Mermaids, Hope, and Other Tales (or Tails)
September 7th, 2008, 9 Comments
I worked on this all day Friday and it's already different from this picture. But it's fun to see work in progress pictures I think. I had the idea for this mermaid ages ago, but it kept developing in little sketches and doodles until I was ready to go. I incorporated a bit of collage. As soon as I received it, I knew that the vintage postcard that Tammy from Sunflower Studio sent me because she just felt it belonged to me would be going in this piece. I love it when that happens. As much as the image has been played around with in sketches and doodles, it's already entirely different than I thought it might be and I still don't know where it will end up. This process is definitely a metaphor for life.
I was feeling oh so tender around the edges yesterday. It was a lovely day, yoga in the morning, cleaning and movie watching in the afternoon. It was so incredibly muggy and I was dripping sweat and generally feeling sad and teary for no particular reason. The hubster was out of town and late at night we chatted on the phone lying in beds in different countries. The talk made me feel much better and then I slept like a baby, a baby surrounded by snuggly cats.
Today I'm feeling so much brighter, my ups and downs seem to be mirroring the wild weather. When I was feeling blah yesterday, I saw this meme on Elizabeth's blog and decided to do it. What is it about memes that are calming? Simple, a bit mindless, short answer, lightly creative.
Song you love: The song the hubster wrote for our wedding.
Word you love: Lately i've really enjoyed saying Hawai'i (not just for the meaning behind it, it's just fun to say.) I also love the sound of the word "ciao." Go figure.
Academic subject you love: art history
Hobby you love: getting lost in a book
Type of baked good you love: warm chocolate chip cookies
Type of sky you love: fiery sunsets, starry nights, stark blue against tree branch silhouette, poofy clouds, so many skies.
Beverage you love: coke
Vacation you love: Exploring a new place
Restaurant you love: Blue Ginger
Way of getting around that you love: walking
Person you love: the hubster
Room in your home (or ideal home) you love: studio/office
Movie you love: Clue
Book you love: The Artist's Way
City you love: Seattle
Future plan you love: owning our first home, starting a family
Form of communication you love: art
Junk food you love: m&m's
A huge good luck to Elizabeth (not that she needs it!) in her first year of the Squam Art Workshops! I wish I could be there, but I'll be on the opposite side of the country for a wedding.
I've been feeling the need for a short blogging break and the time I'm away on my honeymoon makes perfect sense for that. I'll still be checking my email of course and I'm sure I'll pop in on occasion, but for the two weeks from Friday the 12th through Friday the 26th, I'll be enjoying checking out San Fran for a wedding and then soaking up the rays in Hawai'i with the hubster. I'm SO excited! I will still have the weekly posts where you can share what you've been up to. And I know I'll be back with loads of inspiration. And I'll still be blogging this week too.
How bout some links? Yes? Yes.
- Mother Henna has a great post over at JustBeConnected that is fabulously filled with great links.
- One of the links Kara (Mother Henna) shared was to MIT's OpenCourseWare, a selection of classes posted for free online. One of the classes is called, "The Creative Spark"! Yeah! I loved this quote from the description of the course: Creativity - "the mastery of information and skills in the service of dreams" (Hirschberg).
- The sweet and talented, Jes has an article about artist's studios on the wishstudio zine blog here. There's a little bit of my studio in the post! And Jes is looking for more info about artist's studios, so check out the article and get in touch with her if you have something to share about your space.
The upcoming election has me partly excited, partly angry, partly scared, partly hopeful. Speaking of hopeful, I love this kind of news. The Maine artist who made the pop icon of the word LOVE has created a new piece for the word HOPE with proceeds going to Obama's campain. - Have you ever wanted to make a bowl out of an old record? My bff recently let me pick through some old records she was bringing to a thrift shop. I'd like to use the covers in some art and she mentioned she was going to keep a couple records to make some of those funky bowls. If you'd like to try it out, here are some instructions from P@perSeed.
- I received two copies of Patti Digh's Life is a Verb: 37 days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally
Still behind in emails I'm afraid. Hope to be caught up soon. I hope you've all had a lovely and creative weekend!
Random Tidbits
September 4th, 2008, 15 Comments
Some images from a sketchbook for a swap I'm participating in. I love to doodle and see what comes out. I guess the change of seasons was on my mind!
