How it started.

Just some thoughts.....

I guess I was born seeing things a little differently.  I look for patterns and repetition. 

I remember in second grade  the teacher teaching us about patterns in school. My brain opened up and I felt a warm comfort like I had been there before. The problem was, patterns were part of math class and since then my math pages were covered in doodles of repeating patterns.

The concept of numbers was largely lost, but I remember all of the paterns.

One teacher ( I beilive 6th grade) thought graph paper might help me line up my numbers so I could perform the problems easier. Oh, what a world that opened up! All of that structure just waiting to be developed with my squiggles.

I never got better at math, but I did grow as an artist.

Which brings me to my point.

Much of creativity and being interested in something starts with an accidental  spark. But, being good, becoming "great", that is pure practice.

Intentional practice or accidental practice. Did I know when I was 7 my doodles would benefit me in life? Nope. I did it because it calmed me, helped make the world a safer place for my brain to exist in.

It all started with a pattern..... triangle. .. circle.... triangle.... circle... what comes next......

A lull in the henna world?

It is blog day.... again, nothing is going on worth blogging about in the Henna world.

I would assume in the thousands of years henna has been used there have been lulls like this. Nothing new, nothing worth blogging about.

I was discussing the lull in Henna with some other artists. I can not decided if henna has peeked in popularity or if it is so common now, skilled artists are just not as needed. The fear is, artists will lose much needed income for their families.

I understand this fear. We live in extremely scarey times financially. 

But; I also understand with the drop off in popularity the cultural and historical significance will start to come back.

In this, SKILLED artists will outshine and be needed.

To me, it will be very interesting to see what happens as popularity wanes.

It is true, anyone can do henna. It is also true that to be a true professional, you must really dedicate yourself to all facets of the art. An artist who can draw but can not mix paste, or roll cones, or understand safe henna practices,  is not a henna artist. They are someone who can draw with henna.

Will the drawers become bored when the money and willing skin slow down?

It will be very interesting to see what happens.  How henna will evolve. How the sacred will helpfully come back. How even more people will offer me their hands wanting traditional patterns and artist's choice designs because THAT is what henna is.

One artist, one living canvas,  and an ancient plant paste making hopefully happy memories. :)

Happy Inktober!

It is Inktober! Whoooooot!

In addition to henna, I draw. Well, I try to draw. It looks more like scribbles but oh well.

Inktober is a celebration of ink drawings.  All month long artists from all over the world try to create one ink drawing a day.

If you love art, do a search on twitter or instagram for #inktober.

Personally I use instagram. I hear twitter is popular too. Instagram is all pictures and video. If you are a visual person I can not recomend instagram enough!

Off to draw! Errr doodle...

Packing for the Irish Festival

This weekend is the Irish Festival at Crown Center.

This artist will be there everyday, every hour to doodle on all the peoples.

My shifts start tomarrow night at 5pm.
Provided I do not drop from the extreme heat I will be there all day saturday and sunday.

Henna starts at $9, which is a steal of a deal!

Whoooooot Irish Fest!

Happy Thursday

Not much to post... so here is a picture of a balloon with henna... enjoy.

Still around, yes indeed!

I got a great email the other day asking if I was still in business. At first I was alittle confused. Of course I am still around,  doing henna, drawing, being silly....

Then it was explained that I had been slack in keeping with blogger and that is why they were curious.

Silly me!

So yes, I am very much so still doing henna. :)

There is just not a ton to report on a blog.

I mix the mud, roll the mud, draw with the mud. Repeat for 9 years.

Ha ha, just not a lot to report.

Not that I do not get to do some amazing things. In April I got the honor to teach henna at the Nelson Atkins.  That was awesome!

And we did the Maker's Faire again, which was awesome!

We will be doing the Irish festival again.... you guessed it, AWESOME!

And we will be guesting at the Renaissance Faire for 2 weeks, which will hopefully be awesome.

So yes, still around still busy. And I will try to do a better job at keeping this blog updated.

:)