Fur In The Paint

Okay. this is the last of this kind of post. I promise (I think.) I mean really, what has this to do with art anyway? Here’s the thing. I find behavior fascinating. Whether it be human or animal. So these simple techniques to change the fundamental way a person thinks about himself is very intriguing to me. A person can alter physiology just by changing the thought patterns. Cool!

And confidence and motivational techniques can be applied to other aspects to ones life. Say for instance, getting into the studio to paint, or tackling that really challenging painting that has been calling to you.

Week 4 Super Charge Your Metabolism
This episode dealt with using the visualization techniques to create happy feelings with motivation. Any exercise is good, so park farther away and walk, take the stairs instead of elevator. That sort of thing.

The visualization is the same as last weeks. Picture a happy moment while squeezing your right hand thumb and middle finger together. Picture a time when you felt motivated, you took a leap of faith and followed through successfully. Use many memories. Try to envision it as fully as possible. “See what you saw, feel what you felt, hear what you heard.” Then whenever you need a little motivational pick me up, just squeeze your thumb and middle finger together.

Week 5 Your Perfect Body
Again deals with the visualizations. This time, to improve your self confidence. Simple changes in the way you think can have dramatic changes in the way you fell.

A couple of different techniques to try.
*Think of a physically perfect person. Someone who is the icon of beauty. Now picture yourself stepping into them. Being them. Feeling what it is like to be them.
*Picture someone who loves you. Feel the love they have for you. Step into them and see yourself through their eyes.
*Extend one arm and picture holding a ball. Now think of all the negative things you think about yourself. Whatever parts of you you dislike. Let them flow down your arm and into the ball. Then just brush the ball away like it was dust.
*When you hear that inner monologue saying nasty things in your head. Try picturing the voice speaking in a silly voice. It is hard to take whatever it says too seriously when it sounds like Daffy Duck.
*Look into the mirror and say “I accept myself”

See my previous post on Paul McKenna’s I Can Make You Thin

Well, Okay. I can’t make you thin, but Paul McKenna claims he can. It is all about reprogramming the way you think about food, through simple techniques. I must admit, I find the whole concept fascinating. And while I have been experimenting with week one’s plan, which is to eat consciously, I have not followed all the rules for it.

Week 2 Emotional Eating
The premise is that most overweight people eat to satisfy some emotional need, whether it be boredom, loneliness, or sadness. (I tend to over eat when really happy. Go figure.)

So the next time you have a craving for food, that is not hunger based, you can try this technique. It involves tapping pressure points on the body, while doing left brain and right brain activity. It rewires the brain, so to speak, to alleviate the desire to eat.

Tap under the eye several times, followed by the collar bone, then under the eye again. Tap inside, side of wrist, then back of wrist.

While tapping back of wrist, close your eyes, then open them. Look down and to the right, followed by down and to the left. Roll eyes 360 degrees to the right, and then to the left. Keep tapping. Hum a tune. Count to 5 then hum a tune again. Tap under the eye and back to the collar bone.

Assess you desire for food. The number of taps isn’t crucial, nor is the order of things correct. It is the activity itself which works.

Week 3 Busting Your Cravings
If you have a weakness for some favorite unhealthy food, this visualization technique might help. The premise for this is, the body doesn’t differentiate between a vivid fabricated image and a real experience.

So picture in your head your most disliked food. The thing that starts a gag reflex at the thought of it. (for me its peas, When I was a child I actually vomited during lunch when my mom forced me to eat peas. It was the last time she did it, though.)

Close your eyes and visualize eating them. Do the action of sticking your fork into the plate lifting it to your mouth, then chew. At the same time squeeze your left thumb and index finger together. Continue squeezing your fingers together until the exercise ends. Now add to this, whatever manner of revolting stuff you wish. He suggested hair clippings from a barbershop, spittoon juice or worms. Continue to put your fork in and eat. Then add your desired food, say chocolate for instance. When you are completely grossed out, you may stop. Asses your craving. The next time you have a craving for this food, simply press together your left hand thumb and index finger. Your visualized experience will remind the body of the disgusted feelings you experienced during the exercise.

The good thing about this, is you can do the same thing for energy or happiness. Visualize a wonderful experience you had, remember and feel the feelings. Draw upon many memories if you wish. While doing this, squeeze your right hand thumb and index finger together. Next time you need a boost or an emotional pick me up just squeeze those same fingers together. Cool!
For more information on Paul Mckenna or his program visit http://tlc.com/thin

See my post on weeks 4 and 5 of I Can Make You Thin

I have been hiding out for a couple of days. I fell and may well have cracked a rib. (Apparently I don’t bounce as well as I used to.) So I am taking yet another personal day to recuperate just a bit. I am not really in much pain unless I laugh, breath too deeply or God forbid, sneeze. Sleeping is really the only thing that hurts. Well . . . not sleeping exactly. Its more the rolling over bit. I really am working on some actual posts that deal with either art, animals or living the creative life. (just not for today)

Since I am trying to rest up, I have spent the past 36 hours or so, horizontal on the couch. I watched a couple of intrigueing shows last night. The first was Dumped on BBC America. 10 people are dropped off in the middle of a landfill and will spend the next 3-4 weeks, living off the refuse of others. At the moment, they get their food and water supplied (I have a suspicion, that may come to an end at some point.) But everything else, including housing, bathroom facilities, pots & pans and household supplies are rummaged for. The goal, is that at the end of their time, they will have created a totally sustainable living on the landfill. The whole project is to raise awareness about what we toss away and our impact on the planet.

