Halloween Fun

Hi All,

This year has flown by so fast.  I find it hard to believe that it's Halloween season again already.  So this year my wife Sue and I decided to do something we haven't done in a while....carve a pumpkin.

We start with a standard pumpkin.  About a foot tall from top to bottom.  Sue found us a really nice round pumpkin....perfect for carving.

Next - an awesome design.  Well - it's a design anyhow, maybe not all that awesome.

Then we clean out the inside.  Very scary inside that pumpkin.  We planned to clean and bake the seeds to eat.  In the end - what you see in the bowl is about all that came out of the pumpkin so we didn't bother with it.

OK - it's definitely no masterpiece but it's coming along nicely....sort of.  And...a little while later....

Ha!  The typical, standard looking carved Halloween pumpkin.  It shall take it's place of honor on the front porch.

I hope all of you have a great Halloween, and a wonderful holiday season coming up.  Have fun and enjoy the festivities....and let's be kind to each other in this season of giving.

Peace,

Tom

Holistic Therapy Solutions

Hi All,

I hope you're having a good week.  I'm watching my granddaughter today.  Luckily, I don't have any therapy clients or art deadlines today.  We're having a good time and my wife, Sue is here on a day off as well.  Should be a fun day.

So today I want to talk about my business.  I've been a designer and artist for many, many years, but today I want to talk about my other passion.  About 9 months ago I started Holistic Therapy Solutions (HTS).  I decided I wanted a business where I could utilize the education and skills I've learned to help people to heal and recover, and/or to just feel good.

Holistic Therapy Solutions, LLC's Logo

The slogan for HTS is "Get on the Feel Good Path."  The therapies I provide are intended to help people feel good, and help them heal.  Sometimes that could be a relaxing massage, Reiki session, or reflexology session.  Other times, you may have specific issues or injuries you may want to heal from and all of the therapy modalities that I practice at HTS can be a powerful aid in the healing process.

The therapies that I provide are: Massage therapy, Craniosacral therapy, Reiki, Reflexology, and Hypnotherapy.  Of course, more and more people are experiencing massage, and the massage I provide ranges from a relaxing flowing massage to more therapeutic focused massage.  I also have a corporate massage chair that I can bring into your office or event and provide relaxing chair massages.  This is so good for employee morale, or a great way to provide appreciation for a group of people at an event.

Cranial Sacral therapy is a gentle energy work modality that can help release "the issues in your tissues."  It helps unwind those holding patterns in connective tissue that can develop from physical and emotional traumas - or just being a resident of this planet.  It can provide relief from pain and help you relax and heal.  If you're ready for deep work - cranial may be for you.

Reflexology can be so relaxing and feel good, but it's also powerful and like all of the therapies I provide, may provide profound healing on any level.  Your feet, hands and ears are holograms of the body and you can work the body structure and various systems of the body thru these holograms.  Auriculotherapy is a focused therapy working with the ears.  Coupled with focused dialog and protocols, you can work on physical, emotional, and behavioral change issues, and it can provide amazing results.

Get on the Feel Good Path

Reiki is an energy work healing modality.  It originated in Japan.  Translation is; Universal Life Force Energy.  As practitioner, I act as facilitator to focus this life force energy to the client.  It's gentle, soothing, and can help a client find healing on all levels.  The client may find deep relaxation and stress relief, pain relief, or other healing.  Clients often enjoy a combination of guided imagery, reiki, and reflexology in one session.

Last but not the least of these is hypnotherapy.  Do you want to quit smoking, lose weight, or other behavior modification?  Do you want to learn more about yourself?  Hypno can be the key to your success.

Reflexology map depicted artistically

I'm based in Phoenix, Arizona at a very easy to access location.  Right of Hwy I-17 and Cactus Blvd.  I'm currently renting space at the Beyond Today center.  It's home to several holistic practitioners.  One of the things we have there is a spacious classroom where we can provide training and informational classes.  There are a variety of things to choose from; from body work to yoga classes.  I'll be attending a yoga class Thursday from a very talented teacher.

Keep an eye on my facebook page also.  I frequently will run specials on therapies that you may want to try.  One special every day...50% off all therapies for military veterans - every day!  The therapies I offer can be so healing for PTSD and physical issues that Vets often have to deal with.