I'm surrounded by cute kitties at the moment, feeling sleepy after a day of errand running, and getting excited about my honeymoon trip in about a week! Wee!
Speaking of kitties, I loved Amy's post on the lessons her cats have taught her. Too cute.
I was tagged by artandtea to post seven random things about myself. I'm a bit wishy-washy about tags lately. I mean no offense if I don't pass on a tag, I'm just following my energy. I always wonder if I have seven random things to share that might be new. But there's always something right?
- I'm short, but I'm not big on wearing heels. They hurt my feet. And while I'll where them to a wedding on on random occassions, most of the time it's just not worth it to me!
- I love yoga, but I'm not naturally flexible at all.
- I'm not sure if it comes across here, but I'm incredibly silly. I regularly do goofy songs and dances for the hubster and he does the same for me.
- I can't figure out lipstick. I put it on and I think it just looks funny on me, so I don't wear it.
- I love having plants in my home, but can't because one of our crazy kitties likes to chomp on them. I sometimes get fresh flowers and put them in a couple spots that are out of his reach.
- I feel such a sense of spirituality when I'm near the ocean and I'm looking forward to being near it in Hawaii.
- I've never flown first class before, but we splurged for it for our trip to Hawaii and I'm really looking forward to the flight!
- And a bonus: I got some embroidery supplies today because I've been itching to try it. I also got Sublime Stitching
In the meantime, I've been feeling inspired to sketch in my sketchbook and have some new ideas to bring to fruition.
A big thank you to Shelley for the i love your blog award she passed my way. Shelley recently did the most gorgeous collage pieces as part of a 6"x6" collage supplies swap. I love Shelley's collage work and her eye for design.
O.k., it's late and time for me to hit the hay. Well, that's not very friendly, I won't hit the hay. I don't even have any hay to hit. Hey now.
Melissa
September 2nd, 2008, 14 Comments
Here is "Melissa" finished. She is about 19"x26" with acrylic and ink on paper. It's a bit hard to see the bees from a distance, so I took some detail shots. too.
Melissa (my middle name) means "honey bee" in Greek and Melissas were another name for bee goddesses in ancient times. This piece developed intuitively and the red circles full of smaller gold circles made me think of bee hives. Perhaps this is a response to the decreasing number of honey bees in the world. I'm not sure, truthfully. But I do like the way it came together.
Feeling seriously sleepy today and need to get out and take in some of the beautiful sunshine. So much to get done though. Feeling overwhelmed is never fun. Last night was an adventure. The hubster had punctured his hand when trying to shuck an oyster (I came to the rescue and shucked the rest of the oysters. Turns out, I'm a master shucker. Missed my calling. Heh.) He made a delicious seafood gumbo. Quite a feast. But afterwards his hand was swelling up and very sore, so he drove down to the emergency room and later I met him there. He had to get a temporary cast put on, antibiotics in an i.v. and pain meds. All this for gumbo. I asked him if it was all worth it and he said absolutely yes, so there you go.
Errands are calling my name! Hope you had a marvelous weekend!
Creative Every Day: September 1st – September 7th, 2008
September 1st, 2008, 8 Comments
CED2008 participants! Feel free to leave a comment here with a link to post(s) about your creative activities during the week of 9/1/08 - 9/7/08.
Happy creating!
Head to Toe. Or Toe to Head.
August 28th, 2008, 7 Comments
I haven't been feeling very bloggy lately, so I'm a bit behind in blog reading and responding to emails. Enough of that, how bout we check out my new sneaky sneakers:
I've been focusing a lot on yoga and walking and exercise in general lately. As the days get darker, I need to focus on these things. They make a huge difference to my mood and mindset. I've been in desperate need of a new pair of sneakers for awhile, but wasn't interested in picking up the same style of sneakers I've been wearing for the last 10 years. I originally started wearing this particular brand and style when training to run a marathon. I wore them because they're made specifically for people with flat feet and feet that roll in (motion control shoes). They served me well as a runner and just in general as a good sneaker, helping my feet feel all sorts of secure. Unfortunately, they were also hideous (and they're pretty bulky and heavy too.) While reading an article about sneakers for different foot types recently, I was excited to read about a Nike shoe that utilizes Nike Plus. Now these new shoes may not be winning me any fashion prizes, but you'll have to trust me that they're ten million times better looking than the last pair. They're sort of silvery and blue and very comfy. And the cool part is the little hidden pocket within the shoe where you can put a sensor that communicates with your ipod nano and facilitates your workouts if you like to walk, jog, or run. On your nano, you can keep track of the times of your workouts, the distance traveled, and the speed and then upload it all to Nike Plus. On the website, you can post your workouts (if you want), join challenges (the website seems more geared to runners, but they have walking challenges too), or just use it as a place to keep a record of what your feet have been up to. Pretty shnazzy, I think! I saw on the Nike website that they have a line of customizable sneakers called NikeiD. This wasn't an option for the shoe type I was going for, but how fun to make your own funky sneaker design!
