Real People - True Stories - Living Inspiring Lives - Creative Feature

Q- WHAT MAKES YOU TICK? What makes you come alive?

Absolute passion for all the things I believe strongly in with all my heart. Human, animal, environmental rights and art for example. What makes me come alive? It starts with passion and is ignited by inspiration which I express through creation.

Q- WHAT PUSHES YOU TO CREATE?

I'm not sure I would say I'm pushed to create although sometimes it feels that way when I'm working on something that's a collaboration instead of something uniquely my own.

I am, however, driven to create. I constantly get all these ideas that cause me to burn bright with excitement. I'd have no idea what I'd do with all of them if I didn't capture or express them on canvas, paper or with my camera.

Q- IF THERE WAS ONE THING YOU COULD NOT GO WITHOUT, what would that be?

That's a tough one. I'm sure my husband's ego would prefer me to say him and not things like chocolate, wine or creating but if I didn't choose creating I'm pretty sure I'd be a very different person who perhaps would no longer be in his peripheral vision. So it's really in everyone's best interest, especially mine, for me to choose creating. If I were without the ability to create: art, photography, writing, gardening, etc I'd be lost. Would I still have the inner burning desire that I have now, would it be extinguished or consumed?

Q- I ABSOLUTELY LOVE ALL OF THE WORKS YOU DO WITH POP ICONS. 

My favorites are "The Softer Side of Monsters Series"  and the Murray's Flower and the Bill Murray Series and the Big Bang Theory and Jack Nicholson....I could go on and on.  I love Vlad's Dandelion & Cecily's Habit, what is your affection for depicting these icons in this edgy yet softer way?

Ahh, The Softer Side of Monsters and Bill Murray. Well, I feel everyone has a softer more human side underneath all that personal armor. Layers, attributes, and talents that perhaps aren't always seen or appreciated.

With The Monster Series I wanted to give some tongue in cheek insight into what makes them loveable whether they're flawed or not. I even wrote some short back stories for them.

With the Bill Murray work I wanted to explore what I've already seen in articles about him. His inquisitiveness, his desire and ability to strive to live an authentic life although his profession makes that more of a challenge. I mean he's innately just a person, perfectly flawed, like the rest of us who just happens to have a hell of a lot more exposure.

Ultimately, whether we look like Bill Murray or a classic movie monster we are all unique, we have remarkable stories, and we desire and are worthy of love. 

The Softer Side of the Monsters Series

Q-  THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS I WANT TO ASK YOU ABOUT YOUR STYLE, your creative impulses, your life experiences.... I know you have been keeping a bucket list for some time now and you are about to check a big item off in the next month. Why do you have a bucket list? What does it signify for you? What does it mean to you to be able to check Italy off the list? 

Ultimately I was too lazy to make up my own name for my list and "Fan-frikkin-spectacular love of life events list" seemed too long.

Bucket list sort of appealed to the short and sweet. I have the list to serve as a reminder through daily distractions created by my monkey mind that I have more important things to accomplish in this life time than getting caught up in the daily fray. It's one of the ways I try to stay mindful of the bigger things.

To me it's a waking meditation. It signifies a pinpoint of focus of awareness. Albeit a large focus. If I can gently remain aware of the larger things that matter in my mind I figure this will help me with the smaller things that I can lose track of. (This is seemingly backwards but that's the kinda gal I am.) What does it mean that I get to check Italy off the list? Well, I could probably also write a book on this. But in the name of something that resembles brevity I'll just cheekily quote Julie Andrews' character Maria in the Sound of Music "So somewhere in my youth or childhood I must have done something good". All cheekiness aside it means all my hard "work" (for lack of a better term) has paid off and I'm on the right track.

Q - ART FOR ART'S SAKE  is a concept that is very near and dear to me in this lifetime. I'm wondering what does "Art for Art's Sake" mean to you? What are your thoughts on Art's place in this modern world?

Art for art's sake. I've heard a lot about this throughout the years starting in my first years of college and from other artists. In my earlier years I had less appreciation for things like the "process" of creating and thought art for art's sake was quite frivolous. I feel I've grown a lot and now understand them better because I'm now able to appreciate them.

