Yay! More Calendars Available!
January 12th, 2009, 4 Comments
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.
Creative Every Day: January 12th – 18th, 2009
January 12th, 2009, 50 Comments
Feel free to leave a comment on this post or use the "Mr. Linky" widget below to link to a post (or posts) about your creative activities during the days of 1/12/08 - 1/18/09. The use of this widget is not required. It's 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!
To find out more about Creative Every Day 2009, check out the details here and then if you want to sign up, leave a comment on this post or email me to let me know (a link to my email is in the upper left sidebar.) 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!) If you start posting links on the Mr. Linky widget without letting me know that you're participating, I may not see that you're new. Also, if you notice that your blog is not in the sidebar and you thought you had signed up, let me know, so I can get it up there asap.
There are some folks participating who do not have a blog and for some reason their names are linking to the CED info page. I'm not sure why that's happening, but I wanted you to know that when you click on a name that takes you to the CED page, it means that they don't have a blog at this time.
The totally optional theme for January is Play! I'll be posting about this theme throughout the month. You can find out more about how you can use the theme here.
Happy Creating!!
"There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will have truly defeated age."
~ Sophie Loren
More Leaping
January 11th, 2009, 4 Comments
The incredibly talented, Jessie put together these small prints of the letter paintings she did to spell the word, "Leap," my word for the year. How cool is that? I asked her this weekend if she could put it together for me with her letters and to my delight, she had already put them together and taken a picture to surprise me with! So, very soon, I will have this beautiful artwork on my wall to remind me to keep on leaping. Be sure to check out Jessie's etsy shop for more amazing word combos that she already has put together or create your own word!
Speaking of words, one of the newest participants of the Creative Every Day Challenge, France, has created her word for the year out of photographs she took. I just love how it turned out!
Saturday Linkage
January 10th, 2009, 19 Comments
It's been a crazy couple days. I had to take the hubster into the ER yesterday because he was super dehydrated, couldn't lose his fever, and swallowing was extremely painful. He'd been sick all week, already been to the doctor. Anyways, to make a long story short, he got an IV, pain medication, and stronger antibiotics and he's feeling a little better today. This week I've been spending a lot of time taking care of the sick hubster and so I haven't had a ton of time for sharing what I've been up to creatively or visiting all you wonderful CED-ers. But I love what I have seen!!
As a reminder, I'm going to be on Ananda's radio show tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. EST talking about daily creativity. You can call in or listen online and the show will be recorded, so that you can listen to it at your own convenience too!
We're supposed to get another snow storm here tomorrow, so I hit the grocery store today (it was mad house!) While I was out, the hubster was resting on the couch and he sent me this video of our sweet kitty, Emma. Sooo cute. 
Isn't she adorable?
I've got a few other goodies to share with you as well:
- Jamie's book group has begun and to kick it off she has posted a wonderful interview with my friend, Jennifer Lee. It's chock-full of inspiration, so be sure to check it out!!
- The Squam Workshops list of classes for June and September is up and it looks awesome!!
- My bff is co-leading a weekly scrapbooking challenge, Create in 09! This week's theme is "Nine in 09" and you can find out more about it here!
That's about it for now. Lots more to share, so I'll be back tomorrow!
Interview with Goddess Leonie
January 8th, 2009, 10 Comments
Hello everyone! As part of the Creative Every Day Challenge in 2009, I'll be sharing interviews with fabulous creative people! This month, I'm thrilled to be interviewing the beautiful, Goddess Leonie. I immediately thought of Leonie when I thought about this month's theme of "play." Her youthful energy is contagious! Be sure to check out her site for loads of juicy, creative, and playful inspiration. I put part of this interview in the extended section, so be sure to click below to read the rest!
Leah: Leonie, please share a little bit about yourself.
Leah: What does creativity mean to you?
Goddess Leonie: Creativity means paint on the fingers, ink stained palms, gluey fingernails, pastel smudges on the cheeks. It's that place where you feel pure bliss, and unabashed joy, the moment where you remember you were born to be a creative goddess. It's about writing the stories the world needs to hear, painting your beauty and truth, showing the world what it means to see through your own eyes and feel with your own heart. Creativity is the place for your spirit to soar, like white geese flighting into the air together, honking wildly, exuberantly and vibrantly.
