the Creative Thursday blog

rabbit and the rooster

 

6 x 6 in.

On a sunnier note.  Nothing like a little painting to brighten your day, especially one inspired by our lamps ;)

 

{original is sold}

saying goodbye to Tank

 

It's happened again. And Ok, now I'm done.

This has been the year of of all years for saying goodbye to our dogs.

I struggle to share this on the blog. I just can't be sad anymore. And mostly, I just don't want to spread sadness into the blogosphere, especially since this is my third post of this kind, in the last six months. But I would be re-miss in not acknowledging Tank, because if you've been a follower of the blog, then you too had a chance to know him.

 

Over the last six years, he has made many an appearance here, acted as a muse and just made our lives more fun with the presence of his spirited little self.

 

A chihuahua-shih tzu mix, and about the cutest dog you've ever seen, Tank belonged to my ex-husband Art and his wife Chi. He came to live with them as a puppy and bonded with Jackson like no other. This made Jackson and Tank a package deal.  Wherever Jackson was, Tank was.  I don't know if Jackson was so thrilled about this  new arrangement, but the best part about Tank ~ he didn't care. Life just never got to him. Honestly, this tiny dog was a constant reminder to us, not to take life too seriously, but enjoy it instead. That's why this post can't be sad, because Tank was happy.

It's true. Actually, happy might even be an understatement. I don't think I've ever come across a sunnier personality. He was a free spirit, and a caper, who liked to escape from the yard and take himself on walks. Oh, yes he did.  A total snuggler and a lap dog, any chance he had to get love and affection~ he took it. He would chase the cats, {you know someone had to keep them  in check}, but also came to screeching halt mid-chase if we told him to stop. He always wanted to be a good dog, desperately trying to be on his best behavior, gazing at you, so you could just love him more. And honestly, look at him. I mean how could you not love him more even if he did chase the cats? So, so sweet. I know we are all going to miss him.

 

This loss was unexpected. Tank suddenly became extremely ill over the weekend and before Art and Chi could get him to the vet, he was gone. With his immense love for Jackson I can't help but wonder if he just decided that he wanted to be with him again. I bet all three of them are hanging out, lounging like they used to.

 

I remembered this morning that Tank, along with Lulu and Jackson inspired one of my very first Podcasts, titled "Comparison". I thought I'd share it with you today, not to mourn another loss, but instead to honor and remember ~ to appreciate who we are and all that we already have in our lives right now, because I think that's how Tank would want it to be.

guess what?

 

I'm terrible at keeping secrets. 

Creative Thursday designs are going to be available as jewelry. More details to come July 8th...

been sewing

 

Thanks so much for all the insight, feedback and thoughts, so far on my last post.  Of course, now there's just more I want to tell you, but for today, I'm only talking 'creating', sewing to be exact.

For at least a year and a half, I've been desperately drawn towards sewing and embroidery? Why? I'm not entirely sure, probably because I love beautiful fabric designs, it's fun, so tactile, calming and challenging me to step out of my familiar creative box ~ ok, fine...there are a lot of reasons why I'm drawn to this new medium. Oh, and also I would be remiss if I didn't mention how inspired I am by artists like my favorite Mummysam, who has a book coming out this year {I cannot wait}, Mary's Grandaughter, Kstudio, and my good friends Mavis, Veronique and Lisa. I'm still playing with how I want to express this in my work, but one direction I'm leaning towards is illustration with sewing, remember my tea towel? The tea towel was stitched by hand and now I'm attempting this with a machine.

Finally, finally! after one year of having a special kind of foot with a spring for free motion stitching, I actually took it out of the packaging and attached it to my sewing machine. Crazy fun I tell you. And crazy hard to get an illustration as smooth as you can with a pen or pencil :) But here's the first result, hunny bunny. {thank you for her name Lisa}

 

And the story behind "honey bunny": She is my first ever illustrated face on the sewing machine. Her dress is decorated with my first ever illustrated, let's just call it, abstract randomness on a sewing machine. Her turquoise ric rac is re-purposed from a from some beautiful packaging. Her back is made from my own fabric. Her feet are made from fabric I bought in Montmartre in Paris, and so is that red button she is wearing. I LOVE her and that is all.

More sewing to come.

quiet no more

 

Somewhere between the freezer aisle at Whole Foods {where I couldn't stop tweeting} and today, a whole surge of things I want to talk to you about have popped into my mind.

You see here a couple of things I've been experimenting with. Well wait ~ first let me preface this post with this: Whenever I travel now, especially in the past year, I get to meet so many awesome new people. Why? Well because of this blog, twitter, my etsy shop, e-courses I teach, and generally this entire online community I've been building and getting to know people in over the last four years. This is such a cool by-product of this online world that I eluded to in my first after Squam post ~ that I also could not have anticipated when I started this whole 'blogging business' in July of 2006. It's a by-product I love, and honestly one of the reasons I feel so inspired to not only travel, but live other places, so I can really spend time with these incredible people I am coming to know.