If you'd like to schedule a therapy with me, go to my website for the phone number and give me a call or email.  I'd love to work with you.

Have a great day everyone and a great weekend.  Do something nice for someone - with no expectations of anything in return.

Peace,

Tom

Below are my facebook and websites for my art and holistic therapy businesses.

On Facebook

www.facebook.com/HolisticTherapySolutions

www.facebook.com/pages/Tom-Kreienbrink-Art-and-Design

On web

http://holistictherapysolutions.weebly.com/

http://www.behance.net/tk-art

Wash Your Hands

Hi All,

Well, it's coming to the close of the week....for most people.  Mine's just getting going this week because I'm starting a class tonight that'll last thru Monday night.  Reiki I and II class; and if there's enough students I'll be assisting.  Otherwise, I'll be auditing the class, which will be good as well.

So today I've been working on some design work for a couple projects.  After a while, I took a break and started searching thru some old artwork and found a little pen and ink that I did several years ago.

Pen and Ink Illustration using Kooh-i-Noor technical pens

This was a fun little pic I did while I was a Medical Illustrator years ago.  As we all know, in clinical environments, hand washing is mandatory and important to keep from spreading bacteria and germs around.  So this is an illustration I drew for fliers/mini posters to remind personnel to wash regularly.

I really enjoyed pen and ink as a medium and the various techniques that can be used.  I've got some line work, bold areas, and stipple in the illustration.  It was a fun pic.  I always enjoyed experimenting and continually trying to do new illustrations for projects, rather than buying clip art and using some stock work.  Good times.

Check out the water technique...that's a really subpar water stream coming down from the faucet.  Ha ha ha.  In those days I wasn't always faithful in using good reference material, but I had fun and always tried hard...and made sure the customer was happy with the work.

Have a great day everyone.  Enjoy the weekend.

Be good to each other out there.

Peace,

Tom

Tom Kreienbrink
Illustrator, Artist, Holistic Therapist, and Human on Earth

On Facebook (art page and holistic biz page)

www.facebook.com/HolisticTherapySolutions

www.facebook.com/pages/Tom-Kreienbrink-Art-and-Design

On web (holistic biz site and web portfolio web site)

http://holistictherapysolutions.weebly.com/

http://www.behance.net/tk-art

Hand Reflexology Charts

Hi All,

I hope you're all having a good start to this week.  Things are going well here.  Another nice fall week here in Phoenix.  Ahhh....cooling down.

I recently was putting material together for a hand therapy class.  I put a booklet together and drew some Hand Reflexology Charts.  I was going to teach the class with Rod Lyman.  Rod was going to teach acupressure points and related therapy for the hands and my part was Hand Reflexology.

Well, sometimes things come up in life and this is one of those instances.  So we're postponing the class for a while.  But, I got my materials together for the class and am ready when it's time for the class.

Here's a brief description of how I put these reflex maps together.  I drew the actual hand itself and uploaded it into my Mac.  With Photoshop and my Wacom tablet I cleaned up the hand illustration into a simple, clean black and white hand pic.

I then placed the hand pic into an Adobe Illustrator file.  I placed the same one in a second time and mirror flipped it so I have two hands.  To finish the pics, the text and line work was added in with Illustrator, to show the various reflex areas of the hands.  Pretty simple, but a good way to put a clean and descriptive illustration together.

For the back side of the hand (or Dorsal side), I used the original hand pic and made some modifications to it and repeated the same process.

The booklet was typed up in MS Word and imported into Adobe In Design.  Then with In Design, I was able to format this document into a nice, easy to use booklet, for the Hand class.

That's the reflexology maps for the hand class and a little bit on how I was able to produce the illustrations.  I hope your week is going well this week.  Do something nice for yourself and someone else.  Be kind to others.

See you soon.   Peace,

Tom

www.HolisticTherapySolutions.weebly.com

Fields of Flowers - A Homeopathic Remedy Story

Hi All,

I hope you've all had a good week.  I had a short week after taking a 3 day weekend.  It's been busy but good.  

I wanted to share this story with you.  Full disclosure - I'm a rep. for Energetix (an herbal and homeopathic remedy co.).  I have found these remedies helpful and a great alternative to standard nutritional supplements and an excellent alternative sometimes to traditional medicine.  

