PannetArtStudio - Blog & Events

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Acknowledging what is....

There are some things at which I am good...great even! Then there are some things which I don't get right away but an "aha" moment eventually occurs.
Then there is technology. I understand now why my son shakes his head and my daughter puts her head in her hands when I call to ask the same questions again and again....and again. I don't get it. There are learning curves...so I hear. I believe my line hasn't yet begun to "curve". Or has it?
It's not a hardware issue, I believe it's a software issue. I've known how to use a keyboard since high school..and that was a long time ago! I was working at USA Today when we had to learn how to use the new technology of a Mac to do our artwork. I was introduced to various types of software...Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Excel, Access, and many others. None, I repeat NONE of which I've ever conquered even after classes. I may have learned one or two steps in each but that does not make me a "user"! I was definitely a hands on, do it by hand kind of a person but that battle was being lost daily. My way was becoming obsolete. I did learn to use some "desktop publishing" software and kept my employment stable creating marketing materials. I also logged a lot of long, long hours (not overtime) because it took me so long, with many repeated efforts, to figure out how to get it done. This has been occurring again recently as I embark on my new adventure of teaching Expressive Art classes and promoting those classes online. Sigh. A deep, deep Sighhhhh.
Creating event pages and websites, using Social Media, tagging, flagging, twitting, pinteresting, instagraming, hashtagging.....what???? I don't get it!!! I don't want to get it!!! But I must... especially since I'm considering creating online courses!!! Who am I kidding??!!!
This past weekend it took me four hours to create an event page. FOUR HOURS!!! And to figure out how to connect my blog to my pages took days of frustrating trial and error! And I'm not certain I'll remember how to connect this issue!! I cannot afford to pull out the little hair I have left on my head!!
Then I received a gentle reminder from my daughter that I was missing the bigger picture. It may have taken me "forever" to do those things but I DID IT!!
She's right! I am ahead of the curve......somewhat, and I am acknowledging that!!
I'm taking my kudos, patting myself on the back, high five-ing my other hand!! Acknowledging the fact that some of my peers don't do it at all and some even ask me....ME... to help them!! I'm acknowledging the fact that YES!! I created post cards to be printed and I did create event pages for my classes (www.facebook.com/events/252010641916774/) and (www.facebook.com/events/642548475949111/) and I did create events in Google Plus, and Instagram. I did that!!!
Just like it took me three months to get the coloring book "Fierce, Fabulous & Feminine" onto Amazon.com I did it!!! It's there and it's been selling!
So, yes I am learning to acknowledge my stick-to-it-tive-ness!!
I will stick to it long enough to be in a position to hire someone who knows what they are doing to do it all for me!!

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Keeping your eyes on the prize

Sometimes when things do not happen when you expect them to happen you kind of shove them aside to a place in your mind where you don't think about it. You know you want the thing to occur but you don't want to disappoint yourself so you tuck it out of the way so it won't get in the way. And you go on with your life. You do other things. Still. It's there. That one thing that hasn't happened...yet. You don't know if it is, You want it to but still...just in case....

"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens." - Carl Jung

Soooo I've been wanting something to happen, in my time frame, but since my technology skills are not the best I had to have help with the video and editing part of my project. The editor had things to do (like work) and she got sick and then she had to catch up on her life stuff. So the timeline for me was approaching and then it passed and then I tucked the wanting of it away in the that mind compartment where I wouldn't think of it....at least not often.

I did other things. Completed other projects of importance.
I scheduled the dates and times for my upcoming art classes!!!
The "ART pARTay" bring your own bottle/snacks and paint a masterpiece classes will be held on Wednesday evenings beginning March 22, 2017 from 6 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Register: paypal.me/PhyllisATaylor/30
 "Express Yourself" is a 6 week mixed media art class to learn to visually express more joy, gratitude, inner peace using expressive marks, colors and/or emotive images! Expressive Art can be a powerful healing process helping to release stress and frustrations. This class will be held on 6 consecutive Monday evenings from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. beginning March 27, 2017
Register: paypal.me/PhyllisATaylor/335
Both classes will be held in the JamArt Classroom, 124 Live Oaks Blvd., Bldg 1, Casselberry, FL 32707
I've become a Certified Creatively Fit Coach having completed the requirements needed to do so during the last five months!! Spent an exhilarating weekend in Melbourne, FL with other CCF coaches and women on their own vision quests. It was great, it was quite moving and humbling and inspiring to finally meet some of the women I've been on this journey with but have only known online. To see their work, to collaborate with them creating art, listening to the stories of their journeys was a sensational feeling. The vibrational energy in that women's circle was so high you could feel your body tingling! So much love, so much joy, so much sincerity, so much giving. Just So Much! If you are interested in reclaiming the magic, mystery and creative mastery of your life click this link: https://dt286.isrefer.com/go/VisionQuest/pannetart/  
and begin your Vision Quest.
My time spent by the ocean, though short, was just what I needed to recharge my creative self.

"For her the ocean was more than a dream, it was a place she needed to find herself." - Jose Chaves

Funny thing about returning "home"..,,I'm glad to always have one to return to and upon entering I greet my abode with "Hi house, I'm home!" Yet when I shut the door something happens......my vibrations shift. It could be the quiet....but I like quiet. It could be the "aloneness"....I like the aloneness, it goes with the quiet. The aloneness and the quietness don't speak back after you say "I'm home". I unpacked, relaxed and went to bed (it was late for me anyway and I did have to be at my guard post in the morning!)

Three days of routine and humdrumness and my energy vibrations were sliding down hill quickly! Then I opened my emails and low and behold that which I wanted (part of it anyway) was granted!!! I received acceptance into a program I've been dreaming about for years!!! But I had tucked it away in the compartment of the mind where it would be safe...from disappointment.
And the left brain quickly raised its questions of "How you gonna pay for it?" "You don't have this, you don't have that, it's too late, you're too old, you can't, you shouldn't, it's not gonna work, it'll take too long!"
I took my eyes off my prize. I step out of the boat of my comfort zones and walked on the water of my dreams. Then I doubted. I shifted focus. I lost sight of my vision and I began to sink into the  quicksand of doubt and fear. I could no longer see myself accomplishing the thing I wanted to do.

"The most common cause of "failure" is lack of.....visualizations. The universe lacks something to work with so it does nothing. Life is images expressed and without images there is no expression." - D. Gikandt

The phone rang, my daughter asked about my weekend and was so excited about my certification and my classes and my moving forward and my acceptance into the program I had waited so long to get into and then she noticed my total lack of enthusiasm.
I was promptly reminded of the differences between contentment, complacency and settling! I was gently nudged into setting up a timeline and asked if I had meditated and prayed for guidance needed to support my continued forward movement. I lifted my viewpoint, I focused again on my "why" and I saw my vision. I was reminded of why this was so important to me and the service I wanted to provide to other women who have experience abuse/violence in their lives. Every woman has a story they can express creatively and re-create a new image of themselves.
To have transformation take place you must be willing to die to your old self. Be willing to bear the adjustments of untangling....be willing to allow yourself to go through a metamorphosis.
It ain't easy. Circumstances, wind, waves, life happening, all kinds of stuff will come against me but if I remain focused, keeping my eyes on my prize the Universe will continue to support me. And I will continue to "walk on water."


I survived because the fire inside of me burned brighter than the one around me.
Some women are lost in the fire. Some women are built from the fire and some women can be re-forged in the fire.