Marc Cohn wrote this song

One Safe Place

How many roads you’ve traveled
How many dreams you’ve chased
Across sand and sky and gravel
Looking for one safe place

Will you make a smoother landing
When you break your fall from grace
Into the arms of understanding
Looking for one safe place

Oh, life is trial by fire
And love’s the sweetest taste
And I pray it lifts us higher
To one safe place

How many roads we’ve traveled
How many dreams we’ve chased
Across sand and sky and gravel
Looking for one safe place

I found this and the last post (with the poster of me) in my draft folder and decided to follow thru with posting them. i also found a one sentence saved draft that said, "this week i turn 50 and i'm scared"... that was over  year ago. deep thinking about that going on here

this song is so poignant to me right now... i am beginning some really great work with my t and it entails find a deep connection with a safe place. the picture at the header of my blog is where i chose to "go."  you can't see it in the photo but i have my feet sticking out over the canyon edge, this is a place on the utah end of the grand canyon... breath taking and sooo wonderful because you drive the canyon to the top. sitting there i felt as though i was claiming a part of my own freedom that i had lost. colorado is my hearts homeland and going there on my own terms was so powerful. connecting with the reality of my youth, the tactile solid proof that i was indeed a kid once and i was someone who mattered even if no one around me helped me to feel that way. safety wasn't part of my reality then and even now i struggle to believe it is real, or can be real...

wow, it has been forever! I have been busy at times and not so busy at other times...

i am still making art, so happy about that... almost filled two sketch books and i want to share my art on campus. can't seem to get the director of our art dept to follow through on her previous approval but there is an opportunity to submit some of my art to a general presentation of students in our gallery. guess i will go for that.

have you ever heard of a book called "wreck this journal" by Keri Smith?  it is one awesome art journal that gives you leading prompts open to your own interpretation  
i have worked on my own over 2 years now and have purchased and mailed out several others to friends. funny thing, when you mail them you tape the book itself shut and address it and take it to the post office. even if you buy your own i highly recommend doing this first because the book is only going to grow as you add your own fabulous expressions to it.

the pic here is of a page i did in one of my good friend's book, and she did one in mine too. this is also a fun addition. one of the prompt asked for me to ask strangers to draw on the page and i decided to do so in my local art museum... it was very cool to do something like that with ppl who already have a great appreciation for the artistic spirit!

well.... i'm off of here. i plan to post more art and more often.

lovingly

poster of pursuation- child abuse prevention mingled w/ a bit of my story

well,  most of the hits on my blog have been in search of child abuse info so i decided to bite the bullet and post my most persuasive child abuse prevention work... yes, it is about me, and that is a picture of me a long long time ago.

if you save it or print it and post it... PLEASE let me know... it is a personal gift i am offering and i would really like to know that it is being used in a positive way.

if you are looking for help be sure to click on the poster and read the fine print at the bottom of the page. i hope this poster makes people think... about not abusing and getting help instead... and about surviving despite their own family history, to become a healthy, happy, thriving individual.  it is hard work... but it is so worth while.

lovingly,
coral

maymester course at Chatham taught by professional artist, Pat Lasch



Pat Lasch instructed by demonstration
(though this is not me, this is the process i went through, see previous post)

 



a mask i made of a fellow student



a casting made by using the skin mask as a mold

the process of making the casting of my face utilized plaster strips dipped in fairly fluid plaster we hand mixed and then layering strips on face very liberally. special care was taken to seal the eyes with vaseline (plaster will burn the eye) and to coat the face and hairline with a smooth layer of vaseline as well (this allows for easier release without removing/pulling hair out). it is obviously imperative to leave the nose open for breathing!



this skin mask that Professor Pat was making, as pictured above,can be used as a mold. you can do this by  carefully sealing the nose holes with soft clay (you can also fill any air pockets created when making the skin mask for a smoother casting) the inside of the skin mask is then coated with murphy's oil soap by dipping a wet paint brush and lathering it onto the inside of the mask. plaster is then mixed (note: the warmer the water used when mixing plaster the faster the plaster will set) and the plaster was poured into the mask in graduating layers as the plaster thickened; the plaster is continuously monitored and coaxed into filling the mask without running out. (add a bent paperclip for a hanger before it is set-up). once set-up the mask is left over night to dry completely and then the skin mask is pulled away from the plaster. the skin mold will only be good for one "perfect" casting but you can use it more for "warped" castings if desired.



