Pencils, Pens, Paints, and Dreams Grow

Monday Mutterings: The Artist's Date Book

2008-09-01T16:52:00.003-05:00

I’ve had this book sitting on my desk for a long time. I bought it when I was still not moving around so much and unable to sit long enough to be in my studio. I thought that maybe it would help me to find ways to be creative while I was still pretty immobilized. But most of the exercises required more activeness than I was capable.

I picked it up today and thumbed through it again and thought maybe it was time to try again. I love the premise. I love the “Artist’s Way” and have worked through it at least once completely and did bits and pieces several other times when I needed to kick-start myself, renew inspiration, or fight the ever present inner critic. I don’t always do the morning pages now, but will go back to the routine when I am stuck or needing to work out something.

But I always had a challenge with the artist’s dates portion. Not because I don’t like to go places alone, but because I couldn’t come up with many ideas on my own, especially ones that didn’t cost much or that I didn’t do anyway on a regular basis…like browsing a book store, internet looking for inspiration, flipping through art book with paintings of the masters, all those kinds of things are always a part of the fabric of my life.

So when I found this book, I thought that it would help. I can tell you right now that some of the suggestions will be challenging to me, some will just not be something I want to do. For those I will use the idea as a spring board to tailor it to me.

So today I will start. The suggestion is to go to a park. Being Labor Day and very hot and my back not allowing me to walk much still I have decided to wait until dark, go outside and sit on my patio and just be…and to photograph the moon. If I can with my camera. I love the moon.

I will post pictures and the little journaling part over on my Art Everyday Blog.

Believing the Truth and not the myth

2007-10-05T23:54:00.000-05:00

Week 1 day 2 memory verse from "Faithfully Fit"

Ancient Paths

2007-10-04T23:58:00.000-05:00

Heavy Load

2007-10-02T18:06:00.001-05:00

I have been working through a book called "Faithfully Fit" This is an entry in my visual journal for the first day's scripture verse. Sorry to blurr the writing but it is a bit too personal for the whole world to read...

Come up to Breathe and Listening

2007-09-28T12:21:00.000-05:00

Did two pages today. Sometimes one gets into the groove and doesn't want to come back to reality, but stay in the creative zone. Using images torn from mags for quick collages are so instant gratification!

What Now God

2007-09-27T10:54:00.000-05:00

It has been a whil since I posted anything, actually since I have done much in the way of creating art. I have been dealing with severe back pain due to 3 ruptured discs for over a year now. Much of last winter I was pretty much flat on my back and spent most of Jan-March going daily to physical therapy for treatment. During this past year sitting was all but impossible due to pain, so the art studio has collected dust and even my art journals remained closed. I am slowly getting better now and can sit at my drafting table for up to an hour, sometimes even more so I am slowly getting back to creating. This is the first spread in my journal in over a year. I am anxious to get back to the studio, so many ideas and inspirations came while laying in bed or on the couch with nothing else to occupy my mind. I have almost filled my "idea" book that I carry around to jot down ideas as they spring to my mind...many times in the most unusual places...

Checking in

2006-06-20T15:55:00.000-05:00

I haven’t posted for a while. I have been so busy this spring! Oh my studio is a mess. I haven’t created art for months. Spring rains flooded my basement studio and I had to move everything over to the middles. Now we are going to create a gutter and add a sump pump so that this yearly occurrence doesn’t happen again. Finally after all these years of sucking up water off the floor, out of the carpets, this year it was just too unmanageable and mom agreed to doing something constructive about it. To be fair, years ago, only the worst springs would bring water, and only seepage at that. But the last 2 or 3 years have been enough to make one crazy.

Because of the dampness, and mold during this time I can’t be in the studio during this time…and this year it is driving me crazy. I have also been so busy with life that I haven’t been able to do much more than a few sketches and journal entries. But life is good. I am working on the final requirements for my life purpose coaching certification. I love coaching so much. It is like I have come home and found what I am good at, really good at, finally. Not that I haven’t been good at other things in my life, I have. But there is something wonderful about walking the pathway with women as they navigate toward finding what their life calling is. It is an amazing thing to see the shift of understanding in their eyes as they realize that God loves them enough to not only call them to do what they have harbored in their hearts and only dreamed of doing, but that He is the originator of that dream and wants to collaborate in living out that dream.

I wish I had something to scan and show today, but I don’t. I have been keeping lists, jotting down ideas for works, and nose deep in books and hip deep in the web looking at other artists works for inspiration. And inspired I am…now itching to get back and unpack my studio.

