Entries from: January 2008
Fort Building 101
January 8th, 2008, Comments (10)
Last night, I was feeling a bit cranky, so I took my laptop and sketchbook into bed and camped out there for awhile. I did some work on my website, adding some of my latest art pieces to the store and then I did some sketching for some pieces I'm working on for the upcoming "Tiny Enormous Show" at Nahcotta next month.
Sketching and working while surrounded by cozy pillows and kitties was a nice change of scenery. It reminded me of staying home sick when I was little and making a fort of blankets and pillows under the kitchen table. I'd lay under there with my jammies on and draw. Sometimes I'd pull the phone in there with me and call up my grandparents to say hello.
I love forts made of big fuzzy blankets still. Like a snow fort, but without the cold or a fort we'd make in the woods, but without the bugs, a cozy indoor fort is a fantastic place to re-connect with your childlike self, imagine, day-dream, draw, nap, journal, meditate, listen to music or just plain relax.
It can be hard for us adults to find excuses for fort making. We figure, why make such a mess? What will my husband think? What will my kids think? Well, they may think you're weird, but that's not such a bad thing. 
Tell me, if you were to make a fort, what would you make it with? Where would it be? What would you bring into it with you?
The places that doodles and play lead to…
January 7th, 2008, Comments (8)
Holy moly, creative kids! The list of CED2008 participants has grown quite a bit. So, forgive me for not getting around to see you all as often as I'd like to. However, I've been blown away by all the inspiration and creativity that has been shared thus far. I'm glad that this gentle challenge has inspired so many people to join in. The group energy is sparkly and wonderful. Which reminds me, I wanted to share the lovely new blog of Christine Mason Miller called, Sparkletopia. It is full of daily creative sparks, inspiring links and lots of color. Love it!
The hubster and I spent a quick weekend with his family celebrating a late Christmas and we had such a nice time. It was relaxing and silly and I was so glad I was feeling good. Sometimes travel and people and being "on" all the time is totally exhausting for me. But I managed to feel good (getting good sleep helped a lot) for the entire trip. For creativity, I started a doodle on Saturday and used water soluble pastels to color it in. I started this doodle in a fun way that I recommend trying out. I simply put my hand (with pen) to paper and made a quick squiggly swirl. Then I looked at it and it suggested the figure that I created. The first time I ever tried this was in a cartooning class I took as a kid. The teacher would make a scribble on a piece of paper for all the students and then we'd turn the scribble into something. I still do this for myself sometimes and it's loads of fun!
On Sunday, the hubster wanted to watch a football game with his dad, so I sat down with them and started doodling in my sketchbook. My mother-in-law was talking to me about art while I drew and told me what she thought the doodles could be. It was fun following her suggestions and combining her ideas with my own to create the drawing. I had drawn the tree on the left first and then she suggested drawing a second tree that faced away from it so that they were like male and female trees dancing in the breeze. She also suggested the musical notes in the breeze.
Doodling also leads to some fun happy accidents. I drew the above tree doodle on the back of the page that I drew the woman in pastels, so when drawing the pattern at the top of the tree doodle, it pressed the pastels onto the page underneath it (which had little sketches for the cycles painting on it) in the pattern shape. So cool! I may have to play with that in other ways. This is a good example of the fun places that playing leads to!
Cycles
January 5th, 2008, Comments (26)
I made the above piece yesterday, I spent a long time fussing over the final details and I probably could have kept picking at it, but for now, I'll leave it be. Perhaps after I return home at the end of the weekend, I'll look at it with fresh eyes and know if it's done for me or if I want to work it more. I'm calling it, "Memory Cycles" and it's about 10"x14" with collaged paper and acrylic paint on watercolor paper. I worked with collage items, mainly given to me from a friend. The bicycle guys really caught my eye and it went from there. I had all different ideas of where to go with the collage when it was done, but the female figure seemed to be the one that wanted to be painted the most. So, I painted here and the circles in, along with the bicycle in her skirt. Then I painted in the writing in the middle of the page and added various touches with paint. The hubster joked, "Man, that girl hates bicycles." Very funny, hubster! Actually, I think it has to do with memory, the woman is thinking back over her life, lost in thought, and her mind is focusing on the cycles her life seems to go in. The bicycles are just a common, repeating theme in her life. I think everyone has those things that pop up at every stage.
