Art in the Park in Dana Point

Art in the Park 2011 a photo by smashgirl on Flickr.

I had an incredible weekend down in the harbor at the Festival of the Whales "Art in the Park"! I met fellow artists and chatted with people from all over the world. I sold some of my mosaics which was great but my greatest joy came from the opportunity to share my 'Save Our Oceans" mosaic. When the idea first came to me back in January of 2010 with the yellow sunglasses, my hope was to educate with this project. Many people stopped to take a look at my art and the kids were drawn to it like bees to honey. They all wanted to touch it...it's full of colorful toys embedded in grout. The biggest shock to people was the fact that all of this plastic trash was collected in a single thirty minute period on Doheny Beach one day. I overheard parents telling their children to pick up trash and don't let it go into our oceans. My heart was happy that day, my project was educating and entertaining kids and adults. My hope is for this art to be installed in a public place to continue it's job on saving our oceans. Stay tuned!

Save Our Oceans was entered into the Chaco Waves for Change Art Contest and won honorable mention!

Tweet # 10,000

I can't believe I've tweeted 10,000 times...Wow.  I guess I've had  a lot to tweet about.  I can't remember what my first tweet was but I'm sure it wasn't memorable.  I started twitter to promote my art but little did I know what an impact it would have on my life.  I've met in person many new friends, tweeted with celebs, directors of  movies, rock stars, inspirational people, other artists, and interesting people from all over the world. A simple little 140 characters or less can be pretty powerful.  So as I was approaching my monumental 10,000th tweet, I wanted to make sure it was an important one. It had to have some meaning...after all, it was under a bit of pressure.  It was carrying a title and had to live up to it.

     I thought about the power of Twitter and what could I tweet about that could make a difference. I am very passionate about Plastic Pollution in the oceans.  I see the devastation it is causing and how it affects all of us...not just the people who live by the beaches like me.  Every piece of trash that sits in a gutter eventually makes it's way to water.  A lake, a stream, an ocean.  It kills our wildlife.  Maybe you don't care about animals and sea life. What does it have to do with me, you may ask?  Do you eat fish? What do you think they are eating? Tiny bits of plastic...so, now you and I and our children are eating toxins.

As I walk each day, stroll the beaches, get out of my car in a parking lot...I notice trash. It's everywhere. I pick it up, some of it is disgusting, but I still pick it up.
So I started thinking...my 10,000th tweet had to be about this.
Here is what I tweeted:

Pick up 1 piece of trash, could you imagine if everyone did this? Please RT and tweet when you have #onepieceoftrash

So I hope the power of Twitter will take hold and spread across the world tweet by tweet and each person will stop and pick up one, or two or three pieces of trash they see each day...then maybe the Great Pacific Garbage Patch will shrink...then disappear. This is my hope.