Poet of the Month - Gwendolyn Brooks - Inspirational Shorts - Episode 220

Welcome to the third week of poetry by Gwendolyn Brooks as part of Inspirational shorts Episode 220 on the podcast. 

The word today is Personal

of De Witt Williams on his way to Lincoln Cemetery

BY GWENDOLYN BROOKS

He was born in Alabama.

He was bred in Illinois.

He was nothing but a

Plain black boy.

Swing low swing low sweet sweet chariot.

Nothing but a plain black boy.

Drive him past the Pool Hall.

Drive him past the Show.

Blind within his casket,

But maybe he will know.

Down through Forty-seventh Street:

Underneath the L,

And Northwest Corner, Prairie,

That he loved so well.

Don’t forget the Dance Halls—

Warwick and Savoy,

Where he picked his women, where

He drank his liquid joy.

Born in Alabama.

Bred in Illinois.

He was nothing but a

Plain black boy.

Swing low swing low sweet sweet chariot.

Nothing but a plain black boy.

Check out some of Gwendolyn's Books on Amazon

Find her books on Amazon

You can check out more about Gwendolyn Brooks, her life and other poetry on the Poetry Foundation Website - HERE

Join me each week on the podcast - HERE

Thank you for joining me, stay blessed and be a blessing!

Poet of the Month - Gwendolyn Brooks - Sadie and Maud - Inspirational Shorts Podcast

Gwendolyn Brooks - Sadie and Maud, Inspirational Shorts

This week on the podcast I am sharing another poem by poet Gwendolyn Brooks.  In Episode 217 of my podcast you will here the poem Sadie and Maud.  

Listen to the podcast

Joyful

Art Journal Page - Amanda Trought

The word for the day is Joyful.  

Think about how the word can be incorporated into the things that you do and create an art journal page linking the word.

Let's look at the definition of the word joyful - 

• joyful feeling or causing great pleasure and happiness
•  with joy great pleasure and happiness,
•  a cause of great pleasure and happiness success or satisfaction.

Now how is it you feel about your creativity? 

Can you find those pockets of feeling joyful or joy and think about how you can find those little moments in your creativity because sometimes you just don't feel like creating.  

Sometimes you know you want to do something else but if you think about the creativity as a blanket so whether you going to your studio sear your table or wherever your space is and create something or write something or take a photograph it's all part creativity so it's all feeding you, feeding that 'well' that you can dip in-and-out of and grow.

Poet - Gwendolyn Brooks

“Poetry is life distilled.” ― Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks - Sadie and Maud

This week is the 2nd week of looking at the work of poet Gwendolyn Brooks, so today the poem that we are going to read is called Sadie and Maud. 

Sadie and Maud 

Maud went to college 

Sadie stayed at home 

Sadie scraped life 

with a fine-tooth-comb 

she didn't leave a tangle 

in her comb found every strand 

Sadie was one of the Livingest 

chit in all the land

Sadie bore two babies 

under her maiden name 

Maud and ma and papa 

nearly died of shame 

When Sadie said her last so long 

her girls struck out from home 

Sadie had left her heritage 

in her fine-tooth-comb 

Maud who went to college 

is a thin Brown mouse 

she is living all alone 

in this old house 

Gwendolyn Brooks - Sadie and Maud

You can find some of her book on Amazon

Find her books on Amazon

You can check out more about Gwendolyn Brooks, her life and other poetry on the Poetry Foundation Website - HERE

Join me each week on the podcast - HERE

Thank you for joining me, stay blessed and be a blessing!

Thanks for joining me - Amanda!!

Podcast Weekly Episodes 201 & 202

Welcome and a Happy Friday to you.

In this post I will be sharing two episodes of this weeks podcast.  The Arts and Wellness Wednesday and the Inspirational Shorts where I will be sharing a review.  I hope you are able to listen to them and get some useful takeaway pieces of information.

Arts and Wellness Wednesday 

I share events that are taking place in the UK and you may find useful to your creative practice - 

• Developing Your Creative Practice funding, ACE – rolling deadlines 
• Creative and Credible: An Introduction to Arts and Health Evaluation – 18 & 19 March 2020 
• Cloth and Creativity in African-Atlantic Cultures

We have our Artists Studio Tours on 14th and 15th March - I am location 15 on the map and it would be great to see you &
Caribbean Fine Art Fair on the 11th March to 15th March
both not to be missed

Inspirational Shorts

For today's Inspirational Shorts I will be reviewing a Bees wax product that you can do a range of creative projects with, alongside candle wax and petroleum.  I have been using them for some small batik projects alongside semi-encaustic on pastels.  I will be sharing more with you.  I am using a simple oil burner with tealights, which makes the wax melt fairly quickly.

You can listen to the podcast episode below as well as watch the video and see the products.

Here is the video

inspirational Shorts - Video Review Series - Mod Podge Review

Welcome, today I will be sharing Episode 188 of Inspirational Shorts where I review the art supply Mod Podge sharing with you how I use it and other varieties of mod podge that has been created.  The word for the day is Brave, so it is to also look at your creative life, or activities and see where you either have been brave or need to be brave

Listen to the Podcast

Watch the Video

We all need to step out of our comfort zones at times and try something new, or take our art into a different direction.  Learn about a new artist or get some supplies in that you are new to.  

Get out your art journal and maybe create a page that has tapped into the answers to some of the questions that you might be asking yourself as you decide where the next brave steps will lead you to.

Stay blessed and be a blessing.

Inspirational Shorts - Humility

Humility

Inspirational Shorts are a great way for you to get a quick creative reminder at how precious and loved you are.  There is also a need to remind yourself that you have to love yourself unconditionally, with all your faults - no body is perfect despite what they are telling you.  Today's word is Humility, you can listen to the recording on the Podcast below, and also read it to confirm what your heart already knows

Today is a great day for starting over, there is no weakness in change, it shows great strength. You have to have faith and believe that growth will take place, worry not about what others will do or say, but fix your mind on where you must begin and the journey you will take, you hold the keys!

