inner beauty

Disclaimer:
Inner beauty isn’t about not taking care of yourself. I mean, we ladies still have to attract mates, right? We aren’t luna moths with heady pheromones that do all the work on a fellow nectar drinking night flying flapper and besides, there’s something to be said for feeling beautiful on the inside as well as the outside.

I’m just saying that something important is within us and neglecting the care of that inner stuff of the soul affects our wholeness.

And now:

The Body Cavity Series

I recently (as in, within the last three months) dreamed up this idea of creating a series that features animal forms, enameled, with open body cavities one can gaze into. I gathered myself, last week, and set upon the creation of the first piece in this series. I wasn’t actually sure if I could bring these ideas into being in a beautiful way…because surely, when you hear the phrase “body cavity” you don’t think of beautiful things — which is why I especially love calling this series as such…it’s somewhat disconcerting to read, isn’t it???

The first piece in the series features a jackrabbit form I hydraulically pushed into being from one of my original press templates. I opened his form up and placed carved ivory blooms in his core. The entire notion of the body cavity series is to bring to the forefront the importance of inner beauty and the possibility of the beauteousness of virtue — something so often overlooked in a North American society that pushes us so hard to have a prettier face, prettier hair, perfect breasts, long legs, thin and fit arms, flawless skin, manicured nails, immaculate makeup, a busy and successful career, a competitive nature, a charming and extroverted personality…the list goes on and on and on.

What about the core of our being?

Is the core of your being suffering from neglect?

Do you wear your body like a mask over your stunted heart and soul?

I love meeting women. More specifically, I love meeting women who are blooming beautiful on the inside.

I’ve found that don’t really notice what my best girlfriends look like anymore.

Yet, when someone asks me about them, I start out by saying:

My gosh. She’s so tremendously beautiful.

I’ve come to realize, I’m talking about the insides of those women.

They’re blooming beautifully on the inside. If I were to sit down to draw them or paint them, I’m not sure I could remember a truly cohesive likeness of their facial features or bodies…beyond vague details: blond, green eyes, tall, short, wide hips, narrow shoulders, full lips…..

The funny thing is, I can sometimes fail to see the beauty and potential beauty that is within myself.

I can fail to cultivate that region of my being.

I can focus, to a fault, on the surface things.

I can neglect the development of my virtues.

I can forget that this body houses something more important than the flesh and bone that makes it;

it is a home for my conscience, my character, my personality, my soul, my spirit…..my essence, my verve…

the real me.

The me I want people to see and remember when they look at me.

The me that My God loves and cherishes.

The me my husband respects and serves (and vice versa).

The me my friends comfort and confide in.

I want people to remember me for how I responded towards others in tricky situations.

For the way I treated others.

For compassion.

For the way I could laugh with reckless abandon.

I want to be remembered for: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.*

Those are the attributes that grow ivory roses in the soul.

The way I see it, when your heart, soul and spirit get big enough, bright enough and beautiful enough no one notices what you really look like anyway…they can barely see you because of the ethereal glow that spreads itself across your skin and beams out of your eyes and open hands.

I have a lot of work to do when it comes to cultivating inner beauty in my self.

It’s something I want to encourage in other women.

In my best friends.

In ladies I hardly know but feel a connection with.

You. She. Her. Them. We.

To commit myself to that work, I dreamed up this series and concocted the first of what I hope will be many!

This necklace is composed of sterling, copper, enamel, coral, carved coral flowers, carved ivory flowers, sari silk and green quartz.

It took five days of work, months of daydreaming and sketching and a studio full of tools to create.

It’s delicate.

It’s massive.

It’s vivacious.

It’s beautiful.

I poured my heart and soul into it.

It’s festive.

It’s cheerful.

It’s serious.

It’s calm.

It’s merry.

It’s strong.

It’s one of a kind.

And lastly, this lipstick is called Sephora Rouge (0127B RO6).

In case anyone was wondering.

GUFFAW!

Jillian Susan

*I’ve not mastered any of these things…I openly confess…but I’m working on them every day…two steps forward, one step back.

Under My Skin

The Body Cavity Series