I must add, they have an artist in the group. And as an working artist, I am a little disconcerted by what their artist is up to. While others are rummaging to create better living conditions for the group, she is off making a sculpture, in the belief that her art will make a statement about what they are doing. Now, while I like her spiritual and artistic mentality, I find it annoying that she leaves most of the mundane tasks to the others, while she creates. Sort of that stereotypical artist living off the community (government). Expecting that creating art, is a fair exchange for shelter and living necessities. I am probably just transferring my own issues about artists who spend their time between creating art and writing grants to sustain them. So I better drop the subject.

The other show was I Can Make You Thin with Paul Mckenna on TLC. Apparently, he is some relatively famous British diet guru. His mantra, “eat all you want and what you want and still lose weight.” (yeah, I know. . . let the rolling of eyes commence.) It is a 5 week series. And I am curious enough, that I think I will follow along.

Week 1.
The 4 Golden Rules.
1. Eat when your hungry. The reason behind this is if you ignore hunger, your body thinks it is being starved. It slows your metabolism and then when you do eat. It stores as much as it can as fat for future starvation.

2. Eat what you want. He say anything goes. If you want to live on pizza and potato chips, have at it. Toss out any foods you eat because you think you should. Toss anything you don’t like. (I am a diabetic, so I can’t truely do this part.)

3. Eat consciously. Eat slowly, chewing 20 times per bite. Put down your utensils between bites. Do not watch tv or read. Be in the moment while eating. If you are distracted, you don’t notice the full signal, your body is sending.

4. When your full, stop eating.

Sounds easy enough. I think I can manage the eating slow bit. But we eat our dinner in front of the tv every night. Most often because we eat later at night and since we have a really busy lifestyle, it is kinda guilt free tv. (I’m big into multitasking.) It should be an interesting experiment. If you want more information visit, the TLC website.

Upcoming Posts
I have spent much of today, elbow deep in art fair applications. Not a task I enjoy. I am waiting on the UPS man, to bring me a fresh batch of slides for the half dozen or so apps, (which are not yet taking digital submissions) that I need to get out in the next week. (Yes, I did put them off to the last minute again this year. But hey, I was painting!)

I have finished my portrait of Catch and will post a pic of it completed, after Carol has received her painting. Plans are already underway for the next horse painting. I will get some WIP’s up just as soon as I begin.

Also, I have plans on discussing a couple of ways to frame oil pastel paintings, (since it has some special requirements) sometime in the next 10 days.

Warmer Weather
I just returned from a lovely walk. At 5pm it was still 45 degrees. Ah! This kind of weather fills a girls head with visions of Spring. The snow is melting and the birdies are singing. Chicory is dozing in the sun and the barn kitties are frolicking. (Umm. . .well, not quite frolicking exactly. More like, establishing a dominance hierarchy for the upcoming breeding season. But that just doesn’t have an idyllic ring to it.)

Anywho, totally gorgeous outside and the forecast is for warmer weather still. Wahoo!

Reality TV
Now I am not talking about those shows where they put a dozen hormonally pumped, morally challenged young people in a house, and wait to see what mayhem ensues. (If I was into that sorta thing, I would just watch the barn cats frolick.)

What I am talking about is, creative challenge type shows like Bravo’s Project Runway. (Love this show, every single season of it.) Unfortunately this season came to an end last week. The good news . . . Bravo is replacing it with Top Chef. (again, Love it!) Considering I am not much into cooking, I do seem to like the cooking shows. Top Chef, The Last Restaurant Standing, Iron Chef and as already discussed, anything with Gordon Ramsey. (particularly Kitchen Nightmares and The F Word)

Luxury and Features

I finally got myself a new drafting chair. Isn’t it lovely. (insert angelic chorus here) The one I had, was one that came with my drafting table. And being as aged as it was, it had seen better days. It was covered in miscellaneous stains and oil pastel smears. As well as the seat and backrest where snagged and chewed on, by not one but two teething kittens. Also, the occasional bolt kinda stuck through the wafer thin padding, and poked me bum. (I’ve been watching a little too much Brit TV of late.) But the clincher was when a wheel popped off. (Yeah, that pretty much makes it junk.)

So we went shopping for a new chair. Now while this isn’t say . . the Cadillac of drafting chairs (I passed on the leather). It is still a fine example of comfort and luxury. And in keeping with the car metaphor, my last chair was more like an 80’s pinto. Tough, small, occasionally difficult, and not pretty to look at. It did the job, but it didn’t make you want to pet it when you walked by.

But my new chair, makes me sigh with blissful contentment. I mean really, just look at the fully adjustable thick padded seat and huge supportive backrest. Admire, its opulent size and sturdy construction. Caress, the lovely scotch-guarded fabric with that new chair smell. Oh, and did I mention it comes with features (Oh. . . features) and a 3 year warranty. Not some cheapo warranty either. Complete coverage, short of me hitching up Chicory and using it for buggy rides.

Now if it just had a cup holder, heated shiatsu massage and a motor, I would never leave it.