What Makes Me . . . Me?

Week 10 Challenge:  Make a list of the things that make you YOU!

This challenge came at the perfect time for me.  I just completed Dr. Brene Brown’s E-Course, The Gifts of Imperfection, a very powerful course that helps you to embrace yourself the way you are and not to live life according to others expectations of you.  Very powerful stuff.

In the E-Course, Dr. Brown had us write down, “I’m imperfect and I’m enough” on our hands and take a picture.  This was an empowering exercise – a proclamation to ourselves and the world.  This is my new favorite picture of myself.  I used a glue stick and adhered it to my ‘tip in’ and grabbed some tracing paper to begin making some lists of my traits.  I like the idea of the transparency of the tracing paper.  We are all complicated beings with layers upon layers of things that make us unique.  I decided to break down my lists into three parts:  The Physical Me (what others see when they look at me), Me Personified (my roles and what others expect of me), and the most difficult, The Inner Me (the things that most people would never know about me.)

I added some doodles and a little color with some dylusions ink I poured into a water brush.  I also decided to make a little cover sheet for all of the lists, adding a metaphoric “protective” layer since I felt exposed and vulnerable with all of the other words.  I added some stitching for contrast and interest.

After taping my picture to my planner with washi tape, I then took all of my “layers” and sewed them onto the picture across the top so they could flip up.  When I open my planner now, I can lift each layer to reveal more and more of myself and once the layers are removed, there I am . . . imperfect and ENOUGH!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s post – I can’t wait to see how you all interpret the challenge!  Don’t forget to visit the other Art to the 5th Artist’s blogs for more inspiration:

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Lorraine Bell
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Comments

  1. Laura Bashlor

    This is so inspiring! I don’t want to copy it but the power of what you did is amazing, and nothing else will be as powerful.

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    I guessed a small part of it but wasn’t sure. I love the way you have done this and that you have let us see that vulnerable side of yourself. This in turn shows your followers that you are just like us. We aren’t all hugely confident people.

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    Absolutely adore this, unique, wonderful, from your heart art !!

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    Love the layered approach, as it seem to reflect human nature. We are all so much more than what people see on the surface!

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    Just beautiful…what a lovely way to blend all those things together. I’ve started my list, but I had to finish up something else, so I’m wondering where I will end up on this challenge. WHICH I AM JUST SO THANKFUL FOR…really, you ladies sharing all this with us is such a blessing. Thank you!!

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    Beautiful pages with delightful ideas regarding the layers we all have.

  7. Gloria Bryant

    Lorraine, this is amazing, it is so very hard for me to think about myself….i love the idea of the tracing paper under your art. Perfect!! This moved me. Thank you

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    This is amazingly clever and thoughtful – I love the manifestation of layers. Great idea and execution.

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    This is wonderfully expressive, Lorraine!!! I’m in that same ecourse with Brene Brown and I love my picture of imperfection. I use so much tracing paper in my work, but this simple act of layering is not something I’ve done with it. You’ve inspired me (again). Thanks for sharing your process.

  10. Anne Rehorn

    What a wonderful page! I love it so much. I like your picture about the imperfection and the way you used the layers to say more about yourselve. Thanks for sharing.

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    Very thoughtful and wildly colorful page – just love what you did and the meaning behind it all. Reminds me of "what the donkey said" – I have many layers like an onion.

  12. AninaSmiles

    This is wonderful! Both the imagery and the words. Thank you for the inspiration!

  13. kristin

    love your idea Lorraine of the layered papers! and the inks really pop on your page! really like this!!

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    Wow! Love your idea and pages. truly inspirational. thanks for sharing

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