Entries from: December 2009

Flowing out of 2009 and into 2010

December 31st, 2009, Comments (26)

What a magical day. It's a Full Blue Moon, it's New Year's Eve, we're on the cusp of another beautiful year of being Creative Every Day, and I feel like I'm inside a snow globe with these teeny, tiny flakes falling outside. I'm especially loving that it's a Blue Moon, since I'm such a moon girl and as you might imagine, my favorite color is blue (plus, I say that "once in a blue moon" expression quite a bit.)

I've just finished my full moon dreamboard for Jamie Ridler's dreamboard group and I'm using it to reflect what I want for myself in 2010: mainly more ease and flow. I have this image of a river in my mind. There's an ease to the movement of a river, but there is also motion, action, and continuous, steady flow. Perhaps the river is also in my mind because I find sitting near moving water incredibly soothing. I think I sometimes associate stillness with stagnation, but ease and movement are not so separate. I see that in the way that getting regular exercise helps me feel more calm, and how de-cluttering helps me feel more spacious and open. It's a funny little paradox that I'd like to have in my life in 2010: ease, flow, and movement. While I've been thinking I'd use the words "ease and flow" as my theme for 2010, I think I may use the image of a river as it captures more of what I'm going for. Why not?

The dreamboard above was based on a sketch from my sketchbook that I drew onto a larger sheet of watercolor paper. I created the river with gesso and bits of snowflake tissue paper to create texture. Once that dried, I painted over it with ink and acrylics. (By the way, this is a great way to recycle holiday tissue paper and make cool textures in your art!) I then drew in the figure and wrote in some words, such as: ease, flow, resonance, calm, and movement. When I mentioned wanting more ease and flow in my life earlier this month, Terri (@TerriFisher on Twitter) let me know that Rhea is the goddess of Ease and Flow. How cool! I'm sure I'll paint her at some point this year too.

The last few years, I've loved choosing a theme word for the year. I think I may have read about it first on Christine Kane's blog (by the way she's offering a free download about choosing a theme word for the year.) Last year, I chose the word "Leap" and it served me well. I made some huge leaps in my career and my life in general. I'm especially proud of having art on the cover and an article in Artful Blogging Magazine, being on the radio, creating my first online teleclass, in-person workshop with the fabulous Jennifer Lee, first e-course, growing my online challenges, buying our first home, and selling more art than ever before. I'm so very grateful for my wonderful family, friends, loving hubster, and our four fuzzy cats. I'm also thrilled with the amazing connections I've made with fabulous creative people this year, many I met through this blog. I feel so incredibly lucky to be part of such an amazingly supportive community.

It's been a challenging year in other ways. I lost my Grandma after a battle with Alzheimer's just before Thanksgiving, I had some behind-the-scenes technical issues and problems with boundaries, I had a health scare with my beloved cat, Sadie, and I found the whole process of moving to be exhausting. I also made the decision to come off anti-depressants after being on them for ten years (I did this over a long period of time with the help of a doctor.) It was one of the most challenging things I've ever done. It still feels like a bit of a journey for me, but I'm doing really well and I'm thrilled about that. Overall, life is good. So very good. And I'm so grateful for it all.

To help me close out 2009 and grow my vision of what 2010 will be, I've printed out Goddess Leonie's stunning Creating My Goddess Year Workbook & Planner. There are some pages in the workbook that go along so beautifully with next month's (totally optional) theme of Body for the Creative Every Day Challenge, so I'll share those here. And I'm going to be interviewing the lovely Leonie next month about loving up your body, so stay tuned for that too!

Actually, I've got so much goodness planned for next month, that I can hardly stand it! It's going to be an amazing year. I love the energy that's building already. I wish each and every one of you a beautiful close to your 2009. May 2010 be filled with wild creativity, uncontrollable laughter, quiet moments of delight, and loads of love. See you in 2010!

2010 Creative Every Day Challenge Update & FAQ’s

December 29th, 2009, Comments (9)

I want to give you all a quick update on the Creative Every Day Challenge that begins again on January first. I can hardly believe it, but 2009 is rapidly coming to a close and we're nearly into 2010! We've got nearly over 400 people joining in the fun so far and I can already feel the amazing creative energy of this fabulous group. So exciting!

The list of participants has been updated as of today, December 29th at 8:30 pm Eastern time. The 2009 list is still up, but the 2010 participants are right below it in the sidebar.

