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

.

Every Saturday, I share my weekly Artist Date.

This week, I spent some time in the gardens at Copshaholm where I am a docent. The links lead to two other posts I did about Copshaholm.

Copshaholm is the home built by J.D. Oliver for his family.  J.D. Oliver’s father, James, developed processes to create a better plow and his the business eventually became the Oliver Chilled Plow Works.

The mansion was dubbed Copshaholm in honor of the birthplace of J.D. Oliver’s father, James.  James was born near Newcastleton, Scotland.  In ancient times, Newcastleton was called “Copshawolm” which literally means “clump of trees on a hill overlooking a river.”

The grounds consist of 2.5 acres of landscaped formal, informal and recreational areas. While changes were made to the grounds over the years, these were usually additions or stylistic changes that did not remove all traces of the previous design.

The 1890′s and early 20th century saw a tremendous growth in outdoor activities.  Houses flowed out into their grounds with pergolas and walkways leading out to open terraces, recreation areas and teahouses.

The gardens as they exist today, began around 1907 when J.D. acquired the property adjoining Copshaholm. The Olivers first hired Alice E. Neale to design the gardens. Neale laid out the pergola in 1908. This vine-covered walkway leads west from the porte-cochere to the sunken garden.

The garden is representative of the Edwardian period of garden building which occurred in the early years of the 20th century. Edwardian gardens were distinguished by a rigid formality in the overall design and the use of classical design elements.

The gardens have changed over the years, but the changes are fascinating and add to the sense of how the house and family evolved.

The gardens are bare this time of year, but still lovely, peaceful and quiet.

I’ll spend other Artist Dates there this year, and show you how the gardens look during the different seasons.

.

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.

.

A Patch Of Old Snow

There’s a patch of old snow in a corner
That I should have guessed
Was a blow-away paper the rain
Had brought to rest.

It is speckled with grime as if
Small print overspread it,
The news of a day I’ve forgotten,
If I ever read it.

Robert Lee Frost

.

Kind is Kool Challenge

Week 10 Challenge – When you’re at a store, if you notice a loose shopping cart in the parking lot, retrieve it, and drop it off at the shopping cart receptacle or return it to the store.

.

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 is from Sue of Graceful Greyhounds…LOVE. Here’s the girl that came out of that inspiration…

Sue thought of her inspirational word for March because March 10 was Mother’s Day in the UK and March is her mother’s birthday month.

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. It really makes you consider the things that make life good, and often those things are small but powerful.

Here’s something that makes me happy…HAND LOTION.

This is my current favorite from The Naked Bee. I like a light lotion that smells good and this one fills the bill.

.

My friend, Amy, inspired this series. It started when she realized that she would buy herself something nice, like a piece of jewelry that she would wear occasionally, while every day she was drinking her coffee from a thermal travel mug with a Christmas graphic clouded by condensation…during the summer. This inspired her to look at the things she uses most and upgrade them to something special, functional and beautiful.

This is a picture of the infamous Christmas travel mug and it’s lovely replacement.

I thought this was a great idea and made a lot of sense. So, I’m on a mission to “notice” what I use the most and make sure those things are my best things. The second Wednesday of every month, I’ll tell you about something I’ve improved upon.

Last month, I told you about replacing my chipped dishes. This month, I replaced a laundry basket that was acting as a hamper with an actual hamper.

This was a nice replacement because I’d been wanting another laundry basket. Now, I have one.

 

This hamper is from Curver, and I picked it up at Target. It has the look of woven natural fibers, but is made from plastic. It’s also cool because you can attach the lid to open from the back or open to the side.

Want more ideas? Here are some things my friend, Amy, took from every day ugly to every day pretty.

Her old robe, with holes courtesy of her greyhound, Zonda…

…was replaced with a soft, fluffy robe. This is actually my robe. Amy liked her new one so much, she gave me one for Christmas.

She also replaced her disposable plastic liquid soap dispenser with a refillable glass liquid soap dispenser. Very pretty!

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.

.

