Cassiopeia
November 3rd, 2009, 27 Comments
cassiopeia
Well, it seems I took today's make bad art advice today because I made a lot of bad art today. Heh. Nothing was flowing. I just had to laugh at one point when things were looking a bit like poo...literally.
But I kept on going, playing, working, cropping, playing some more, stepping away for awhile, going in a completely different direction. And oh boy, did it end up in a different place than where I started. And that's ok. Some days are just like that.
One thing led to the next with collage, paint, and ink, and this woman appeared looking like a constellation, which made me think of a 5th grade report I'd done on Cassiopeia, a constellation named after a woman in Greek mythology. Turns out Cassiopeia was punished (for thinking she and her daughter were gorgeous) by being turned into a constellation where a majority of the year she'd hang upside-down or sideways. So, my Cassiopeia got turned on her head. I think she likes the way it makes her hair flow. And I could relate to her feeling of being turned upside-down. The beginning of AEDM is always a little tiring for me as I get everyone signed up and situated while producing my own art. Things always calm down after the first week, but right now I'm a combination of super inspired and totally pooped! (again with the poo?) 
cassiopeia twins
Later while cropping my art in photshop, I thought it might be fun to make a twin of her, right-side up and upside down. More fun play. And now, it's time to get some rest. I'm planning to watch V with the hubster. Happy creating everyone!
Standing at Water’s Edge: An Interview with Anne Paris
November 3rd, 2009, 3 Comments
I'm so pleased to be sharing this interview I recorded last week with Anne Paris, author of Standing at Water's Edge: Moving Past Fear, Blocks, and Pitfalls to Discover the Power of Creative Immersion.
I read the book a few months ago, and as I told Anne, it's just filled with underlines, notes in the margin, and dog-eared pages - signs of a well-loved book. There's great discussion on how even the introverted among us, reach out for connection in our own ways. I could relate to that considering how much work I do to reach out and connect others here on this blog!
I hope this interview will provide some extra inspiration for those going through the Art Every Day Month process. (I love to listen to podcasts while I work!)
The conversation is about 20 minutes long. You can listen to it here, by clicking on the link below or you can save it to your computer to listen to later by right-clicking (or ctrl-click on a Mac) on the link.
Enjoy!
Art Every Day Month: November 3rd
November 3rd, 2009, 26 Comments
Today is the 3rd day of Art Every Day Month. I enjoyed Kara's post yesterday about how important it is to make "bad" art, how important it is to fail and not be ashamed of it. I so agree! It's all part of the process. Being willing to fail helps us to stretch and grow. And it often leads to new ways of creating that we might not have found if we hadn't given ourselves the chance to suck at it first. So, I want to encourage you to be willing to create crap this month. It's good for you. And it's fun.
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.
An artist is the one who can fail and fail and still go on. -Agnes Martin
Twitter Update: If you're on Twitter (I'm on there as @leah_art), I've been using the hashtag #aedm to mark Art Every Day Month tweets. And yesterday, I started a Twitter list for AEDM which can help you easily find Twitter folks who are participating. And if you're not on the Twitter list yet and would like to be, send me a DM.
Full Frost Moon
November 2nd, 2009, 30 Comments
Today, I worked on a full moon dreamboard, which I've been doing regularly with Jamie Ridler's online group. I enjoy making vision boards with magazine images, but for these full moon boards, I've been enjoying painting them. This month's moon has been called the Frost Moon and the Tree Moon, among other things, so I kept that in mind as I created this piece. When I had the tree painted, I drew circles hanging from the branches, each holding an image of something I want to bring into my life.
Again, I used a fun, new-to-me material: a masking fluid. I took some pictures of the work in progress as well. The first shot is above, where I'd put the masking fluid on the parts I wanted to say white. After I let it dry, I painted over it all with fluid acrylic paint in blues.
After the paint dried, I got to peel off the masking fluid. I wasn't sure how this was going to go, but oh, it was fun!
I thought about putting some glass bead gel, which I wrote about yesterday, on top of it all, but decided to leave it as is. Speaking of glass bead gel, a bunch of folks asked to see detail shots of yesterday's art, Pond Reflections, so they could better see the texture going on. I re-worked the clouds a bit to make them softer before taking these close-ups.
Cool texture, isn't it?
I'm having fun visiting everyone, trying to see as much as I can every day. So inspiring!!
Art Every Day Month Instructions
November 2nd, 2009, No Comments
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.
Art Every Day Month: November 2nd
November 2nd, 2009, 37 Comments
Today is the 2nd day of Art Every Day Month and we're off to such a fabulous start! I've already been so incredibly inspired by everyone participating.
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 comment on my blog or send me an email to sign-up before you use the link widget to share your creations.
Selecting a challenge and meeting it creates a sense of self-empowerment that becomes the ground for further successful challenges. ~Julia Cameron
UPDATE: I changed the Art Every Day Month participant list to a drop-down list because it was getting very long (we've got over 190 people joining in this year! Woohoo!)
