I have always been a creative person. As a child I was the kid that loved to entertain and would always be gathering up my playmates in the neighbourhood to put on talent shows or backyard carnivals. I loved any kind of art, craft, music and theater. I twirled a baton. I sang in a band. I was the lead in all sorts of school plays and I took every art class option available to me. Outside of my grandmother who was an avid needlecrafter my creative abilities were rather foreign to my family members.

“I don’t know where she gets it from” was the comment I heard through most of my life.
My parents were in awe of my creativity which was cause for much applause in my early years. They were continually amazed and proud of my creative accomplishments ….to a point. As soon as I hit my teen years their interest in my creative passions became more of a concern to them. It was a nice hobby, but……

Mom and Dad were very practical people who were both totally disconnected from any creative passion. I remember my father being really excited for a very short period of time when he took a brief night school course on photography. However, there were only ever a few nice photos to show from that experience as his interest seemed to dwindle as soon as the course was finished. Disconnected from their own creative source, they were unable to see any value in my perusing a career in the arts. They saw it as a pipe dream attainable only by the rare few and rather than encouraging me to reach for the dream, they insisted I take typing classes and were forever projecting their desire on me to become a teacher or a nurse.

As a rebellious teenager I struggled against my parents ideas at every turn but without direction or a clear vision. In no time I found myself an adult, who had got herself tangled in a web of hardcore reality. I was as a divorced, young woman (23) with two small children to raise on my own, and only those typing skills to rely on for employment. For me, growing up meant losing my creative passion and surrendering to the idea that there was simply no joy in work. There wasn’t supposed to be. Welcome to the world of adulthood. Your parents were right kiddo!

During those years I stopped creating entirely. I used to always make personalized birthday and Christmas gifts, but I had even stopped doing that. Even when my money was so tight that I would sometimes have to go into deep debt to feel like I had something to give, I still wasn’t able to create. I wasn’t even the slightest inspired.

Through out the years, I became a seeker and a soul searcher. My focus was one of spiritual awareness. I read a lot of books. I learned how to meditate. Everything I read told me to follow my bliss, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what that bliss was.


 

In learning to follow my heart, I was lead to my soul mate and now husband Mick. I had truly given up on the idea of happily-ever-afters, so his appearance in my life at age 36, was a shocker for me. Dreams that had been long forgotten and judged as the naïve workings of a childish mind were actually coming true. I started to believe and trust in the magic again. It took a ton of faith, prayer and magic to bring our son Kai into the world. Having previously shut myself off from my own creative source there were walls to break down, scars to cut through.. We had to confront many obstacles from conception, right on through to his dramatic and traumatic entrance into the world. Staying committed to the path of the heart has proven over and over for us that dreams do come true, even when the mind has forgotten the way.

Soon after Kai was born, I started dabbling with Photoshop to alter his photos, turning him into a fairy baby in an enchanted forest because I wanted to honour his magical and miraculous existence in our lives. One thing lead to another and soon I was creating digital scrapbooking layouts. Like most of us on this path, I was obsessed. I had found the doorway that had been locked for so many years and behind the door, I found had finally found my Soul, the Creative Source, my Beloved, my Bliss.

I think one of the most poignant lessons we have as humans is the realization that we can never have true understanding of how much we love and appreciate something, or someone until we no longer have that thing or person in our lives. Re-discovering my creative self is a gift I pray I never take for granted. Locked away for years, she was right there waiting for me the moment I decided I was ready for her again. She hasn’t held the years against me. She has never let me down. She is always there with love, bubbling over with beauty, inspiration, playfulness and passion for life in any moment that I wish to open myself to her.

It is my service to her that my work is art and this is a joyful sacrifice. This is what it means to follow my bliss.

My intention behind creating Digital Art Quirks is to create an environment that invites the artist to awaken and play within each of us. I am particularly fond of the quirky art styles of collage, and altered art because there are no rules that box in creativity. The heart is free to express itself unhindered by the limitations of the mind.

Creation is Divinity and the Divine resides within us all. In liberating the Artist within, the soul is expressed. In this day and age where there can be so much ugliness, fear and hatred I am so grateful that it is my purpose to bring more love and beauty into the world.

Let this site be a playground for the muse, an inspiration for all who come here and a friendly and supportive community. May our differences and quirks be respected and celebrated as beautiful individual elements in the Masterpiece of Life.


Art comes from within the heART. Let the he ART be opened and the power of ART be revealed.

Namaste,
   
Copyright ©2006 Janice Dye-Szucs
All Rights Reserved