Anyways, it was fun to make. I was feeling very productive yesterday as I had some deadlines. Deadlines seem to help get me going sometimes, so I need to figure out how to make them for myself in a way that's real and effective. I don't want to stress myself out, but a little pressure or push to move forward would be good. I used to push myself out of fear. I would push myself to exercise like a mad woman out of fear that I'd gain weight. Well, I've moved past that and into a space where I'm exercising to be healthy, but I'm not fitting it into my life as much as I'd like. This has been the tricky part...finding ways to do what's best for myself without the fear factor in there. The creativity challenges I've made for myself and others have been a good example of working with a challenge that doesn't involve fear. In the Art Every Day Month Challenge and the Creative Every Day 2008 challenge, I really emphasized a gentle, low pressure approach because I want to encourage creativity, not add stress to my life or anyone else's life. And for me, these challenges work. I did a post recently for Wellness Wednesday about how to challenge yourself and I laid out what works for me. So, now I need to find ways to apply this in other areas of my life...Well, I think I'll work on that 5% rule and see if I can add just 5% more of this gentle push in other areas of my life and see what happens.
Hope your weekend is a creative one! I'll be doing creative things while I'm away, but I probably won't post about them until I get back (Monday.) I may not be able to get back to you right away if you comment or email this weekend. But I will get back to you on Monday. Also, I believe the list of CED participants is up to date as of Friday evening. So, if you don't see your blog up there and it should be (or if you'd like it to be), then pop me an email or leave a comment. I'm human and mix things up sometimes, so please let me know if I've made an error!
Widget Me This!
January 3rd, 2008, Comments (18)
So, my creative activity today involved creating an Amazon widget and store. You can see the new widget which links to the store over to the right. The widget will show a random selection of books that I hand-picked. Each of these books has provided me with inspiration along the way. Since I love to read, this is a fun way to share the books I love and potentially make some money from the referrals. I added a column where I've now got this new Amazon widget, along with information about the Creative Every Day challenge and participants.
It was fun to make the store, using some of my art as a banner and thinking about some of my favorite inspirational books. I'll be adding categories soon too, so let me know if you'd like book advice on any particular subject.
I currently work for myself as a full-time artist and writer. Finding ways (small and large) to supplement my income is a wonderful thing, but don't worry, it won't become ad central around here! I never want to lose the integrity of this blog. I do want to try some of the new options out there for making money, so bear with me while I do a little experimenting in the next few months.
Money can be such an uncomfortable topic. I have never enjoyed making decisions on pricing, asking for money, or just about any of the business aspects of selling or marketing myself. But it's necessary for me to learn how to do it with confidence and grace. Even if it's just 5% more confidence and grace. In that spirit, I'm going to put up a paypal link soon that will allow anyone who reads and enjoys this blog, to make a donation and help support my creating. I never want anyone to feel pressured to donate here (it is not required!), but I want to put it out there as an option. Of course, feel free to check out my art website as well, where I sell original art and prints and stay tuned for new artwork and products to come this winter!
I'm going to be away this weekend with little time to be online, so it might take me a bit longer to get back to you if you email or want to be added to the list of CED participants. The list has grown quite big and I've loved being introduced to so many new creative people. So, welcome and happy creating!
Doodle-bug
January 3rd, 2008, Comments (14)
I love to doodle. The margins of most paper I get a hold of seems to always get covered in some little drawing, pattern, scribble or list.
Last night, I had the pleasure of listening in on a free coaching call with Jill Badonsky, author of The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard). I get Jill's newsletter (which I totally love for its creative ideas and sense of humor) and that's how I found out about this somewhat last minute call involving guided visualization and writing around starting your New Year with creative magic. I signed up for it on a whim not really knowing what to expect and I'm so glad I did! Jill has a very soothing voice and a lot to share. She was open and humble, funny and sweet and I enjoyed her method of visualization. I took some notes while listening in and I particularly enjoyed her way of looking at what had worked in the last year, how to continue that and how to appreciate and acknowledge where the good was already occurring. She also had a cool method of looking at making changes which she called the "5% rule." When looking to change something she suggests that instead of demanding a 100% turn around we can ask ourselves to make a 5% change. So, for example, if we don't like that we're not getting enough exercise in our life, we can look to include 5% more movement in our life. Much more manageable than a complete change, much more doable, and far easier to succeed. And it's so much easier to build upon success than it is to pull yourself up after failing to meet your high expectations. (I just noticed that the number 5 and the percent symbol (%) are the same key on the computer keyboard. Kinda cool, eh?) So, perhaps you can apply this method to creativity. If you're having trouble adding consistent art-making and creativity in your life, see if you can infuse your life with 5 percent more creativity or 5% more art. I like this idea along with the CED challenge because I don't want the challenge to be a source of stress. I'd like to be a source of fun and inspiration. So, if it's causing you stress, try out Jill's 5% rule.
