2011 May | Creative Every Day

Entries from: May 2011

Guest Video Post by Goddess Leonie

May 13th, 2011, Comments (5)

Oh my, my dear friend Leonie is pure magic. Enjoy this guest video post all about living and creating BIG!!

Goddess Leonie is the creator of www.GoddessGuidebook.com, a popular creativity + spirituality blog for women.

Posted by Leah on May 13th, 2011 in art, big, creative every day 2011, creativity, guest post | Permalink | 5 Comments

You are Invited to Liberate Your Art: Guest Post by Kat Sloma

May 11th, 2011, Comments (0)

What happens when you create your art? Does it make you happy? Do you find that you have an amazing boost of energy, of insight into life and self? Do you find that you feel centered and grounded, as if some piece of you has been completed for brief moment? I've discovered the act of creating, of making art of any kind, can have an amazing and transforming effect on me personally. I know I'm not alone.

Now, what happens when you share that art with world? You share a little bit of yourself, and add a little bit of beauty or joy or brightness into someone else's day. When you share your art, that wonderful energy you gained in the act of creation is not gone, it is magnified. You will see it reflected back to you in different, positive ways.

That's what the Liberate Your Art postcard swap is all about - sharing your art, liberating it out in the world, where it can do its greatest good. I'm so excited to be able to share this swap with the Creative Every Day community (thanks Leah!), and invite you to join in.

An overview of the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap follows. If you would like to participate, follow the link to the Liberate Your Art page on my blog to sign up for the email list. After you confirm your sign up, all details will be sent to you via email. You can unsubscribe at any time if you choose not to participate in the swap.

WHO: Artists in any medium. Photography, painting, poetry, typography, jewelry, sculpture, knitting, cooking, illustration - you name it. If you can have an image of your art printed on a postcard, you are in! If you want to share a blog or website address, I'll have a list of participants posted on the Liberate Your Art page so you can find each other.

WHAT: You will send 5 printed postcards of your original art to me, along with your address and return postage. I will then swap them around and you'll receive 5 postcards from different artists mailed back to you over a period of a few weeks. (The email you receive once you sign up will have all of the details on what to do.)

WHERE: You don't have to go anywhere, and participants from all over the world are welcome! You will send your postcards to me in the US (I'll be moved back from Italy by then) and I'll mail them back out from there. Details for international participants will be included in the email.

WHEN: The postcards will need to arrive at my US address between July 5 and July 15.

WHY: To liberate your art into the world, where it can do the most good!

I've set a personal, crazy-BIG goal for this swap - I would love to have 200 participants from all over the world. Can you imagine, 1000 postcards of wonderful art, winging their way around the world? I can! But I need your help. Please share the word about this swap on your blog, facebook page, tweet it and get your friends to sign up too. If we reach this goal, I am going to do something crazy too - send a personal post card to each and every person who participates. I get excited (and a little scared) just thinking about it!

The sign up form for the email list can be found on the Liberate Your Art page on my blog. Once you sign up, you will need to confirm your subscription to the list and you will receive the email with more details. You can also grab a button there, to show your participation and help me get the word out about the swap!

I hope you'll join me, and the many others who have already signed up, in liberating your art in the world. We're going to have a fantastic time!

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Bio: Kat Sloma is an artist, a photographer with a passion for inspiring others to find their unique vision of the world. She currently lives in Italy and travels Europe with an eye to finding the beauty of the everyday, while also working in the corporate world. You can see more of her photographs and read about her creative journey on her blog, The Kat Eye View of the World.

Posted by Leah on May 11th, 2011 in art, guest post | Permalink | No Comments.

Creative Every Day Check-In: May 9 – 15

May 9th, 2011, Comments (20)

This weekly check-in post is a place for Creative Every Day Challenge participants to share their creative activities.

Join in the Challenge: Read all the details and sign up for the 2011 Creative Every Day Challenge here!

Ways to share: Once you've signed up, you can 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 5/9/11 - 5/15/11.

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) or flickr image 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.) If the Mr. Linky widget is missing from this blog post, it's probably a problem with their server and it will come back as soon as it's fixed. You can always leave your link in the comments.

You can also take advantage of the great CED flickr group to post your images and see what others are up to. If you're on Twitter, you can use the hashtag #CED2011 to help others find your Creative Every Day tweets!

Theme: The (totally optional) theme for May is Big.You can read more about the theme and some ideas to get you started here.

Happy Creating!

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee. ~Marian Wright Edelman

Posted by Leah on May 9th, 2011 in creative every day 2011 | Permalink | 20 Comments

Painting Big, a Guest Post by Connie Hozvicka

May 8th, 2011, Comments (10)

My parents got divorced when I was just a wee little kiddo--and for the first years my Dad would pick my brother and I up every other Friday for our weekend visit. I was certain--100% sure that while we were gone my Mother couldn’t live with out us. I imagined, quite vividly in my six year old mind, that the entire weekend my Mother buried herself under blankets, soaked her pillows in tears, and moaned out sporadically in agony--as she waited for her beloved children to return.

Especially me, of course.

So, one Friday afternoon I thought I would surprise her with a gift. Something that she could look at and think of me--and not feel so sad and miserable in my absence.

I carried my poster paints, a small bucket of water, and that free paintbrush that comes in the watercolor kits downstairs to the family room. I moved the furniture just a little bit closer to the wall so I could balance--and I began to paint a self portrait.

Mural style.

Right there on the oak faux wood paneling.

I can remember that I drew the outline of my elongated body in blue and my hair, even though it was blonde--I began by drawing it long and wavy with thick black lines.

I remember exactly how it felt to paint that self portrait. The power of moving my little body with each brushstroke. The danger of balancing on the back of our mustard colored sofa. The rush I got from creating a surprise gift for my Mother.

The pure bliss of painting BIG for my very first time.

Then, unexpectedly, my Mother came downstairs.

Yep. You can imagine what happened next.

But here’s the thing. It doesn’t matter that my Mom was rightfully upset. It doesn’t matter that she cried tears and even sporadically moaned out in agony as she scrubbed with bleach and other stinky chemicals. It doesn’t matter even that I got grounded or that she didn’t fully embrace my gift.

I don’t remember all of that stuff.

I just remember how it felt the first time I ever painted BIG.

And now, 30 years later, I’m back to painting BIG and it has cracked my life open into a canyon of beautiful possibilities, abundance, and welcoming surprises. I’m no longer the person I used to be--instead I found myself again. I picked up where I once left off.

When my Mother walked down the stairs.

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Connie Hozvicka is the founder of DirtyFootprints-Studio.com--the home of the FEARLESS™ Painting Revolution which focuses on empowering creative souls to strengthen their intuition, connect deeper with Creative Source, and grow confidant as Artists through FEARLESS™ Painting. Connie's online FEARLESS™ Painting workshop: BIG starts Sunday, May 22, 2011. This is a 6 week adventure that will introduce you to the FEARLESS™ Painting Process and inspire you to paint BIG!