I digress. When I meet people who are connected to me through the online world that we share let's just say that many of our conversations over tea, wine, coffee, insert your beverage of choice, almost always include lengthy discussions about this very online world, specifically blogging. These kinds of discussions always get me thinking.

As a regular blogger, I'm sure many of you can relate, it's common place to evaluate, at least once a year maybe more? why it is exactly that you keep a blog?

And now with more blogs than ever to choose from, I often wonder what keeps people coming back to mine. Then I wonder if that is my intention to create a blog for my readers or for me or for both? And then you see how the cycle goes?! Each one of these questions is in itself a blog post, so I'm going to come back to my initial point of this post and that is this: I'm experimenting with allowing creativity to feel inspired not forced and that goes especially for the writing of blog posts, tweets and facebook status updates. And you know what I've found so far, sometimes it means that there will be nothing. There will be silence and sometimes there may be times when there's so much to say that I can barely squeeze it all into one post let alone two or three.

I think when you're an online business, you feel somewhat obligated to always be "there". And in some ways this is true. And in some ways I think this also inspires forced content rather than organic content. Organic content, hmmm, how's that for a new buzz word? I do feel that the world is moving so fast, and information and content moving twice as fast that if I step out for a bit, I might be forgotten. On a personal level that's mostly ok, but as a business owner the thought that you might be forgotten in a second can feel a bit scary. 

So reflecting upon this further, I don't know for sure that this is true. Maybe you can help me sort this out? I tend to remember the people I want to remember, but I know hearing from them helps me remember that I want to remember them? Does that make sense? And sometimes people can be present every so often, but what they have to say is so meaningful that I never forget about them and sometimes people have a lot to say that it is equally as profound. I guess what I'm coming around to is, that saying, you know the one, "to thine own self be true".  No more obligation here to what you think your voice, or level and type of communication, is supposed to look like either online or in person. 

I find myself saying this a lot these days, "It's an interesting time we live in" A time where we are all just beginning to learn how we want to maneuver in this new world of communicating and keeping in touch. 

And another reason I wanted to address this today is because of the Armchair Parisian's recent comment on my post about choosing to be quiet where she said "Isn't it interesting how "responsible" we feel to explain ourselves when we're quiet for a time...?" and she's right. It's that obligation thing again. If we do choose to be quiet why do we feel the need to explain it? In fact why do we in general as a society feel the need to explain so much of what we decide to do? Sometimes I know  for myself, the explanation is really about expansion, about exploring new ideas and ways of being ~ like I'm doing in this post. I know that other times I'm just letting people know where I'm at so they don't worry. Much of the time it's because I don't want to be misunderstood or misperceived. And that's the part I'm trying to let go of. At some point I just want to trust myself enough to maneuver in this world exactly as I am, quiet or chatty, knowing that when I'm clear that's all that matters.

To sum up what I'm trying to say here. Going forward I want to create, writing or other wise, communicate and connect when I feel inspired to. Sometimes it's a simple factor of time, only being able to accomplish so much in a 24 hour day, but all the other time's it needs to be about inspiration.  I also want to try and fit the writing and creating of blog posts into an hour or less. If it's over that, it's either too long a post or I've over thought it, which I often do. I don't know exactly how that's all going to look, but I guess we'll see. And if anyone forgets about me when I get quiet, I'm ok with that too.

Creative Thursday :: the e-course

 

For everyone who wants to be more creative.

As I mentioned in my email I sent out early this morning, this is probably the e-course everyone thought I would teach?! Maybe, probably?

It's makes perfect sense really because this course is inspired by how the story began for me over ten years ago now. Just one day a week set aside for creativity. 

As I've observed Creative Thursday unfold over all these years,  a few things have become crystal clear to me. One is that creativity is vital to a fulfilling life. Second is that so many of us are trying to find the time to make it a priority in our lives.

And this goes for those of us who create for personal pleasure as well as those of us who might be in business through our art. I know the timing of the launch of this e-course is inspired by where I'm at in my own life. As a business owner who's work focuses on my art, even I want more time for creativity. I want to play, explore new mediums and be inspired by others who are doing the same. So, this time we are putting the business aside and for six weeks, beginning Creative Thursday, July 29 we are focusing solely on creating.

They say the teacher teaches most what they are wanting to learn. With all the e-courses I've taught this year both by myself and with  Sean, I'd say this is right on the money. I've been teaching what I want more of in my own life. It's one of the reasons I explore new opportunities all the time ~ not only to keep it interesting and fun for you, but interesting, fun and challenging for me. I also want to note that I've been feeling a subtle shift in my mission with this business ~ a wanting to encourage, support and inspire creativity for yourselves. Since I'm still refining exactly what that looks like, I'll just leave it there for now.

You know how I am now about being, living and doing it? Then you know that while we will talk about creativity and the role it plays in each of our lives, this course is first and foremost about the making of things.

