Creativity, Crafts, Books, Movies, Greyhounds & Favorite Things

.

Here’s what’s been going on in my studio…

I belong to two card clubs where we get together and make a couple cards or some type of papercraft. One of my card clubs got together this past week and here are the cards we made:

To make this card, we inked the embossing folder. Depending on which side you inked…you got the ink color in the design or in the background.

We were able to get the clear flower impression on this card by using embossing powder.

This Week’s Inspiration

In 2013, I’m doing Inspiration Mondays and Results Thursdays. Every Monday, I’ll post a painting “inspiration” and then on Thursdays, I’ll post how I’m interpreting that inspiration.

Last week’s inspiration was from my friend, Amy…DOG LOVER. Here are the girl and pup that came out of that inspiration…

Thank you for your compliments on my first pup. I enjoyed painting him, so you’ll see more animals in my future work.

This week’s inspiration comes from Kat of Dog Gone Right…WATER.

.

I started writing What Remains Now to help me figure out what to do, now that my “mommy” years are over. I wanted to get back in touch with my creativity, so I went through a variety of books and e-courses and discovered my love of painting. During the last three months, I worked my way through Creating A Life Worth Living by Carol Lloyd. I really enjoyed the process and think it will help me realize some of my goals with painting. Now, I’m ready for a little break, so…what’s next?

Over the last few years, I’ve collected these three books on writing but haven’t read them. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to read one.  I feel like doing something that is deals with a creative subject, but isn’t directly related to painting. Which one should I read? Let me know which one you’re most curious about in the “Comments.”

Page after Page by Heather Sellers

On Writing by Stephen King

Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott

.

Every Saturday, I take you on an Artist Date with me. The Artist Date comes from the book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. Here’s what she says about the Artist Date:

“The Artist Date is a once-weekly, festive, solo expedition to explore something that interests you. The Artist Date need not be overtly “artistic” — think mischief more than mastery. Artist Dates fire up the imagination. They spark whimsy. They encourage play. Since art is about the play of ideas, they feed our creative work by replenishing our inner well of images and inspiration. When choosing an Artist Date, it is good to ask yourself, “what sounds fun?” — and then allow yourself to try it.”

This week, I went to the 100 Center in Mishawaka, Indiana.

The 100 Center is located on the site of the old Kamm & Schellinger Brewing Company.

Founded in 1853, the Kamm & Schellinger Brewing Company operated until 1951.

It’s a fascinating place with interesting historic buildings and pieces of the brewery equipment set out like sculptures.

The stamping shows this piece was made in Mishawaka, a reminder of this area’s industrial past.

The 100 Center used to have a variety of restaurants, clubs and shops. In fact, I lived in the 100 Center Apartments back in the 1980’s.

There are still some restaurants and clubs, but little else. I’m curious what’s currently happening here.

The weather was HORRIBLE, so I didn’t spend as much time as I would have liked. I’m heading back when the weather is better.

.

Every Friday, I share a poem. Friday is also the day I post a prompt of something you can do to make the world a kinder place. I call this the Kind is Kool challenge.

I offer both the poem and the kindness challenge without any obligation, so “Comments” are turned off every Friday. Enjoy.

.

On The Wall Top

Dancing and prancing to town we go,
On the top of the wall of the town we go.
Shall we talk to the stars, or talk to the moon,
Or run along home to our dinner so soon?

So high so high on the wall we run,
The nearer the sky why, the nearer the sun,
If you give me one penny, I’ll give you two,
For that’s the way good neighbours do.

Kate Greenaway

 .

Kind is Kool Challenge

Week 14 Challenge – Send a card to someone at their work address.

.

Every Monday, I’m posting a painting “inspiration.” Every Thursday, I’m posting how I interpreted the inspiration. I decided to do this to keep myself painting, to strengthen how I go from an idea to a painting, and to give myself permission to play and try new things. For the next several weeks, I’m taking my inspiration from the great ideas you sent me.

This week’s inspiration comes from my friend, Amy…DOG LOVER. Here’s the girl that came out of that inspiration…

As usual, I still have some work to do on her, particularly her hair.

How to be HAPPY!

