ABOUT ME

**i am under construction**

i want to connect with some of the thousands of incredible artists online...i have been hanging out for years and have been so inspired by artists i have found in somerset publications and on their blog links that i have decided to make art a more important part of my life. i will be working on adding as much as i can while trying not to completely neglect my family...thanks for coming and check back soon!

THE BASICS.......

• name: CHRISTINE ECHELBARGER

• location: southeastern USA

• dream: be able to concentrate on art and creating all day & all night

• reality: husband and 2 kids (10.5 and 3.5)

• grind: after losing his job at ford, we relocated 800+ miles south, where i promised i would never live, to be near family. he's now in school to have a new career in medicine, i'm a sahm

• education: bachelor's in liberal studies from bowling green state university, ohio - majored in psychology and art therapy with a well-rounded dose of fine art

• art background: i have loved and learned about art since i could hold a crayon. my dad is an artist/photographer and taught me basics and love for art/vision, my parents sent my brother and i to many summer community art classes taught by really great people (there i learned calligraphy, cartooning, woodcarving, sewing, drawing, photography, and painting). i can't remember life without glue, scissors, paint and pencils! through grade and high school, i was asked to re-scribe the school constitution, create program covers/signs/newsletters, and made our high school graduation banner/buttons. college courses included acrylics, life drawing, jewelry, enameling, fiber arts, ceramics and art history. i was also commissioned with a friend to paint character and original wall-murals inside 3 kindercare centers.

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GOAL

ART IS MY PASSION AND MY THERAPY
i want to pursue that passion.
  
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WHY AM I SITTING HERE TALKING ABOUT MYSELF?

i would like to break down the different aspects of my journaling and my issues with OCD, bipolar and depression. i have many things i want to share with anyone who would like to listen. hopefully you can benefit either by starting your own art journey or by gaining a better understanding of yourself or someone you love who might be experiencing some of the same things as i do.

here is the fine print:

I AM NOT A DOCTOR, NOR DO I PLAY ONE ON TV. i do not have training past my bachelor's degree in art therapy and psychology. i write here to share and offer ideas, not to diagnose or prescribe/provide treatment. what you do with your art supplies is your business- just don't hurt anyone, keep the pencils out of your ears, and don't eat crayons, and if you have paste (ahh, the smell....) don't eat that either.

i also love to scrap, and i love to write.
the combination means piles of scraps with details
which always get lost or misplaced.
so i come here to journal so it doesn't disappear....
i'm really not out to bore anyone,
i just love to make lists and make my memories visible.
here, they can't vanish...hopefully for now anyway.

MORE PERSONAL JUNK FOR YOU VOYEURISTIC TYPES....

* love everything nature, obsess about recycling/garbage and loss of earth and wildlife

* avid junk collector - see my post on collections.

* extreme homebody and night person, love overcast and rainy, cool days.

* love movies of all kinds, take way too many pictures, scrapbooking is my life passion.

* mandate family meals, try to mandate cleanliness, and demand lots of play/enjoy-life time with the kids.

* favorite reading: anything to do with scrapping, art-journaling, paper arts, altered books, art, anything psychologically educational, like to read others' blogs, their lists and their scrapbooks and journals

* favorite colors: browns, olives and baby or intense indigo blues, lavendar/blue

* favorite meal: flatiron or porterhouse steak, baked potato w sea salt crust, asparagus
choice of beverage: sprite, canned not tap, in a glass with ice.............no coffee, ever

* favorite snacks: pop secret extra butter, hersheys milk chocolate (w jif p.butter), krogers black cherry or blackberry pie (only at half-off), and lo, the ultimate--- turkey hill philadelphia style vanilla bean ice cream....................none down here, i yearn for it.

* favorite sport to do: used to swim, bike and take karate

* favorite outfit: smooth, cool cotton t-shirt and lounge pants, no shoes

* tv shows: recently ditched cable for netflix, but loved and miss house, top chef, all shows forensically oriented, iron chef (japan), project runway, anything on discovery, nat geo, or history channels

* favorite metal: stainless steel, favorite rock: smooth round rocks from a maine shore, any smooth rocks with deep colors or striation, favorite wood: smooth, white or deep colored and hand waxed, love love love exotics - despise rainforest destruction though

* favorite crayon: periwinkle

* cake: absolutely white with sugary white frosting (sometimes my milk chocolate with chocolate frosting from scratch).

* nuts: yes.....hazelnuts, followed by cashews and almonds (looove jordan almonds)

* flowers: white daisies and blue/purple hydrangeas, passionflowers, my baba's wildflower/weed bouquets from her garden.

* favorite way to waste time: magazines, collage, cut and paste, drawing......uh, doing this