Fangirl Shout Outs!

I've discovered some favorite writers and artists on Instagram whom I've either already made purchases from or look forward to future buys! They have grown quite a fan base from Instagram, and some are active in multiple social media outlets. I wish I was as consistent in my online activity! Maybe someday...ha! Anyway! Let me introduce y'all to some of them...Again...these are their Instagram usernames...oh and I'll link their Etsy accounts and shops!

Absolutely cannot wait to purchase some art from @mackill (link via the computer)!!! How will I decide?! Etsy link

@j.raymond (link via the computer) was my first writer discovery, and I suppose I've been obsessed for more than a year now. I bought his first publication "Spades" when he first launched it, and now I have a signed 2nd edition copy on the way plus "Let Her Run." Super excited! Straight talk, honesty, tells it like it is, gritty and raw and sexy writing right here, dear readers! Etsy link

@j.r.rogue (link via the computer) and @kat.savage (link via the computer) were practically discovered at the same time because they support and promote one another and are friends in real life! I think that's fabulous :) I find these two women very inspiring, and I know that they are going to make a difference in so many lives. Kat's Etsy Link and J.R.Rogue's Shop Link

Can't wait for these to get here! I've already started a collection with J.R.Rogue and have been greatly enjoying these reads:

So, there you have it, dear readers; the creative minds I'm being the fangirl over right now haha! I hope The Ro Fo Sho Art and Photography becomes as successful as these artists have been. But you know...if not...at least I'm enjoying what I'm doing and loving the encouragement and support that I have received. My art lifts me up, and that is really the most important thing, right?

One more shout out, my friends! Another love of mine is music! It influences my art and writing greatly! Local and live music is a treat, and I've definitely missed The Deli in Norman Oklahoma and the talent I always enjoyed there! Sorry for the excessive exclamation marks...it's just exciting, people!!! Anywho! The Band Be Easy is a Florida favorite, and I demand you check them out...that's right...demand!

Okie dokie, my friends, today is my day off and I want to go soak up some sunshine at the pool, so this is all for now. Happy Hump Day and hugs and love, my lovelies!

Fangirl,
Amy

Bruises and Pauses

The following is something I wrote the other night when I was away from my computer, pencil, and paper...okay so I was at work...and yeah I'm not supposed to work on personal stuff at work...but I had the urge to write, and it was slow, and I was still taking care of customers, and it didn't hinder my efficiency in any way. So there. Here it is:

I’ve started promoting my art via a Facebook fan page, and the support from so many friends and family has been incredibly wonderful! The encouragement to keep pursuing my dream of sharing my art with the world, is appreciated beyond measure. I’m still researching on the best ways to go about getting my business legitimately up and running, so it’s going to be a process; but after years and years of simply talking about it, I’m actually doing something…finally! The ball is officially in motion haha! I’ve been wondering how much (if at all) I should separate my personal life with my art life. I’d like to make a decent living from my art someday, but how much of my life do I share along the way? One thing that is clear and something that will always be a part of this aspect of my life is my journey with clinical depression. As passionate as I am about creating and writing, I’m just as passionate about the discussion of mental illness. I feel like there are several of our voices out here, but we’re still not being heard loudly enough. And we all know that our mental health is a daily thing…not an every now and then kind of thing. So there’s my answer. Every day of my life is affected by depression and anxiety; sometimes it affects my art and sometimes it doesn’t…but it’s all part of the same story. I’m going to share a chalk pastel I completed Thursday night. My direction and vision for it changed and evolved as I went along, and my final thoughts on it were with consideration to mental illness. The center of the image became a representation of the semicolon. Are you all familiar with the movement? I’ll get a link for you all…here! I really love that we can all find a meaning in a simple form of punctuation. I won’t always go so in depth with the things I create; I want the viewer to figure out how they feel and what it means to them on their own. This one, however, is very clearly my idea (one of them anyway) of depression. It’s a bruise and a mark that no one can see, but just as the semicolon implies, all it can really do is cause pauses throughout our lives. My dream of being an artist has been paused several times these last 33 years, but I’m hopeful for longer periods of time without the pauses.

 (title in the works, chalk pastel by Amy Ro Fo Sho)

 I haven't settled on a title; it will be something like "An Invisible Bruise" or "Bruising Pause." Suggestions always welcome, dear readers!

Stay hopeful even during the pauses, and hugs and love, my lovelies!

In motion,

Amy

"Rainbows On Her Soles"

Well, helloooooo! (Please tell me some of you read that in a Mrs. Doubtfire voice?!) Jeez Louise it's been about 3 and a half months...holy moly! Sorry again for abandoning this little corner of the internet...for the zillionth time...ugh. But, hey! It's going to get better! Let me tell you why. So, after my last entry (An Angry Side to Depression), my struggles kind of...ummm morphed and thinned and bubbled up and over...I was basically all over the place emotionally. Stressed from my new job, still feeling anger and resentment, drained and dragging through every day. It was the first week in May when I just lost it for a few days. Truth be told, I screwed up with some of my prescriptions...as in I called them in and didn't pick them up on time...and my anxiety got a strong hold of me...like a vice around my soul and my heart...squeezing me to the point where it hurt to breathe and the tears came in floods completely uncontrolled. Depression and anxiety can make you feel crazy, and I tell y'all what, I was feeling like the craziest of crazies! I missed 3 days of work and I slept and slept and slept. I've said it before and I'll say it again...we don't always have to fight it...we are allowed to be weak...it's okay to keep the blinds and our eyes closed sometimes. But, again, like I also always say, we can't stay there very long or it can overwhelm us. So, I got my medicine and I got myself to work and I listened to my music and I created my art and I put my fists back up in the air on guard ready to fight the shadow again...and I've been fighting, my friends. I've been "Ro Fo Sho-ing!" that asshole darkness what's up and who's boss! Hell yeah! I'm going to try and make that a phrase for all of us living with mental illness..."Ro Fo Sho" with me, y'all...meaning keep fighting and don't ever give up...keep on "Ro Fo Sho-ing!" I think I'll make t-shirts haha! So! When I first created this blog, it was supposed to to be about my life with depression but also about my art...because my art comes from my life...and it's my therapy too...and like my story, I want to share my art with the world. Get ready... The Ro Fo Sho Art & Photography is officially on it's way...more details to come. And thanks for sticking with me, dear readers!

Hugs and love, my lovelies, and keep on Ro Fo Sho-ing!

Love and Peace,
The Ro Fo Sho

"Rainbows On Her Soles"

by Amy

(lyrics from Beth Hart's "By Her")