Dreaming of Gloss

Hmmm Butter Gloss! NYX Blackberry Pie. Getting my Morticia on this afternoon. Ok...Love the texture and it has a cake batter taste to it...but it is a tad messy to get on. It's a true gloss, so it will smudge on contact. Don't give up on the first try of application. The color is extremely dark, as the name suggests...but I kind of like it. Makes me feel mysterious, lol. Perfect for that inner bad-ass I know I have! Wearing it all day though? Or on a night out on the town? I am not so sure that would work without some sort of sealer being applied to it. As I stated above, this gloss will smudge on contact. Having said all of this though, I would most certainly recommend! Go on! Give it a try and have some fun with it! After all...We need more fun in this crazy world we live in!

Dreaming of Gloss!

Thoughts to Start a Discussion

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be an artist. How hard it is to get noticed today or grind out a living doing what you love. At times its not an easy thing to do. At times...who am I kidding, most of the time, it's not an easy thing to do. At times, I feel like the girl in Kill Bill just trying to get through it all with one piece of my clothing NOT covered in blood. It's a difficult thing to rationalize when, as an artist, you put so much of yourself into your work. That is nothing new though. Since the dawn of art, artists have put pieces of themselves into their work. Some works we can not bear to part with because of that very fact. So, in all of my rationalizing I have come up with a few thoughts. First, let me preface this by saying that I am not complaining. I enjoy what I do, no matter what and joy is a hard commodity to find these days. I am not about to give that up. I am also not trying to push my thoughts off on anyone else. What I am stating here is true for me and I am hoping that by sharing, I will be starting a dialogue about this topic. My thoughts are this:

You can't get noticed unless you have been noticed. In today's world, no one pays attention to your blood, sweat or tears. No one pays attention to the beauty you put into the world. No, its all about how many followers on social media you have in this cult of celebrity we live in. I have to ask...does that seem right? Is that the natural flow of things? Artists have always struggled, but an artist could still grind out a living. If you don't have a million followers today, there is almost zero chance for you to make it. Its all about the numbers and who you know. If you are like me and know no one....well you are kind of screwed. You can't even get a foot in to a gallery if you don't know anyone and in today's art world of appropriation, that's kind of disheartening.

Not sure what I mean? Well, sometime this fall an artist took other peoples Instagram photos, blew them up hung them in a gallery and sold them for more than 20,000.00 a pop. Because its considered appropriation, it was perfectly acceptable for him to do this. Why should this bother us? Well, because the person who's photo he appropriated is most likely trying their hardest to get into a gallery themselves and because they don't know the right people, they can't get in. But someone who has the right contacts, can basically take their work and get obscene amounts of money for it. Fair? I guess, if you consider it fair every time Lucy pulls the ball away from Charlie Brown and he falls over backwards. Yea, fair.

So, how do we exist today as artists? I am not so naive to think that we can change the system. But maybe there is something we can do about it. Maybe forming our own boards and galleries is a start. Maybe by working together we can get the system to budge just a hair. Maybe, if we supported one another instead of trying to tear each other down, we can do something good. Put something beautiful into the world together.

What I am trying to do here is start a discussion. I want to know how my other artists out there feel. If you feel I am wrong, I want to know. Change my mind if you can. If you agree, then I want to know what you think can be done. Can we budge the system? Lets discuss. Lets educate each other. Let's stand up and do something.

Rant over
Anna
Artfully Odd Photos
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Let's Work Together

Let's Create Something Good

Hello! I hope that this finds you doing well today. So, I am getting ready. For what you ask? Well, I am getting ready to get back into it. Shoots that is :) As some of you know, circumstances beyond my control have kept me from picking up my camera more that I would like as of late. But I am ready now...Ready to get back to the drawing board and plans some amazing things! I will say though, that this time away has given me a chance to hone some of my editing skills. I think I have grown leaps and bounds in that department and I think that my vision for the fantastic has grown with it! As I have learned this past year, it doesn't matter how many times you fall down on your face. The thing that matters is how many times you pick yourself up. How much you fight against the things that try to keep you from your goal. It's not always easy...believe me, I know that. I have lived that. The trick is how you arrive at your destination and how whole you are when you get there. I am happy to say that I did not lose too many pieces of myself on this journey, which is why I am so happy to get back to doing what I love!

So, if you are looking for some portraits, prints or a fantastic fantasy shoot, please contact me! I am always looking for new models to shoot as well. The time has come! Let's create something beautiful!!!

PS- I am also always available for styling. Because of my love of vintage and all things shiny, I have a small, but growing room of stuff to help style a shoot.  Hit me up, you never know what I might have :)
A
Artfully Odd Photography

For Mark

Well hello there. How have you all been since my last entry? Good I hope. Fall arrived here in Upstate quite quickly. To be honest, the changing of the seasons came, literally from one day to the next. I am not complaining though, because I love this time of year! Crisp air and the smell of wood smoke in the air...ah perfection.Our leaves are changing here, but slowly. I hope that in another week or so we have some really good color. Yea, photographers dream! I hope you are enjoying this time of year as much as I am.