A couple weeks ago, Kat from Dog Gone Right posted Gwyn’s “available for adoption” picture. That sent me scurrying to dig up Freedom, Casper & Nikki’s photos. Here’s what they looked like before they were blog stars with their very own mini-me’s.

Freedom, aka Free Spitfire…

Casper, aka Try N Ryan…

Nikki, aka Silver Nikita…

Nikki’s “adopt me” picture is unique in that it doesn’t have a pair of human legs in it.

.

Here’s what’s going on in my studio…

This past week, I took some time to work on some of my unfinished paintings. I like to work on several at a time. They’re still all unfinished though. I think I need a few more painting sessions.

On a side note…Lynne, creator of the fabulous mini-me’s, has featured Freedom, Casper & Nikki’s mini-me’s on her blog today. Check out Dip-Dip and The Bridge for more mini-me fun.

 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 KB of Romping & Rolling in the Rockies…NATURE. This is the girl that came out of that inspiration…

I was inspired by the snowy pictures on KB’s blog, although my painting didn’t turn out too snowy.

This week’s inspiration comes from Sue of Graceful Greyhounds. Yesterday (March 10) was Mother’s Day in the UK and March is her mom’s birthday month, so Sue’s inspiration word is…LOVE.

.

I’m reading Creating A Life Worth Living by Carol Lloyd. I picked this book because I’m trying to figure out the place I want painting to play in my life.

This week…Chapter 9, “A Map to the Moon,” provides a series of techniques…to draw a map to your newly defined goal.

The purpose of this chapter is to help you “create a visual path from your goal back to the present moment.” Here are the steps:

Step 1: Clustering

Clustering is a technique where you place your goal or idea in a circle in the middle of the page, then radiate out from the circle, jotting down anything that comes to mind. You can see a portion of my cluster diagram below.

Step 2: Making an Action Plan

Carol shows you four models of planning: scoring, storyboarding, listomania and blueprinting. After reading through the four models, I decided to try storyboarding.

Step 3: Playwriting with the Sage & Step 4: Brainstorming: Letting Loose the Air-Eating Child

Steps 3 & 4 are techniques you can use to illuminate your “black holes.” Black holes are items you don’t know how to approach…”parts of your endeavor that seem murky if not down-right confounding”…places where you know you need something, but you don’t know how to get it.

I’m still working on my “storyboard” index cards. Then, the tricky part…For the final 3 weeks, I’ll be in Part 4, “The Doing.” I’m better at planning than doing, but the storyboard technique has me intrigued and hopeful.

.

Every Saturday, I share my weekly Artist Date. This week, I went to a local craft & fabric store.

According to Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, “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.”

If the purpose of the Artist Date is to fire up the imagination, a visit to a craft & fabric store will have you blazing.

In fact, if you have the crafter-quilter-sewer-knitter-crocheter-scrapbooker-ad infinitum gene, you may want to enter with caution.

This year, since I’m spending the year trying NOT to indulge my every creative impulse and FOCUS on painting and very specific projects, I have “rules” I follow.

When I go into a craft & fabric store, I allow myself to wander the aisles and dream of all the things I’d love to make if I had 30-hour-days, unlimited money and lived to be 153-years-old, but I am only allow to get what’s on my list…period. Focus hurts.

.

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.

.

Prayer For Peace

Lord, make me an instrument of Your Peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon,
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may
not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

St. Francis of Assisi

.

Kind is Kool Challenge

Week 9 Challenge – When talking on the phone, smile. The smile will show up in your voice.

.

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 is from KB of Romping & Rolling in the Rockies…NATURE. Here’s the girl that came out of that inspiration…

Right now, KB is spending a lot of time in the snow, and it made me think of this picture that I started last November.

I wanted to keep it soft and snow-like, but I kept adding color and ended up with this little gal. It’s still missing something, but I need to let it “sit” and come back to it.

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. It really makes you consider the things that make life good, and often those things are small but powerful.

Here’s something that makes me happy…FRESH FLOWERS.

This year, I’m trying to make sure that I have at least one fresh flower in the house at all times. Not only do I love the exquisite beauty of even the simplest flower, I think their transient nature reminds me to appreciate beauty now, every day, and not just save it for special occasions.