Creative Every Day

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Art Every Day Month Check-In: November 24th

November 24th, 2009, Comments (15)

Today is the 24th day of Art Every Day Month. Some days it's just one foot in front of the other, one tiny step at a time. Keep on taking those tiny steps forward. You're doing fabulously!

The box below is a widget that I provide each day as an optional place to share a direct link (blog post or flickr image) to that day's creation. If you don't have something to share today, don't worry about it! Share when you can. In the meantime, be sure to check out what other participants are creating! Check out the links from today's post and the links in the sidebar for instant inspiration. You can also see lots of great work in the AEDM flickr group. Feel free to share your work there too!

If you use the widget, please link to a specific blog post (or specific image if you're linking to a flickr page or other website) instead of your main blog page or website. If you want to share, but don't have a specific page to link to, feel free to use the comments section of this post to share what you're working on. If you're posting less than once a day, no problem! Simply use the latest one of these posts to share a link to your creation. For some, it's too much to keep up with posting every day, but don't let that get you down. Do it if you can and if you can't, just keep on creating, that's the most important part. If you get off track and miss a few days of creating, don't let that freeze you up either. Just pick up where you left off and keep moving forward. One foot in front of the other. You are making your life a more creative one with each step.

If you're new to Art Every Day Month, check out the AEDM info page for all the details, then send me an email to sign-up before you use the link widget to share your creations. (If that email link isn't working, you can email me at leah at bluetreeartgallery.com)

Instructions: Please see the Art Every Day Month Instructions post if you have any confusion about how to post your link or how to sign up.

Twitter: Are you participating in AEDM and you're on Twitter too? I'm on there as @leah_art and I've been using the hashtag #aedm to mark Art Every Day Month tweets. I also started a Twitter list for AEDM which can help you easily find Twitter folks who are participating. If you're not on the Twitter list yet and would like to be, send me a DM (Direct Message on Twitter.)

The best ideas come unexpectedly from a conversation or a common activity like watering the garden. These can get lost or slip away if not acted on when they occur. ~Ruth Asawa

Art Every Day Month Check-In: November 18th

November 18th, 2009, Comments (19)

Today is the 18th day of Art Every Day Month. I've noticed a lot of folks mentioning that they're working on or thinking about creating similar things at the same time. This happens each year during Art Every Day Month, but it always delights me. Perhaps because we're all creating together this month, we're all connected energetically, and therefore on a similar wave-length. I don't know. But I do know that I love the little synchronicities that pop up everywhere! Have you experienced any fun synchronicity this month?

The box below is a widget that I provide each day as an optional place to share a direct link (blog post or flickr image) to that day's creation. If you don't have something to share today, don't worry about it! Share when you can. In the meantime, be sure to check out what other participants are creating! Check out the links from today's post and the links in the sidebar for instant inspiration. You can also see lots of great work in the AEDM flickr group. Feel free to share your work there too!

If you use the widget, please link to a specific blog post (or specific image if you're linking to a flickr page or other website) instead of your main blog page or website. If you want to share, but don't have a specific page to link to, feel free to use the comments section of this post to share what you're working on. If you're posting less than once a day, no problem! Simply use the latest one of these posts to share a link to your creation. For some, it's too much to keep up with posting every day, but don't let that get you down. Do it if you can and if you can't, just keep on creating, that's the most important part. If you get off track and miss a few days of creating, don't let that freeze you up either. Just pick up where you left off and keep moving forward. One foot in front of the other. You are making your life a more creative one with each step.

If you're new to Art Every Day Month, check out the AEDM info page for all the details, then send me an email to sign-up before you use the link widget to share your creations. (If that email link isn't working, you can email me at leah at bluetreeartgallery.com)

Instructions: Please see the Art Every Day Month Instructions post if you have any confusion about how to post your link or how to sign up.

Twitter: Are you participating in AEDM and you're on Twitter too? I'm on there as @leah_art and I've been using the hashtag #aedm to mark Art Every Day Month tweets. I also started a Twitter list for AEDM which can help you easily find Twitter folks who are participating. If you're not on the Twitter list yet and would like to be, send me a DM (Direct Message on Twitter.)

I work in whatever medium likes me at the moment. -- Marc Chagall

Update: I've recently switched web hosts, so my spam filter is catching a lot of comments and storing them until I approve them. If you don't see your comment show up right away, it's probably because I have to approve it first. Thanks for your patience!