Below is a blog post from the Energetix website.  It's written around a lady's personal recovery story involving the flower essence remedy, Fields of Flowers(FOF).  FOF is a flower essence blend that's designed to help you release the toxic emotions and anxiety during the healing process.  

The thing I love most is that these flower essences and homeopathic and herbal remedies can be so helpful, without any harmful side effects.  

So here's the story written by Christine Cronin, PhD.  It's a very personal and intense story from a lady who was on hand, during the Boston Marathon bombing, and of her healing afterward.  

Title: Marathon Monday and Fields of Flowers

Marathon Monday started as a happy, exciting day. The day had arrived, a day we had been expecting for months. After hours, months, miles and the soreness and tiredness of training,our  son would cross the finish line of the famed Boston Marathon.

Getting off the train in Boston, we decided to walk through the park; the weather was beautiful. We had decided to settle in as close to the finish line as possible. It was getting really busy and people were already five or six deep as the first wheelchair athletes were coming down the street. We found a perfect spot on the right side of the Marathon Sports Store enclosure. We were tracking our son’s run and knew that he should be arriving between 2.45 and 3pm. We had been standing there for more than two and a half hours when our daughter asked if we should move, go where the crowd was a little less dense and get a spot at the barrier to get better pictures. We moved…

The next 60 seconds changed all of our lives. The loud explosion left us stunned and wondering what could possibly have happened. Before we could have another thought about it, the second blast ripped through the air, close by on our right, making the ground shake and fear took a grip on our heart.

What came next is better left untold. Cameras were rolling and captured it all for the world to see. The images that are imprinted on my brain are better left alone, to hopefully fade as time goes on. Shock set in, as well as a deep visceral need to find my son, see him and touch him, to know that he was unharmed. He managed to call us later on a borrowed cell phone; he had been stopped right before the half-mile stretch to the finish line.

The last few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions, the very high highs of knowing we are all safe and the very low lows of knowing so many are not. The feelings of disbelief, looking at the pictures and the reality of what took place where we had been standing just a few minutes before the blast. The immense gratitude and thankfulness, but the “why them and not me” questions that are so haunting. The lack of control over our emotions, and the surprise crying fits that still come on for no apparent reason, the amazing support that friends, colleagues, neighbors or complete strangers have shown to us.

Dr. Patti Bartsch, a colleague of mine, sent my family bottles of Fields of Flowers. There was so much anxiety around us, guilt and emotional pain. Sleep became elusive, or riddled with nightmares. I took drops during the day, when images surfaced at random times and at night when trying to go back to sleep after nightmares woke me up with a racing heart. I carried that bottle with me wherever I was and, little by little, the anxiety eased, the nightmares mostly stopped. As a holistic practitioner, I help my clients deal daily with many issues, stress being one of them. These past weeks have brought me to a place I had never been before, having to use all the tools at my disposal to just get through the day. It has been humbling and an incredible learning experience, one that cannot be learned in a book. This time, I was the one using the remedies, on myself and my family. Healing took on a much more personal turn. Fields of Flowers helped us all deal with emotions that felt overwhelming at times. Restoring peace in our hearts and in our minds has allowed us to focus on helping others do the same.

Very nice.  I'm proud to provide herbals, homeopathics, etc, from Energetix.  In my own life we try to use some supplements to maintain good health and some of the remedies when necessary also.

If I can assist with anything from Energetix or answer questions, let me know.  I'm happy to help.

I hope you all have a great day and wonderful weekend and do something nice for someone this weekend.

Peace,

Tom

Energetix

www.goenergetix.com

On Facebook

www.facebook.com/HolisticTherapySolutions

www.facebook.com/pages/Tom-Kreienbrink-Art-and-Design

On web

http://holistictherapysolutions.weebly.com/

http://www.behance.net/tk-art

Thoughts on Meditation

Hi All,

Hope your week is going great.  I'm having a pretty good week here in beautiful Phoenix, AZ.  The weather is cooling down a bit (low 100s), and even cooler at night.

Lately the topic of meditation has come up several times.  Just last night a friend was telling me about his new practice of meditation that his girlfriend helped him start, and how it's really helped him to be more calm and relaxed.  It's so good for that.