If you don't see your name on the list, there are a few things to check:

1. Did you fill out the form? The sign-up form is located here. You have to be sure to fill in the required areas for it to work and then hit "submit."

2. Did you confirm your sign-up? Within minutes of hitting the submit button, you should receive a confirmation email (if not, check your junk folder.) You have to click the confirm link before I receive your sign-up form.

3. I'm using the sign-up form as a (hopefully) more organized way to keep track of everyone's information, but I'm still entering everyone manually into the sidebar list, so it may take some time for me to put your info up into the sidebar. Sometimes I'm able to do this immediately and other times, like around the holidays, it takes a couple days. So, if you don't see your name up in the list after you've confirmed, don't worry. I will add it soon!

4. If you've done all of the above, it's been a few days, and you're still not up there, there are a few more things to check out. Check your confirmation email to see how you requested to be listed. You may have asked to be listed as your first name and last initial, but are looking for your blog name. If you'd like me to change how you're listed, you can let me know.

5. Technical snafus and human errors are also bound to happen. So, if you never received your confirmation email, try submitting the form again. If you've tried a couple times and it didn't work, email me (my contact link is at the top of the blog) with the info from the sign-up form and I'll enter you in manually. If you did get a confirmation and I messed something up, please let me know and I'll fix it asap!

6. If you're on Twitter and you've signed up, but you're not on the 2010 Creative Every Day Twitter list yet, send me a DM (Direct Message) and I'll make sure you're added. (By the way, I'm using the hashtag #CED2010 to identify tweets about the challenge.)

Ok, now that we got that listy business out of the way, I also want to point out the Creative Every Day Challenge page has lots of info about how to participate, including how the Mr. Linky widget works, where the CED Flickr group is, and how to post a button on your blog. You can also find links to the monthly themes there once I've posted them (they go up a few days before the start of each month.) In case you missed it, January's (totally optional) theme is "Body" which you can read more about here.

Creative Every Day Theme for January 2010: Body

December 28th, 2009, Comments (52)

At the end of each month I will be announcing the totally optional theme for the following month. January 2010's theme will be: Body.

As always, the themes for the Creative Every Day Challenge are totally optional. Use it if it sparks you, continue being creative every day in your own way if it doesn't, or do something in between. For the theme of Body, I'm thinking in terms of the human body, a body of work, a body of water, etc... There are endless ways you can play with the theme and I'm open to any interpretation.

I'll be posting about the theme throughout the month on the blog to help keep you inspired. You can use the posts here for jumping off points or interpret the theme in your own creative way. If you need some suggestions, here are a few ideas to get you started. You could:

  • *Put your whole body into your creating. Move while you work.
  • *Make work based on the human figure. Take a life drawing class or draw yourself.
  • *Create a body of work on a common theme.
  • *Try body painting or have yourself painted with henna designs. .
  • *Incorporate daily movement into your life and see how it impacts your creativity.
  • *Write a love note to your body.
  • *Focus on your favorite part of your body and create something inspired by it.
  • *Make body prints: Finger prints, foot prints, or whole body prints! 

How to use the CED themes:

If you're feeling creatively stuck or blocked at any point during the month, use the theme as a source of inspiration to get you moving. 

Using the theme is entirely optional for CED participants. Use it if it inspires you, ignore it if it doesn't. I'll be sharing posts throughout the month around the theme (among other things) to get you thinking about how to incorporate it into your life. I'd love to hear how you use the theme in your creative world.

Feel free to focus on the theme in your creative activities for the entire month or as much as you'd like.

And have fun with it!

p.s. The art I adapted for this post, is from my mixed-media piece, titled Eve, which is available as a print here.

The body never lies.  ~Martha Graham

Creative Every Day Check-In: December 28 – January 3

December 28th, 2009, Comments (25)

Ced2009
Welcome, Creative Every Day Challenge participants! 

This weekly post is a place for CED participants to share their creative activities.

Ways to share: Leave a comment on this post and/or use the "Mr. Linky" widget below to link to a blog post(s) about your creative activities during the days of 12/28/09 - 1/3/10.