You can learn more about it and register here. Check out the FAQ's page,  or feel free to drop me an email with any questions you may have. 

I hope you will feel inspired to come play with us. I opened registration this morning and the course is steadily filling up. I believe in keeping these e-courses limited in size so that no one gets overwhelmed or lost in the shuffle. And also I want the chance to get to know each of you a little so that I can guide you in the direction you are most wanting to go. This means that it's best to register early to save your space.

My first tagline for Creative Thursday was this, and today it still holds true: be free, be happy, be true ~ be creative everyday, especially Thursdays. And that's just what we're going to do. I think this e-course is going to be crazy fun.

from the back burner

 

To the front burner. 

Is it just me? or are most sayings and idioms  not only strange sounding but so strange looking when you actually type them out for use online?

When things get quiet over here at my blog, it's for one of a few reasons. One is that I've got a lot I'm reflecting upon, and I'm trying to sort through it to choose what I want to share with you here. Or two: I'm working on a lot of projects that I'm really excited about that I hope you will be equally as excited about {that I will begin to start revealing over the next few days and weeks} or three:  I'm just, get ready here comes another weird saying, plum tuckered out from all the traveling I've been doing.  Well in this case, I'd say all three of these are a fit.

As we left for Paris, a lot of decision making that needed to happen was, appropriately so, pushed to the back burner. One of the best parts of traveling =  an opportunity to put certain decisions on hold. However when you're gone for a while, everything moves to the front burner all at once. So now, I'm gonna say it, oh yes I am  "It's time to get cooking" Figuratively and literally, as it's also time for me to make dinner.

ETA LA 3 opening tomorrow

 

What are you doing this Saturday? Wanna come to L.A and see some wonderful tiny art by west coast artists? If you can't make it in person, you can also preview and purchase paintings online.

Ok, then! I'll see you there!!

The opening reception is tomorrow from 7 - 9 pm at 3531 Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles {Silverlake}

happy weekend to you!

 

Lizzy and the mouse

 

Home sweet home for a little while...unless I head off to my 20 year high school reunion in a few weeks?!

I'd love to write a thoughtful post for you about my time at Squam Art Workshops last week, but I still haven't even summed up my thoughts on Paris. Let's just say I'm seriously behind on thoughtful posts...while the meaningful experiences I want to share with you continue to pile up. The past two months have been full of adventure, laughter, a few tears, tons of inspiration, cafe cremes, ice cream cones, jumps in the lake, trips to the top of the Eiffel Tower, lots of red wine with the best friends and, well you get the picture. It's been an extraordinary time. For those of you who travel often, I can see why. I could get used to this kind of life ~ as soon as I rest up a little.

What I want to share with you today is a little snippet of my time in New Hampshire, that resulted in this painting.  

A real treat for me is the chance to paint while at Squam. I get so inspired by all the creating going on, from the teachers and the students, {especially my students ~ who blow me away with their talent EVERY TIME}  ~ that I can't help but want to sit down and make something myself. 

This time I did! I had a Saturday morning all to myself to paint, and voila, a year in the making, "Lizzy and the mouse". It seems that Lizzy has a little friend who loves to visit her every time she visits Squam... On a side note: this is also an official warning, to all of  my friends, you may very well end up as a Creative Thursday character ;)

Another real treat for me at Squam is to connect with the people I meet there. Lizzy's one of them. I first came to know her last year when a group of us experienced Nirvana while all sharing the same cabin, appropriately called Nirvana. This year we picked up exactly where we left off.

 

{photo by Kimm}
 

I could gush on about Lizzy in this post, but as you know I'm trying to refrain from being a "gusher" and carrying on too much. So, I'll get to the point again and say that she is another one who ROCKS. At the ripe old age of 24 Lizzy is my newest mentor and wise counsel {in fact there are several of us who are now being advised by her ;)}, and she is fast becoming one of my most favorite people on the planet. The best part= that circle is growing rapidly with people from all over the planet, due to my traveling and especially my times teaching at Squam. And honestly that is one of the best parts of the last two months.

{original is sold, but a print is now available in the shop}

hello from Squam

 

One week ago was my last post? How did that happen? Oh wait I know how it happened, I've been traveling.

I promise, I haven't gone missing, I just went to Davis, California to celebrate Sean's Dad's 80th birthday, and am now at Squam Lake in New Hampshire for a little creative get together called "Squam Art Workshops".

I literally flew away last Thursday, flew back in on Monday and flew out again on Tuesday and now? well it's already Thursday again. I just finished teaching my first class, "daily painting", I have a tiny bit of internet connection here on the lake, and thought I'd take a moment to say a quick hello.

It's beautiful here, as always. I'm LOVING my students, as always. 

If you are in the New Hampshire area this Saturday, come and visit the Squam Art Fair! I've had a sneak peek of some of the vendors and there's going to to be all kinds of greatness there. And if not I'll probably see you back here when I return home next week.

Hope you all are doing great out there. xo