main UnZipped Surrealism painting art write up

Unzipped (Art Write-Up)

by tiffanyVisual artPosted on No Comments
  • UnZipped Surrealism painting
  • UnZipped Surrealism painting overview
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  • close up UnZipped Surrealism painting
  • UnZipped Surrealism painting

Title: Unzipped
Size: 14 x 11
Medium: Acrylic paint on Canvas
Finished Date: Early 2017
Summary:  Unzipped  is my first surrealism painting came when rains came after a long drought. The change in weather gave new life to the land and showed me that life can be renewed even after a long rest and struggle.

Write Up

Inspired by surrealism I painted an image that came to be while driving home after a rain storm.

California was is a drought and before the rains came everything looked dead and dry. We then had heavy rain fro at least two weeks. It seemed like the days the rains stopped nature came back to life. Everything was green and colorful again. 

It was as though the sky unzipped and brought life back.

In this painting I captured the wonderful feeling that the rain brought. It was as though we were transported to a different land. 

Over half the painting has blues and greens with touches of red, yellow and a bit of brown. The other half, where the rain has not reached, is filled with gray and tan. There is no life vegetation where there is no rain.

The could that is being unzipped also takes up a large portion of the dry section. It gives a hope that the rain is coming, but also shows that more focus is on the rain when there isn’t any.

This painting is split, but should give you hope. Rain will come when it is needed and breath new life into the same land, so even if things seem gloomy, dark, and dead keep the hope alive. Life can be renewed.

More information

This painting it is for sale on eBay.

I have a section on this site if you would like to explore more of my visual art.

Poetry visual image for poem

Not Lost (A Poem)

by tiffanymy creative self, PoetryPosted on No Comments

I am not lost
Yet I will journey on.
My path leads into the depths,
into the forest of understandings;
Like a tree rooted in family
but growing towards the sky with each passing experience.
A bird who has freedom to fly
still returns to her nest.

I walk on, learning more of me,
seeing different sides.
I am a diamond with a multitude of facets,
a puzzle I’m piecing together.
I am not lost,
yet I still journey on.

I do regularly publish poems on my site and post poetry readings on YouTube.

God Shows Up blog series

Getting Confirmed – God Shows Up

by tiffanyGod Shows Up, LifePosted on No Comments

The lead up to The confirmation process:

I grew up with a base knowledge of Christianity through Catholicism. I would go to St. John’s Catholic church most Sundays. I don’t remember ever paying attention. Instead, I would sit in the pews and doodle back and forth with my sister.

When I started high school I was given the option of to be confirmed into the Catholic church. That seemed like the thing you were suppose to do, so in 9th grade I started the process.

I went to the classes that taught us the prayers and I guess religious knowledge. Nothing stuck. I do not know what I actually learned during those classes. I do remember that the classes took place in the basement of the school across the street from the church, and most of the time I felt pretty alone. I didn’t know anyone and I was shy. They all either went to the Catholic school or the public highs school. I went to a vocational high school and no friends from my junior high school went to these classes. I was the shy outsider.

In order to get confirmed you also had to do a certain amount of volunteer hours. I volunteered at a soup kitchen for community hours. Again, I didn’t feel like I quite belonged and didn’t know what I was doing. I just knew it was part of the process.

I finished all the requirements, but due to a scheduling issue I could not actually get confirmed with the classmates I had learned with. I was confirmed at my Memere’s church instead.

What happened shortly after confirmation:

Shortly after my confirmation I decided to look into my friend’s religion. I thought that if my faith was real it wouldn’t matter and I would be able to learn a different aspect of my friend. I soon found interest in this new religion and even started to believe in it. I chose to believe in what Wicca taught and became a pagan.

It took many years before I would even think about revisiting a church or remember that I was confirmed as a Catholic.

Looking Back:

Looking back, I turned away from Catholicism and Christianity, because I didn’t have a real faith. I also didn’t have a community that I could call my own. I felt more of a belonging with my Wicca friends, rather than my Catholic church.

My Catholic faith wasn’t really mine. I focused on what I ought to do with my Catholic faith. In contrast I focused on what I wanted while practicing Wicca. Both paths led me to finding who I truly am.

I needed to give away the gift of my faith to another religion, before being able to accept the gift of Christianity.

I do see God in all of this. He protected me through the years of disobedience and showed me the way to my own path.

