Painting...

It is definitely taking me more than a day or two to figure out the direction my life/my art is taking but I have that on the back burner now while I do ahead and play some more...

This week I dabbled at some painting. Making some backgrounds, doing the Flora Bowley online Bloom True class, and playing with some canvases I had other things on and wanted to reuse and start over with.  

And then there is You Tube. I have been spending a lot of time watching videos lately: mixed media, art quilting, sewing, painting, you name it! I found one via Facebook from Mystic Tulip Arts and after watching it thought I would make my own version. HERE is her video. It is Betty Franks Krause' Love Grows Painting and Doodling on Canvas.

This is what I came up with. It still needs a lot more doodling to go with her style, but it is getting there. I love how bright the colors are. It is painted over a paper collaged canvas which is what you can see through the colors.

Stop and smell the flowers

I have been crazy busy the last few weeks and the other day it hit me: why am I doing this? I have a gazillion art projects and sewing projects and things to keep me occupied and there I was, sitting at my desk, not wanting to do ANYTHING. My body and brain were fighting back: I am retired -- I don't need to be doing something every moment of the day. I was so tired from running to this class and that class and doing part of one online course then rushing over to another one...

So I stopped for a day and let my thoughts rush in and boy was I in for a surprise! It turns out I really do not know what I want to be doing with this part of my life! I had so many options that I was overwhelmed.

Time to step back a bit, think about my word for the year:
OPEN. Yes I was open to everything -- was that a problem? Or could I learn to be open to ideas and let them flow through me? Did I have to DO everything I thought of, or could I just notice and let it go?  It was obvious to me I needed to work on this idea.

And my CDFs (core desired feelings from the Danielle LaPorte Desire Map book): had been taking a back seat to all my running around lately. Time to reflect on these:
Unencumbered: started on a major house cleaning then sort of stopped when I got so busy arting and sewing. Need to return to this one.
Aligned: well I have not done as much yoga as I thought I might be doing, what is stopping me?
Vibrant: well the art stuff is happening -- lots of color, but there is still something missing -- I am not as happy about creating my art as I thought I would be. I keep asking myself this question:  What is my art asking of me?
Connected: I am getting out and seeing friends, but there is more I need/want to work on for this one.
Mindful: at first I was thinking of this for eating and it has sort of been happening, but I want it happening in more areas of my life too.

I think I will be doing more sitting back and reflecting today...

Updating Linky Parties

I haven't been doing much art to link to the linky parties (see CURRENT LINKY PARTIES above) and when I decided to get back to that this weekend, I realized I needed to overhaul that page. Some of the links were no longer working and some had changed their URLs. And then there were a few new ones I have found recently and never added.

If any of my dear readers happen to know of any other sites that do arty linky parties (ok I know it is a lame name but that is what they are called!), please let me know, either below in the comments or email me.

In the meantime, time to do more fun stuff and get my inner artist (or some would say, child) on and go to town! Since one of my CDFs is VIBRANT, seems like it is time to use some COLOR! Now where is that gelli plate...?

Pushing myself out on a limb...

The thing about being retired...  I cannot believe time passes by so fast!  Whomever said being retired gives you too much free time was obviously not retired! Of course it has only been a few months still and I have had a zillion and one items on the longest to-do list in the world, so as I get through a lot of those things that needed to be done, I will indeed have more free time.

One of my intentions is to pursue a lot more artsy stuff and today I stepped a little out on a limb, or rather PUSHED myself out on a limb and bought some larger canvases!

Michael ' s had a buy 3 for the price of 1 sale today and I bought 6 large gallery wrapped canvases, from 20x24 to 24x36 inches. I have never painted larger than 16x20 inches before... here is my opportunity! 

I will be driving up to Oregon tomorrow for a few days to visit with my friend Evie who will be down from Alaska, then when I get back next week, who knows, maybe I will open up one of these canvases and get started! 

First day of Summer Vacation...

It's finally here!

Thinking of my intentions for the summer...

• a couple of short trips
• some house and computer reorganization
• eating what works for my body & remembering to take my vitamins
• yoga and other movement
• working on some unfinished projects
• learning some new things (how to make and edit a video) 

And of course...  time for art!

Finally finished this painting, started a month or so ago. It kept changing from one thing to another so I never took photos or blogged about it. But it is done now. Not sure it at all looks like a lotus flower but that is what I am calling it! Was also inspired by the Intuitive Painting idea.