Palette Colors

2006-03-11T08:34:00.000-06:00

These are the colors that I have now in my watercolor collection. Many of my colors were dried up. It has been a while since I have done much watercolor work. I am wondering which colors I should add to my collection, if any?
The Field palatte seems to be a wierd collection of colors. I have not worked with this palatte much (it was a giftand just haven't used it) Any suggestions on colors to loose or colors to add?

I don't do any work in particular when I am out and about doing sketching, I seem to do a variety of things; landscapes, people, buildings, a little water, our city is on a river, etc. I live in the midwest so no oceans or mountains.I have a list of Winsor & Newton London series (I think these are student grade) colors that have dried in the tubes. I am wondering if I can slice the tubes open and use them like cake watercolors. Anyone know?

I am going to be going to Laguna Beach, CA for a week for training to become a life coach. I will be staying right on the beach. I would like to spend my free time doing some ocean studies and sketches. I have never been near the ocean at a time when I wanted to try my hand at it. Any suggestions on colors to add or do I have enough to mix and play with?

Artist's Way Check In

2006-01-25T13:48:00.000-06:00

I am still not giving up on participating with this. I am struggling to do the daily pages and the exercises. But I am not giving up. I did do an Artist's date last weekend. I did some cleaning and purging, it felt good. I think I may repeat it again this weekend. I know that it isn't much of a date, but for me the need to declutter results in a renewed creative burst for me. It is so past time to purge and declutter and get the last of my studio moved and set up so that I can create without distraction or feeling guilty for everything being piled and unorganized.

But it is interesting how just making the commitment to participate puts you in a certain mindframe to be open to change and inspiration in your life. Since I have gone through this book a couple of times before, I have found, like some others, that many of the emotional issues have been dealt with. But that said, I have found that this time through the daily pages have been very productive in terms of working practical problems out, quieting the fears, making or trying on plans, and working though ideas for future pieces. Somehow just writing the ideas down makes it more real and I find that I "think on them" through out the day as I work or do other stuff. This is why I am feeling the pressure to finish up the last of the decluttering and moving the studio. It is the last little bit of jobs like these that are so challenging. It is the stuff you don't quite want to ditch, but don't quite want to keep and don't quite have a place to store them. Why am I such a pack rat? And why is it that the minute you throw something out you need it? Even after years of not even thinking about it or remembering that you had it in the first place? How neurotic is that?

But all in all things are moving along nicely. I know I am getting to the ending point because already I am wanting to rearrange furniture and stuff so that it is more "workable". I know this phase...I remember it from all those years of moving around when I was in theatre. This signals that I am almost finished and am feeling like it is home. But it still is the hardest part to stick to and get it finished. Completion! What a concept.

52 Fragments - Caught Up!

2006-01-22T22:24:00.000-06:00

Woo Hoo I am finally caught up on the 52 Fragments. I have enjoyed this so much. Thaks Swirly! I liked this weeks. After spending most of my adult life as a costume designer you know that it was inevitable that at least once I dreamed of what I would say if that day ever came. To many Ocsar and Tony parties with theatre friends and co-workers in watching the TV on awards night to not dream.

52 Fragments

2006-01-22T01:08:00.000-06:00

I am already behind on participating in 52 Fragments but today I got caught up. I have uploaded what I have sent to Swirly here because it is about the only art I got in this week. I am going to like being part of this project! It is wonderful to see how differently everyone answers the questions.

Artist's Way

2006-01-19T17:19:00.000-06:00

I have not been keeping up with posting here about the Artist's way but I have been doing most of the work. I hope to get some stuff updated this weekend, but no promises. Quickly, this time around I have found that many of the exercises are issues I have worked through and have laid at rest. This is good and has been very encouraging for me. The daily pages have been a struggle, mostly because I am keeping 2 different journals (one is a personal journal and one for class) so I am kinda burnt out about journaling...but I still think that the daily pages serve a different purpose than regular journaling, so I am trying to be as consistent as possible. More later this weekend.

Perfectly Clean

2006-01-16T21:37:00.000-06:00

Another Soul Card. Collage of various clippings. I haven't been doing a lot of art each day, but I am doing some. That is progress.

2006-01-11T22:37:00.000-06:00

I have begun the daily pages (I have been doing them at night). I find them filled with whining and regrets. This seems to be normal for me. The first few days of the pages every time I have done the AW has been this way. Whining about what I am not doing and why I am not doing it and regretting not doing what my heart longs to do. Why am I like this? I was reading Kat's blog a couple of days ago and she was talking about having time to create and all of a sudden she is tired and a hundred other things distract her. Ok...Was she in my head? I need to get a handle on this. When I was in theatre designing costumes I didn't have this problem. I needed to design costumes for a show I sat at the table and got the designs cranked out. I did some procrastinating; sharpening all the pencils, making sure the exact right music was on, making sure the dishes were done, going through the research one last time to make sure the inspiration was there, but usually within a very reasonable time I was on my way to sketching and painting the renderings. I don't seem to have that kind of discipline now that I don't have the structure of deadlines, production meetings, and people waiting in the costume shop to build the costumes.