If I didn’t go astray I wouldn’t be walking the path I am on now and would not have a deeper understanding of God or an actual relationship with the creator of the universe.

shoe poem visual art

Shoe (A Poem)

by tiffanymy creative self, PoetryPosted on No Comments

I once had a shoe.
Well, I had two.
The one that stayed lost her boo.
I do not know what to do.
I think it got on a plane and flew.
It must have gone all the way to Timbuktu.
I looked high and low, even under a tutu,
but nowhere could I find my other shoe.

Want More?

If you would like to read more of my poetry please take a look at my portfolio or watch a few of my poetry readings.

God Shows Up blog series

Testimony – God Shows Up

by tiffanyGod Shows UpPosted on 2 Comments

My true Christian life started on the cliffs in California.

I had moved to California with four friends after I graduated from college. We moved here for freedom, fun, and the beautiful weather. There was no positive thoughts of God or religion. The group of us didn’t really talk about that stuff much.

After 3 months of living in a pretty chaotic house together and struggling, things began to change. We all smoked and I did not think much about what at the time was a random stoner conversation that would eventually be the catalyst for the change.  The group decided it would be good to do a spiritual exploration study. Each of us were going to study a religion to find out what they all had in common.

Only the person who took Christianity actually studied. He soon decided to go to a local church.

One night he and another housemate had a conversation. By the end of the night God showed up and made Himself real to that friend.

The next day my life truly changed

The next day we walked to the cliffs that over looked the pacific ocean. While meditating I asked the universe for a sign. I made it a point to myself that I was meditating and not praying. I didn’t really want Christianity to be true. After a moment I heard a whisper of a thought suggest opening the Bible that my friend brought.

My friend brought a Bible with us, so I got up and asked him if I could use it. With the Bible in my possession I sat back where I originally was. I wasn’t to going to actually open it to a certain page or passage. How could I? I never really read the Bible before, so I didn’t know where to find any good scriptures.

The wind played and flung the pages. The breeze died down momentarily and stopped at Psalm 64, which in the New King James version says, “Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation.”

It was the word meditation that got me. Then it was as though my soul breathed for the first time.

Healthy Bagel blog series

Healthy Bagel Confession

by tiffanyHealthy BagelPosted on No Comments

I have a confession I must share with you. I’ve already had set backs on this journey.

In the past month I’ve wanted to quit . My mental focus has been on my setbacks. It’s hard to start a new lifestyle. It’s hard to continually put the effort towards being healthy. That is what this whole thing is about. I’m really on a quest to find and live the healthiest lifestyle for myself.

I want to be healthy and be the type of person who just naturally chooses the healthy options. It would be great if I just naturally ate less sugar and less carbs. I would be happy if it was easy to decide to go for a run every morning.

Of course if that was the case then I wouldn’t be writing this blog or on this journey. I’m sure I will learn more and more things as I decide to do the hard, but healthy things.

The end result and quest itself may look different for you, but I hope you jump on this band wagon with em. It’s hard and the wagon may break down sometime, but it is worth the journey.

Even with the stumbles and set backs I have noticed a few changes, that no one else has noticed, yet. The changes have been slight, but they’re there. I’ve starting to see that my muscles have the desire to show themselves. They’re still shy and hiding behind a couple layers of fat. I’m also noticing my clothes are growing.

I’m still in the orange zone (191-199lbs), but honestly feeling okay with my progress at this moment. I currently have a great amount of energy, which is why I am feeling good about my progress.

1st Thing I’ve learned

Being emotionally, physically, or mentally drained are the cause of my setbacks. Willpower does take energy, so it makes sense that when I don’t have a lot of energy my willpower depletes quickly.

2nd Thing I’ve learned

I have also learned that when I eat like crap I feel like crap. If I eat sugar or carb filled stuff at night I’ll wake up feeling low or emotionally heavy, which makes me want to grab for a quick fix. The quick fix of course is sugar and carbs, which will help for a bit, but just repeats the blah feeling.

It’s also easier for me to continue to eat things I know is not healthy, because I swear sugar and carbs mess with my sleep.

I was eating clean, or clean for me, for a week; checking the sugar and carbs in everything and restricted my carb intake. I felt great and woke up fully refreshed, which I didn’t even realize was an issue.

Why Being Nice To Yourself Is Important

I had one or two slip ups, but regained control after my clean eating week. I still had plenty of emotional and mental energy to pull myself together.

Things were going well for about a week after that and then outside forces emptied my tanks of their energy. I’m slowly refilling my energy tanks, but as they fill I’m focusing on being kind to myself.

I don’t want to forgive myself for eating a pint of ice cream in one sitting or having pancakes with extra honey, but I know I should.

