the Creative Thursday blog

In Boulder

My second home. I'm away teaching at the Makerie and will see you back here on the other side. If you happen to be in Boulder/Denver this weekend, come visit the Firefly Handmade Market up at Chataqua Community House 7 - 10 pm Saturday and 10 am - 3 pm Sunday, April 21 & 22.
happy weekend!

Numbers Print

Does the world need another Numbers print? Yes it does! Especially one designed to go with my Alphabet prints. You can now find these over at the shop. Featuring a cast of characters in order of their appearance, lion, teddy bear, puppy dog, oscar the owl, fish, cat, ladybug, bunny rabbit, olive the bird {and tiny bird}

 

flowers for you

5 x 5 in.

 

happy sunday!

 

{click here to buy original}

The In's and Out's of Textile Design - by Creative House

A chance meeting while both teaching at the Squam Art Workshops, plus 2 separate moments, 1 year apart when Lizzy told Marisa "YOU need to be designing fabric" has become a friendship and now a collaboration called Creative House.

Super excited about and really proud of this newest collaboration with my friend Lizzy. We love what we do. We want to help people find their way on their path to happiness and we believe that a large part of that has to do with finding fulfilling work that you love. We are creating products that we wish we had when we were trying to find our way. If you remember Lizzy wrote this e-book and {lucky for me when I tried to get into the industry I had Lizzy's book and her guidance} Now we've added on to that knowledge and experience with this podcast. So if you're interested in getting into the world of textile design as well as learning from two creative entrepreneurs who are always cheering you on, this new podcast might be for you. You can learn more about it, and watch us chat in a little video at our new site! The first of more collaborations to come for Creative House, so stay tuned.

{thank you again to Jo for the beautiful site design} 

Santa Claus is Coming to Town & he's in the shop!

I know we just celebrated time with the Easter Bunny, but some of you, who are far better planners than I, are ready to get a jump on your holiday creating?! Or even better, creating in general because while this is my first Holiday inspired collection, I designed 6 of the seven designs to be enjoyed the whole year through. Then again I am also someone who's been known to let Christmas music {occassionally} play in my Itunes throughout the year.

Available in 2 color ways, you can now purchase fat quarter bundles over at the shop. 

Lisa's art workshop this Sunday in L.A.

Love this lady! Her art and her spirit. 

Lisa's a fantastic teacher too, so I have to share with you that she's having a very special one time only workshop this Sunday,  'Out of Bounds: Book Assemblage' April 15 from 1 - 5 pm at the Craft And Folk Art Museum for $65 and $55 for CAFAM members. To register online just go to www.cafam.org or email [email protected].

I have been meaning to share a post on Lisa's book since it first came out last fall, so now's the perfect time to tell you about it too.  'The Re-purposed Library' is beautiful down to every last detail. It's one of those books that you will make you happy just by  having it in your space and you will be inspired to think outside of the box creatively by re-purposing some of those books you have sitting on your shelf - or seek out some very special vintage ones on your next thrift store or flea market outing. 

Another favorite is the trailer that Lisa's brother Nate helped her produce. Pretty much sums up the vibe of Lisa and her work. She just moved to Southern California almost 2 years ago now, all the way from New Hampshire. Courage and a quest for adventure, that's what it takes to start over and build a brand new life for yourself especially in Venice CA.  It's been great to see Lisa jump in and get acclamated so quickly with so much bravery and enthusiasm to boot. And those of us  who knew Lisa before her move out west, are so lucky to have her creative spirit here to spend time with as often as we can.  You should definitely join her at her workshop if you can! Oh and! you might want to take home one of her bookmobiles too~

 

happy easter!

permission to be introverts - and be 'Quiet'

This book arrived yesterday. It came highly recommended to Sean by Jan, his step mom. Even though he is a comedic performer, improvising and teaching  Improv in a front of a room full of people, Sean definitely considers himself more of an introvert.

Even though I've barely cracked open the cover, I'm already intrigued and I'm already going to recommend this book to you. 

The cover and the title alone totally caught my eye. I especially like the subtitle "the power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking".  {sometimes I just want to tell people to please stop talking, especially our neighbor who insists upon talking on his cell on speaker phone right outside our window}

And then we watched the TED video by Susan this morning and now I am completely fascinated.

 

I insta/tweeted a picture of the cover this morning and already the people responding with comments saying that they are reading this right now, tells me that we creatives were in need of some validation and permission to be the introverts that I personally think is necessary to do any kind of creative work.

It got me thinking about how introverted I am, really? I was definitely way more introverted as a child. Also being an only means that having a lot of  quiet and alone time is just part of the package.  Somewhere along the way I decided to develop my extrovert muscle and found that I also get energy from socializing. Listening to Susan's talk makes me wonder if I develped that muscle because society applauds that quality more?

I don't do crowds. One reason, I find attending and participating in art fairs particularly challenging. When I go to yoga class, or most classes actually I do not want to socialize. I just want to be quiet and learn. Teaching at larger art retreats and attending conferences, as fun and rewarding as it is can wollop me. I've always been more comfortable in smaller groups or one on one. Probably one of the reasons I've always enjoyed podcasting. A quiet way for me to get a message to many. 

I've discovered that an ideal week for me is an almost equal balance of inward and outward time. Actually I'd say leaning much more with an emphasis on inward time. It's true what Susan says about needing quiet time and unplugging to come up with ideas. How will we ever get our own ideas if we are constantly experiencing a barrage of other people's voices? We won't. And there will just be more of the same. Something that many of us artists think about, how to keep our unique voice evolving and not looking like someone else's vision, or conforming to creating work that is solely inspired by trend.

We have to learn how to tune out and tune in.

This becomes challenging in the world we live in where the noise has become more, not necessarily in decibles or in person socializing, but the social activity around social media. And the panic that ensues when we are not on it, feeling like we are going to be forgotten or left behind. Seriously, this is a myth that needs to be stopped before it gets started. If you do great, meaningful work you will not be forgotten, especially not by the the people who are truly your people.

I know much of my feelings about the quiet time I need are heavily influenced by the city I live in. The sound of the squeaking breaks on the garbage truck that is outside my window RIGHT NOW is SO loud. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that someone comes so consistently to pick up the trash, but the amount of leaf blowing I hear on any given week has GOT to stop. We live in Los Angeles - I mean really how many leaves are there? 

What I want to say is that living in a big city already calls for much more inward time to balance the energy involved just in getting from point a to point b. And if you happen to be more introverted,  you can only imagine how much more quiet time you might need.

After watching this video I know that both Sean and I, are breathing a big sigh of relief. We feel like we've been given permission to indulge in what comes natural to us. We feel like we want to honor our quiet time more, even when we are together in the same space, Thank you Susan for writing your book and for adding equal value to those who live and create from a softer, quieter space.

How about you? Where do you think you are on the introvert/extrovert scale?