Entries Tagged as: business
New Art And Resources
January 15th, 2009, Comments (4)
I have some new artwork available in my online store, Blue Tree Art Gallery. These pieces were created late in 2008 and it usually takes a little time to get them ready to sell because I like to offer prints as well. Well, they're ready to go and I'm super excited to offer these new pieces! I have the original and prints available for At Sea (above), Ophelia (below), Key to Winter and you can also buy my 2009 calendar on the website!
I'm also excited to share some awesome creative resources with you!
- I just listened in on this fabulous teleseminar with Lisa Sonora Beam, author of The Creative Entrepreneur. The call was recorded and you can listen to it here, right now! I purchased Lisa's book recently and it's really gorgeous. I seem to be reading so much lately about business aligned with your heart (which I love!) and this book fits right in with this idea.
- Another creative dynamo who writes about business with heart is, Tara Joyce, who blogs at the Innerpreneur. Lots of great things to check out there.
- My friend, Jennifer Lee is starting an amazing telegroup, the Inner Muse Group Coaching Playground, which is all about creativity, fulfillment, and focus. Sounds like it might be a great tool for some of you Creative Every Day Challenge participants who are feeling a bit stuck! Also, Jenn is offering a special rate through January 16th, so check it out now if you're interested!
I'm all abuzz with creative energy this week. Ideas are flowing and I'm working on a few different pieces. I'll be able to share those with you soon. In the meantime, I hope you are all having fun playing! I'll be announcing next month's theme around the 21st of the month.
Yay! More Calendars Available!
January 12th, 2009, Comments (4)
Due to interest, I've printed up another small batch of calendars! Above is a snapshot of the cover, below there is a snapshot of the January spread and one of the back cover, which shows a thumbnail of the 12 pieces of art that are featured. The calendar is about 11"x17" when open and it has a hole in the top for hanging purposes. The colors are gorgeous and vibrant!
The calendars are available for sale for $29.99 (plus shipping) and last time they sold out quick, so please order as soon as possible! You can use the button below to purchase with paypal (a secure way to make purchases online.) When you purchase, let me know your birthday (in the comments section on paypal) and I'll draw a little something on your special day if you'd like! If you have any questions, feel free to email me.
5-A-Day
December 10th, 2008, Comments (13)
The lovely and incredibly sweet, Jenn has tagged me for a meme that asks what 5 things you do to stay mentally healthy. This is certainly a great thing to think about, especially during these darker days of winter and the stress that can come up for many around the holidays.
Here are my top five things to do every day (or every week) to stay mentally healthy:
- Creative Expression: Clearly this is an important one for me, as you can see by the projects I run here and the title of my blog! Daily creativity, in whatever form it takes (dancing, painting, collaging, writing, cooking, crafting, photographing doodling) is such an important part of my life. It helps ground me, helps me release the internal backlog, and helps me be a better person.
- Snuggle: I am especially fond of my 4 kitty cats and I get daily love from them in the form of face pushes, cat massage sessions, and sweet purrs that warm my soul. And at night, the hubster and I happily share a full-size bed where we (and usually at least one cat) can be found snuggling up.
- Laughter: Laughing is so important to mental health. The hubster has a great talent for making me (and everyone around him laugh), I also love listening to comedy on the radio, and watching shows like 30 Rock and the Office to give me a good, hearty laugh. My laugh is ridiculously loud and people can usually find me in a crowd because of it.
- Scent: I love showering with a good-smelling shampoo. I also love the smell of cocoa in the winter, of chicken noodle soup, candles, pomegranate lip balm, a home-cooked meal, lemon dish washing soap, etc...I think good smells can lift you up. It's a small, simple thing that's a part of my everyday life that I notice and love.
- Movement: Some kind of movement or exercise is important for my mental health. I've fallen out of doing daily yoga, but want to get back to that as soon as possible. But even if I'm not on a regular exercise regimen, I keep moving through doing chores around the house, moving and dancing while I create, taking walks with my ipod, and chasing the hubster around the apartment.
How bout you? What are your five a day?
I'm not always great at tagging or at responding to tags, so if I tag you, feel free to do it or ignore it. And if I don't tag you and you'd like to do it, by all means, go for it!
I'll tag:
1. Judean (who made the coolest wreath ever out of ribbon spools!!)
2. Tammy Vitale
3. Elena
4. Jul
5. Jim
Today, after running around to the post office, other little errands, and packaging up things to send out, I spent the late afternoon playing with tempera paint and charcoal on drawing paper just to play with some internal questions and see what might come up intuitively. I'm still working on them and may or may not share images here when I'm done. It's good to play with no end product in mind from time to time and I enjoyed the process. I played some good tunes in the background and let paint drip and pour. I smushed it around with brushes, sponges and spatulas and looked to see what came through in the colors. I brought out bits of what I saw with a stick of charcoal. It felt good. And then the hubster came home and I washed my hands so we could share a yummy dinner. All in all, a good day. Hope yours was a beauty!
p.s. My calendars are all sold out! Thanks so much! I'll be sure to print more next year and to get them ready a little earlier too. If you're looking for some gifts, I still have my free shipping offer going on at my art website through December 15th! All you need to do is enter holiday08 in the coupon section at checkout.
