Crush, Johnny Cash and Jason Mraz

Thursdays are becoming a natural release date for new 8x8s... that means tomorrow I'll be posting All Is Well and Something Beautiful (possibly Earthen, too, but we'll see :))

Crush was released yesterday and I'm pleased to be receiving great feedback so far, here is the completed painting (left) and it's very simple statement:

The emotion I feel for my children can sometimes only be described as falling head over heals ~ again and again.

See and learn more about Crush here:
http://www.kmberggren.com/g163.htm

Now, what do I have to say about Jason Mraz? Mostly about his song I'm Yours, let's start at the beginning.

A few weeks ago, Vancouver's North Bank Magazine released a profile of my art and me talking about my art and the opportunity to show your personality through your art (be it fine art or music or...) I can be quoted as saying "when you get to a (certain) stage in your career, you have more leeway, you want your personality to show". I use Johnny Cash as an example. Read the article here: http://www.kmberggren.com/inthenews.htm#nb

The Johnny Cash song I'm referring to (in the article) is Jackson, and at one point in the song, while June Carter Cash is singing (my ipod has become exhausted for the night, so I'm pulling this from memory) "yah go to Jackson..." Johnny flirts "mmmm-hmmmmm" to her, causing her to laugh mid-lyric. I love that ~ it's my favorite part in the song.

And now, I use Jason Mraz (http://jasonmraz.com/) as an example - in his song I'm Yours (which I have recently added to my ipod and have been listening to over and over) he uses the words "reckon" and "bestest" in the same sentence - the fact that he can use "bestest" and grace us by tucking his laugh into the song a couple times just pleases me! He is showing me his personality and lack of insecurity, and I'm responding by wanting to hear his whole collection.

When we begin an endeavor, we strive to be so perfect and not make any mistakes, but at a certain point, we realize that our "clan" or followers want to experience our true personality, our true self - they want to be there when we let go and refuse to be held back by fear (of success or failure), when we feel the free will to laugh, or even flirt, mid-song.

I'm not saying that I have reached this level, and this is not a new idea, I know. This is me maneuvering my way into and around the concept of complete freedom of expression and confidence.

I've been saying it for double-digit years: act as if ~ confidence is key ~ success begets success.

And just why IS Jason Mraz looking at his tongue in the mirror? :)

Have a great night. Love, Katie