Art Every Day Month Instructions

November 2nd, 2009, Comments (0)

Hello all you fabulous creatives! There has been some confusion about how to use the Mr. Linky widget and how to sign-up, so I want to make some clarifications here.

1. If you want to join in: If you are new to  (if that email link isn't working, you can email me at leah at bluetreeartgallery.com). I will email you back as soon as I can to let you know I've added you to the list of participants. If you don't hear back from me, within 24 hours, try again. It's possible your email went to a junk folder or I missed it.

When you email me, let me know how you'd like to be listed in the list of participants. I can list you by your name (first and last or first and last initial), your blog, or a flickr account. For this challenge, I'm only linking to places where you'll be posting your creations (so I won't link to an etsy store, for example.) If you don't have a blog or flickr account, don't worry! There are lots of people participating without them. I can simply list your name without a link.

You can still join in after the 1st.

2. The list of participants: Once you've signed up, I'll put you on the list of participants, which is located in my blog's sidebar (to the right.) It's a drop-down list under the list of CED participants. If you've signed up and don't see yourself listed, let me know.

3. The Mr. Linky Widget: I will post one Mr. Linky widget each day on the blog. It's a place to share a link to your blog post or flickr image of that day's creation. Please do not leave a link to your blog's main page. A link to your main page would look like: http://www.creativeeveryday.com and a link to that day's post would look like: http://creativeeveryday.com/creativeeveryday/2009/11/pond-reflections.html

You can also skip the widget and just use the comments of each day's posts to share what you're working on. And again, if you don't post each day, don't worry, you can simply leave your link or comment on the most recent AEDM check-in post when you're ready.

If you're not sure what the heck a Mr. Linky widget is, here's a screenshot:

This is just a picture of the widget, so don't try to use it. You can see one in action on today's check-in post, here. To leave a link to your daily creation in the widget, you will put your name (in my case I put "Leah - creative every day") in the name box and the url to that day's blog post or flickr image in the url box (for example, for yesterday's post I put: http://creativeeveryday.com/creativeeveryday/2009/11/pond-reflections.html), then press enter. To find the url of your individual post, click on the title of the blog post you want to share, then copy the url that comes up, and paste it in the url box.

You can then check out what others have posted that day by clicking on any of the names listed.

4. The Flickr Group: Another optional place to share your creations or see what others are working on, is in the Art Every Day Month flickr group.

Want more info? You can find out more about the history of the project and the optional Survival Guide on the Art Every Day Month info page, here.

I hope this makes things more clear and I apologize for any confusion! I'll be adding this to the Art Every Day Month Info page as well. Now, back to your regularly scheduled creating!

And if you've mixed something up in the past, please don't worry about it. We're all doing this in our own perfectly imperfect way and that's fabulous.

Wishing Well – Setting Your Wishes in Motion

August 30th, 2009, Comments (17)

dandelion wishes

I grew up in a house on the edge of a State forest, so there were no big city lights around to dull the sky. When you went outside at night and looked up, you'd be overwhelmed by stars. As a little girl, I used to wish on stars out the living room window. I remember wishing to win the lottery a lot, which looking back now, seems silly. I mean, how many little girls do you know buy lottery tickets? I didn't even have a grandmother who gave out scratch tickets and my parents never played the lottery either, so the choice of a wish there was a little odd.

I think when I wished to win the lottery, what I was wishing for was lots of money, so that I could then go out and get for myself all the things I wanted, like the mini motorized car that I circled and starred and dog-eared in the Sears Christmas catalog every year.

In my teen years, we got an incredibly sweet, buff-colored cocker spaniel named, Sable. It was my job to take her out every morning, around 5:30 am, and last thing before I went to bed, around 9 pm. Growing up in New England, it was usually frigidly cold at both those times of day and I'd often dance around the grass to stay warm while Sable sniffed out the perfect spot. One night, I looked up a the light-bright sky and made a wish on the first star I saw. It became a habit, something I'd do every night when I took Sable out. I'd look up into the sky, focus on the first star I saw, and whisper, "Star light, Star bright, First star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight." And then I'd wish...