So, how do I get myself in the studio creating?

I like the goals that Swirly has set. 500 pieces this year. I so understand setting goals above and beyond what you think you can accomplish. It sets you up to go beyond what you can possibly do. I love what she says:

But right now my passion is to do just that - to be nuts, howl at the moon and ride a whale. I want to set goals that seem unattainable and reach farther than seems possible because in the end, even if I don't reach the top of the highest tree in the forest, I'll be a lot higher than if I play it safe.

That kind of thinking will get me out of the rut I have dug for myself. The rut from 6 months of being unemployed and another 6 months of being at a job that is mind numbingly boring. But to look at the positive, that 6 months were transformational! I spend the time going through AW. I spend about 4 hours every morning on AW, studying, and journaling. And the fruits of that has led me to this wonderful adventure of getting trained as a Life Purpose Coach. And this mind numbing job is one that I strictly work 9 hours m-th and 4 hours on Friday and walk away from at the end of the day with no taking the job home at all. In all reality it is a precious gift. It pays well - particularly for a temp job. Paradigm shift!

Excitement

2006-01-09T22:44:00.000-06:00

God seems to be up to something. There is something in the works, I can't yet say what is up, I am not sure yet myself, I am praying about what to do next. But it seems that somehow my PTP training and my art might collide in a wonderful God like way. God is so cool. Here I am, compartmentalizing my life like always and then out of the blue God knocks my socks off! Just goes to show you that we are completely wholly integrated beings. Everything we are, do, feel and think is connected. I will keep you posted as I know what will be coming up next. But I do know I will be making studio time a priority.

A little over 2 months ago I felt that God was impressing upon me to simplify my life, to organize and get rid of the clutter, he was going to bring me into a new phase for my life. Although I have been working on that, I wish I would have taken that impression with more urgency and action. Another lesson learned: When God nudges act - now! I just feel that by spring things will be moving along at a different pace than they are now and I will need to be free of clutter and disorganization in my life. So...guess what I will be doing on my weekends?

morning pages. I am doing them at night. I just realized that I had started them this time last year and made it through June doing daily pages, then I started work and they went by the wayside. I haven't read any of them since I wrote them. I think I might go back and read them this weekend. I don't even remember what I wrote. I am thinking that my artists date this week will be spending the day decluttering. I know that isn't really a fun thing, but I think it is the best gift I can give my artist self right now...an organized and finished studio. Decluttering, letting go, lightening the load. Right now it also feels like letting go of distractions as well.

I didn't do any art today. My hands hurt as I spent a lot of time on the computer at work today. But I did jot ideas and simple sketches in my sketch book tonight.

Grow, Dance, Write, Sing

2006-01-08T19:21:00.000-06:00

This is what I have been working on all week. I imagined them as a set. I am thinking that they will need to be mounted on a matboard background.

I am not completely happy with them. Using stamps and inks always seem a roll of the dice for me, you never know how the image will come out. Sometimes the image is pale and not all the stamp came out. Maybe I just need to work with them more.

In my heart I love the collage, using bits of paper and stuff, but I also love the transparency factor that stamps give. I think that I want to experiment with this technique and idea though. Using small pieces and words and watercolors backgrounds. Maybe next time I will try using more of a college with paper stuffs next time.

But I also have to admit that I struggle with the whole copywrite issues of using stamps in my artwork. I am not organized enough to keep track of where the stamps come from and I usually take the rubber off the wood to make it easier to place the stamp. I guess the answer to that would be to create my own stamps. I am beginning to learn about my own personal iconography that I think it might be about time to think about this. And the other thing about stamps is that you really never have the exact stamp you need...and they take up so much room.

Starting

2006-01-02T23:28:00.000-06:00

Tonight I started a 4 piece group that I think will be a collage. I laid in the watercolor backgrounds. I am pretty happy with them. They are about 4 inches square and will be focused around the words Laugh, Speak, Sing, and Dance. When they are finished I will post them.

I can tell that it will be about making the decision to just do it when it comes to being creative each day. I don't care if I finish something, just that I spend some time creating each day.