Linked to: Paint Party Friday

Catching Up Sunday...

Gotta start out with a photo of my 20 year old cat, Pandora (who was not happy about having her picture taken!)

Here is what I have been doing this weekend:

1. Made 2 new pages (top tabs of blog): one for current WIP and one for all the linky parties I have joined
2. Worked more on one of the 21 Secrets classes (Doodling Your Way)
3. Went outside and took some photos of the garden and Pandora inside
4. Made folders for my photos in my computer so they might be easier to find
5. Uploaded more photos to Flickr
6. Planning my summer trip to Alaska (just a week to go see a friend)
7. Thinking more about this art room organization and how to make best use of my space
8. Watching more inspirational art videos... some people watch TV, I watch YouTube!

Here is the start of a doodle page I am making for one of the 21 Secrets classes (Doodling Your Way):

And the garden seems to be coming back to life... roses flourishing, irises and sweet peas finally showing up! Looking forward to the sweet pea flowers!

And I wish that I could bottle how amazing the orange blossoms smell!

Linked to: Nature's Footsteps Flower Macros

WOYWW

WOYWW stands for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday, a long running linky party I just discovered. And it is really cool to see what other people are either working on or their work areas. Mine is definitely a mess today but...

That was actually the point of my photo!

Ok, it's a mess, but I took this photo partly to link to a What's on your Workdesk Wednesday and also (big pointy arrow here) to remind myself that the newsprint pad under my work often gets really cool looking and I should use it instead of throwing it away. And sometimes I don't remember things like that until I focus on them. So right after I took this photo I tore off the paper and set it aside!

Thursday morning update: I had forgotten I had used a piece of my newsprint work paper in a journal a couple of months ago and loved how it turned out...

Linked to: WOYWW

I took the leap...

and bought a Silhouette Cameo to make my own stencils. I had been debating this large purchase for a month or so and decided yesterday to go for it!

It arrives tomorrow and I cannot wait!

I can hear you asking, "Why would I spend that much money to buy a machine that cuts out stencils?"

Well have you priced stencils lately? Small ones @ $5-$7 each and larger ones @ $14-$15 each. Plus postage! AND... they aren't even my own designs!

Not that I don't love a lot of the stencils out there... I have a TON of Crafter's Workshop stencils already... but really... you know you can look at a piece of art that used stencils and know immediately if it was a Dina Wakely or Julie Fei-Fan Balzer stencil... not that there is anything wrong with that but... I don't want anyone looking at my art and knowing whose stencils I used anymore! To me that takes a lot of the originality and creativity out of the work.

So for the price of the Cameo and some .007 thickness stencil mylar I can make 20 large stencils and I have already paid it off! And they will be my own designs or words or anything I want to make, no one else's!

Watch out art journal!

A new TED discovery...

I have always loved the TED talks and this weekend I discovered a couple I had not yet heard (although apparently half the world had already). And the amazing thing is that I found one of them through one of the online art classes I am taking (but now of course when I go looking for the link I can't remember where it was!).

Anyway... HERE is the main TED talks link.

And it was Brene Brown who I just found out about this weekend and loved her talks: HERE (Vulnerability) and HERE (Listening to Shame). And HERE is her website Ordinary Courage).

I didn't do much artwork this weekend, it was more a mind work weekend with some time off for a bit of reading.

Then my friend Leslie bursts ahead on the Lettering Class which reminds me I have some lettering to do, so I think that will be the focus of this coming week!

Things to figure out...

I realized a week had gone by and I had not written a single post, although I was doing some art every evening after work. Mostly I was too tired (after teaching Middle School all day) to stay up and extend it to the blog.

In light of that I want to figure out how to get photos onto the blog more quickly. I may try via my phone although then I don't have a chance to crop or adjust brightness or anything, which makes me wonder if I need to do that anyway?

I need to ask around and see what other art-posting bloggers do. I already know that a couple of people who do cooking (Paleo) blogs spend a couple of hours a night on their blogs... I am not willing to do that. Teaching during the day only leaves me with a certain amount of time and energy in the evenings and I don't want to spend it all putting things on a blog.

So that brings me to the other thing I realized I needed to figure out: why am I doing the blog?

