April AscensionLife 2021

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Time is Art

Regina Lafay Bellamy rlbellamy.com

I’ve always been a curious and creative being, so when I started making digital collages two years ago, I was delighted to find I could experiment with all kinds of imagery to produce works that express my inner self as well as ideas of both the known and the unknown.

During my 50 years (this time around?) I’ve experienced the negative, the positive, and everything in between. From child abuse to chronic illness, I’ve been repeatedly injured. Life, as it does for everyone, has a way of opening you up to all kinds of emotions and questions. Why did that happen? What are we doing? Where are we going? What options are open to us?

We want to heal; we want to understand. And while many l essons have been laid at my feet, learning to accept myself for all my failures while recognizing my successes despite all these doubts has been the most important. It has also been the hardest.

Art has always been my most utilized tool in my ongoing journey of discovery. Just as journaling helps clear a noisy mind, art clears a noisy heart. Each of us have stories and curiosities within, and they are bursting to be released. The results I get when collaging are often surprising as well as satisfying. It’s a freeing experience that anyone of any artistic skillset can do. As I often say, “There is no right or wrong with collage.”

Though I did complete one semester of drawing while attending UNLV after my application to art school was rejected, I’m mostly self-taught. I went on to become a professional photographer and digital artist. Creativity cannot be contained. And I realized, despite the cruel inner dialogue I’d been listening to for so long, that I could succeed. If you do it (whatever it may be) for the love of the process and for yourself, everything else falls into place. This was something I learned early on and I’m happy to share it. I encourage everyone to do what they love. It is key. It’s more than just believing in yourself, it’s loving what you are capable of.

Eleven years ago I fought off my anxiety and made the move to the UK from America and I have never been happier. I may have learned many life lessons later than some, but I consider myself lucky to have done so while I still have time to enjoy this life. Hopefully, some of my knowledge can be passed on through my art.

Sheryl Ann Noday -

Art The Silent Healer™

Art The Silent Healer™ was founded by Sheryl Ann Noday in Los Angeles, 1990 with a focus on spiritual communications and making art from those narratives. The idea being to transport viewers into other worlds where mystical, metaphysical and healing ideas are opulent desiring to create a platform of wonder.

Sheryl creates magical realism oil paintings, and soul & spirit portraits~ personal drawings for clients whereby each artwork is a portal, an invitation into one’s own Soul. She is a three time Recipient of awards, juried by James Rondeau, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago. A graduate of Art Center College of Design, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the historic Palette & Chisel.

Sheryl says, “Rather than subscribe to a particular icon, subject, ideology or style, I prefer not to be limited.”

It is the movement within that guides when I paint. It’s a risky way to work, it challenges me to stay focused. To listen with silence, in a time that is booming with noise. In mysticism, dreams and reality my aim is for my paintings to elaborate on transformation. I am interested in all energies beneath the surface, the subconscious and the unknown. I often go back in time, even project into the future to create something new.

Noday was born in Los Angeles and now resides in Chicago, IL. USA. Her work has been shown globally with a nationwide collector base.

Please visit www.sherylnoday.com for more information. Instagram@sheryl_art_the_silent_healer

Heather Bieber -

Art is Eternal

ART IS ETERNAL, LIFE IS SHORT. I HAVE NOT ONE MOMENT TO LOSE.

Heather Bieber graduated college with a degree in Graphic Communications in Northeast Pennsylvania. She owned her own graphic design studio, Wordpainting, before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1999. There she was employed as Art Director of Showbiz Weekly and later as Managing Editor. Heather moved to Northern California in 2008 to refresh in the giant redwoods and ocean before returning home to Pennsylvania in 2010.

“I never really painted until I got to college. I used to draw. Just sit and draw; creating stories in my head to escape. It was my way to build a world where I actually felt wanted and safe.

Throughout my life, I have suffered depression, anxiety, emotional and physical abuse and now chronic illness. The arts have saved my soul. Through writing poetry, painting and doing artisan crafts, I realized I could take that raw emotion and channel it into form. I could take control of the anger and the pain I had suffered. I don’t have a particular style. I just paint what I feel.”

Having anxiety and low self-esteem have been Heather’s greatest setbacks. She feels medication and therapy help her only so much. They are meant for the mind and chemical make up of the brain. But art cleanses the spirit. It goes deeper and generates a sense of balance.

“Anxiety, depression and low self-esteem have been hindrances yet close friends all my life. When I hear or see other artists suffering the same as I have, I am empathetic and yet don’t feel so alone. I am inspired to take my own emotion or idea and convey it into something meaningful. It took a long time for me to overcome my issues enough to show my work. Now, when I sell or give a piece away, it’s the greatest feeling; knowing that piece will touch someone else’s soul.”

Heather is influenced also from nature and music to mythology and folklore. “I hear a lyric, read a fairytale or look at a dead vine, Then I take that image from my head and create a piece I can look at later and say, ‘Yes. That’s what I was feeling, thinking or seeing at the moment of conception.’”

Although she was trained as a graphic designer and worked in that field for more than 30 years, Heather says she loves the tactile feel of the paint and other elements with which she works. “I love using my hands to create something that maybe someday, someone will stop, take a look and appreciate the meaning. Maybe they’ll think. And that’s what art should do, provoke you.”

Heather continues to show her paintings in galleries and attend art festivals in Northeastern Pennsylvania. She now works as freelance writer, graphic designer and artist.

Please visit Instagram@mysticalchild09 For more information or to see more art.