I hope that you have found something that you can take away in the recording today to inspire and motivate you to be all you dream you to be and more!  One day, one action at a time.  Stay blessed and be a blessing.

Inspirational Shorts - Encouraging words for your week - Diversity

Welcome to the blog.  On my podcast today, while slightly late I posted an episode of Inspirational Shorts with the title Diversity, and also included some encouragement to help you go about your coming week.  We all need some encouragement from time to time, reminders of how far we have come, how precious we are and not to give up on ourselves.  I hope this short recording serves as the encouragement that comes just at the right time for you.

The title Diversity is a word 'just in time' or 'for this particular time' and it is for you to think about what that word means to you, the things that you are doing, does it remind you to do something, change something.  Does the word speak to your personal life or business life or both.  Take the encouraging words below as a reminder, and every now and then over the course of the week give yourself a reminder as you listen to the recording.

You are precious, a gift, you touch the heart of many. So many miracles have come from you - through your smile your warmth, your heart. Keep believing, patience is the key that comes in many forms and you hold the key to unlock the many blessings that are waiting for you. Everything will come together for good at the right time

Do remember to check out some of the links on the blog, check out my YouTube channel for encouraging videos to assist you in your creative journey.

Stay blessed and be a blessing.

Inspirational Shorts Episodes

Welcome to the Blog today where I share with you my latest podcasts.  I thought I would share with you some of the recordings from the most recent Inspirational Shorts.  Of course every episode is note worthy, but I wanted to make sure that you got your inspirational shot for the weekend.  We have such fast pace lives that it seems as if we only have minutes to 'Get the job done'!

Inspirational shorts is a 2 minute inspirational creative snack, that you can have on a weekly basis.  When you have more time, stop by the podcast on Mondays for some 'Creating in Faith, touching on why we do some of the things we do, and the Arts and Wellness Wednesdays, putting creativity in our lives, looking at what we can do/are doing as artists.  Let me know which one speaks to your creative spirit.

Episode 110

We all have something to be grateful for, and often those very small things that go unnoticed can mean the world of good for others.

Episode 109

Within this episode I talk about Forgiveness, the way that we move on, and sometimes the one that we find the hardest to forgive is ourselves.

Episode 106

The topic for this one is something that I am constantly reminding myself about and that is investing in my health.  We ask our bodies to do so much for us and we can treat it rather shabbily.  What have you done today that invested in your health?  I went to the beach, and it was a long time coming.  One of the bathers remarked that it looked as if I was in heaven, and for that moment It felt so good being in the water, it came close to heaven as I gazed out into the blue waters.  Think about what you are doing to invest in your health on a daily basis and let me know.  You can listen to the recording below.

Episode 103

In Episode 103 of the Podcast I shared about courage, and it is a gentle reminder, each week to step out of your comfort zone and just start.  You can listen by clicking on the image

What do you need courage for - where should I begin now?

Let me know how you get on and while you are at it you might choose to listen to some of the other episodes.  Do you have a creative topic that you would like some information about, are you stuck trying to find which creative turn to make.  Connect with me and I may be able to create a video or episode that speaks to an area that you are passionate about.

Take care for now and stay blessed.

Realityarts Podcast - Inspirational Shorts - Creativity

Welcome to the Podcast today, where I give a brief insight to Creativity and spending time in a creative activity.  We all have the ability to use creativity in our day to day, and I hope that you will be able to find time to yourself to uncover what type of things you are drawn to.  I hope you enjoy the recording below and notes for your information

Can you see the gifts that you have within you, all that creativity in all its glorious forms within you. When we spend time in creative play and have some understanding of what our purpose is we often see glimpses of the gifts that we have waiting to be birthed. 

They can often be disguised and it isn’t until something happens that we realize that the strength, skill, or gift we needed was right there all along. You don’t have to be an artist to be creative, it is within each of us. You have to find the right tools to enable you to use your creativity in the way that will work for you. 

Do not settle for less than you know you are worth, spend some time in a creative pursuit and allow your gifts to surface.

If you are interested in a creative activity check out my YouTube Channel for creative projects and videos.

Creativity, and Mixed Media Art

Also check out some of Creative Live Courses, they have free live videos on a variety of subjects that may wet your taste appetite!

Mixed Media Play Date

Come and join us, you can now get $25

Sign up HERE

So with that take the time to see what kind of things that you might enjoy.  The posts and podcasts over the past few weeks all seem to have flown together.  I look forward to sharing more with you over the coming week.

Stay blessed and be a blessing.

Listening - Thought for the Week - 52 Weeks of Colour

Thought for the Week

 

Your blessings are waiting for you, it is never to late to turn things around, you just have to decide what you are going to do and make the step. 

Above all, you need to listen to your heart and take time to nurture the dreams that live within you.  What have you been 'hearing' that you now need to 'listen' to? 

Listen to the Podcast

Never fear shadows. They simply mean there’s a light shining somewhere nearby. ...Unknown 

"Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."  Psalm 37:5

Additional Things to do...

Spend time meditating on the words and allowing them to permeate your inner consciousness.

Think about the changes you would like in your own life and the step or steps you would like to take. Take out your art journal and be creative, use colour, texture, whatever you feel inspired to use.

I love to hearing from listeners and you can connect with me on a number of platforms

Amanda Trought on Social Media (Realityarts):

www.youtube.com/amandatrought

twitter.com/Realityarts

www.instagram.com/realityarts/

www.facebook.com/realityartss/

http://realityarts-creativity.blogspot.com