Link Love
December 9th, 2008, Comments (12)
My creativity over the past few days has centered on preparing calendars and some prints to ship off. You can see two of the large framed prints above. I've had fun personalizing the calendars with birthday art! I'm nearly out of calendars, so if you want one, now would be the time to scoop it up!
I'm feeling loads better than a couple days ago. Still feeling wiped out and moving a little slowwwwwly, but then again, I always feel like I move a little slowly, so maybe I'm just extra slow. Ahem...Yesterday, I tried out a new commenting system that Typepad (Typepad Connect) is offering and then promptly took it down. It's a cool idea that allows you to have threads (comment responses) in your comment section, but the email notification system they have at the moment doesn't work for me. I like receiving comments by email that allow me to respond to the commenter directly and this new system doesn't allow that. Phooey. Oh well. Perhaps in a future version that will be an option.
I've got some fun links for you, so let's get to the sharing:
- We had our first snowfall over the weekend. It didn't last, but I'm sure we'll have more soon enough. If you're feeling like bringing a little snow into your life, how about making some snowflakes? Tammy sent me a link to a virtual snowflake making site. So fun! Karen has made some amazing paper snowflakes (I love the one with bees!) and over at MayaMade, there is a great newspaper snowflake garland tutuorial.
- This Creative Goddess E-course with Leonie sounds like so much fun. I love her sparkly energy!
- Melissa's adorable kittens are getting bigger and cuter every day. I just want to cuddle em' up.
- Jennlui is doing a great new weekly challenge called Mantra Mondays. I love the mantra cards she makes!
- In January, Jamie is leading another online book group, this time with Gail McMeekin's book, The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women. I have read this book a few times already, but I'm planning to read along with Jamie's group too!
- I've been loving Martha Beck's recent blog posts. They start here. Something about her writing just rings true for me in a deep, authentic way. I can see that she might not be for everyone, but who is? Me? I love her.
- I had the pleasure of meeting Susan Tuttle a couple summers ago at a little art party in Maine. She's such a sweetheart and so creative! She recently authored a book, Exhibition 36: Mixed Media Demonstrations + Explorations that looks fabulous and she's giving away a copy of the book on her blog, here!
O.k., that's it from me for the moment. I recently got called out for being a bit of a night owl. It's true! But I'm trying to get to bed a decent hour, so that I'll hopefully get back to full health quicker. Hope you're all staying warm and healthy!
Calendars are here!
December 2nd, 2008, Comments (18)
I received a new sample copy of my calendar today and I absolutely love it! I hope you'll enjoy it too. Above is a snapshot of the cover, below there is a snapshot of the January spread and one of the back cover, which shows a thumbnail of the 12 pieces of art that are featured. The calendar is about 11"x17" when open and it has a hole in the top for hanging purposes. The colors are gorgeous and vibrant!
The calendars are available for sale for $29.99 (plus shipping) and quantities are limited, so please order as soon as possible! You can use the button below to purchase with paypal (a secure way to make purchases online.) When you purchase, let me know your birthday (in the comments section on paypal) and I'll draw a little something on your special day if you'd like! If you have any questions, feel free to email me.
Sorry, the calendars are sold out!
Bird 17
November 26th, 2008, Comments (14)
I had fun with this one. I decided to do something a little different today, simply playing with layers. I put down collage first (although it is completely painted over now, it started a nice base for me. And then I layered and let dry many layers of paint, building until I had this image. I started another small one (because I sometimes would get impatient waiting for things to dry before I pulled out a hot air gun to speed things along), but that one isn't done yet. This one, which I'm calling "Bird 17" is 6"x6" on wood panel.
So, I apologize for not posting about the calendars today. I was totally bummed out about them. The proof was o.k., but not up to the standards I would want to sell (the colors were good, but the paper was too thin for my taste), so I'm working on another and I'll let you know when it's ready to go!
I've been off in art land all day, sending out some artwork at the post office, but other than that, I've mainly been arting away while listening to the final Harry Potter audio book. I'm going to go do the level one exercise in Soul Coaching and visualize myself in nature for 15 minutes. I think it'll be relaxing.
Cat Stackers
November 25th, 2008, Comments (19)
It was so dark and gloomy all day, so I felt the need for my art to be fun and light. I ran a bunch of errands in the rain and it was pleasant to be in the cozy car, listening to an audiobook on cd, warming my bum on the butt-warmer seats, feeling cozy and dry while stuck in traffic. I didn't mind going slow or waiting. Running from car to store with packages and umbrella and purse was a little less fun and little more comical, especially when a big box I bought to ship art in, nearly flew away from me in the wind.