During Jill's visualization in which we imagined ourselves in a meadow with a path in front of us, I saw these little birds carrying letters and keys at the bottom of long strings. I doodled them in the margins of my notes while I listened and after the call, I doodled in my life binder (keeper of lists) with colored pencils and made this:
I think it's super sweet. That's a bunny at the bottom in case it isn't clear in the image. Perhaps it will become a collage or painting later on. We shall see. In the meantime, I've got much to get to today, so I'm off!
Quick notes: in order to use the Creative Every Day button located in the sidebar (and below), simply right-click on the image and save it to your computer. Different blogging applications have different ways of adding images to your blog, but all have help sections which should be able to direct you to instructions on how to do it.
If you use typepad, I wrote a quickie tutorial for posting blog buttons for a different group here. And here's a tutorial from another blogger on adding a picture to your sidebar.
I'll be adding this info to the main Creative Every Day 2008 page, so you can find it if you need it! Happy creating!
Creative Every Day 2008 has begun!
January 2nd, 2008, Comments (19)
Aurora asked about how to communicate with other members of the group when you've posted about your daily creativity on your blog. Good question! You can post a comment here on the blog if you want, although it's not required. I hope that participants will check in on each other here and there (check out the list of participants in the sidebar.) Also, I've just set up a flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/creativeeveryday2008/, so feel free to use that to post images of any of your daily creations there (you can provide links back to your blog posts in your image description.)
I don't plan to post my creative activities every single day, but I will be keeping track of all of them and posting about all of them. There may be times I'm posting every day and other times I may post a few times in a week. Whatever your creative action is, record it in a way that feels right for you, keep your eyes open for creative opportunities, and have fun with it! If you aren't posting about what you're doing every day, then you may want to keep track in a journal or on your calendar. It'll be fun to look back over what you're doing and I think others will enjoy seeing the creative ways you take on this challenge too!
Last night, I sat down to work on my something creative and I thought I wanted to do a collage with images and words representing my goals. I looked through several magazines and wasn't finding the imagery I wanted. After 20 minutes, I'd only ripped out the word "magical" and a picture of a hand holding money. So, I took a different approach.
Here you can see my art journal opened up. I just started painting on it and the symbols came bit by bit. I wasn't really sure what it all meant until after I finished it. I painted the houses gold with red over it which represents good fortune, abundance, and wealth. And the houses themselves represent home, family and community. In the sky, the swirls represent creativity and action. And at the top of the page, I've written "creative everyday" to represent my intention for the year and the projects I have going on. It was kind of a shiny piece (and hard to capture with my camera) with the gold paint and mica flakes, but I think you get the idea and you get a little peek at the top two shelves of my bookcase!
O.k., back to work for me. I hope your day is a delicious one!
Happy New Year You Creative Geniuses!
January 1st, 2008, Comments (26)
Just wanted to pop in quickly to say Happy New Year! I got a late start this morning after being up late for New Year's Eve celebrations and then doing one of my favorite things...sleeping in with a snuggly hubster and kitties. I woke up to the fattest snowflakes I've ever seen falling fast outside my window. I'm not a big fan of winter and cold, but being inside and watching these ginormous flakes fall, I felt such joy. It felt like the perfect start to a beautiful year ahead! The hubster and I set to work making a delicious breakfast of fluffy eggs, and using leftover potatoes to make hash browns with onions and left over asparagus. Fresh coffee and o.j. rounded it out and well, I'm quite full.
I've just updated the list of Creative Every Day 2008 participants in the sidebar. So, if you don't see your blog on there or you'd like to be added, just let me know! And be sure to check here for more information on the challenge if you have no idea what in the world I'm talking about. I may refer to the challenge as CED or CED2008 from here on out because I like to shorten things like that.
I'm thrilled about the creative energy surrounding this group. And even if you aren't joining in the challenge officially, feel free to participate in whatever way you feel comfortable. My goal here is to encourage creativity in the lives of others, even if it's just the the tiniest bit. Just give it a try and see where it leads.
And if you've started today and haven't done anything creative yet, here are some ideas of where you could start:
- Pull out some magazines and make a collage about the things you'd like to bring into your life in 2008.
- Rearrange a bookshelf.
- Make cookies.
- Doodle on your junk mail.
