The Quiet Life Art Project: Our second showcase of YOUR inspired work.
It's a great one - so please open this email, and treat yourself.
Dear You,
Welcome to the second edition of our Quiet Life Art Project. (The first edition is here.)
I’m so excited to share these extraordinary works with you - brought to you from your fellow subscribers to the Quiet Life - our online home for people who love Quiet, Depth, and Beauty.
Recently, we put out a call for art submissions.
We received so many entries that it was impossible even to review them all yet - let alone to feature them all in today’s post.
So: please don’t feel bad if you submitted something, but don’t see your work below.
And: please don’t let this deter you from submitting additional work in future.
Because: this will be an ongoing project. If you’re a paid or scholarship member of The Quiet Life, you can submit your work at any time, for consideration. We’ll share selections periodically.
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Submission instructions are at the end of this email.
Finally - if you enjoy the works of our artists, please consider sharing this post with friends and family, so we can help our artists gain more attention for their incredible work!
Amy Zone
Although I do have a website and could have just sent the link, I wanted to choose specific pieces for you; this is a special community, and, well, it's wonderful to share with you, so I was temporarily frozen with anxiety about what to send. I didn't want to wait any longer to finish my new series "Hidden," but it will be on the website soon.
These are all mixed media works on paper and canvas. They represent both new and older work.
The website is www.amyzoneart.com. If you wish, you can look at other work there.
Many, many thanks for letting me share these with you.
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Kim Cohen: https://www.instagram.com/kimcohen890
I have recently progressed from being a Family Court lawyer surrounded by brokeness and toxicity to being a ceramic artist. My porcelain is translucent - the light shines through and make the pieces glow from within. It feels poetic. Here is a bowl I made that holds the light.
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Julie M
Thank you so much for this opportunity to share one of my creative passions with you! I don't expect to be featured (because so many people love to knit) but I could not pass up this opportunity to share my hand knit hats with YOU!
I use only natural fibre yarns such as 100% merino or 100% alpaca.
And thank you again and again for this opportunity! It means a great deal to me! I love knitting these hats and they are a part of me in a way.
I have hundreds of photos posted to my Instagram gallery.
https://www.instagram.com/santacruzbodega
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Raissa Urdiales
After today’s thread you started I wanted to officially send this painting. It’s always been one of my favorites and signified my first exploration into the female form.
I primarily post on Facebook and Instagram. I also am on Substack although I don't post as much there. My links to each is below.
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/raissa.urdiales/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/raissaurdiales/
Substack @artfulbeingbyraissa
Thank you for supporting the many artists who quietly create.
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- from his “Hello Adversity” Substack:“A few years back,” says Chris, “I was diagnosed with a rare disease and tried to take on the physical and emotional aftermath all by myself, which didn't work out well. My goal for the piece is to help others who are struggling in some way to take this important step. I thought it might be a piece you'd be interested in reading, as it hits on some of the themes of your newsletter.”
“…My ER trip was a long time coming, the result of years of saying “I’m fine,” when in reality, I was anything but fine.
Growing up, when I experienced stress or sadness, my default was to hide it from the world. When my parents asked how I was doing, rather than say I was overwhelmed by classwork, or that I didn’t have a lot of friends, I shrugged.
“I’m fine.”
To this day, I’m not sure when or how this response became my answer to emotional inquiries. My parents and older sister, Jen, always showered me with love, so it wasn’t a matter of fearing rejection. Perhaps it was simply due to my introverted nature, or being a teenager who didn’t yet understand the full spectrum of emotions inherent to the human condition.
Instead of confronting my negative emotions head-on, it was easier to ignore them or change the topic.
And, for a long time, this approach worked….”
From “Out of the Abyss,” by
— a piece he wrote on the importance of asking for help.To keep reading, please visit Chris’ Substack!
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Joann Anderson
Here is a sketch I did of myself on the left and my nursing colleagues during COVID 2020. As it turned out these colleagues my friends saved my life. I call this "Forever Linked.”
