In 2015, Mutual of Omaha staff traveled the USA in a 34-foot long, super-cool, silver bullet Airstream trailer to talk with folks across the nation about their “aha” moments.

I was fortunate to be able to meet up with this talented crew.

Please click here to find out about mine or on the photo below…

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Author and artist, Kathryn V. White's most recent book, Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness, is a finalist in the 2014 Wishing Shelf Book Awards.  Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

It's available via Amazon as a Kindle ebook.

Don't have a Kindle?  No sweat!  Download the free Kindle App that can be used on PCs, iPads, and other devices.

And even better, send your girlfriends a copy of Heart to Heart as a gift and a reminder of what they mean to you.  It's better, quicker, and less expensive than a card!

Enjoy!

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Author and artist, Kathryn V. White's most recent book is Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness.  Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

Click on the cover to find the book on Amazon (USA).  It's also available internationally via Amazon.

Click here to read more endorsements and testimonials.

Click here for an e-flyer on Rumble Tumble Joy.

Click here to learn about Kathryn's stories and here to learn about her art.

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Author and artist, Kathryn V. White's most recent book is Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness.  Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

Here's an excerpt of the review:

"Using poetry and prose, White takes readers inside her personal journey of transformation, acceptance, and wholeness. Through the passages, White wrestles with and finds contentment with her weight, her face, her skin, and her body,particularly her thighs...

White's journey is filled with moments of joy, pain, sorrow, anger, and love, and readers--women of all ages--can use Rumble Tumble Joy to embark on their own journey of appreciation and acceptance of themselves and others..."
                 --Africa Hands, San Francisco Book Review

Read the entire review here.

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Author and artist, Kathryn V. White's most recent book, Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness, is a finalist in the 2014 Wishing Shelf Book Awards.  Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

Each week in March and the last postcard arriving in April, a little gift of joy and connection arrived in my mailbox.

Receiving these postcards, plus participating in Kat's scavenger hunt before the postcards were mailed and a blog hop for participants over the weekend of April 18, 2015 (after the post cards were received) has been a fun way to share my art and writing as well as see the cool stuff other folks are creating.  

I received art-filled postcards from artists in Connecticut, Colorado, Oregon, Florida, and the United Kingdom. I also won a beautiful calendar of Patricia Lyon-Surrey's art!

If offered again (say it will be so Kat!), I highly recommend that you take Kat's postcard swap excursion in 2016 to meet others through tangible postcards and social media. 

Connecting with others in this way makes the world smaller and bigger at the same time--and a great reminder of human kindness!

So thank you Kat and all the 2015 participants for making this an event worth remembering, sharing, and celebrating with others!

Click here to see a video of some of the art shared through the 2015 Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap. 

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Author and artist, Kathryn V. White is now a "Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap" enthusiast. Her most recent book, Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness  was recently voted a finalist for the 2014 Wishing Shelf Book Award.  Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

Max paves the way in showing Tom how an animal can transform one’s life and expand one’s heart.  

Atticus is the catalyst that leads Tom on their epic adventures of hiking hundreds of miles of rugged-winter terrain and climbing over 80 snow-enveloped mountain peaks in just 90-days.  

Battling wind, snow drifts, and frost-biting cold, these intrepid hikers face terror and embrace sublimity.  

You’ll cry and fear the worse.

You’ll cheer and hug your pet.

You’ll enjoy every moment of this spiritual, physical, and emotional journey of a man and his dog.

Don’t wait! Click on the book cover to follow their adventures.  

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Dog lover, author, and artist, Kathryn V. White's most recent book, Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness, is a finalist in the 2014 Wishing Shelf Book Awards.  Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

Yes, my wish is that both Odin the Ferret and Rumble Tumble Joy move from finalists to winners!  Now that would make for a fantastic year. 

Will the Wishing Shelf grant my wish?

Winners are to be announced in April 2015.  Tune in to hear more...

Find out more about author and artist, Kathryn V. White at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

One of the things I like to do on my walks is play “I Spy a...Heart.” 

It’s fun to find how ingeniously this reminder of love can be right-in-front of us and yet easily passed by.  

I’ve found hearts in a window, painted on a bus shelter, and as paper fragments, rocks, leaves, rubber bands, or a bit of string.

With Valentine’s Day on February 14th—it’s a good time to celebrate all the love in your life.  

Just like I’ve found on my walks—it’s all around you.  

Increase its abundance by telling someone you love them, sending a heart-filled note, adopting a rescued animal, and/or doing something kind for yourself. 

Go ahead, help spread the love!

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Kathryn's most recent book is Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness. She is sharing this book with a wider audience to help others heal their negative body image and increase their self-love.  Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

Perhaps there’s another way…a way that acknowledges the good in life and through that acknowledgment, great and wonderful changes occur…

Meet John Kralik, a man who found his perspective shift from self-pity, anger, disappointment, and despair to one that could see the good that came into his life every day.  

With this shift, his difficult life changed to one of health, fulfillment, and love—all through the simple action of hand-writing 365 thank-you notes over 15 months.

Are you ready for real change?

Then learn more about John’s book, 365 Thank Yous, by clicking on the cover.  (Affiliate link)

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Kathryn's most recent book is Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness. Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

Showing the world your magic includes making art--which Mati can help you with, especially in the realm of collage.   

And for this art magic to happen, you'll need to allow for spontaneity and messiness.

Hmm...sounds a bit like the magic that shows up when you let go of control, and allow life to happen!

If your life has gotten stale, take a baby step towards re-awakening its magic by clicking the cover above. (Affilitate link)

Shoelaces 

I remember when I was little, living in Greenwich Village in a small studio apartment with parquet floors.  