Any flaws in the casting can be corrected by using spackling compound, thinned with water and painted on, applied thick, or you may use the light weight kind. this process can also be used to smooth the casting out to very smooth surface by very fine sanding of the dried spackled piece.

pictured above is the raw cast of my own face as it was taken right out of the skin mask. the brown is from the soft clay that i used to fill the little air pockets in the skin mask.



"camouflage"

This mask was the original mask that Pat Lasch made of my face. I used more plaster strips and a twig (as instructed) to add texture and then i chose to paint the dried mask with craft acrylic paints.



hand sculpture of three separate parts of the face (other student's modeled for the ear and eye and i sculpted my own mouth by looking in a mirror)



we used pottery clay to create the separate parts of the face. it was interesting to learn (by repetitive instruction and guidance) to see the face as it really is not as we perceive it to be... take a moment and really look close at the eyes, mouth, and ears of people you meet today... notice how very different the 'construction' of these parts are and how they vary in size, color and shape from what you expect them to be. then try to create what you have learned... it really is very enlightening!

these projects were fun and i really learned a lot about the process' and form.  i also personally connected with my art with ease. i believe that a workshop on plaster casting and/or self-sculpture would be very appropriate and helpful in an art therapy setting.  

hope all is well with my visitors! leave me a note and/or a link to your work  :O)

lovingly,

})i({ coral

the cocoon })i({

"so i went to class a few minutes late... (rush hour... grrrr) and just as i was walking in my instructor (who i had met the day b4) was talking about me, she remembered my name correctly (bonus points for her!) and so i was set in the midst of them and she proceeded to teach them how to plaster cast a face (my face :O) )
it began with her smothering my face and bordering hair with Vaseline... she sang a bit of the ditty, "getting to know you, getting to know all about you..." as she did this... her voice and the experience all together lulled me into a pleasant place... it was oddly comforting to be behind the coolness and closeness of the mask... it fit my face perfectly... i could feel her pressing the cool plaster strips along all the nuances of my face.... i coulda' actually fallen asleep!

i think that having taken two instructional courses on Art Therapy has made me more in tune with the inner connections i make with so many differing parts of my life, most esp art... and the plaster casting reminded me of the hidden nature of the cocoon... one of the steps in the 'butterfly' symbology i have chosen to illustrate my own journey. my professor also mentioned the butterfly today in reference to the plaster setting once and only once; much to think on about that... so in that "cocoon" i felt safe and she was so gentle and the plaster was so inviting... it felt kinda like i had been safely tucked into that cocoon... and then she said... "...while we wait for coral to emerge again".... this was such an amazing connection for me... kind of a physical expression of my healing journey i have been on."

shadow, my new puppet

this is shadow, my puppet. I made her using a black and a grey handkerchief, the black was wrapped around wadded (in a ball) plastic shopping bags and secured with a tied bow.then i 'dressed her with the grey handkerchief. her white hair is a mini feather boa i secured with hot glue. i used sticky craft foam sheeting to make her hands that are connected to rods for puppetry and she has a rod into her head from underneath also. I hung two items under her clothes; one is a heart shaped chalk board that i wrote "i am afraid of the dark" as shadow's secret (this secret can be changed as needed), and she has a clear little bucket to keep other's secrets in. I created shadow for my art tx course but i wanted to make a puppet i could use someday in my counseling practice. Shadow is a very good secret keeper.

i hope you like her

lovingly, coral

W is for web

can you believe i hate spiders?

but some how doing this page made me feel control over my fears...

i included all the creepiest characteristics that i hate the most!