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Wow, it is June. We are entering our sixth month of still life 365.

SIX MONTHS?!?! Woweee.

Six months of incredible art and writing. Music and craft. And so much more than that. still life 365 has become a community. Artists grieving. Grievers arting. I love the discussions here, and the words that flow into my inbox for the community poem and the mid-month challenges. Every reader has contributed to making still life 365 a safe creative space where we can explore our demons and acknowledge our angels.

Thank you.

As always, month six still means we are looking for six more months of art. Submit your work. Always. Even if you have submitted before, or lots. Check out the submission guidelines under the header of this blog. Send your work to stilllife365days(at)gmail(dot)com.

In other news, six months into this project and I am already thinking about next year, and what the future of still life 365 will be. I want to keep this space going, and continue doing awesome things in the name of art. I'd love to do more with creative prompts and community discussions. Do you have anything you would like to see on still life 365? Would anyone be interested in seeing some of this art in person? And if so, where could we set up a live still life 365 art show? (Wouldn't that be incredible?) And then, we could also showcase the traveling journal...just some ideas of things I want to see of still life 365. I'd love your insights and ideas too.

about facebook and anonymity.
Which brings me to the Facebook still life 365 page. We do in fact have a vibrant fan page on Facebook. I often post status updates when I am working on still life 365, the blog. Our traveling gnome, which accompanies the traveling art journal, has its own photo album as it makes it way around the world. He is currently en route to Canada. I will talk more of the traveling journal below.

Facebook has a discussion board feature. I have started a few discussions. Let's talk, shall we?

There is a feature to link the blog onto Facebook, so each piece of art will also link on Facebook. Everyone that I have heard from has been excited about that feature, since people tend to be on Facebook throughout the day via their handhelds and not as able to surf the net. My only concern is for identity and anonymity.

This space is interesting in that people are fairly anonymous. Yes, we know first names and blog spaces, but mostly submissions come in with just first names, which is fine with me. You could submit something with the name Zoltron, I would still publish it. But My Face contains full names. Generally, people are weary of parents, non-babylost friends, co-workers, etc, finding their blogs, and that is why the anonymity is so important. At any rate, I would love your opinion on this. Everyone I heard from on Facebook was pro-publishing in both places. I want to protect the safety that is so important with creating art and writing about our grief.

Speaking of anonymity, if you have regretted giving too much information, using your full name, or linking your blog, you can always email me and I can change the details of your submission. ALWAYS. I take your comfort level very seriously. Just know.

about the blogroll.
I have found some blogs I entered in the blog roll to be mysteriously gone. Please check out the blog roll if you submitted your blog to me, and let me know if yours is not there. And if you want me to add your blog, please please please let me know. I am linking right here to my email address to make it easier. Use blog in the subject: still life 365 days.

about live chat.

I have absolutely been aching to host and do a discussion about grief, art, loss and creativity. I cannot tell you how incredible it is to take part in the artist to artist conversations, and well, I want us all to have that. I have saved a date: JUNE 6th. That day I would love to host a live chat/discussion. I am just flummoxed about how to do it. Here are the options I see: google chat. We can set up a group chat at a set time, then publish the chat after it happens on June 6th. Or Skype, which I have but do not use as regularly. If you have any ideas or suggestions, I would love love love to hear them.  I think the best way to start this, though, would be to ask you to send me your name if you are interested in participating in a live chat about art, grief, loss and creativity. Email me at stilllife365days(at)gmail(dot)com with live chat in the subject line. If you do know of any other, more blog friendly features to chat, please let me know. I am kind of an idiot to bloggy stuff.

about the travel journal.
Did you know the traveling art journal is now headed to North America after its European tour? So exciting. I cannot wait to see the work. I have gotten quite a few more inquiries about the travel journal and participating. I closed the deadline on March 15th to join. I see a couple of options, because I really do not want to keep anyone from participating in the traveling still life 365 journal. Firstly, an option is that the journal has slip in pages and are sized 8"x8". If one wanted to participate in the traveling journal, you could send me the page, or pages, you wanted to enter, and I could put them in at the end. That means you don't get the travel gnome (boo.) or to see the incredible art as it makes its way around the globe. But you will be part of the last day of 2010 post. The other option is to start a second journal. What do you think?