the Creative Thursday blog

off to Quilt Market

I'm signing off early this week, because I've decided to take a last minute trip to my very first Quilt Market. 

Hope you have a great weekend and a happy Halloween here in the states, and I'll see you back here on the other side of my trip!

a bunch of bats, a polar bear & a ghostie

6 x 6 in.

The ghostie is also known as the "imaginary friend".

So I bought a Martha Stewart Crafts "bat" punch a couple of days ago, and I've been punching bats out of every bit of paper I can get my hands on.

{click here to buy original}

garbo + the yellow boots

...and the yellow chest.

I was taking some photographs of our home this weekend, and this one = a new favorite.

An arbitrary cute picture of Garbo and my favorite yellow boots. ;)

Messy and Brave this Saturday

My friends are having an art show, and it's going to be GREAT!!  I cannot wait to go!!

Featuring the art of:

Christine Mason Miller

Gus Harper

Lisa Occhipinti

Trevor Meeker

Sabrina Ward Harrison

 

happy weekend to you!

what's inspiring me now

Yup, sometimes food, the cooking, the baking, and the eating of  is the inspiration. And speaking of food, if you are in the vicinity of a Trader Joe's, put this blog post down and run out right now and get these frozen chocolate croissants.

I heard they were great, but that is an understatement. They are amazing. The only thing is that you have to remember to set them out to rise 9 hours before you want to eat them. The night before is best, especially if you want to have the smell of chocolate croissant wafting through your house in the morning.

Not to mention the packaging, also inspiring. I am a sucker for all things beautifully, thoughtfully designed.

the costume kids!

3 x 3 and 3 x 2 in.

Completely unplanned burst of creativity this afternoon, inspired by a glass of wine?

Now I'm not going to condone becoming a boozehound in the middle of the day. Oh who am I kidding, I'm also not going to judge. What I will say is that I had a midday glass of wine on this Tuesday and look what happened, not one but 4 tiny paintings that I am smitten with.

Inspired by our upcoming Halloween holiday, I love when parents dress up the tiniest ones. They are so cute in their costumes and half the time they don't even know what Halloween is.

{originals are sold}

Culverland

That's our friend John. He's standing on a blue square {waiting for a blue car to drive by} of a game that he developed, designed and painted with his wife Kim that is now on a sidewalk in Culver City.

 

For those of you not familiar with L.A., it is a big city and by big, I mean wide. It covers a large expanse, and for this reason much of the city is broken down into what I like to call "digestible" neighborhoods, each with it's own personality or vibe. Culver City is one of those neighborhoods, originally famous for its film studios, that in the last decade has been through quite a bit of re-gentrification and is now extra hip and happenin' {also one of my favorite L.A. neighborhoods ~ umm, hello Tender Greens = one of my favorite restaurants}

On a *side note* please don't quote me on my history of L.A. or Culver City, and John and Kim {because we know you did most of the work} I hope I have the facts right about how this game evolved, {but I am also guilty of having margaritas during the time you explained more of the details as to how this project came to you, or how you found it?}

Funded by an arts grant from the city of Culver City, John applied and won. Seriously, how great is that? a} that there are grants available for this type of creativity and b} John won. In his regular life, he is a writer, mostly television, a surfing friend of Sean's {first} and then me via osmosis of me dating Sean.

I'm going to be honest and say that while a certain childlike quality exists in me, insert my art here,  I tend to shy away from game playing. What is that anyway? Is that called becoming an adult? Because I used to love games. In fact I could play them for hours at a time. You know I think it's really because as adults we very rarely get to play games the way we used to as kids...unless there's money involved and then your in Vegas. 

A game that asks you to move ahead a space at a time when a certain color car drives by in a certain direction, here's what playing Culverland did for me: It brought me right into the moment. Since being "in the moment" is not only a catch phrase for our time but something I'm trying to do more of in my life {because it calms me down, keeps me grounded and appreciative of what I already have} I was pretty excited to find myself there....for a moment. Well, probably at least ten minutes.

 

It was crazy fun. All of us played together, Sean, I,  John, Kim and their son Ian who is 5. What's the message of this story. Play more games. Be in the moment. Oh and have the best margarita{s} ever on a Friday afternoon with your friends at Kay N Dave's ;) 

Now if that doesn't make you want to run out and play Culverland? Do it soon! It's only up through November 1, 2010.

speaking of paint trays

...and inspiration. This is an Iphone photo of my 'Paris' paint tray. I had to save it somehow, and the way this photo came out, it makes me think I'm looking at an abstract painting ~ one that I could not have planned. 

I once met an artist who had made an entire hardcover book filled with nothing but photographs of her paint trays throughout her time at art school. I thought it was beautiful. 

I am fascinated by this idea of the art we create when we are 'not trying' to create it. It's a lot like when we first start painting, for example, when no one is watching, or expecting our creation to turn out a certain way and neither are we. There is a complete freedom in that type of creating, that only happens once; when we begin and then as artists, I believe it is our job to learn how to tap into that sense of freedom again and again.

what's inspiring me now

Does this happen to you? Sometimes in the process of creating; which also means letting my desk get 'messy', filled with paints, ribbons, and new paintings in the works, a particular arrangement will stand out to me. It won't be an arrangement I planned, it will have happened on accident. Organically, shall we say? My eyes won't stop going to it, because the colors, the positioning just keep inspiring me. It also keeps me from straightening up my work area which is why I'm typing this blog post on my laptop squeezed into the far right corner of my desk. I don't want to move a thing. I want to leave it exactly as it is. So maybe I will. I don't really need the use of my desk today.

Oh and paint trays, don't you just love them? All the colors you've been using all blended together. You can see a section of my tray peering out from underneath the paintings in the right hand corner of the photo.

have a happy and inspiring weekend!

a confident sheep

6 x 6 in.

A couple of solid days with the opportunity to play, and create some new work ~ and it's so nice. 

happy creative thursday!

*On a side note this is officially my 1010 post. Can you believe it? Interesting coincidence that it is the same week of 10.10.10. A big fan of numbers lining up, I always take it as a good sign when they do.*

{original is sold}