On to other things...I was talking with a friend this morning about writing. He heard that writers should write every day no matter what. No matter if its good or not, just get the words flowing. This is true and something I tend to do every day no matter what. My house is littered with little scraps of paper with scribbled words on them, notebooks filled with stories that I write when I have writers block. Sometimes an idea will come to me while I am in the shower and I will have to jot it down as soon as I am out. Like this thought I had today, 'What would a con look like in the 1600's? And if Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were really Vampires, would they be a part of it?' You know, something ala Oceans 11 maybe. I jotted it down and it went right on the pile of scribbles. Whoever cleans out my place after I am gone will be in for a treat, lol! Lots of paper, words and library books. Did I mention that I buy old library books? Our library here sells old books, $2.00 for a bag full. I always get my bag full :)

Anyway, on to the writing. Yes, its true...writers write. Sometimes every day. I generally wake up with a mission to create something every day if possible. Photos, Painting, Writing...I try to do something every single day. That's what it's all about, isn't it. There is so much beauty out there in life, in this great big world...I like to contribute to that beauty when I can. No matter if its good or bad. No matter if anyone likes it or not, because that's what its all about. You can choose to be positive and fill your space with words that feed your mind or art even when the world outside is hard. It can be a comfort food for your soul and a soft blanket for your mind. Create my friends and see what beautiful things start to bloom! Feed your soul...

 So Mark, this is what I wrote today. It's rough, bad even, but I find it very funny and funny is good right now!

They Never Call:

Castle

Stone walls

She waits

Endless fields of green

Spread out over the vastness of time

She waits

Line of sight on the blue horizon

No horses today

She waits

Tear stained cheeks

Feelings of love lost

She waits

Years fly past

Time stands still

She waits

The Reaper’s at the door

He knocks with bony knuckles

She’s dead

Death took her in his arms

Her love never called

She waits…………..

No more

Have a wonderful week my friends.

Light & Love~Anna

18 Chapters Done!!!!

Ok, so I surprised myself yesterday by writing 3 full chapters. That makes a total of 18 so far and that is also sort of a big deal for me! The manuscript I have been working on has been in the works for a few years now and it feels really good to be almost done with it. Now, fingers crossed that the rest of it writes itself as smoothly. Sometimes it's hard to get the vision in your head down on paper and sometimes your characters fight with you for a new outcome. I am excited to see where they let me take it.

Anyway, thought a would share a snippet that I wrote yesterday. This is the beginning of my chapter 17, hope you enjoy:

My Dearest Love-

I am most sorry that I was not able to travel back to the city with you. Leaving you in the care of others was a very difficult thing for me to do, however, Mary is a most capable woman with admirable qualities. She has informed me that you actually know one another and she looks forward to continuing friendship with you. I can rest assured that you, my love, are in capable hands.

I do not know when I may see you again, as this war seems to consume me. The army made some progress at Manmouth. A victory of sorts and I thought that you would want to know that I believe the tide has started to turn. Just as you said it would. I do not dare to hazard a guess at how you know the things you know, but your constant support of our cause and my men is enough to keep me moving forward.

I continue to pray for your recovery and long for the day when I might hold you in my arms again. You have become my constant in such a short amount of time, so much so, that I find it hard to fathom. We know each other it would seem, so well and yet, I long to know more. To know that your thoughts are consumed of me too is one of my greatest wishes. I meant what I said to you dear heart. I may not be able to promise you all you deserve, but I will continue to provide you with all that I have.

Please do not be cross with me when you wake. I did not know that the doctor had plans to bleed you and upon my return, I almost whipped him for it. The amount of the loss was little and I dare say that you did start to rally afterwards. Mary has continued to send me word of your health and I am encouraged by what she says. You will be well soon and we shall all be glad for it.

Until the day that I may return to you, I ask you to please remember that I love you most ardently, and If I am not to return, please know that my last thoughts were most certainly of you dear heart. I have been blessed by your grace. You are my life, you are my love, and you are my everything.

Loving regards-

(C) Anna Patten 2014

I am leaving out who it's from on purpose, lol. You will have to wait and see when it's all done. Again, I want to take a moment to thank you for all the support. It has meant more to me and has encouraged me at times when I wanted to throw in the towel. 

I hope this week is a good one for you as we go into the last days of summer. Remember to keep dreaming my friends and always try to stay on the sunny side :) Happy Monday!

Anna

Busy Summer & Other Stuff

So sorry, I know it has been a bit since I posted here. This summer has been incredibly busy for us and it does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon either. I enjoy being busy, but I must admit, I am looking forward to our vacation in October! Need a bit of downtime to recharge. How has the summer been for all of  you? I hope that this summer has brought many happy memories with your loved ones.