Creativity is finding where you are on your sacred journey, and finding the way forward. It's
finding the temple of expression, sharing, divinity and wisdom inside you. All with colour and
paint and papers and glue and pens and a camera.
Leah: How do you infuse your daily life with creativity?
Goddess Leonie: For me – my creativity and spirituality is intertwined. Art + soul = my way to be a goddess in this world. Creativity is my way of expressing my vision, heart and soulful truth... reminding myself and others that we are beautiful and needed and precious. It's about being brave enough to trust the voice and wisdom and insight inside me... and letting it pour out in all kinds of ways for others to see.
But that's so not what you asked me – tee hee hee! Hello passionate ramble!
My creativity + spirituality is a part of my every day. I meditate. I dream up ideas and visions.
I live tenderly. I write. I walk the mountains. I share. I paint when I'm called to it. I think up
ways I can help all the Goddesses
My most treasured part of creativity is creating a life that is rich and lush and textured and FUN. Fun is way more sacred than we give it credit for! FUN is Fabulous Universal Nourishment. It's laughter and play and ridiculousness and being a kid again.
Yesterday, my crowning creative achievement was an impromptu dance party at my cubicle-job-sweetheart-teammates to George Michael's “Faith”. Hello shopping trolley dance! Hello walking man dance! Hello working out how to Y-M-C-A F-A-I-T-H. It was full of spirit and laughter and possibility and invention and inspired movement and rapture in the moment – total creativity.
Leah: Our (totally optional) theme for the month is "play," so I'd love to hear about how you incorporate play into your creative activities!
Goddess Leonie: This is such a gorgeous question! I love your theme I want to be a cheerleader of creative
play + soulful replenishment – a cheerleader with pigtails and pom poms and synchronised
moves and everything!
I run Creative Goddess Circles, and one of the first things I make the goddesses do is paint... and then throw it across the backyard into the grass. And we – as adults – tend to freak out about it. We worry about “wrecking” it. Or letting go of control. But then we do it, and we begin to laugh, and let go, and have fun with it. We become that gorgeous, slowing child inside us filled with innocence and wisdom and enthusiasm. We remember that creative goddess wise woman inside us who trusts, and knows, and accepts, and enjoys.
Run the hose on it. Paint with your feet. Jump all over it. Do all the things you think you shouldn't do. Play is about remembering there are no mistakes – only exploration, discovery and joy along the way to be had.
Because I'm in the mood for making words acronyms today, I reckon PLAY would have to be
Perfectly Luscious Adventures with Yes. Or Pants-free Loony Abseiling while Yodelling. Probably
the first one actually. 
Bits and Pieces
January 7th, 2009, 7 Comments
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!
Playful Resources
January 7th, 2009, 19 Comments
Rowena mentioned struggling with the theme because she really wanted to take her creativity seriously this year. And I totally loved that image because I've been there myself oh so many times. Imagine me pounding my fists on the table and shouting,
"It's time to get serious! I'm going to be creative now and it's going to be amazing! Seriously! No smiling!"
Sounds inspiring, right? No? I know for me, when I get too serious or when I feel restricted in some way around what I'm creating, I tend to get all stiff and what I create tends to lack a certain flow. When I create from this place of "have to" and "should", the creation tends to have an energy that you may not be able to name, but you can see something is not quite right. It looks a bit, well, uptight.
Play helps me return to the good stuff, the inspiration, the sheer joy of creating. So, if you're feeling any resistance to playing, I want to whisper in your ear,
"Go play! See what happens!"
I watched the movie Chocolat this weekend. What a gorgeous movie! (And not just because Johnny Depp is in it. Ahem.) The movie is full of magic, gorgeous color, and a wonderful story. It definitely made me feel more playful just watching it. Are there movies, books, music, or other resources that make you feel especially playful?
Here are some of my favorite playful resources, some meant to inspire you to play and others to make you laugh (because laughter often leads to playfulness!) I'd love to hear some of your resources for play too!!