Every Thursday, Jay of The Depp Effect, posts something that makes her happy, and I’m playing along. She encourages us to look around and notice the things that make us happy. I enjoy this challenge because it makes me consider the things that make me happy, but are easily overlooked. It’s a wonderful exercise in attention and gratitude. Please grab the badge and join in.

Here’s something that makes me happy…BAG BALM.

Recently, I noticed the sides and tips of my fingers were very dry and starting to crack. Bag Balm to the rescue. John L. Norris of Vermont invented Bag Balm in 1899 to soften cow udders. It worked so well, word got around, and Bag Balm is with us to this day. The distinctive green tin that Bag Balm comes in is virtually unchanged for over 100 years. Nikki has very dry and cracked paw pads. I just started using it on her and hope for a good result.

.

Every month, I’m looking around at all the things I use the most, to make sure those are my “best” things. This series was inspired by my friend, Amy, who noticed that some of the ickiest things she owned were the things she used the most. She wanted to change that to make sure that her every day life was filled with beautiful, functional things. This inspired me to take a look around and make sure that I wasn’t saving “the best” for days that rarely come.

This month, I upgraded my work shoes.

Old Work Shoes – Functional

About six months ago, I took a new position at work. I wear a uniform and have to have non-slip shoes. To start, I purchased an inexpensive pair of shoes that have worked fine, but they don’t offer much support and they’re pretty boring. Several gals wear Dansko shoes and had great things to say about them, so I took the plunge and bought myself a pair.

New Work Shoes – Functional & Pretty

They offer great support, plus they’re jazzy. They probably look grey in the picture, but they’re a lovely lilac with a little sheen.

Snazzy Work Feet

I’ll keep my old work shoes for days when I might be doing messy work, but my new shoes add a little personality and pizzazz to my uniform.

I do an “Every Day Ugly” post on the second Wednesday of every month. I would love to have you join me. If you have some horrible thing that you make beautiful, send me a picture or pictures and tell me about it at whatremainsnow@gmail.com.

.

I consider myself pretty lucky that I can only come up with three stories of naughtiness. I might have blacked something out, but if I was going to blackout any story, this would be it.

Sheesh! Here we go again!

We have a fenced yard, so when the pups go outside to do their “business,” they wander around, and I often do a little something inside the house…never for long, but I don’t watch them every minute.

This particular day, I let them out then went inside and did something. After doing whatever I did, I went to the back door to let them in. No pups were at the door waiting to be let in (not unusual), so I looked in the backyard, but didn’t see Freedom, Casper or Nikki. Again, not unusual, because sometimes they are behind a tree or close to the house, but usually I can see at least one of them, so I opened the door and looked out. No pups. I step outside and looked around…that’s when I saw the open gate.  My heart dropped to my stomach. I really can’t describe exactly what I did next because I was in a panic. My breath was ragged, my thoughts were racing; I felt like I was running circles. I didn’t know what to do first or at all. I stumbled back in the house, grabbed my car keys and the pups’ leads and ran out to the car. I jumped in and took off down the street. I didn’t know which way to go or where to look.

 

I can’t believe I’m in every one of these stories! I’m just going to take a nap in the drapes.

I pulled out my cell phone and tried to dial my husband’s number, but I flubbed it up. Just as I started to dial again, I saw Freedom running towards the car. I stopped the car, called her over and literally threw her into the front seat. Then, I saw Casper and Nikki sniffing around a house. A lady was walking down the street towards me. I hollered to her, “Would you help me get those dogs?” She called them and both Casper and Nikki came to her. It turned out the lady was the mother of one of my daughter’s friends. She made pleasant talk, but I can’t remember one thing she said to me. I think I was friendly and nodded at the appropriate times, but my head was spinning and I couldn’t focus. All I could think was that I had all 3 houndies.

 

I was an innocent victim. I am not a naughty hound.

Now, I usually don’t have a messy car, but this day I had the entire back seat full of bags I was taking to the Goodwill, so I had to ask the kind lady if she would walk Casper and Nikki to my house. I got back in the car and poor Freedom was panting her brains out because I had closed her up in a hot car. I drove Freedom home and my kind neighbor walked Casper and Nikki to the house. I got them inside, and I had to lay down.  I immediately went to sleep and slept until my husband got home. The relief was so great and the adrenaline rush so intense, I was like a limp noodle when it was over.