I have been doing a lot of writing this summer. I am happy to say, I am almost finished with the book I have been working on. I have 15 chapters done so far and expect about 5 or so more before this book is done. For the times that I have encountered writers block with the novel, I have taken to just writing whatever pops into my head. It has helped some and I think I could put all my ramblings together and make something of them....I could, lol, not sure if I will though. However, I could share one or two. Below is one of those ramblings:

Can you die of a broken heart? Can the heartache of it all reach down into parts of  your soul? Can it reach parts of you that you didn't even know you had and splinter them into jagged pieces that you cut yourself on every time you feel? These were questions that I was slowly finding out the answers to.

It had been three days since the news hit my ears and sucked all of the air out of my lungs.  Three days since the shadows darkened my vision and blurred my surroundings with tears that never seemed to dry up. The depths of this well I was in, knew no limit. What was worse was the fact that I was stuck in the past. Stuck reliving memory after painfully beautiful memory.

The current memory of choice was of a beautiful afternoon spent in a field of heather and earth. Brilliant sunshine touched all the loving faces gathered around us. With Lilly's wound in my hair and lips oh so red, I whispered, "I do."  The sunlight reflected off the darker hues of his blonde hair, I remember that it seemed to glow in the warm light.  He smiled, whispering the same and then those close to us cheered as he kissed those oh so red lips with promise. We had so much ahead of us. Wonders of a beautiful life stretched out over the path of time. 

Time...now there was a funny word. It gave you the illusion of infinity, but then slipped through your fingers like grains of sand. And just like that, everything was gone. Stolen in the middle of the night with just one phone call

(C) 2014 Anna Patten

I don't know if there is anything to this or not, but I thought I would share anyway. Maybe after my book is done, I will pick this up where I left off...

Anyway, I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend. Make sure to get out and do something fun. Go get some ice cream and sit outside in the grass. Feel the sand between your toes or the wind in your hair! Summer is fleeting and we must enjoy it while we can! 

Happy Lammas to all my Pagan friends and happy weekend to all of my friends.

Anna

A Point of View from an Empath

Life is beautiful and terrifying and wonderful and terrible. Sometimes it can be all those things at once. But whatever it is, I know that it leaves holes in all of us. Sometimes those holes are deep, and one has to wonder how they will ever fill them...others are shallow and scar over quickly. I think that we all search for that something that will heal us. It could simply be a smile from a loved one or a really great day or even a new spiritual path. No matter what it is, we all have our ways of coping. But for those of us who feel things more deeply than others, how do you fill those holes. As an empath, how do you block things out when you are doing extreme archaeology in your deep hole?

I write this because I know we all go through this. All empaths certainly do and there are some days when all the grounding and chanting and candle burning and cleansing in the universe will not help. I have read that true em-paths often struggle with this and that some days it's best for them to stay in bed. While I can appreciate that, I am far to busy to be able to do that. Sometimes I lose myself in creative pursuits and that seems to help a lot, but at the end of the day, it does not take the feeling away. Now, don't get me wrong here, I love what I am. I love that I am able to help others and I love that I am easy to talk to, but there is a huge downside and it might be one that you never think of, I certainly didn't, and it's loneliness. I have gotten very good at walking my path,(I often walk it alone), so very good at helping others and taking care of negative energy that one day I turned around and I realized that I desperately need to talk and there is no one there who really understands. And let me say, I have a wonderful husband who loves me, but he has a hard time understanding what is going on with me for many reasons. The main one being he is not an empath himself. But he is a wonderful support to me and I love him so.

The path of an empath is indeed very lonely. We don't like being in crowded rooms as there are too many emotions to steer clear of. We feel things so deeply that it gets us into trouble sometimes because we often can't control our emotions. People often don't understand us and because we tend to distance ourselves, think we are standoffish, or worse yet, fake. We carry a bit of extra weight...I have read that its to shield us, but who the heck knows if that's true. We are sensitive to a fault as well. I have trouble watching sappy or disturbing movies, commercials or listening to some music. Reading blogs and emails can be difficult. I often need moments of quiet to steady my mind and ground daily. It makes normal life difficult. Thank goodness I am an artist at heart. I have lived a normal reality most of my life and it almost killed me. That's not being dramatic, that's truth. I had a very hard time coping and it makes having a normal job difficult. Now, here's the part where I vent. It's hard! It's frustrating! I feel so much sometimes and lately it has gotten worse. I have read recently that many of us are feeling this together. I try to find comfort in that.

One of my favorite authors, Laurell K. Hamilton wrote recently in her blog that, "True faith is a path filled with many stones and thorns, because it is not the easy road that makes a warrior." She posted that on a day when I needed to hear it and no truer words were ever spoken. I saved this statement and I look to it often for wisdom and a reminder that I am not alone. (Which I am never truly, she is always with me)

 So, to my like minded friends...to my spiritual friends...how do we cope when life grabs us by the shoulders and yanks us around a bit? How do we fill the destiny of our path? How do we balance our Karma? How do we ask the Goddess to take us by the hand, even just for a moment, and share her wisdom?

I wrote this for many reasons, sympathy not being one of them. Mostly, I felt compelled to write this for anyone else out there in the universe that feels the same way or lonely tonight. To you, whoever you are...You are not alone.

To the Goddess- Thank you for your constant. As within...so without. Blessed Be!

Anna