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Tanya Mozias Slavin
I'm a writer who draws. Both these art forms are necessary to feed my soul, but visual art is special because I don't call myself an artist -- because writing and not art is my primary thing. And because I don't call myself an artist, I find visual art more freeing in a way, because I feel less pressure to be good at it, and more freedom to play around :) (I think it was Natalie Goldberg who said that painting for her is like a second child who she feels less compelled to raise perfectly :))
This is a drawing that I finished a few months ago. One of the themes that come up for me often is the difference between how children see the world vs how adults see it. And that's what this painting is about as well.
my substack is "Friends with Words" (https://tanyamozias.substack.com/) and my Facebook handle is @tanyamoziasslavin
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Anne Johnstone
I noticed in the former call for art that you added people’s thoughts about their work. I won’t talk formally about these pieces, but I will speak about what art has meant to me all my life.
First, it was a way of connecting with what I loved. I began drawing in earnest at age nine, the animal of my dreams—the horse. My motivation for drawing and later painting wove in an out of seeking praise and escaping, calling out our family dysfunction and expressing my own angst, and more recently, being completely baffled by what appeared on the canvas and relishing the deep dive into my own visual life experience. Art and emotion have gone hand in hand for me from the beginning.
As an artist, I make visual what I don’t have words for. I make art for myself and sometimes others appreciate it. For me, the daily practice of going to the studio makes life palatable, fulfilling. Somehow I’ve scratched the veneer of the day and found something only I knew about. Whether there’s satisfaction I in what I find or whether I’m dissatisfied, I feel like I have done my true work.
Talking about art is a huge undertaking. What I write only scratches the surface. But it’s at least something…
Anne Johnstone
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Anne Loomis
Linked In: Anne Therese Loomis
I was playing around with watercolors one day and Ganesh came through! Literally, there is no other way to describe it. It must have been a lighthearted moment for him. I know him as the destroyer of all obstacles, and I look at this painting whenever I am faced with one. I have also gifted friends and family with this image when they are going through a difficult time.
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Illana Zauderer
Hello Susan and everyone at The Quiet Life Community,
I’d like to first offer my continued thanks for allowing me to be a part of this community by scholarship. This is such a kind and thoughtful opportunity. Thank you.
Providing a Quiet Community Art Project is such a gift to us! I love seeing it all - Jennifer Tse’s collage is so full of life, and Wendi Cross’ words broke me. It is so special to be allowed in to see a small piece of someone’s heart and soul. Truly an honor.
Thank you for the opportunity to share. I’d like to offer one of the tracks from my second album. I’ve always loved singing the blues, jazz, and theatre songs, yet my voice is quieter than the big Broadway belting voices that are more in popular fashion in the last couple of decades. I work hard to grow more centered and true to my voice every day, and I hope I always will. I’m not a songwriter; I love examining a composer’s work -- imagining both how it might have been intended and also seeing how it can take on new interpretations and meanings. I feel I’m more of a musician and artist every day, whether I have an upcoming gig scheduled or not. I’m navigating the work of continuing 2 careers, this one as a musician (I am rehearsing for my third album) and also my work as an educator, and I begin a school-of-education master's program in the fall.
Here is an image of my album, which is on Apple Music and Spotify:
And here is a link to one of the tracks on the album: (I think the song’s mood fits our community, and it certainly highlights what I’ve described about my voice. The song is “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ but the Blues” by Duke Ellington.)
My substack is: https://substack.com/@illanaz
I suppose the best social media link is @illanazauderermusic on instagram, although I think to learn more about my music the best place is actually my website, which is https://www.illanazauderer.com
In gratitude and with a gentle virtual hug for all these tender souls,
Illana Zauderer
https://www.illanazauderer.com
(She/her pronouns)
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And now this is me, Susan, talking again:
I hope you love these works as much as I do - and please consider sharing them with a friend, so we can help our artists gain the exposure they deserve!
If you or a friend would like to submit your art for consideration for our rolling, ongoing project, please submit your work (it can be in any medium) to the following e-mail address, along with
* Your name;
* Social media and/or Substack handle (if you want); and
* Brief written description (if you want).
We have scholarships: And finally! If you’d like to participate, but can’t afford to join the Quiet Life, please know that we have scholarships for those in need - just send us a DM, via Substack, to inquire.