The widget below is an optional method of sharing your creativity that makes it easier for others to check out what you're up to. You can use it to link to a blog post (or posts) during the week listed. Or if you have a bunch of posts and don't want to link to all of them, you can link to your main blog page once. Do it in a way that makes sense and is fun for you! If you're unsure about how to use the widget, check out the "How to use the Mr. Linky widget section on the Creative Every Day Challenge page. (If you're reading this in a RSS reader or email subscription, you will not see the "Mr. Linky widget", so click on over to the blog to use it.)

You can also take advantage of the great CED flickr group to post your images and see what others are up to.

Join in the Challenge: You can sign up for the  2010 Creative Every Day Challenge anytime! Find out more and fill out the sign-up form here to join in!

Theme: The (totally optional) theme for December is recycle. I'll be posting about the theme throughout the month. You can find out more about how you can use the inspiration theme here. The (totally optional) theme for January will be Body.

Happy Creating!

True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist. ~Albert Einstein

Happy Holidays!

December 25th, 2009, Comments (13)

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it and Happy Holidays to those who celebrate in other ways! I just got back from festivities with part of my family and tomorrow we'll resume with another part of the family. On my mini tree, I have an ornament that I made back in pre-school, a reindeer made from clothespins. And I had to snap a picture of it because it fits so well with the recycling theme (and I still adore it after all these years.)

As an interesting side note, my mom tells me that when I was very small, before I knew any bad words, I'd call people clothespins when I got angry with them. As in, "You clothespin!" Hehe. Not sure why clothespins were bad...maybe because they pinched? 

I hope that your holidays continue to be magical. And if you're feeling a bit stressed out, you might try listening to the recording I've linked below. I have one Catholic and one Jewish parent, so I got a kick out of Tama Kieves' hilarious impression of her Jewish mother doing a stress relief meditation. And even if you don't have Jewish family, you'll probably get a giggle out of it too.

I shall return as soon as the festivities end to share the totally optional theme for January for the Creative Every Day Challenge. Exciting!!

Honoring the Dark, Welcoming the Light

December 21st, 2009, Comments (17)

A Happy Solstice to you! Today is our shortest day of the year. And even though we're just starting winter, I always feel a hit of joy knowing that the days are beginning to get longer now. This week I attended a sweet little Solstice celebration with some friends. Gem, who led the festivities, selected some beautiful pieces to read out loud and one to listen to. The one I got to read was so beautiful, I wanted to share a piece of it with you. It's by Chris Heeter:

What if darkness has nothing to do with fear?
Or sadness.
Or all the weight we attach to the night.
What if these dark days...
were seen as precious,
sacred even, for the very lack of light...

This really touched me. How lovely to think of this time as a sacred time to go within. I tend to think of the dark as a negative. Partly because the lack of sun has me dragging a bit and I long for the days when I can be outside more, feeling lighter and more energetic. I have to work a bit harder during this time of year to stay active and creative and joyful. But I like this idea of releasing the darkness from fear and sadness and seeing it as a special time. How can you honor the dark, the unknown, and the unseen in your life? What ideas might you want to let go of? What art could be created from it?

I often feel like art-making is a reaching into the unknown. I didn't know what was going to come of my experiments with art today. With the recycling theme in mind, I used a cardboard shape I found while unpacking some glass bowls this week. I had saved one, not knowing how I'd use it, but knowing it was a cool shape and I could do something with it. I ended up using a scrap piece of mat board, putting the cardboard shape on it, and then using a glimmer spray (which is very sparkly in person) that was given to me by my bff ages ago, to create a stencil.

I then played with ink to create the solstice image above, a winter scene with a woman carrying a lantern in the forest. Another little glimmer.

And speaking of glimmers, I had an incredible light added to my day by the arrival of this spectacular, art-filled thank you card created by a group of Art Every Day Month participants that were brought together by Laura Duldner. Thank you so much, Laura for organizing and creating this beautiful piece. And thank you to everyone who added their sweet words and art to it! It brought tears to my eyes and I'm so very grateful for all the kind words and seeing all the little pictures of people's work. So cool!!! I've propped it up on my easel for now and will be putting it up on the wall soon.

I wish you all a beautiful Solstice. May you find loads of glimmers in the darkness.

Creative Every Day Challenge Check-In: December 21 – 27

December 21st, 2009, Comments (13)

Ced2009Welcome, Creative Every Day Challenge participants! 

This weekly post is a place for CED participants to share their creative activities.

Ways to share: Leave a comment on this post and/or use the "Mr. Linky" widget below to link to a post (or posts) about your creative activities during the days of 12/21/09 - 12/27/09.