The line between comedy and tragedy is very thin. I’m fortunate that all turned out okay because this could have been one of the worst days of my life. My heart breaks for anyone who has lost a pet.

.

Here’s what’s been going on in my studio…

I wanted to find a way to store my paintings while I’m building up what I need to do an art fair. I thought it might be fun to hang them up in my studio, and I was right…I love it. I used the removable adhesive hooks which should give me a lot of flexibility because I can move them around without damaging the walls. As I add more paintings to the walls, I’ll post new pictures.

I also painted these backgrounds on small canvases.

This Week’s Inspiration

In 2013, I’m doing Inspiration Mondays and Results Thursdays. Every Monday, I’ll post a painting “inspiration” and then on Thursdays, I’ll post how I’m interpreting that inspiration.

Last week’s inspiration was from my friend, Susan…NATURE, THE WOODS, TRILLIUM. In fact, I used this inspiration for two weeks. Here are the two paintings that came out of that inspiration…

This week’s inspiration comes from my friend, Amy…DOG LOVER.

.

Last week, I finished reading Creating A Life Worth Living by Carol Lloyd. This week, I wanted to do a wrap up post to remind myself of what I liked about and learn from this book. At its core, this book is about setting and accomplishing goals, but I appreciated its focus on the creative person.

One of the most powerful chapters for me was Chapter 4 which discussed the “Artistic Profiles.” I believe we serve best when we work in our strengths. Understanding who I am as an artist is critical to crafting a productive, joyful and sustainable artistic enterprise.

I also loved Chapter 9 that gave me the storyboard planning model for mapping out my goals and projects. This was new to me and really fits the way I think.

Finally, Chapter 11 spoke to me. This chapter dealt with setting up support systems to sustain you. I’m still working on finding a partner, and I will work on this until I do because I think this is a vital step in my progression and sustainment as an artist.

I loved this book. I enjoyed how it moved me through the process of defining my creative life and goals, understanding myself as an artist and how it covered the things that could trip me up, along with ideas on how to deal with those challenges.

Next week, I’ll tell you what I’m considering for my next series of Sunday posts…once I figure it out. I’m open to hear ideas.

Last week, I shared a list from the book of “Six Tips for Staying in the Process.” I didn’t write out an explanation of each item and some of you were intrigued by the titles of the tips. Here is more information.

1. Embrace Inspired Procrastination

When you’re pushing yourself to accomplish a goal, you may be struck by an inspiring idea of something else you’d rather do. Sometimes you should give in and follow this idea of inspired procrastination. It may lead to something wonderful.

2. Roll with the Punches

There won’t always be a direct path to your goals. Let the momentum of your creations carry you. Sometimes the long path to your dreams is the path that proves best and smoothest.

3. Accept Your Stubbornness

Know what you’re willing and unwilling to do.

4. Don’t Dis Your Opportunities

Don’t devalue the opportunities that come your way. Don’t be tempted to think that everyone else is getting better offers and opportunities.

5. Relish Confusion

The creative life and adventure always has an element of confusion. It’s not just you.

6. Ward Off Panic with a Profane Mantra

When you’re seized by fear, you can fight these feelings with a profane (or sacred) mantra that you repeat to yourself (silently) while you carry out the task that’s making you fearful…similar to imaging your audience as buck naked.

.

Every Saturday, I share my weekly Artist Date.

This week, I stayed home for my Artist Date. I wanted to work on a project.

I’ve been wondering what to do with my paintings as I’m building up a selection for future art fairs. Right now, I just keep everything in piles.

I thought I’d try hanging everything on the walls of my studio.

Thanks to Command adhesives, I can try this out and if I don’t like it, I can just take it all down.

I think I’m going to like it a lot. It gives me a great place to store my paintings; it will be nice when folks come over and want to see what I’m doing;  it lets me see what I have started and what needs to be finished; and it lets me see how my paintings look on a wall. I have more paintings to hang up, but I ran out of hooks.