Beautiful Comes in Different Packages

We might think we know what beautiful is until we encounter it... differently.

Beautiful.

It comes with different faces.

I had a rough day yesterday. I did a mole impression, staying inside and hibernating most as long as the sun was out.

Standard time felt like a divinely timed gift: last night I went out into the darkness and felt fabulously alive, even with itchy, dry chemo-impacted skin.

Creating art wasn't much on my mind, yet in going with the flow when it feels like there is none, I grabbed a newspaper page, looked for an article that interested me enough to write a blackout poem.

Well, I found an article about our recent rain, tore it up, and glued it to an advertisement. I ended up covering the paper with some acrylic paint after making some flow-y raindrops and then I started to make a face.

I wasn't happy with the face I made and I'm not entirely happy with the face now. I surely don't want to show it to all the excellent artists with art every day month, but then remembered that beautiful comes in different packages.

It isn't always what one would expect. It isn't simply symmetrical, with fewest lines and most taut skin.

Beauty comes from experience.

It comes from knowing and caring and remembering and thinking and trying...showing up.

I've taken my 365feministselfie shots even with my decidedly not beautiful feeling. I actually like what I did with this one this morning.

In today's 365 feminist selfie photo, I could see my splotchy skin. I am covering my worst area of rawness, my chin. What I see, though, is the hope in my eyes I hadn't known I had caught as I watched my daughter, Emma, cross the street.

What are you creating today?

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This post is inspired by (and a reflection of my participation in) Art Every Day Month, a creative adventure hosted annually by the incredible Leah Piken Kolidas. Join us and be inspired!

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Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people's creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming Fall and Winter, 2014 and beyond.

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