Uncomplicate.
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Uncomplicate.

in pursuit of a simpler, more sustainable creative life.

Uncomplicating, One Day at a Time.

Uncomplicating, One Day at a Time.

August 5, 2020 Beth Comments 0 Comment

I’ve been off to a slow start here with the new blog.

You know, because life. All the things, like everyone deals with all the time. Navigating, juggling.

I’ve got a pile of ideas for posts covering practical creative stuff I think people will find inspiring. But this is also about me being real. About my mistakes and challenges and the hope maybe my experiences spark something for someone else trying to uncomplicate their own life.

I’ve joked (ok maybe just with myself) that with what’s been going on I should have named this blog “Complicate.” With a 93 year old mother with dementia living in Memory Care during Covid where family has no in-person contact: concerns over her well-being as she ages and fails more quickly from this, the strong possibility of becoming a primary caregiver in her final days and navigating hospice and in-home nursing care, all really weird and foreign adulting issues for my little brain. Attempting to help another person I care about get away from an abusive, destructive situation. Reinventing my waning morphing and changing art business. Flourishing summer crops need attention today or they’ll go to waste, others require extra attention just to stay alive, weeds on the property keep growing (like weeds). The pets just keep pooping and it’s not going to scoop itself. Right? All the things. The world keeps turning and stuff keeps happening. Big important stuff, tiny dumb stuff, all of it.

We all have our versions of this, right? Faced with varying levels of hardship and concerns, it just keeps coming at us all the time. You’ve got families, kids, jobs, lack of jobs, worries: what’s happening with school, church, sports, birthdays, weddings, all the things that filled your life before. Beloved local small businesses are dropping like flies. People are grouchy about having sweaty faces under their masks. Conspiracy theories are thriving. Everyone is mad at “the other side”. Everyone just that much more on-edge about each little situation, the general vibe of unrest hangs over us like a thick fog. In that fog we have this tendency to hang onto worry and fear over everything else.

Days go by so fast; seems like way faster than they did before. I mean, life does that anyway as we get older, right? But in this new and different semi-quarantine/whatever-it-is world, time is different, schedules are wonky. I’ve been taking breaks from social media for my mental health, but then lose track of the time that goes by during those breaks.  I start each day with an intended schedule and list of goals, but then the day is over and I let stuff slide: oops, time’s up, I guess I’ll just do yoga tomorrow (then I wonder why my bones are so crackly and I feel tired the next day). Stuff on my to-do list gets pushed one more day, over and over again. Maybe I should have been more realistic when planning those blocks of time in the first place, or: maybe I shouldn’t have gotten sidetracked with that one project, or: yeah but my slow internet made that task take way longer than it should have…. You know, it’s always something.

But it’s ok. The important part for me is to not beat myself up about it. Keep facing forward. Every day, every moment, gives us the opportunity to reboot, refresh, start over, move on, all of it. What complicates a lot of us is our habit of worrying about the past. Why did it happen that way, or: but that one thing held me back, or: I should have done that differently…

Seriously none of that matters in this moment and all the moments to follow.

Today is the best day ever because it gives me the opportunity to move forward and work toward all my dreams. My past is just a bunch of lessons I’ve learned and stuff I now have the opportunity to build on, and today I’m grateful for every one of those things.

Today I wish you all the peace and confidence and mostly gratitude to face forward and do the best you can. Because, that’s enough.