It's still in the same place, right under the CED participants, but in a drop-down format. If you signed up and don't see your link there, pop me an email and let me know.
Occasionally I put links in the wrong spot by accident and sometimes the techno gremlins eat them.
Twitter Update: If you're on Twitter (I'm on there as @leah_art), I've been using the hashtag #aedm to mark Art Every Day Month tweets. Feel free to do the same! You can then easily find others who are tweeting about it too!
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.
Creative Every Day Challenge Check-In: November 2nd – 8th
November 2nd, 2009, 6 Comments
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 11/2/09 - 11/9/09.
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.
If you want to sign up to be a part of the challenge, leave a comment on this post or email me to let me know. When you contact me, please let me know how you'd like to be listed in the list of participants, which resides in the right sidebar (I can list you as your name or as a link to a blog if you have one. A blog is not required to participate!) Please email or comment to let me know you're participating before you start posting links in the comments or on the "Mr. Linky" widget.
Theme: The (totally optional) theme for November is Art Every Day. 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!
Creativity and love surely come from the same source, and both have no boundaries. It all depends on how we use them. ~Nancy Green
Pond Reflections
November 1st, 2009, 30 Comments
Oh, I'm just loving the energy around Art Every Day Month this year. I love it every year... the excitement, the support, the new connections with fellow creatives, the commitment to creativity, the beautiful things that are created and shared. It's just awesome!
A lot of people have mentioned being a little nervous, a little jittery. Me too. It happens every year. And I think it's interesting, but also telling because I think those things that give us a bit of the jitters are also those things that are very important to us. So notice if you feel those jitters and know you're on the right track. And then go create.
Today, I did something I rarely do, a little landscape. How odd! But I've been inspired by taking pictures of reflections in water lately, especially at this one little pond, hidden away in the woods, where these teeny, tiny green clovers float on the surface all around the edges. And in the flat water parts, I love the reflections of clouds and trees that appear. It's a through-the-looking-glass kind of thing that just delights me! I'm not sure if the painting comes across the way I see it, but I'm still liking it.
I also played with a new-to-me medium, glass bead gel, to get some fun texture going. Lots of layering goodness. This piece, which I'm calling Pond Reflections, is 6"x6" on clayboard.
Art Every Day Month: November 1st
November 1st, 2009, 55 Comments
Today is the 1st day of Art Every Day Month! Woohoo!
I usually post my art at the end of the day, but every day there will be a post like this one where you can share your work whenever you're ready to do so.
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 comment on my blog or send me an email before you use the link widget to share your creations.
As long as you can start, you are all right. The juice will come. -Ernest Hemingway
UPDATE: I changed the Art Every Day Month participant list to a drop-down list because it was getting very long (we've got over 180 people joining in this year! Woohoo!)
It's still in the same place, right under the CED participants, but in a drop-down format. If you signed up and don't see your link there, pop me an email and let me know. Occasionally I put links in the wrong spot by accident and sometimes the techno gremlins eat them.
Trick or Treats
October 31st, 2009, 12 Comments
This week in The Joy Diet, which I'm reading with Jamie Ridler's book group, the focus is on treats or how you reward yourself. When I thought about it at first, I felt like I've been fairly good at treating myself. But when I looked more closely this week, I realized I'm good at treating myself in some ways more than others.
For example, I'm good at treating myself through distasteful tasks and finding small ways to make my day more enjoyable. For example, I love saving the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me Podcast for when I clean the kitchen. I've been using enjoyable listening to make chores more fun since I was a teenager when I listened to musicals on my headphones (back when we used tape cassettes.) I still do this sort of thing with music, podcasts, or audiobooks while doing un-fun things like cleaning the litter and also with very fun things like making art. I love hearing a good story.
Earlier this week I upped the treat factor by asking some folks on Twitter for podcast recommendations. It was suggested I check out The Moth, Radiolab, Speaking of Faith, and some others, which I downloaded episodes of and scattered them throughout my day to make various tasks more fun.
Yesterday, I treated myself to some beautiful hydrangeas (see above), a bribe for going to the grocery store. Ok, so I seem to bribe myself a lot. A trick and a treat? But what I'm not always great at doing is treating myself as a celebration or just because. Thinking about little ways to treat myself well throughout the week was a great reminder though and I was grateful for that. I've got to keep that up as I dive into the busy month of Art Every Day which starts up tomorrow. Wee! Super excited!
As we wind up, this month of connection, I'm noticing how much I love to connect with folks online through places like Twitter, this blog, and the many challenges that pop up throughout the blogopshere. It's a beautiful thing. I'll be talking more about connections in an interview with Anne Paris, author of Standing at Water's Edge: Moving Past Fear, Blocks, and Pitfalls to Discover the Power of Creative Immersion, which will be posted later this week.
Happy Halloween everyone!