I now understand the healing nature of creating art whether it's for a client or just the pure essence of creation. In my younger years I didn't understand myself and the fact that I embody the true meaning of creating art for art's sake. It's pure essence and expression of love. It's the perfect way to stay in moment to moment awareness.

If I could bottle it I'd like to be able to say I could share it with those in need because it's a way of enhancing self love and keeping depression, negativity and that pesky monkey mind at bay.  I think that some might say that art for art's sake doesn't have a place in this modern world but I know it has more a place than it ever has.

I can honestly say I believe that if more people took the time to practice the devotion of art for art's sake the world would be a better place.

It would create more self love which equates to more family love which equates to more community love which equates to more regional love and worldly love.

In the presence of pure love their can be no hate. I have no idea who that quote belongs to but I feel it's the key to rocking our world.

Read the entire post on GOING TO ITALY:   {Its such a beautiful story I had to share it....} Sigh. Smile....

"So when I was a kid I was a bit of a shut in. I was the dork in elementary school that had the pile of books on her desk after the book order was delivered. I'd somehow contain my excitement as the co-mingled scent of ink on paper reached my nose. I'd then have to wait the longest few hours of my wee life to carry my precious books home. I'd then spend all my waking non school hours locked away in my room paddling and getting in trouble with Tom and Huck, solving mysteries with Nancy Drew, tumbling through closets into Narnia and burying beloved pet cats in the Pet Sematary. I would dream of these magical far away places and imagine one day I'd travel to them or at the very least have amazing far away adventures of my own.

When I hit college after high school the dreams and constant imaginings continued in my English Lit and Art History classes. I'd sit in the back of the class, blind and unable to see the projector without my glasses, spell bound by the stories my professors would regale us with. I'd take detailed notes and imagine the majesty of the architecture and classic paintings that were inches tall in books but, as I was told, spectacularly monumental in reality. I could never afford the pricy $200+ art text books in school let alone dream of affording to visit the places within them. I had earned a few small awards and scholarships but still had to work full time and apply for student loans. I relied on my notes and borrowing books whenever possible. When the finals for my classes came around the massive bound books were close to impossible to find so I approached one of my profs and asked if I could borrow hers if only for an evening. (Okay, I think my "asking" bordered on begging.) She paused before she spoke, looked me in the eye and said "You don't have a text book? How have you possibly been doing as well as you have in my course without a text book?" I looked down and responded "I take a lot of notes and use my imagination to build the places or works of art in my mind when I'm unable to borrow the book." I admitted abashedly. "I don't loan out my text book." She said as I awkwardly poked my toe at a suddenly intriguing spot on the floor "But I'll lend it to you. Please make sure you return it tomorrow." My jaw dropped as she handed me the book and turned back towards her desk. I quietly thanked her and left, amazed and grateful. I had escaped a sometimes unpleasant reality and imagined endless lifetimes in those books, never dreaming I'd ever get to experience any of it.

Years later, I have a bucket list I've been adding to and thinking and dreaming of over a lifetime. The list had grown to epic proportions but hadn't ever diminished. In the last few years I've been working on checking items off my the list. In the past year alone I've checked off five items. From seeing a classical opera to getting laser eye surgery so I could finally be a part of the world going on past my nose. This year will end and next year will begin with another item on the list becoming a reality. I can only imagine the lives and histories of those before me who have combed the catacombs, dreamed with the philosophers, painted masterpieces on chapel ceilings, paddled through canals, and stood mesmerized in front of artwork by the masters.

In less than a month one of my largest dreams will come true and we'll be moseying (more like skipping gleefully and holding hands like school girls) through Italy for several weeks for the holidays: Christmas and the new year. It's pretty surreal right now but it's coming up pretty fast and I can no longer contain my excitement and absolute gratitude at dreams coming true. WE'RE GOING TO FREAKIN' ITALY! *cue Chevy Chase & European Vacation music* Now that I've got all this out please continue with your Sunday evening odds n sods and television viewing."

Shari Mallinson