By then I'd realized the folly of wishing to win the lottery that I didn't play. I'd moved beyond wishing for the "how" and moved into wishing for the "what." I wished for that certain boy to notice me and ask me out, to get a part in the play, to travel abroad, to do well on the SAT's, to get into the college I applied to, etc... I made my wish with all my heart and then just as quickly, I'd let it go, mainly because by then the dog and I would be quite numb and ready to get out of the cold. Amazingly, this time around, an astounding amount of my wishes came true and in record speed.

by the light of the silvery moon

I've always had an interesting (and seemingly contradictory) balance of the "practical/cynical" and the "anything is possible" going on in my head. I'm not sure why this is, but it's there. I picture it like I'm holding a balloon that sometimes has my feet lifting lightly off the ground, but never strays too far. I can't see completely delving into either side. Both feel necessary to me. I appreciate the logical side while being fascinated by possibility, magic, and synchronicity.

In my 20's I was introduced to The Artist's Way in which Julia Cameron talks about her "God Jar," a place to tuck wishes and worries that you simultaneously put out there and let go of. I made my own out of an old spagetti sauce jar that I painted with dancing figures. Every couple years I check all the little folded pieces of paper inside to see what has come true and what I might like to add. About once a year, I also have a practice of writing about my ideal day. In both cases, I'm amazed by how these practices have worked for me. I think I hold them lightly in a, "well, it can't hurt" kind of way.

Thinking about it now though, I realize that I clearly do believe in the power of wishing. I've developed a regular practice of making mixed-media vision boards with the full moons along with Jamie Ridler's dreamboard group, I often take advantage of Havi's personal ad posts, I used Jennifer Lee's "Unfolding Your Life Vision Kit", and I'm taking Jen and Andrea's Mondo Beyondo course right now.

With the month of move coming to a close, I've been thinking about how making a wish is a way of setting things in motion. Even if you can't always see the movement happening, just putting it out there may be aligning the stars in ways that we can't understand. There's also something quiet brave about speaking your wishes out loud. Wishing is a vulnerable act. It's often why we whisper our wishes to the stars or don't tell anyone what we wished for after blowing out our birthday candles. It's not just that we're risking them not coming true, we also risk being disappointed, we risk failure, we risk feeling unfulfilled. But in the wishing we gain a sense of empowerment and sense of valuing ourselves.

Taking the Mondo Beyondo class has inspired me to reexamine my own big wishes, to grow some of them larger and to wonder about how much I really want some of the things I thought I did. Some of my newer wishes include owning a home in Maui and teaching at a retreat in Costa Rica. Some wishes are ones I've had a long time, like publishing a book about creativity and writing/illustrating a children's book. Some are still too young and tender to share quite yet. But just writing them down, it feels like I've taken some great big, bold leaps forward.

Do you dare to wish for big things? What are the ways you put your wishes into the world? What wild things might you set in motion by expressing your deepest longings?

Playing with Words in Art

February 3rd, 2009, Comments (13)

I decided to play with words in art last night as I watched some of the Super Bowl with the hubster.

I used a moleskine that I'm drawing in as part of a sketchbook swap and drew in a few pages just to see what might come up if I drew. The first drawing was inspired by the slouchy pose my husband was making at one point in the evening. I imagined the buzz of thoughts running through his head, all leaking out and landing neatly in a nearby fishbowl.

I sometimes enjoy writing what I imagine the figures are thinking about in my art, like I did in my "Subway Stories" paintings, in which I collaged Subway maps and train schedules, painted a subway scene over that in acrylic and then within the figures I drew what I imagined they were thinking about. "Subway Stories: Green Line" is below. (The original is sold, but you can buy prints of it here.) I'm doing a commissioned Subway Stories painting for someone who met their soon to be husband on the train. So sweet. I usually think of art as a way to express what I can't say verbally. I suppose words in art are just another way to tell the story.

Another page from my sketchbook swap moleskine. More words, this time just the action itself, "jump!" I seem to have a thing for striped tights at the moment.

Looking for more word inspiration? Well, I've got loads of it!