Speaking of funky customizable shoes, have you seen Keds customizable shoes? You can choose the colors, pick a design they supply, OR use your own imagery. Imagine a shoe covered in your own artwork? I may have to get myself a pair of these. I think they'd make for very happy feet!
And just so your head doesn't feel left out, I just ordered this beautiful feather headband from Pluma. I've had my eye on these feather headbands for awhile, but was afraid it would look silly on me, so I was unsure about spending the money on one and not liking it. Well, I tried on a small one in a shop the other day and totally loved it, so after some looking around online I found Pluma and ordered the "Christine." Yay! I'm planning to wear it to a wedding I'll be attending in San Fran in just a couple weeks. Ack, where has the summer gone to? Time is flying and I feel behind. I'm most definitely behind in emails and hope to be all caught up in the next few days.
Who Do You Think You Are?
August 25th, 2008, 12 Comments
I wait too long to blog and I get this major build-up of things I want to share. Ack! Where to start? Well, I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I've been really loving taking yoga classes combined with some at home yoga courtesy of Yoga Today. On Saturday morning, I went to a class I've been going to this month, but the regular teacher has been out of town, so when she got back yesterday, I was new to her. She had everyone introduce themselves at the beginning of class and let us know she was bad with names. I'm awful with remembering names as well, so I could certainly relate and understood when she called me by the wrong name. By the end of the class I was cracking up though because she had called me just about every two syllable name starting with "L" except my own. I was Lyla, Lulu, Laura, Lily, etc. I'd correct her each time, but she just couldn't remember it! At the end of class she repeated my name, three times, "Leah, Leah, Leah!" (which reminded me of "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!") and then asked what my name meant. I told her that in Hebrew it meant, "weary one." I laughed, but I've never liked that meaning. So later that afternoon, I decided to put my mad searching skills to good use and find out if that was the only meaning for my name.
What's in a name?
In the bible, the name Leah references her eyes as being "weary" while her sister is far more beautiful. The interpretation is unclear, so it could also be read as "delicate", "sad eyes," "beautiful eyes" or it's possible the "weak eyes" referred to "blue eyes." The story of Leah in the Bible is not the happiest of tales and I won't recount it here, but I very much enjoyed Anita Diamant's version of her story in The Red Tent
Who do you think you are?
My sweet friend, Ruby, sent along a link to the site of the movie "Who Does She Think She Is?" There is a very powerful trailer at the start of the site. I definitely want to see it. Here's the synopsis I pulled from their site:
Who Does She Think She Is? focuses on five particularly bold women artists, each radically different in background, race, religious creed and choice of artistic field. But they all share the common challenge of making careers in various art worlds. Simultaneous to their creative existence, they are pulled in different directions as they try to answer the competing demands of artistic fulfillment, marriage, motherhood and economic survival.
Have you ever heard, "Who do you think you are?" or some version of that? I know I have. It's always good to hear how others deal with that, especially other creative women like the ones featured in this movie. There's such a twinge of shame involved when I hear that or feel the question implied. But I can always pump myself back up and rebound. This quote from Marianne Williamson is particularly helpful when rebounding from the energies of those who wish us to be small or less than:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
I know I've posted that quote before, but good quotes are worth repeating! I read the funniest story in Loving What Is this morning. In it, Byron Katie talks about a Darth Vader toy she's given to her grandson. After dropping in a coin it says, "Impressive, but you are not a Jedi yet." Her 3 year old grandson felt so disappointed that he wasn't a Jedi and no one could convince him otherwise. When Katie had a pilot announce over the loudspeaker that he was in fact a Jedi now, he went home and checked with the toy again who still said, "...you are not a Jedi yet." And he believed the toy. It's so easy to let someone else's story or more likely our own false story dictate who we think we are and therefore how we act, how we dress, what we think we are capable of. Do you have a nasty Darth Vader voice in your ear telling you that you're not enough yet? Who do you think you are? And who are you really? I'm still figuring it out for myself and I feel like I'm shedding layer after layer or false story as I go.