After I convince myself I need something unhealthy or eat too many desserts I need to forgive myself and move on. Holding on to regret or guilt, only makes me want to eat junk food more. Junk food can be a quick fix and fast comfort, but it’s fix and comfort fades just as fast.

I’m not giving up on my health though. I am re-evaluating and adjusting what I’m doing.

Like any goal or achievement you aim for you need to stay focused on the achievement, but be flexible on how you get there.

Poetry visual image for poem

Relax Your Face (A Poem)

by tiffanyPoetryPosted on No Comments

Let the sun shine on your face
feel my warm embrace,
as I smile and say
‘You can breathe
life is not a race.’

Relax with who you are.
Do not set high the bar.
You have your dreams,
you hold tight to your standards
yet true happiness and joy is not that far.

So let the sun shine on your face
and relax with who you are.

I do regularly publish poems on my site and post poetry readings on YouTube.

God Shows Up blog series

Introduction to God Shows Up

by tiffanyGod Shows UpPosted on No Comments

To those who do not believe in God He may be a fictional character, distant, or dead. To those who have experienced the real and true God He is very much alive, real, and desires a relationship with His followers. Those who believe in God are His children and each have a different experience with Him.

I have experienced the God of the Bible, and I have a relationship with him. I know He hears my prayers, because He has answered them in His perfect timing.

For a while I’ve wanted to share the love I feel and the experiences I’ve had with God. I was not sure how I would do this. What would be the best way of spreading God’s love? How should I explain the truths of the Bible that I know first hand?

I finally asked an important question. What do people I know want to read? The answer was that at least one person wanted to read about the experiences I’ve had with God.

In this series I will start with that idea, but also expand it. I will be writing stories of answered prayers, times God showed up in my life, and what my spiritual life looks like. Eventually I may even branch out and write about God showing up in other believers’ lives.

Some weeks I will focus on telling a story about my experience, other weeks I will focus on explaining an important area of my spiritual life, and finally other weeks there will be a combination of those styles.

I do hope you enjoy the story of how I see God show up and please, let me know what you think.

Thank you for reading.

Simple Rose (Art Write-Up)

by tiffanyVisual artPosted on No Comments

Title: Simple Rose
Size: 5 x 7 inches
Medium: Acrylic paint of canvas
Finished Date: Finished 2014, gallery wrap 2017
Summary: As the title suggests this was a simple and quick rose. The main purpose of it was to experiment with painting a flower

Write Up:

This is one of my first canvas paintings. I was focused on technique, which is why it is so simple.

It is simple and singular, with only one red rose with a steam and two  small leaves. The beauty is in its simplicity.

As you can see the background is blue and teal. It was created by a crisscross wet blended method. I had only done this technique on larger surface areas and I was pleased with how well it transferred to this smaller area.

The stem’s technique is a gradual shading using a pale green for where the light source hit and a more brown shade of green for the shadowed areas.

For the rose itself I used a crimson base with white for the light and purple for the shade.

For years I would look at this painting and wonder why it did not seem complete. I was at a loss about what was missing and how to improve the art piece. I wanted to keep it simple, but it needed something more. In 2017, I added the gallery wrap. Instead of blue or teal, which would have been in line with what a gallery wrap’s purpose is, I chose red. This small detail makes the painting look and feel complete. It is just enough contrast to give the simple painting another element.

Healthy Bagel blog series

Introduction to Healthy Bagel

by tiffanyHealthy BagelPosted on No Comments

My story is not uncommon when it comes to weight loss and healthy living. Like most I’ve tried a few different methods to weighing less.

I know the basic knowledge of all healthy diets and weight loss programs.

  1. The less processed a food is the better
  2. Eat less calories than you burn, but you need nutrients and a certain amount of calories to not go into starvation made.
  3. Exercise is important, so you should be active.

I know these things, but it takes something else to actually make that knowledge count for something. It takes self-disciple, will power, and commitment.

Healthy living is a life-style change that I am making. Unlike other times I’m doing something different. I’m committing to working on all of me,  not just my physical self.

My idea is that as I work towards my physical health I will also look at my emotional and mental health. This will help me create a true life-style change and not just a temporary diet/ exercise adjustment.

I will start by posting a “Healthy Bagel” post once a month and then increase as I have time and need. Most of the posts will focus on my physical health journey, but I will also add in thoughts about my mental health, since your body and mind are intricately intertwined.

Before I leave you I should note that I have already made progress on my journey. It started a couple years ago, but I am just now truly moving down this path to my healthiest self and joining in both inner and outer health together. It was like I stepped on the path to health 2 years ago and studied it, but only took a couple steps. Now I am steadying walking down it.