• Ms. Dawn Doran from The Knitting Gnome blog emailed to let me know about this cool art and writing collaboration called Spark, art from writing: writing from art. Here are the details from organizer, Amy Souza: The next artistic/literary exchange starts on Feb 13th; ends Feb 22nd. Again, pick 2 days (48 hours) in which to work. They don’t have to be contiguous. You send your inspiration piece to your partner (and Amy) by the 13th; send me finished work by the 22nd/23rd. The theme this time is “hope.” Not sure how it’ll work out, but if you have an inspiration piece that says “hope” to you, send that to your partner. If not, just send her whatever you want. But I’m asking everyone to look at their partner’s work through the lens of “hope.” Again, it’s so vague, you can define it how you want, and if nothing comes to you through that lens then forget it and just let the piece inspire you. You need to let Amy know if you're interested in participating by this Friday, February 6th, by contacting her at or get more info on her site here.
• Blogger, Writer, and Massage Therapist, Heidi Fischbach is offering A Month of Living Curiously, a month of inspiration and guidance via email sure to spark your creativity through the wonder of words. Check out all the details here!
• I loved reading the written responses to my painting at Pictures, Poetry, and Prose yesterday! Laura mentioned this in the comments, but I wanted to be sure that everyone knows that she is always accepting submissions from artists. What a wonderful way to collaborate and join the creative energies of visual art and the written word!

Bits and Pieces

January 7th, 2009, Comments (7)

A few people have asked me about the calendars of my artwork that I put up for sale last month. I only printed a limited amount and they sold out fairly quickly. I wasn't planning to print another run, but if there are enough people interested, I will print another small batch. Check out details about the calendar here and if you're interested in purchasing one, email me at leah0776 at gmail dot com.

And I've got some other fun news to share!

• I'm going to be interviewed on Ananda Leeke's internet radio program, Go Green Sangha this Sunday, January 11th at 7 p.m. EST. It's going to be a great show with two other guests that I'm looking forward to hearing from! Check out the guest bios here and then call in or listen online here on Sunday night! 
• I'll also be interviewed at the end of this month by the lovely Jamie Ridler as part of her amazing book group that is working through The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women by Gail McMeekin. There is a great line up of creative bloggers being interviewed and I'm thrilled to be among them! If you're interested in signing up for the book group, check out the blog here. I've read this particular book many times and it's one of my favorites!
• My piece, The Key to Winter is featured on the Co-Active Coaches "Creative Artists" group page here. 

Looking for some help:

• In the future, I'd love to transfer my blog (which is run on Typepad) to Wordpress, mainly because I love the wonderful templates out there and also because I'd like the flexibility to expand this site in new ways. If anyone has any experience with this process, I'd love to hear your tips/suggestions and I'd also be open to any help with the process. Thank you in advance!

Art Every Day Month, November 22nd

November 22nd, 2008, Comments (12)

Today is the 22nd day of Art Every Day Month. Your creativity is a light in the world. Keep up the great work!

The box below is a widget that I provide each day as an optional place to share a direct link (blog post or flickr image) to that day's creation. If you don't have something to share today, don't worry about it! Share when you can. In the meantime, be sure to check out what other participants are creating! Check out the links from today's post, the previous day's posts and the links in the sidebar for instant inspiration. You can also see lots of great work in the AEDM flickr group. Feel free to share your work there too!

If you use the widget, please link to a specific blog post (or specific image if you're linking to a flickr page or other website) instead of your main blog page or website. If you want to share, but don't have a specific page to link to, feel free to use the comments section of this post to share what you're working on. If you're posting less than once a day, no problem! Simply use the latest one of these posts to share a link to your creation! For some, it's too much to keep up with posting every day, but don't let that get you down. Do it if you can and if you can't, just keep on creating, that's the most important part. If you get off track and miss a few days of creating, don't let that freeze you up either. Just pick up where you left off and keep moving forward. One foot in front of the other. You are making your life a more creative one with each step.

If you're new to Art Every Day Month, check out the before you use the link widget to share your creations.

Mosaic

July 8th, 2008, Comments (17)

1. Tully and Leah, 2. Spagetti, 3. Masconomet's grave, 4. Is blue orange?, 5. Matthew Fox 08, 6. The Real Thing, 7. The Blowhole, 8. chocolate ice cream, 9. Step by step… steadily ♫♫, 10. Smile , 11. Damrak - Amsterdam, 12. Be Creative Every Day

Above is a fun flickr meme that I've seen floating around the internets, most recently at the abode of bluepoppy. I was in need of a little distraction this morning after being up all night with a sick kitty and then waiting to take her to the vet first thing. Not sure what's wrong yet. Fingers and toes and everything else crossed that she's o.k. Anyways, here's the idea behind the meme:

• Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search.
• Using only the first page, choose an image.
• Copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker over at FD's image maker.