The above pics are pages from a sketchbook swap I'm doing. Well, there's always more to write, but I'll stop here for now.
Creative Every Day: August 25th – August 31st, 2008
August 25th, 2008, 13 Comments
CED2008 participants! Feel free to leave a comment here with a link to post(s) about your creative activities during the week of 8/25/08 - 8/31/08.
Happy creating!
The Many Faces of Creativity
August 20th, 2008, 22 Comments
Yesterday, I listened to the Craftcast podcast featuring Kathleen Carr, a photographer, author, and teacher. At some point in the talk, Kathleen mentioned a book about the "seven stages of creativity." I made a note about it because I felt like it would speak directly to this post that I had in my head about the many ways in which we are creative. The book is called, The Widening Stream: the Seven Stages of Creativity by David Ulrich. The author has a website where you can find an overview of the book as well as an outline of the seven stages as he sees them.
I consider the various stages of my own creative cycle to include times when I'm searching and collecting, when I'm soaking up inspiration, when I'm empty, when I'm bursting with ideas, when I'm in the flow, when I'm stuck, etc... I don't think they fall in a particular order for me, it's more like the rolling waves of the ocean. The waves may vary, but generally they are up and down and up again.
(Some of) My modes of creativity:
Search and Gather: When I'm not creating, I'm often in search and gather mode. If I'm being self-critical, then I might see it as procrastinating, but it's all part of the process. Searching and gathering for me might be a walk with my camera, snapping pictures of what inspires me (like the river to the right), perusing blogs or online shops, reading a novel, organizing my art supplies, or wandering the aisles of the library and seeing what catches my interest. Letting your imagination roam can also be fabulously creative! Let yourself daydream from time to time. If I can let go and enjoy this stage, it's immensely fun for me. This is a great time for what Julia Cameron calls "artist dates" where you go out on your own to "fill the well" with inspiration. I enjoy going to greenhouses in the colder months.
Play: It is possible to get stuck in any stage and sometimes I need a push to the next. The super talented artist, Tammy Vitale, recently posted about how she uses playful art-making to get her going when she's struggling. For me it's the same way, play will always bring me back. Maybe not as quick as I'd like, but it always does the trick. I also liked that Tammy mentioned how these down periods don't bother her as much now because from past experience, she knows that they will pass. This is so important. The "dry spell" will pass. So why not enjoy it with some fun creating with no other purpose than to let loose? O.k., now that I think about it, I can see that I enjoy all the modes of creativity. Play, is by definition, a lot of fun. Drawing with crayons or markers like Tammy does is a great way to go. Sometimes, if I need help getting past my inner critic, I'll make art on the floor (see pic below.) This nifty little trick helps bring out my child-like adventurousness. Use whatever works for you, whether it be play-doh or coloring books. Inspiration often comes through play, no need to force it, just relax and enjoy.
Sketch/Write/Get it Out: When the inspiration does start to flow, it often comes in big bursts. If you have an incredible memory, then perhaps you'll be able to contain it all, but if you're like me, you may need to get these idea sparks down in some form. I keep multiple journals at the ready to capture ideas. I have a moleskine type notebook in my purse and various sketchbooks and journals (I've tried to consolidate in the past, but I'm o.k. with multiple journals now.) In these journals I capture dreams, quotes, lists, sketches, and free-form doodles (some sketches from a couple months ago are at the top of this post and below.) I also find myself doodling on junk mail, paper scraps, and receipts which can easily be taped into my journal later if necessary. Ideas often come to me in that lovely time between wakefulness and sleep, in the shower, while driving, on a walk, etc..., so it's good to have some paper and a writing utensil handy. It depends how you work, for you it maybe important to have a voice recorder handy or a portable camera (a camera phone can help capture inspirations when you're on the go!)
