Beth Page

I sat down today and got my art supplies out for the first time in two weeks, and it was great. I'm between classes in grad school, and actually have the time to play with my paints with no ultimate goals in mind. I've always had a hard time coming up with ideas, and gravitate toward faces. Ultimately this lady showed up.

Life hasn't been easy lately. I have spent the past year working at a school for behaviorally challenged teenagers, and it is one of the hardest things I've ever done. One of the major reasons why I go back every day is because it's helping me to understand how to talk out my own problems, find my triggers, recognize when the behaviors of others have nothing to do with me, and how to work past my issues. I have very little time for myself between this job and graduate school, which can leave a person feeling less than whole sometimes.

Recently I've struggled through several of my triggers being hit upon by people I care about in my life. I'm getting closer to understanding why their actions (or lack of actions) are triggers for my emotional upset, and am proud of this slow progress. There are still many things to work on; communication, listening, understanding... but I will take this small positive step as success.

I've heard that when you're going through a rough emotional time, that's when you should be making art. Use art as a way to let feelings out, release some junk rolling around in your brain, etc. 

So I decided to make some monsters. 

And I think that this was a good idea.