I was frequently barefoot in my home, but never outside.  

Too much garbage, broken glass, and hard concrete.  

Too many ways to puncture my feet and end up with a bad cut—or worse—gangrene.

These were the days before velcro—when you either tied your own shoelaces, an adult tied them, or you left them untied—and risked tripping, falling, and skinning your knees.

I yearned to learn how to tie my own shoelaces—wanting that easy, smooth, flowing motion of the grown-ups.  I wanted to figure out how to go from two loops to a bow and then double-bow (to keep them from ever untying).

It looked simple—simple like the magician pulling the rabbit out of the hat or making coins appear from behind kids' ears—but not really.

A sleight of hand I longed to grasp.

As I kneeled on my left knee and hunched over my right, I allowed no one to help me.  I wanted to do this—BY MYSELF! 

I seized the shoelaces of my right sneaker—one in my right hand, one in my left.

I took the right shoelace and looped it under and over my left one.

And hesitated.

Now what?

I pulled them tight.

Then I made a loop with the shoelace in my right hand.

And stopped.

What next?

I looped the shoelace in my left hand under and over—NO, that’s not it!—over and under the loop in my right hand.

And pulled tight.

One bow.

YES!

I paused and bit my lower lip.

That’s enough.

On to my left sneaker.

Same thing.

WOW!

I did it!

I REALLY DID IT!

I wiggled and giggled, full of the joy of figuring it all out. 

BY MYSELF.

Rising from my crouched position, I stood taller than tall.

Grinning as I looked down at my sneakers, I felt I could fly.

"Shoelaces" by Kathryn V. White is a flash memoir piece written in a class facilitated by Ann Teplick.  The class was sponsored by the Seattle Public Library for the Seattle Write’s series.  Kathryn's most recent book is Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness. Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

In October, at the Southwest Branch, I enjoyed making art for two Saturday afternoons—a cute little clay owl (which I may paint or leave its clay color), a black wire nest with a soft interior for my owl to rest in, and a gold wire nest with three “pearl eggs” pendant.

Kathryn V. White is a mystical cosmonaut, writer, and artist. Her dream is her creations help transform our world to be a more joyful place.  Her most recent book is Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness. Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

Recently, I attended a wonderful, weekend painting workshop—Stewart Cubley’s, The Painting Experience.  I’ve had this workshop on my “To-Do” list since 2008 and with it coming to Seattle this autumn, it was a good time to attend.

I was comfortable with the process shared as it is an approach I frequently take in creating my own art.  Basically, show up, be present, open to whatever wants to express itself, and follow your creative flow.  

Overall, be in the mystery of creation instead of focusing on painting an aesthetically appealing product. These are my own words, so other people and the workshop facilitators (Stewart Cubley and Annie Rousseau) could describe it differently.

What I loved about this workshop was that there were no critiques, no stories to be shared about your paintings, being present amongst others who are delving into the same process, and getting to paint BIG.  I have wanted to experience painting on big canvases for some time.

With the approach of either starting off with one 26” x 20” paper and adding to it or starting off with several papers attached already, I got to experience what it feels like to take a big, paint-tipped brush to big painting surfaces. 
 
I LOVED IT! Especially when I started with several pieces of paper already attached to make one huge canvas.  My pieces ranged from 26”x20” to 52”x60” to 91”x 60.” Yep, the largest one is approximately 7.5 feet high by 5 feet wide!

So here in my blog, I’m sharing with you my BIG pieces.  All done with bright tempera paints.

Now, I just need a BIG studio space to paint BIG paintings!

Curious about The Painting Experience?

Click here to learn more.

One of the great aspects of being an author and an artist is I get to move amongst a variety of media to see the world in new ways and to express myself.  

It's also a wonderful way to go on my own "adventures in expansion" without traveling from my home. 





Yet, many times, the urge to hone my skills, learn something new, and explore our beautiful world draws me forth. 

Atelier is a French word meaning "studio" and I like the playfulness of adding a single "R" to reflect my love of creating visual art.  

The example I include here as well as well as on the Brig Studio Artists webpage will show you that I'm an artist who loves variety and bright colors.  

If you are interested in licensing my art, please contact me through my contact page on this website. Include in the subject line "Interested in Licensing Your Art."  

Last summer, I enjoyed a tour of the Ethel L. Dupar’s Fragrant Garden located within the corporate campus of Seattle’s Lighthouse for the Blind.  

Our tour guide, Helen Weber, encouraged us to look, touch, taste, and deeply breathe in the alternatively sweet, fresh, sharp, and often indescribable scents of the plants.  Not surprisingly, the garden is loved by hummingbirds and bees.

Out of the 80 or so species at the garden, my favorites included: 

• the ultra soft leaf of the Lamb’s Ear,
• the pretty white flower of the Garlic Chives (which also smelled and tasted like garlic),
• the peanut butter scented leaf of the Peanut Butter Plant,
• the curry scented leaf of the Curry Plant (Helen assured us the taste was awful and nothing like curry),
• the refreshing scent of the Lemon Scented Geranium leaf,
• the full-bodied chocolate scent of the yellow flower of the Chocolate Flower, and
• the soothing, fresh scent of Roman Chamomile.

Check out their website for tour dates and times.  

Other fragrant gardens in Seattle include the University of Washington (UW) Center for Urban Horticulture, the Joseph A. Witt winter garden in the Washington Park Arboretum near the Graham Visitors Center, and the UW Campus Medicinal Plant Garden. There is also the Fragrance Garden near Ferndale, WA adjacent to the Hovander Homestead historical site and its gardens.


So don't wait!  Enjoy the loveliness of a fragrant garden today!