The questions:
What is your first name?
What is your favorite food?
What high school did you attend?
What is your favorite color?
Who is your celebrity crush?
Favorite drink?
Dream vacation?
Favorite dessert?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
What do you love most in life?
One word to describe you.
Your Flickr name

Good fun with images and much less messy than collage making. Heh.

Yesterday I received this nifty neato award from Bee at Witchetty and Patti from Altered Attic. Thank you so much ladies! It was a much needed boost after all the tears I've been shedding about Sadie. I'm not feeling up to choosing people to pass the award on to. There are loads of great blogs in my sidebar and on the links page to check out though! With that, I'm heading to bed for a nap and a Sadie snuggle. Hopefully she'll feel better soon. Please send some good kitty healing vibes her way!

Charming

July 5th, 2008, Comments (4)

Lookie!! I won a fun contest at Rosa's blog. I guessed, without going over, how many comments dooce got on her wii giveaway post. I guessed 38,000 and it was actually around 42K. 42,000 comments! Holy crap! People like Wii's! Anyways, i love what Rosa made me so much. Thanks, Rosa!!

Penelope’s Web

June 26th, 2008, Comments (12)

This is where I'm at with "Penelope's Web", a mixed media piece on 20"x20" canvas that I've been working on for a bit. I had it sitting for awhile and then tried to finish it up today. I think it's done. But I'll let it be for awhile longer and hopefully I'll know for sure soon. The piece was started intuitively and eventually led to this image of Penelope from The Odyssey. I was thinking about how Penelope tricks the harassing suitors by saying she'll marry one of them after she finishes making her funeral robe, which she works on all day and every night she unravels it. Beyond the story, the image has to do with a woman's strength and following one's gut and intuition against outside pressures. The colors remind me of summer nights in Greece which is where the hubster's dad grew up.

This weekend we're heading to NY to visit with the hubster's family (it's his mom's birthday) and to visit with a friend who just had a baby. I'm looking forward to getting out of town for a couple days. 

Art continues to flow. I'm working on a commission and next week I'll be dropping off all the "Subway Stories" pieces I have at Oak so that a potential buyer can pick out a grouping of them. I love the idea of them hanging as a group! The regular influx of no and yes tells me that I'm being active and that feels good. I'm learning to see rejections as both a sign that I'm trying and that it's just not a great fit at the moment instead of taking it so personally. Writing the posts on re-thinking rejection and success certainly helped and the shift has been really helpful. It's funny how adjusting our thought patterns can make such a significant impact on how we feel from day to day.

Elena has an interesting post about conflicts that come up when your business is a creative one. I've definitely thought about this struggle between feeling free to create whatever your heart desires, creating what you think will sell, and not stifling yourself by creating more of what has sold in the past. After creating a whole bunch of "Subway Stories" pieces for a show a couple years ago, I had no interest in creating more. I needed and took a break from them. Those pieces sold and I figured I'd make more eventually. Then I made ten more for a second show this year and afterwards took a break from them again. It's been awhile now and after riding the subway on Tuesday evening, I got some more inspiration, and I'm ready to delve back into the subject for a commissioned piece.

That's one example of how I've handled it I suppose. I try and find a balance between creating what is asked for and what I'm feeling. Thing is, most of the time, it's the stuff I create from my heart, not knowing whether it will sell or not, that sells the quickest. So, while it's important to listen to your customers, it's even more important to do as Penelope did and follow your gut. Plus, I never really know what's going to sell. Trying to guess at it is not my forte either. I just keep creating, because that's what I've got to do. When your finances depend on your creating, it may be more difficult to find that balance, but even if you spend most of your time creating for sales, I think it's extremely important to carve out time to create for yourself, even if it's just in your art journal. Creating without the intention of showing any one, with permission to toss it, is important in order to keep growing. Play and experimentation in art are essential. You never want to to take the fun out of it. That's my take on it anyways, at the moment.

I'm off to sing in the shower. Similar to singing in the rain, but much warmer. Happy creating!

 

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