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Its a hand knit, embroidered and beaded heart charm stuffed full of good vibrations and witchy woman herbs made by my friend Michelle Simpkins AKA Greenwoman.
How did I win it? I entered into a writing contest Michelle was holding on her blog. To win I wrote and submitted a piece of writing about my love for my "vocational calling", art!
This is what I wrote:
For the most part art and love have been interchangeable labels to a single powerful force that’s continuously shaped my life. I know art had its influence over me before I was even born. Looking on the photos I have in my possession I feel as though I can almost recollect my mother down at the Venice Beach, CA boardwalk, her pregnant belly slightly altering the way she held her guitar on the streets as she played and sang the blues with her band. I can imagine the way the vibrations of her guitar penetrated her flesh to reach my budding form and how I must have danced in womb to the rhythms of her strumming and the glowing of her soul as she manifested her art.
I was told that when I was no older than a few months, just big enough to sit in a high chair my mother would put a pencil in my hand and lay a paper on my tray and watch as I sat mesmerized for hours as my little hand created mark after mark on the paper. I am sure I was held captivated by these first few acts of creation, no matter how small of a squiggle they were because even back then I must have understood in some instinctual way that the marks were an exciting proof of my own existence and the existence of self made magic. This might have been the way I learned love for myself, life and the world around me.
As I grew up I was surrounded by an eclectic mix of artist protectors who were also my mentors. Every day was Christmas in Venice beach, the home of my little world of worlds. I remember being constantly gifted presents of art supplies. Even though we didn’t have much money the means to do art was never obstructed. Art supplies was fished out of a dumpster just for me by Ralph the bum and delivered on my doorstep in the middle of the night with great care and ceremony, the half used nubs of the legendary Sunny Zorro’s oil pastels were routinely set aside and sealed in a cigar box just for me, and then there were the days I was gifted lessons of life and art by Chris Eve’s the wise kindly English painter man who also spoke of faery lore and the truth about Daddy Longlegs and their gentle nature. I was doted upon and cared for in this way by many, the exchange of art supplies and knowledge one and the same with their gift of love and devotion.
Later on, in years of upheaval and transformation there were times I felt like life’s magic had been washed out or left behind. Finding myself lost in new places with different customs and bizarre senses of community lead me to begin to consider myself a stranger. That sense of self love and love of life that I had known throughout my younger years, even in times of severe adversity, had begun to fade. It wasn’t until I caught myself one day feverishly typing out a stream of consciousness prose instead of writing an English essay for high school that I finally began a dialogue with a part of myself I had feared lost. This communication lead me to the realization that one major part of my life was missing and that was the art. The moment I began to allow myself to paint, to draw, to write poetry again I felt that love seep back into my veins and slowly light up my world once again.
To this day I use art as a life line, an anchor. Art is the great balancer of my life. I take vast comfort in the knowledge that I can make anywhere a healthy home so long as I bring my love, my art within me. I use art as a way to continue the exploration of myself and my place in the world. I use it as a way to explore folk lore, the human condition, and the intentions of the cosmos, my roots, my ancestors and their very real connection to the modern world, the person I am constantly becoming. I post my art online, show it in local art fairs and galleries and in this way I mean to share my manifestations of love, coxing my art out into the universe in hopes that they might touch an international, multi universal or maybe even a multi dimensional audience and have its small part in the knitting together of a great encompassing community. Art is where the heart is. So mote it be.
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Writing the words above a couple weeks ago made me feel very thankful to the universe. I am so spoiled! But yes, very happy to love the life I lead and lead the life I love.
I cant wait to get my heart charm in the mail!
In other news, this past weekend me and the little helper elves of Lucid Optic Lab have been super busy crafting art you can wear! Thats right, I have found a way to put my artwork into glass pendants and will be releasing a line of art necklaces in our etsy shop in the next few days, so keep your eyes pealed.
Much love and light,
-Chelsea Rose
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