Mind & Body
covid life, daily gratitude, inspiration, pandemic life, real life

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bethlogansart

bethlogansart
When I might seem too quiet or aloof or not engage When I might seem too quiet or aloof or not engaged, I’m just here focusing on what I actually can control: my own energy. ✨💕 this week the Universe reminded me via my little tractor mower: in order for any machinery to continue to function properly, regular maintenance and care is required. While you’re navigating all the sadness and frustration out there, don’t forget to take care of your inner lights, friends. ✨💕
Scroll to see a couple versions of my process: after looking at the words for so long while drawing, it started to seem like I was suggesting to find peace we all just never leave the house, Grey Gardens style 😂😳 so I had to add a word at the end to be more clear it’s a spiritual thing 😉 also, drawing with cats: the struggle is real 🤣💕
This week’s gorgeously calming #coloricombo palette by @estemacleod is Ocean, Melon, Petrol Blue and Parchment. 
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#findpeace #focusinward #dontlettheworlddimyourlight #regularmaintenancerequired #spiritualmaintenance #processvideo #drawingwithcats #limitedcolorpalette #creativechallenge #surfacedesign #handlettering #procreateart #bethlogansart #theartstuffstudio #whatwomencreate #draweveryday
When you start Saturday morning off with all good When you start Saturday morning off with all good intentions for a nice long yoga practice but this one makes you stop what you’re doing and just sit for a while…
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#quiettime #sweetlilycat #lilythecalico #yogainterrupted #caturday #quietsaturdaymorning #timewithcatsisneverwasted #nowtheyreallsittingonme #andpurring #icannevermovenow
Hey there friends, first I just want to thank you Hey there friends, first I just want to thank you guys for the love I’ve been getting on the Spoonflower challenges, I’ve been having fun with this. 
And this one, totally: this week’s theme was “Vintage Nostalgia Kitchen Wallpaper” and you know I’m all about pretty much anything vintage and kitchen. So many options and inspo but I settled on the 70s: a combo of stuff from my real childhood kitchen and pretend (TV show) kitchen, can you guess? Hint: I named it Alice’s Kitchen 😉 with everything you might need for a fondue party or just a nice glass of Tang. 
🍊
For real though: now is when I usually just sheepishly ask you to follow my link to the contest to vote for me (follow the link in my profile, scroll to the bottom of my links page and click on the purple circle 🟣 with the yellow pencils ✏️ behind it) but this time, give yourself some extra time and scroll through and enjoy the amazeballs designs everyone did for this. Wow! So many great designs. I scrolled through this morning and it was like taking a tour of all my childhood friends’ kitchens, and probably their grandmas’ too 😉 so many cool designs. Super inspiring! ✨
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#spoonflowerchallenge #spoonflower #vintagenostalgia #vintagekitchen #70sstyle #70skitchen #patternlove #mymomskitchen #mychildhood #thebradybunch #70scolors #avocadogreen #olivegreen #harvestgold #retrostyle #retrokitchen #surfacepatterndesign #spoonflowerdesignchallenge #spoonflowermaker #bethlogansart #theartstuffstudio
Breathe in. 
Breathe out. 
Repeat. 
That is all.
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Picky little little hand-shading detail is total meditation stuff for me. Swipe to see hours of that squished down into under 2 minutes. 
✨
What’s your go-to meditative-but-not-technically-meditation activity, the thing you can melt into for hours when you need to slow down and let go?
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#letthatshitgo #meditation #justbreathe #breatheinbreatheout #slowdown #meditativestuff #pencilshading #arttherapy #swearwordart #handlettering #surfacedesign #bethlogansart #theartstuffstudio #putabirdonit #beherenow #uncomplicate #slowliving_create #processvideo #lettinggo
Meanwhile, behind the flamingos…. 
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Pulling some tall weeds & grass & suddenly I’m reminded, oh yeah duh it’s May and stuff I love is blooming all tucked in there where I (may have) put it…
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Note to self (every fricking spring) diligently pull weeds so I can enjoy those flowers I’d hoped would come up…
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#donfeatherstone #donfeatherstoneflamingos #columbine #mybackyard #woodlandgarden #amongtheweeds #simplelife #uncomplicate #pullingweeds #thingsthatmakemesmile #creativehomestead
One more little #coloricombo drawing for this week One more little #coloricombo drawing for this week, and P is for Pansies in #flowermonth2022 
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I haven’t been keeping up with the flower challenge so much, because you know, life…but pansies were my mom’s favorite
And so were cats, so…
💕
Thanks @estemacleod for the color inspo and our flower challenge hosts @lorisiebert.studio @snippetsofwhimsy and @kirstenkatzart 
💕
#creativechallenge #becausecats #pansies #limitedpalette #draweveryday #happyart #drawingcats #whatwomencreate #surfacedesign #bethlogansart #theartstuffstudio #whitecat #cutecatart
When I looked out my window last night… 🌕💕 When I looked out my window last night…
🌕💕
The clouds cleared right around the moon just long enough to get a good look, then blew back over it.
🌕💕
Scroll to see this week’s #coloricombo palette by @estemacleod 
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#flowermoon #bloodmoon #lunareclipse #moonmagic #mybackyard #limitedpalette #creativechallenge #superflowerbloodmoon
Hey again friends, guess what? It’s another week Hey again friends, guess what? It’s another weekly Spoonflower design challenge - this week it’s “Reworked Classics”…traditional basics with a twist. So here’s my twist on classic black and white houndstooth. Fuzzy kitties, of course. 
🖤🤍
You can see all the entries and vote (like, for this one…?) by following the link in my profile: then scroll to the bottom of my Links page and click on the purple circle with yellow pencils behind it 🟣✏️ thank you!
🤍🖤
#spoonflowerchallenge #spoonflower #spoonflowerdesignchallenge #spoonflowerdesigner #surfacepatterndesign #surfacedesign #fabricdesign #patterndesign #patternlove #houndstooth #cats #reworkedclassics #bethlogansart #theartstuffstudio #becausecats #kittehs
I’ve had this in my head for a long time but had I’ve had this in my head for a long time but hadn’t gotten around to actually drawing it until last night when I sat down to draw some flowers before bed for the Flower Month challenge…but this happened instead 😂 you know, flowers, or Sasquatch, either or. 
🌲
And now he’s available as a mug in TheArtstuffStudio shop (links to shops in my profile) because I wanted one for myself 😂 and I’m thinking I need to work out a simplified version of this, like less background…because I’d also like a t-shirt…what do you think?
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If you drive up into the hills from here a couple miles, folks speak of this guy more nonchalantly and matter-of-factly that most of you might be accustomed if you live in town. 
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They’ll shrug and mention whose shed one was spotted behind the other day, or how recently you could hear them whooping at each other from across meadows, and stuff like that.
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I mean, these woods can be pretty dense - it’s a pretty good place to not be seen if that’s your jam. 
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So here’s to the ultimate introvert, the social distancing champion, and maybe, my sort-of neighbor. 
🌲
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#sasquatch #bigfoot #pnwonderland #swwashington #pnwwildlife #willapahills #theartstuffstudio #bethlogansart #etsyseller #cutemug #samsquanch #funnymug #yournewfavoritemug #etsyshop #pnwartist #pnwart #socialdistancing #introvertlife
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