For me it is more a record keeping way for me to see what I have been doing artwise. So I ask myself, "Self, why can't you just post to Flickr and not worry about the blog?" I do like the times when people respond to things I have posted but then I could see that in Flickr too.

I spent some time yesterday looking at the art blogs I enjoy and realized most of them (95% maybe) also have the blog because they do other things online: online classes, sell in Etsy, etc. They use the blog both to show people what they are doing but also as a constant reminder of their classes, shop, etc. I have neither, so again, is a blog necessary or just a place to put photos?

I need to think about this...
But today I am going to go play with the gelli printing plate and do other art with a new art friend in Tracy. I always get so inspired when I can art play with friends.

Word for the Year...

I saw a lot of websites with this idea over New Year's so I thought I would give it a try. Instead of making resolutions (that never get kept), pick a word, one word, that you can focus things you do over the year from. Here are a few other blogs that explain it much better than I could:
Gretchen Rubin
One Word 365
My One Word
Christine Kane

So, after toying with words like Creative or Gratitude or Patience I finally honed in on the word release.
R E L E A S E
Release seems to fit a lot of my needs for the year:
Release of creative energy (in letting myself do more art)...
Release of anger...
Release of bad health or bad eating habits...
Release of worry...
Release of fears...
etc.

Art Journal Calendar Project

One of my art goals this year is to do a monthly Art Journal Calendar to highlight what I do for daily art during the year. I found an old art journal that I had taken pages out of and had exactly enough pages left for 2 years of calendars! Serendipity!
Here is my January start:

And my entry for the first day of a New Year! Great beginnings!

Art Intentions for 2013...

It feels like a year of new beginnings and a lot of finishing...

Some of my art goals intentions for the New Year are:
1. Do art daily! Even if it is 10 minutes of making a background in my journal. Just do it!
2. Do a monthly art journal calendar to keep track of what I do for my daily art time.
3. Work on my  Ticket to Venice journal.
4. Finish my ROD (Remains of the Day) Journal.
4. Paint on a canvas (board) .
5. Make more books!
6. Work on the Craftsy classes I signed up for.
7. Find my art style... an ongoing search.
8. Go to Art Unraveled in Phoenix in July.
9. Do more art quilting.
10. Make my taupe quilt.
11. Do more embroidery.
12. Finish the scarf I am knitting!
13. Redesign my blog title with photos behind the title so it always looks the same on all browsers.

I also wanted to mention that the other day a few of us who are local but taking Mary Ann Moss' Ticket to Venice online class met up in Fremont at the studio of one of the participants. We spent the day gabbing, playing, looking at each other's art, and getting motivated to work on our journals for the class. I had SO MUCH FUN!! It really rejuvenated my spirit for doing ART and making it a priority in my life. I was so busy looking at stuff that I actually forgot to take pictures of the day but I am sure it won't be the last time we all meet and play!

Quilt Guild and relearning how to knit...

Last weekend was the River City Quilter's Guild Quilt Show and this year I remembered in time to actually go to it! It got me inspired to do some thing on my taupe quilt (like start it).
While I was there I met one of the women from the Art Quilt group who invited me to their meetings which was nice since that is really the kind of work I am more interested in doing.
Then on Tuesday I went to the Guild meeting. I was impressed by how welcoming and friendly they all were so I joined the guild. I figured if I go to meetings and am around these creative people some of that will rub off and motivate me more -- since hanging out by myself these last few months and not doing anything crafty was definitely not the way to go!
Also that Tuesday I had a knitting lesson from Anna of Anna's Yarn Shop in Elk Grove. When I went to the shop a few days ago she was very nice to me, a very beginning relearner, and when I expressed disappointment there wasn't a beginning class I could join until next year she suggested an hour's lesson. It turned out to be better actually because I like one-to-one lessons where I can get all the attention. She has me making a cute scarf that is easy but looks complicated.
Here it is at the beginning:

I will post pix as it comes along!
THIS is what it will look like.

Thanksgiving Break and the return of my muse...

She's back!
Well, slowly no doubt, but I realized the other day a lot of the stress I was having had to do with not using my creative outlet to let any of it go. I was really missing artwork and sewing so...

It has been nice to have a week off for Thanksgiving Break to have time for all this.

I am taking a few baby steps back into it all and we will see where it takes me!