are some of the many Christmas ornaments I made for people this year...




These are a few of the necklaces/charms I made...





this one was fun - the order was for someone who loved sunflowers and I couldn't find a good picture/image of a sunflower, so I drew my own...



Feel free to contact me anytime if you would like something custom made for you or a friend/family member. Even if you don't know exactly what you want, we can come up with an idea together and get it made. Unique, hand-made items are such a special gift!
erindrez@yahoo.com