Felicita Studios

 

"Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, all the time!", shouted my dad while holding up my arms in the air, wrists flopping and waving around.  He use to do that when I was pouting or suffering from a self-conscious moment.  A smile would begin to crack around my mouth and as much as I tried to hold it in, I would eventually burst out in laughter, even if it was solely at myself.

If I could give that memory a name,  I would write Janice Hawkins all over it.  She is a person that exudes joyfulness with  acceptance.  She  delivers encouragement with understanding.  She was the first person I shared the ideas of my blog with, not because we were the closest of friends, but because her name immediately popped into my mind when I was searching for a supportive safe haven.  I knew that she would give me sound solid advice that I could rest my feet on, yet push me to reach out to that inspired  limb dangling over the 100 foot commonplace cliff.

It's only fitting that her business, Felicita Studios, does exactly that.  Fourteen years ago, she was given a dream and a vision for a working art studio.  Felicita means "happiness" and is the beginning of the fulfillment of that vision.  She added Studios because she works with numerous mediums in multiple studios.  Her projects and designs reach into events, weddings, fashion, interiors and more, but she also refers to each item created as a studio in itself.

She explains,    "... a place or point of inspiration in the person wearing, using or giving the item. It may become the source of inspiration for an event, a wedding, an outfit or a room design. Whatever it draws out of you, I hope it creates happiness in your life.
I love to design and create, but my calling is to encourage and help people discover their passion. I want to inspire people to live beautiful lives by awakening and validating the creativity in them.

 

I am easily inspired and I believe there is a lot of healing that God brings in our lives as we lay our hands to artistic endeavors. When people create together, a sense of community is strengthened that crosses generations and life giving connections are made. It is my desire to inspire and challenge myself and others toward excellence in all things."

Janice has always been surrounded by creativity and naturally gravitated towards the arts as a child.  Her talented mother planted the inventive seed and her grandmother, aunts, and a very special high school art teacher nourished and watered it.  By using her artistic abilities as her ministry, God has pruned and shaped her in such a way as to yield fruit with each piece, commission, and service that comes out of Felicita Studios.  She has always prayed before beginning any artwork, but it was a pivotal moment when her prayers changed from, "Lord, help me to design this to the best of my ability", to "Be my hands, be my eyes, Lord, and design this through me to bless those that I am creating this for."   
When she realized she WAS the tool of the Creator,  instead of relying on her ability to use tools to produce an art piece; her art changed from her level of ability to His.  Janice has this crazy inexplicable ability to generate extraordinary things in small amounts of time.  I can't remember how many times I've asked her, "How long did it take you to do this?"  And every time she answers, I'm amazed.  Even in crunch time, in the midst of  frenzied flurries of fabric and ribbon, she tries to remember that her branches are cut back for a reason; so that she may rely on Him more to produce something that reflects Him more.  She tells me, "In art, when someone is critiquing the piece, they can either worship the artist, worship the image, or worship God." One of her greatest desires is that her artwork points up before it points back at herself.  This must be why I feel so comfortable, cheerful, and carefree in her presence.  I know that even if I'm scared to share an idea in fear of rejection or awkwardness, she grabs my spirit by the wrists, and lifts it up, in a smile-inducing song of happiness!

Meander through all of the beautiful pieces Felicita Studios has available to purchase at the website, on facebook, and at the new Etsy page.  If you would like a custom upcycled gown, accessory, painting, event or decor item, just join her at the studio for some brainstorming and a cup of tea.  If all you need is direction and a little creative coaching to help you achieve your dream wedding, event, or favorite space, join a DIY workshop at the location of your choice and invite anyone you want to share in your magical making!

Kite Flyer Art

"With everything in me, I believe that art is entirely relational. My greatest desire is to depict humanity in a way that would make us reconsider how we interact with everyday life. We spend every moment of our lives entangled in a world around us.  Art should serve the purpose of causing us to pause, view something abstracted from the “every-day,” and then return us to those entangled lives to evaluate what we’ve just seen in relation to the world."  --Christina Steele
 

I am honored to have my sister-in-law, Christina Steele, as the first feature artist for the Hearts in the Arts page.  Her work truly moves the spirit and echoes through the soul.   I asked her when she first started getting interested in art and she could not think of a time that creating has not been woven through her very being. She might just wither away if she wasn't allowed to create anymore, surely from lack of artistic oxygen.  She recalls, "My mom couldn't throw anything away.  I used to pull the Pringles cans out of the trash and then justify their residence in my art box, to be repurposed in the future as part of a project.  It drove her absolutely crazy!" 

Christina was born in 1985 and grew up in Colorado.  Her art became more disciplined and intentional around the age of twelve.  She encountered and struggled through several difficult life-changing events, which led to numerous religious ventures, but none so dramatically altering as the grace of the Gospel.  Her art no longer depicted her ache, but now rejoices in the exchange for freedom.  Her freedom is her flight.  Her flight is symbolized in Kite Flyer Art. 