- Make a flip-book
- Color in a coloring book
- Make a snowman
- Create a dance routine in your pajamas
- Draw your hand
- Knit something warm and cozy
- Make hot chocolate with a special something added to it and sprinkle chocolate shavings over it.
- Paint your toenails with different layers of color
- Photograph your shoes
- Build a fort
- Write a haiku
- Play the guitar
Well, there are some ideas to get you started. I'm off to answer some emails and get my own creative juices flowing. Have fun and Happy, Happy New Year!
The Year in Review
January 1st, 2008, Comments (7)
One of the cool things about blogging is that you can look back over the year and see some of the accomplishment that you've completely forgotten about and maybe give yourself some credit! So, I like to do a year in review every year and here it is for the year 2007:
January: Hosted a month of Sunday's Creative Challenge Day at Create a Connection. Chose the word "commitment" for my theme for the year in honor of my upcoming wedding and the commitment to myself and my art. Started working part-time instead of full-time in my nanny job as I slowly transition out of the job I'd held for 6 years. Made a video vision statement.
February: Submitted two pieces to Artstream's Lovely Hearts exhibition to raise money for breast cancer research. Graduated from the two year massage school program I attended. Phew! Began hosting an online group through Julia Cameron's "Finding Water" with Jessie. Received a book of Edgar All Poe's writing from Vedrana from Croatia in a book swap.
March: Showed 3 pieces in a group show of contemporary women artists at a Boston University. Saw a gorgeous, haunting exhibit on jellyfish. Planned and hosted a big surprise party for the hubster's 30th birthday complete with bowling and ice cream cake. Had my last day of work as a nanny. Started working for myself full time.
April: Worked hard on re-designing my art website and store. The hubster got a small (14 gallon), mesmerizing salt water tank. Finished a large commissioned painting. Found gorgeous dresses for my co-maids of honor. Attended a weekend mixed-media workshop and tried encaustic painting for the first time (loved it!)
May: Continued working hard on the website. Created one of my favorite paintings to date, The Lighthouse. Traveled for a wedding, a bridal shower, to see a friend's new home and a birthday party.
June: Got my art website up and running. Hoorah! Went to the opening of Mindy's "Wish Studio" and met many fabulous blogging gals! Went with the hubster on an unplanned trip to Seattle. Had a blast! Participated in the hubster's brother's wedding in NY. Attended a friend's wedding in Boston. A bird flew into our apartment and Tabbers caught it and brought it to me (I was in bed.) Sent out our save-the-dates (magnet we designed mounted on a card printed at home.) and found the perfect wedding earrings (and my something blue!) Continued making loads of art. Best friend had her first baby.
July: Turned 31. Had my first wedding dress fitting and found shoes to go with it. Traveled to Boulder, CO for a wedding. Loved Boulder! Donated a piece of art for the Angels for Brianna auction. Created my own special life binder. Lots of cool synchronicity.
August: Had a creepy stalker experience. Made lots and lots of art. Took a class on art promotion. Had my bridal shower. Sent out the wedding invitations.
September: Family difficulties. Registered for Artfest 2008. Went to a totally awesome mini retreat with new friends, hosted by the lovely Jes. And they threw a surprise shower for me! Showed a series of my Subway Stories pieces at the "Tiny Enormous Show" at Nahcotta and sold them all. Attended my brother my brother's lovely wedding in NY. Had a pottery painting bachelorette party! Had way too many hair trials. Made a cute button for Wellness Wednesday which is hosted by Elena of Lunar Musings.
October: Took care of loads of last minute wedding stuff. Put together many, many programs with the best friend. Got married! Recovered from wedding and read some books for fun.
November: Hosted the fifth annual "Art Every Day Month!" Met some fabulous new artists along the way. Made loads of art. Submitted art to Patti Digh's art card challenge. Spent a weekend nannying for the family I used to work for. Worked with resin for the first time. Dug into defining beliefs. Made lots of art every day. Got mentioned on the Blogher website. Showed art on the zine, All Things Girl. Spent Thanksgiving with hubster's family in NY. Started making plans for Creative Every Day 2008.
December: Wrote my 200th post on this blog (those I promised a special something for being the first five to comment, can expect something shortly after the New Year!) Got a new car with (gasp!) power windows! Announced that I'm writing a book on creativity. Synchronicity abounds. Hosted a week at Create a Connection. Chose my theme for 2008: "Now."
I always feel like I'm not doing enough, but looking back I see that I did quite a lot in 2007 and I also know that the whole wedding thing took up a great deal of my time and energy. I'm feeling ready to step into another wonderful year.