Movies: Chocolat, Amelie, The Never Ending Story, The Princess Bride, The Goonies,
Books: Eat Mangoes Naked by SARK, the Harry Potter series, The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds, A Big New Free Happy Unusual Life by Nina Wise,
Music: Weird Al, Bjork, They Might Be Giants
Silliness: Lazy Sunday, Laughing Baby, Ninja Cat
Other ideas: Crayons, coloring books, doodling, dancing in your pajamas, making a fort in your living room (or from a large box like I did with my Grammy in the picture above)...have fun!
Creative Every Day: January 5th – 11th, 2009
January 5th, 2009, 50 Comments
Feel free to leave a comment on this post or use the "Mr. Linky" widget below to link to a post (or posts) about your creative activities during the days of 1/5/08 - 1/11/09.
To find out more about Creative Every Day 2009, check out the details here and then if you want to sign up, leave a comment on this post or email me to let me know (a link to my email is in the upper left sidebar.) When you contact me, let me know how you'd like to be listed in the sidebar (I can list you as your name or as a link to a blog if you have one, a blog is not required!)
The totally optional theme for January is Play! I'll be posting about this theme throughout the month. You can find out more about how you can use the theme here.
There are some folks participating who do not have a blog and for some reason their names are linking to the CED info page. I'm not sure why that's happening, but I wanted you to know that when you click on a name that takes you to the CED page, it means that they don't have a blog at this time.
Happy Creating!!
"We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out." ~ Ray Bradbury
Heartland Play
January 4th, 2009, 12 Comments
I hope you are enjoying being playful this month so far! Today, I did some playing by brushing a wet brush on a caran d'ache water soluble pastel and using that to paint intuitively. What came out was this woman holding flowers with her heart outside of her. I brought out the image a little more with ink and colored pencil and I'm calling it "Heartland." It felt good to play and just see what comes out.
If you having trouble getting started with your creativity this month, don't worry too much! We all tend to work in cycles, so instead of beating yourself up when your production level isn't up to where you'd like it, take the down time and play with it! Perhaps you'd like to simply play with no end product in mind! Perhaps you can get down on the floor and literally play with toys, or color a coloring book, or make home-made play-doh. I love seeing the ways you've all been embracing play. I could spend 24 hours per day visiting all of you, but since I need to do my own playing and do things like eat and shower, I can't visit as much as I'd like. But know that I'm cheering you all on and I'll visit as often as I can manage. Please be sure to check out your fellow CED participants (in the sidebar) and see for yourself what everyone is up to. Here's a small sampling of the ways we're getting playful:
- Collage Diva, Kathryn is playing with adult-style blocks! Love it!
- Dolly has made a simply gorgeous creativity log.
- Thalia has created these super cool Artist's blocks (get it? hehe, I love a good pun.)
- Shayla is getting playful in her art journal!
- Claire has been playing with photoshop among other things!
I hope you've had a wonderfully creative weekend. I've got some fun things lined up for this week, so I'll be "seeing" you soon!
Getting Playful
January 2nd, 2009, 28 Comments
I think it's a fairly simple connection to make, play and youth. And while we can aim to never lose our child-like nature, there are lots of ways to include play in our creative adventures without returning to childhood.
In my experience, bringing the feeling of play into creating is essential in keeping the feeling of joy and fun in the process. Sometimes, I get too stiff. If I start feeling stingy with my materials, afraid of ruining that big canvas, or wasting that new art supply, I can get anxious. And that comes through in whatever I'm working on. So, how do you return to that playfulness, when you're feeling anything but? I want to explore this a bit throughout the month here and share what has worked for me.
I've found that you don't need to wait for inspiration, you can simply show up at the page and begin. You may be surprised what comes out! Sometimes, I just start to doodle and the doodle will suggest an image that will lead to an idea for a future painting. And sometimes it's just a doodle. Either way, it's a great release.
This year, I've also been participating in a sketchbook swap and I've been using it as a place to play. In the sketch on the right, I was just doodling a swirl, which suggested an umbrella to me, and then became this rainy scene.
So, how do you return to playfulness when your creations are getting stiff? I'd love to hear about it!
We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. --George Bernard Shaw