"Kite Flyer Art was birthed out of an early childhood desire to fly. I was never more right with the world than when I dreamt of flying or felt a strong gust of wind rip under the thin plastic wings of my kite to send it soaring."  Christina's pieces are significantly symbolic and she tends to focus on depth and context.  She describes herself as a sort of creative chameleon and absorbs her surroundings and environment, in turn, her work often features a quote, passage, or excerpt from some other artist.  Every part of her testimony can be seen in her brush strokes and ink lines.  From her most recent canvas to her earliest sketchbooks, they all tell a sequential story. "I was driven to use art as a conduit to communicate a relationship I had with the Lord that had gone to the very depths of who I was and brought life. Brought flight."  

You can see Christina's graphite, ink, oil, and acrylic fine art on her Etsy page, Kite Flyer Art.  Stop by to take a peek at her latest endeavor in fiber arts, dying and painting up-cycled ballet pointe shoes.  Trust me, you'll want to see these beauties, both her mother and I agree that they are  much more elegant than Pringles cans!

Dictionaries and Desert Roses






Do you ever get a tiny hint of something that transports you back to a wonderful memory? A sort of super saturated déjà vu, a sort of running cannon ball into the deep pool of your five senses?  I LOVE those!  There has been just a few  times over the  years  that I have enjoyed these moments. One such moment occurred a  couple of years ago as I was walking up to my door on a clear night with a huge bright moon. A warm dry breeze blew up, bringing  with it a light floral sandy scent.  As soon as the aroma filled my nostrils, I was a kid again, on one of many family road trips across the U.S., riding in the back seat of my parents station wagon, windows down, my head resting on the door.   I stared at the bulging moon and brilliant stars, while my tangled hair whipped in the wind.  My breaths grew sleepy and rhythmic with the hum of the tires on the infinite stretch of highway that sliced the deserts of New Mexico, steeped with cactus blooms, and the settling of dust and dew.  It's hard to describe the tranquility I enjoyed marveling at the vast moving sky from the passenger's side of that '77 Buick road beast.  I wished on stars, talked to God, and dreamed up romantic fairy tales, all involving me of course and my middle school crush of the week.  I relished in the sight of the reflection of the moonlight in my mom's driving glasses and took comfort in watching my dad read road maps under the overhead light even though the pavement  wouldn't curve for miles.  My reminiscent moment was fleeting and I found myself inhaling and sniffing in every direction to get just one more memory inducing  whiff.  

There have been others too,  recently while roasting marshmallows in the fireplace with my kids, I had an ephemeral rapture back to the childhood bonfires we would have on the beach.  I laid belly down on my Little Mermaid towel, snug in a fuzzy sweatshirt, and stared into the flickering flame that reddened my cheeks.  I could taste the seashore in my cracked lips.  It tasted like building castles and searching for sand crabs and clinging to boogie boards.

I am now blessed with the beauty of the Midwest as my backyard, but still every now and then, God gives me a small taste of beauty from across the nation.  I haven't driven through the deserts or felt the sand between my toes in years, but I am thankful for the brief glimpse of natural beauty and creation, even if they only exist in my head. 

The natural tends to give us just a tiny peek, a delightful nibble of the supernatural.  Our gifts, our callings, our creative pouring, are compliments to His gifts.  They can praise and thank, or crave and ache, or testify and glorify, or influence and question, or even probe and dissect.  They are what our eyes see, our ears hear, our lips taste, and our hearts feel.  We all stop to smell the flowers in different ways and at different times, but the beauty of the flower remains the same.  We are naturally tied to creation, naturally intended to create, as our best mortal efforts to imitate the Creator.  I came across an insightful quote that was referenced in a book by Philip Yancey from a chapter titled God Loveth Adverbs. Lewis Smedes tells in his book, My God and I, about a Creator who,

liked elegant sentences and was offended by dangling modifiers.  Once you believe this, where can you stop?  If the Maker of the Universe admired words well put together, think of how he must love sound well put together, and if he loved sound thinking, how he must love a Bach concerto and if he loved a Bach concerto think of how he prized any human effort to bring a foretaste, be it ever so small, of his Kingdom of Justice and peace and happiness to the victimized people of the world.  In short, I met the Maker of the Universe who loved the world he made and was dedicated to its redemption.  I found the joy of the Lord, not at a prayer meeting, but in English Composition 101.

Whether it be writing, painting, singing, photographing, or any other form of creating, I would like to dedicate this page, "Hearts in the Arts", to all the gifted and talented individuals who are the only ones that can portray how they, themselves, stop to smell the flowers.