The Story Dome Project

This past year my artist friend Sofyia Inger has been working on her project, “The Story Dome”.  I’ve kept tabs on her progress and even had a chance to see her a few times this month but I was still not prepared for my visit this afternoon at the Indianapolis Art Center, to see the actual work. This evening is the official opening and reception, which I know will be fabulous, but since I wasn’t able to attend I snuck over early this afternoon to see it. As it turned out I was the only one in the dome during my entire visit. It was liking having my own imaginary world to wander and explore! Just entering the space I could feel the smile spreading across my face and lighting up both my imagination and my heart. It felt magical in there, completely surrounded by sounds of nature, words written from the heart and artistically displayed from ceiling to floor.  There were also listening stations where you could put on earphones and listen to music created specifically for this project. I felt like I had entered a different world, a world that was honest and hopeful and full of wonder. I wanted to live there! Or at least close the doors and keep it to myself for a few hours, to lay on the floor and gaze at the walls…humming to the music and writing my own stories. The images I’ve posted here don’t do justice to the experience, you really need to go and experience it yourself. Although it’s a large enough space to accomodate several people I recommend giving yourself the gift of time alone there! I’m already looking at my calendar, planning how many times I can re-visit the installation in the next two months and wondering how different each visit will be. I left today feeling introspective, invigorated and happy. Very, very happy!

Smiles,

Lynne

Kind Words & Happiness!

I had in my head earlier today that I was going to write about how much kind words mean to each of us. I don’t know if artists need more of them that anybody else but they mean a lot when they are given to me! This morning on my Facebook page I had a friend post “You are so amazing, Lynne!” and I could just feel the smile beaming off my face. She didn’t have to post that, she could have just hit the “Like” button or ignored me altogether! I’m so glad she decided to post it though. 🙂

I also took a trip to a nearby town today to pick up my art that had been on display there for the last month. The gallery director was so sweet and appreciative that I’d shared my work with the staff & public in their town. I can’t count the times she thanked me for accepting the invitation to show my work there. Since I had sold several pieces during the show I had the choice of donating either money or artwork to them. I choose to leave a piece of my art there and she was like a kid in a candy store choosing which piece they got the keep for their collection. It made me feel like a million bucks! I even got a heartfelt hug. Makes me feel warm & fuzzy all over again, just thinking about it.

Now honestly, that’s enough goodness to last me for days and enough to prompt this post. But my day just got better! I’ve been creating artwork for a musician’s new music room over the last few weeks. We’ve met frequently to discuss colors, direction and mood of the piece and it’s getting very close to being finished. He stopped by this afternoon and was thrilled with the progress! We played with the last small details of the composition until we were both excited about the piece all over again. I can’t wait to finish it! Creating something personal for someone is such an honor! He also admired another piece of my work enough that it went home with him. 🙂 Could this day get any better?

It DID! I checked my email and there were a dozen or so emails from my blog account saying I had “Likes” and comments on one of my blog posts. It’s always a special occasion to me to get blog comments so having more than one was awesome! When I checked my email an hour or so later, 47 more emails! Something was going on, so I went to look at my stats for the day and traced it back to the fact that I’d been featured on the “Freshly Pressed” page of WordPress!! In addition to the nice comments I’ve had people subscribe to my blog too! Double-awesome! The comments keep coming and I am simply overwhelmed with the amount of people that will take the time to say something nice to a stranger. Thanks to all of you! You have no idea how much it means to me. The next time I have a bad day, I know exactly where to look to cheer myself up again!

I’m also going to re-double my efforts to pass along kind words wherever I can. How could I not want to share them after feeling their impact so many times?

Spreading the love,

Lynne

Happiness

"happy" photo/digital art (c) 2011, Lynne Medsker

Yesterday a friend posted on Facebook: “I am responsible for my own happiness” (thanks Deanna!) It got me to thinking about some photos I took a few weeks ago during my cleaning spree. I ran across some old collage-type poster boards I’d made as part of an assignment.  One was to show what inspired me, one to show what I didn’t like and the last to show what made me happy. They’d been tucked around the room in various spots for many years and I finally decided it was time to part with them (actually I disposed of the one showing what I didn’t like shortly after I made it!). Before I tossed them out I decided to take photos of different portions of them to play with in Photoshop. The photos have just been sitting around waiting for me to get inspired, and those words were just what I had been waiting for – I created these two pieces today.

'bliss" photo/digital art (c) 2011, Lynne Medsker

Some days I think happiness is so elusive, especially when the needs and demands of other people seem to overpower my own. But it really is a matter of perspective and attitude and I am trying to remember to be happy no matter what the circumstances. I was even humming a little bit when I was scrubbing the toilets – that’s got to be a victory of some sort! 🙂

Happiness to you,

Lynne