Just Do It: A lot of people think that the creating stage is the only part that's creative, but it's not true! All the things that led you to this point are essential and immensely creative! Even when I think I've just jumped into creating without the previous stages, it's often things floating around in my subconscious from my times of searching, gathering, playing, daydreaming, and doodling that have led me to create what it is I've started, seemingly out of nowhere.
It's true that many of us get stuck just before the manifesting stage, myself included. Oftentimes, the hardest part is beginning. When I'm feeling resistance, sometimes it helps to jump back into the playing stage until I'm feeling more confident and ready to tackle something. Or I may simply give myself permission to fail or make gloriously bad art.
Next time you're feeling like you haven't been creative lately, take a look and see if you've been doing any of these things and recognize the creative acts your doing every day!
Sunny Day, Sweeping the Clouds Away
August 18th, 2008, 10 Comments
Woo, I got totally pooped out by the sun today. It's amazing how much some time in the hot sun can zap my energy. I met up with my super, totally rockin' bff, Judean, and her adorable little girl for lunch and walking around town in the middle of the day, which was a lot of fun. I can use Judean's first name now that she's put herself out there with her own blog. Woohoo! Remember that post I wrote a few days ago about magazine envelopes? The picture in that post is of some of the letters that she sent me during her first year of college in NYC. That post inspired her to dig through some of her old letters and she found a whole bunch of letters I'd sent to her during that time, which she posted about here. We traded them today, so we could both read our own late teenage writings. Oh my, too funny. The drama, the boys, the hatred of calculus, the loneliness of the first semester of college. I loved reading our old inside jokes (even though I don't remember what they all mean) and seeing our little doodles and poems. It's so interesting to see how we've developed and how we've stayed the same and how are friendship has grown over the years. I luf you, Luf!
I've been working in little bits on that big painting on paper that I started awhile back. Her name, I believe, is Melissa. She's a work in progress. I've been doing a lot of painting and then walking away, painting and walking away. With a bigger piece, I seem to want more perspective, whereas with a smaller piece, I often finish them fairly quickly. I've always intended to have some bees flying in this painting, but they will be one of the final touches, so they're hanging out in their hive until I get to them. Right now, "Melissa" is about 19"x27" with acrylic, ink, and pencil on watercolor paper.
Popped a print in the mail today. I need to do some major updates on my art website, adding some art and prints. I want to get that done shortly along with my newsletter. I'm doing a later newsletter this month because it will cover both this month and next, since I'll be on vacation during the second half of September. If you're interested in winning a free print, do sign up for my art website newsletter (see the lower left corner of my web page, here) and you'll be eligible for the free print drawing I do each month.
Gratitudes:
- Happy, snuggly kitty cats
- Pink lemondade with ice in a tall glass with a straw brought to me by the handsome hubster
- Fun times with my bff
- Making the bff's little girl laugh
- An "I love your blog" award from the super sweet, Paula of HappySnappy. The feeling is mutual, Paula! Thank you!!
- A fantabulous package in the mail from Lucy of Sweet Repeats. I won a print in Lucy's recent etsy shop 1 year anniversary drawing on her blog and I was so excited by the box of treasures she sent! There were little envelopes of stamps, an atc, a Starbucks card and glass, and some of Lucy's beautiful artwork. Thank you, thank you, Lucy!
- A lovely surprise from Tammy from Maine who sent me a sweet card and an old photo she found that she felt belonged to me. I think she's right. I already know how I'm going to use it. Thank you, Tammy dear!
- Snail mail rocks. Much more fun than the replacement air filters I got in the mail the other day.
I've got more to chat about, but I am so tuckered out (and all over the place), so g'night! Sleep tight! And don't let the bed bugs bite! It's more like, don't let the damn mosquitoes bite! Ack! I'm getting nearly as good at catching the little buggers as the cats are at hunting moths. The hubster calls me "the hunter" now. Hehe.
Creative Every Day: August 18th – August 24th, 2008
August 18th, 2008, 9 Comments
CED2008 participants! Feel free to leave a comment here with a link to post(s) about your creative activities during the week of 8/18/08 - 8/24/08.
Happy creating!