I've been thinking about starting a Wednesday afternoon meditation class/group.  I rent space to run my massage/therapy biz at a place called Beyond Today Co., here in Phoenix.  I was thinking a group would be great to help people who would like to try meditation, but feel like they can't on their own.  It would also be a good place for experienced meditators to come and share about their meditation practice, what they do, how it's going, etc.  And - we'd also do a group meditation every week as well.

So why would you want to meditate?  There are lots of reasons; better health for one; Physically and mentally.  For me personally it's a recharge and a reset.  It gives me a good recharge of energy - helps me really get going on as little as 15 to 20 minutes of deep rest or meditation.  Thomas Edison was famous for his 15 minute recharging "power naps."

It also is like a "reset," for the body, or like a "reboot."  When you reboot the computer it resets everything, helps all the little programing that get out of whack, get back into place and running at more efficient levels.  Meditation does that for the body and mind.  It calms you down, lowers blood pressure, and relieves stress.  It also helps in the same way mentally to quiet the mind chatter down and help you feel more peaceful.  Life is hectic and fast paced - when we get stressed out even the little things can start to bother us, and then we may even obsess about them.  Meditation helps to quiet that down.  After meditating I'll usually wonder why I even gave any of those crazy thoughts energy to begin with.

So what can we do to start?  It can be so healing to just start with 15 minutes a day of relaxing and quieting down the body and mind.  You can talk to yourself with that inner voice - tell yourself, guide yourself to relax.  Relax your body a piece at a time and get into a nice breathing rhythm.  Focus on your breathing and when you get distracted by some passing thoughts, come back to your breathing and focus on it.  Everything is connected...if you are thinking good thoughts, you'll naturally feel better.  If you're thinking about all the junk going on in the world and obsessing about things that are out of your control...it will make you feel worse.  That's just common sense right?  So when you meditate, you take the focus off of the negativity and impulsive thoughts - and into a good peaceful direction.  Simple.

Now I know some folks that may be concerned that meditation is related to a spiritual practice or religion that they don't want to be affiliated with.  Yes, there are meditation practices that are taken from various religions.  However - you can create your own practice, just like I described above.  People of all walks of life know that taking a quick power nap, or closing their eyes and resting for a little bit can be very rejuvenating.  That's meditation, it's just not labelled as meditation.  However, the results are the same.

So if you can, take a few minutes out of your day and take a little rest.  Relax your body and mind.  Who knows, it may help keep you out of the doctors office or help you feel a little more balanced.

Take care everyone and have a wonderful weekend.  Be kind to others...and be nice to yourself.  Treat yourself with the same kindness that you would extend to your friends.

Peace,

Tom

Holistic Therapy Solutions, LLC
http://holistictherapysolutions.weebly.com/

Dylan - Part II

Hi All,

Wow!  What a great day here in Phoenix, AZ today.  We've got a nice gentle, steady rain coming down this morning.  Beautiful.  The summer in the desert has been long and hot, so this is a nice change.  I hope you're having as good a day wherever you're at.

So I got up early today to get an early start and be productive.  The first thing I wanted to do, is finish the Bob Dylan artwork.  (I know it's not really a priority - but - that's how it goes sometimes).

So last week I did a pencil sketch caricature of Bob Dylan.  It was fun and I liked it.  Just a fun sketch for myself.

Original pencil sketch

So after posting the sketch, I decided to continue to work on the pic a little and see where it went.  So I took it into Photoshop and started working with Black strokes.  I did this on the same layer as the sketch.  So I made a "pen and ink" with pencil.  Well, I liked it and I liked the effect.

finished color illustration

I thought about adding color and didn't want to affect the pen or pencil drawing - and I couldn't color on a layer below.  So I used the "darken" setting in the brush tool Mode.  It allowed me to add color to the image of Bob Dylan, without affecting the dark line work.  By this time I'd also "cut out" the Dylan image, and set it as the top layer.  Then I started coloring in the background layers underneath it.  I think the background is comprised of about 5 or 6 layers.  I keep adding layers when working backgrounds and playing with brushes, colors, and layer opacity levels.  Fun stuff!!

So that's the Dylan.  A fun little project.  Hope you like it.  All you out there - have a great week.  Enjoy what you're doing - every moment, and be good to yourself and those around you too.

Peace,

Tom