The widget below is an optional method of sharing your creativity that makes it easier for others to check out what you're up to. You can use it to link to a blog post (or posts) during the week listed. Or if you have a bunch of posts and don't want to link to all of them, you can link to your main blog page once. Do it in a way that makes sense and is fun for you! (If you're reading this in a RSS reader or email subscription, you will not see the "Mr. Linky widget", so click on over to the blog to use it.)

You can also take advantage of the great CED flickr group to post your images and see what others are up to.

Join in the Challenge: To find out more about the Creative Every Day Challenge check out the details here. The 2010 Creative Every Day Challenge is starting up soon! Find out more and fill out the sign-up form here to join in!

Theme: The (totally optional) theme for December is recycle. I'll be posting about the theme throughout the month. You can find out more about how you can use the inspiration theme here.

Happy Creating!

Do something. If it doesn't work, do something else. No idea is too crazy. ~Jim Hightower

2010 Creative Every Day Challenge Update

December 17th, 2009, Comments (9)

Hello beautiful creatives! Just a quickie update on the 2010 Creative Every Day Challenge. The list in my sidebar is the 2009 list. I'm still working on adding names to the 2010 list, which will go up next week. It's taking some time as we've got over 200 people signed up already! Woohoo!

I'm going to put up the list next week, even if it's incomplete, and keep adding to it over time. I'm also continuing to add to the Creative Every Day list on Twitter, slowly, but surely. So if you don't see your names on these lists right away, do not fear! I'm doing my best to add names to the list in between Holiday activities. I'm so incredibly excited by the wonderful folks who will be joining in for the first time and all the fabulous creatives who are joining in for another year. 2010 is going to be amazing!

p.s. You can sign up for the 2010 Creative Every Day Challenge and check out all the details here.

UPDATE: I got caught up with the list a little earlier than I expected. Woohoo! As of 2pm, Friday the 18th, I believe I've added everyone to the list who has filled out the sign-up form in the way they requested to be listed. The 2010 list is right under the 2009 list in my sidebar. I'm also caught up on the Twitter list. If you don't see yourself on it and would like to be added, send me a DM (direct message) and I'll add you to it.

The names that you can't click on in the sidebar list belong to folks who requested to have their names listed, but without a link. If you think you signed up, but don't see your name, first check to see how you filled out the sign-up form (perhaps you're looking for yourself under your blog name, but you may have requested to be listed as your first name and last initial.) If there has been an error (I'm human, mistakes happen!), just pop me an email (click on the contact me banner at the top of the blog) and let me know. I will continue to add names as they come in, as soon as I'm able to.

260 creatives have joined in so far and I know that list is going to continue to grow. It's going to be an amazing year of creative community and inspiration! Have a beautiful weekend everyone!

Recycled Ornaments

December 15th, 2009, Comments (6)

I've been enjoying what the Creative Every Day Challenge participants have been doing with the recycling theme! A few people have recycled items to make super cool Christmas ornaments. Seeing them reminded me of the clothes-pin reindeer I made as a kid (which I still own and love!) Those handmade ornaments are the best kind I think. :-)

Regina, at Creative Kismet, used old paper rolls, to make these adorable hand-painted ornaments. She's got a great tutorial on how to make them too!

And Melissa, at Dandelion seed on the updraft, embossed the lid from a tin of raisins to make a fabulous ornament. So creative!

Do you have any favorite ornaments made from recycled items?

Glimmer

December 14th, 2009, Comments (20)

I love how sparks come and tap you on the shoulder sometimes.

The days are getting darker and darker and colder and colder. I'm doing fine, but still, this time of year is more difficult and I feel more blah. But here and there are these glimmers, which is what inspired this painting tonight. The blue lines on either side of the figure were inspired by these little bare-branched tree vignettes that I saw on a walk through the woods this afternoon. Walks in the woods are glimmers. Feeling an idea come rushing in is another glimmer. A dash of hope and possibility is another. Sometimes glimmers are teeny-tiny, but just one can be brilliant.

So if you get blue this time of year and I know many of us do, hold onto those little glimmers, wherever they come from. The shortest day is right around the corner and then the days will begin to get longer and longer again soon.

I can't say this is connected to the recycle theme really, but that's ok. I'll have a fun recycling post up tomorrow! In the meantime, happy glimmering!