a sampling of Val’s full-spectrum art
The Road to Resilience:
(Reflections on the Real, the Raw, and the Ridiculous…).
Welcome to my world of Whack, Whimsy, and Wonder.
It ain’t always pretty– but it ain’t beige.
This is where the rubber meets the road, the chicken meets the road … and … more often than not, the chicken is a rubber one.
This road leads to Humor, Healing, Heart, and Hope.
(I hope.)
Please join me—and the chickens—on this whack-full, wonder-full, and whimsy-full, non-beige journey!
from the blog
Get Curious, Get Creative: Fill ‘Er Up
By the time my husband moved out for the fourth (and final) time I was already running on empty. I had completely lost myself in the course of an emotionally abusive marriage while raising three sons, working as a doctor, and, oh yeah—striving for perfection. I had...
Balancing Acts: Women on Wire
“Do it all, Have it all,” Said society’s liars. We women, we bought it (Such gullible buyers.) We climbed up the ladder, Wiped out (fucking tired) To the rope licked by flames, Bravely walking the wire. We fought for our balance (“Stay out of...
The Sense of a Woman: Stories I Tell Myself (Scents and Non-Scents)
This is my story. It is a story about stories I tell myself. It’s a piece of… Story. PART ONE: “A rose is a rose is a rose…” But… What if that rose is buried under shitloads of shit? Is it still a rose? Is it a stinking rose? Is it buried...
The Over-Giving Tree
Moral of the story: If you over-give, you WILL be over-taken. And taken over. (With apologies— and thanks— to my hero, Shel Silverstein)
Premature Forgivulation: An Idea Whose Time Has Come… Too Soon
When is it the ripe time for forgiveness? Will it come spontaneously with little foreplay? Or do I have to be in the mood— Wine it, dine it, and undress the part? Will it enter gently—or with a bang? What if I just lie back and wait? Will it...
Escape from Vanillaville: “Land of 31 Flavors, Each One Vanilla!”
Bye, bye, Blandyland, Land of Black and White, Land where all waters run shallow, Where wading is the only way, And in is the only out. Where cotton is the only candy, (White cotton, that is.) Where smiling masks are pasted on, Smiling masks...
My Perfect Marriage
I married the perfect man. Narcissistic, mysogenistic, Emotionally stunted. Entitled, withholding, passive-aggressive. (But enough about me.) Naturally his outward-facing persona was that of the “good guy.” (It was truly crazy-making.) I, of...
Love, Loss, and the Fleece I Wore
I have an ongoing love affair with fleece. I guess you could say I’m sweet on sweats. Unfortunately for me, my (now ex-) husband of twenty years was... not so much. Just the opposite, in fact. To him, “fleece” was the real “f-word,” an...
![Getting [Un]Stuck](https://www.whybebeige.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Getting-unstuck-1.jpg)
Getting [Un]Stuck
“Throw five things against the wall and see what sticks,” was the wisdom my always-wise, 70-something-year-old neighbor, Tom, a retired attorney, shared with me as I cried on his shoulder about my impending divorce and my decision to leave the...
Star Power: Shine On, Ladies!
We women are the stars of this show. Our feminine powers dazzle, Powers that come from—and with—light... Radiant luminescence. Onward, ladies! This way to endurance, stamina, and determination. We women have staying power. We are fiercely...
the much anticipated, forthcoming, visual memoir of divorce
Pathos and play,
Humor, Heart, and whacky art…
It’s all here in DIARY OF AN EX-MAD, EX-DESPERATE, EX-HOUSEWIFE: A VISUAL MEMOIR OF DIVORCE, a compilation of the many pieces of quirky yet heartfelt art and writing I created as a self-prescribed means of healing the weeping wounds of my divorce.
DIARY is intended as a gift book for women who are either themselves navigating the lonely and painful terrain of divorce—or know someone who is.
(And who doesn’t??)
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