Today in Soul Coaching, the focus was partly on how you carry yourself. I know that making a decision to carry yourself a certain way can make a huge difference. There was also an exercise about taking some time to truly relax and even though I didn't do it multiple times during the day, I did take a nice long rest after a yoga session with a purring cat on my chest, just breathing and melting into the floor. And that felt fabulous.
Some of the AEDM-ers are eager to continue with the project. And although I can't commit to posting art every day beyond this month, I will still have the Creative Every Day 2008 project going. And I think I'll start using the linking widget for the weekly CED posts too. I'm loving that widget. Widget is also a fun word to say. Widget, widget, widget. O.k., I'm tuckered out. Sweet dreams, you creative geniuses!
Which Way the Wind Blows
November 24th, 2008, Comments (23)
Today's artwork is, "Which Way the Wind Blows." I'd created the collage part earlier and put it under some books to dry where I totally forgot about it until I rediscovered it last night. The design in her dress is a print from a stamp I carved earlier this year and then incorporated into this collage. I went over it today with acrylic paint and ink to created this wintry scene. Again, there are lots of repeating circles, in her dress, in the bicycle and in the moon. Even the woman's face is a bit round. I think I'm drawn to circles because they are a feminine shape to me and they represent the cycles that are everywhere, in our bodies, in nature, etc...
I've got a new piece up in my art shop today, the "Lollipop Trees" is now available as an original or print. And don't forget the free shipping offer I've got going on through December 15th! You just need to type holiday08 in the coupon section during checkout.
Feeling Colorful
October 29th, 2008, Comments (16)
I saw this rainbow yesterday and it totally made my afternoon. I thought, "lucky day! a rainbow!" And even before I saw the rainbow, I felt more colorful yesterday than I have in awhile. I played in a sketchbook that came as part of a sketchbook swap, I drank cocoa and did yoga (not simultaneously), I babysat my bff's little girl and played silly games, and cooked a yummy dinner. The rainbow seemed to symbolize a little shift in me and I so appreciated this timely wink from the universe. I love sharing links and even though I just shared a bunch yesterday, I have more to share today, so here we go:
- I was thrilled to be interviewed by Christine Valters Paintner of Abbey of the Arts about my artwork and spirituality. The interview, along with some of my art, is up on her site today! Thanks so much for the interview, Christine!
- I'm such a big fan of Patti Digh's writing and this post is a great example of why. It's literally full of magic and inspiration! If you enjoy it, be sure to check out Patti's latest book release, Life is a Verb!
- Artist and author, Christine Mason Miller is selling some lovely new miniature originals and she's also offering some great giveaways. Check out this post for details.
- Hanna has shared an ultra cool, handmade, letter stamp set on her blog. Love it! I want to make one for myself! You can see the pics of her process here and here.
- Here's a fun way to make your own photoshop brushes courtesy of the One Good Bumble Bee blog.
And now I'm off to ship out some artwork and do some errands (cat litter and vedgies and seltzer, oh my!)
Inspiration Share
October 28th, 2008, Comments (12)
- So proud of Jenn for her first t.v. appearance talking about life coaching. Yay, Jenn! You can see it here. Also, be sure to check out the project Jenn is participating in called "Kiss the Paper," which presents the illustrations of two sisters creating a response to a prompt from Jenn.
- Modish has some great articles up about internet marketing for crafty entrepreneurs. I enjoyed this one and this one.
- Over at Queen of Arts, Kim has a tutorial and info about the colorful rocks she's painting and leaving out for strangers to find. They're gorgeous and I love the way she's spreading the love!!
- I just came upon the blog, Creativity Prompt which is all about sharing fun tutorials and creative sparks! There are a lot of journal tutorials there that make great use of re-cycled materials. I'd been thinking I'd do more creative prompts for next year's Creative Every Day challenge, so it was great to find this site full of creative ideas!
- Sharon of the Authentic Art Visions blog has a great podcast about contemporary art in D.C. and beyond. She interviews people in the art world and discusses issues such as framing, art collecting, and decorating trends. You can find the podcast, the AAV Artcast here or through iTunes.
- Melissa of Wild Wondrous Wanderings has a new litter of kittens (squirmy wormers) at home. So adorable! Warms my kitty-lovin' heart!
- Loved this post by Brandi at the Wishstudio blogzine about how you are always an artist.
- This morning, I woke up to a window full of bright, bright orange. I thought it was the sun in my morning fogginess, but it was a tree bursting with autumn leaves. The dark wood behind it and rain sparkled leaves made such a gorgeous picture that it made me smile.
- Sweet, snuggly kitties.