No Art this Week

2005-12-30T23:41:00.000-06:00

I had the whole week off this week. And I did no art, not one piece. I got a lot of other things accomplished. But I didn't do any art. This makes me wonder about why? Why do I not do art? It is what I long to do, or so I say. When I do make time to create, time flies and I feel great. I know that I have been distracted by getting ready for the PWTP training, Christmas, and a thousand other things. But the simple truth, one that I have always believed is that you do in life that which is most important to you. So why do I not do art, especially when I have the time. It is what I think about almost constantly. I see pieces creating in my head. Why do I not just do them? I didn't have this problem when I was a costume designer. Was it because I always had deadlines? I had no choice but to produce and be creative. It was part and parcel of my life, my day, the fiber of my being. So, what is up now? I wonder if I should impose some deadlines on myself. What would those be? Perhaps get involved in some of the many art prompts? Maybe find a place to show my art...Put me on a deadline to actually create a body of work? Or maybe I should seriously consider selling my art. Or maybe I should just make a promise to draw every day, sketch a page in my sketchbook/journal, and work on an actual piece every day. Push myself to create finished pieces that are quality enough to sell, not just pieces that I am playing around with techniques or ideas. Or maybe, just like the nike commercial I should just quit whining and "Just do it".

I love what Swirly Girl says in a recent post about being accountable to her coach for the time she spends in her studio. It feels good to know that I am not alone in struggling with this thing of spending time in the studio. Thanks for being so honest and sharing this post with us! I am so amazed that something that I love to do, that fulfills me in ways that not much else does, that totally holds be spellbound when I actually do it, is so hard to commit time to.

But at the same time, a lot of the things that have been distracting me over the past few months have been "clearing out" kinds of things. Finishing up commitments that no longer are things I should be doing, cleaning out and setting up my studio, doing some deep cleaning and thinning out of stuff for mom, sorting through my life, keeping the things that are important or seem to be things God is calling me to do and letting go of the other things that are distracting me. It almost feels like it has been an incubation time for me. A time to finally say yes to things I need to do and no to all the things I have thought I should be doing. I have this quiet deep excitement and expectation for the new year that it will be like no other.

Ever year I re-read a book that I bought a couple of years ago called "The Gift of a Year". Basically it is about giving yourself the gift of concentrating and making time for one thing in your life for a year. Last year my gift was to concentrate on the issues behind my issues with food and giving myself the time to begin the road to health and fitness. Other Gifts have been give myself the gift of making time to journal everyday - something that I had let business rob me of for years. The year I moved back to care for mom - the first year after I bought the book my gift was to take the pressure off myself to find a job that was a career and take the time to mourn and heal from the death of my brother and a painful divorce that happened almost at the same time. It was wonderful, I didn't work for almost a year; when I did I finally took a job that was way out of my training, but was strictly a 40 hour a week job. This was the first job of that sort I had in over 20 years. That first year of being home, living and getting used to an adult full-time relationship with mom, where our roles sometimes switched to me being a caretaker, and healing only happened because I gave myself permission to not rush to find a job, but take time to settle in and heal.

I have been re-reading this book this week. I am pretty sure that this year I will have 2 gifts. Creating art on a daily basis...even if it means drawing a radish at work on my lunch hour in my sketch book. The other will be getting certified as a Pathway to Purpose Coach and Lifeplan facilitator and establishing a coaching clientele. These are not mutually exclusive, but actually will facilitate each other. Coaching is time flexible, will allow me to work pretty much from home, and also allow me time in the studio...Particularly at late night when I am most productive. I will not have to get up at the crack of dawn to be in the workplace....well eventually. I am sure that for most of this year I will still need to work full time at a bill paying job. Well I have rambled on and on...I need to get to bed. It is now New Year's Eve morning here, so Happy New Year's to everyone. May you have a very creative and fulfilling 2006! And to those who will be doing the Artist's Way with us I am excited to share this journey with you all.

Uploaded AEM work

2005-12-26T21:56:00.000-06:00

I have finally uploaded some of my AEM scans from November's Art Everyday Month hosted by Kat. I have about a week left to scan. I just haven't had the time to scan and crop and get them uploaded. I am enjoying having some time off this week. I had planned to work in my studio, but spent the day taking a nap, doing paper work, scanning and uploading the images and working on getting the final pre-reqs for my upcomming training to be a life purpose coach. But I hope to get the studio finished this week. It will be nice to have everything in one place, unpacked and organized ready to use!

Inspirations

2005-12-22T13:19:00.000-06:00

I have been so inspired by several artists on the internet. Too many to list, I know that I will surely forget some, but I wanted to list them as a way to say thanks for generously sharing your work with the word, with those of us who wouldn't get to see your wonderful creativity if not for this wonderful connector called the WWW. Thanks to Kat for getting us all going in November with AEM and for sharing her wonderful art. Kat, I STILL want to be you when I grow up to be a "real" artist. (tee hee) Here are a few others that I check daily, in the early morning hours before my mind focuses, it is a way to start my day with beauty and encouragement; for inspiration both artistic and written, Check them out, you will like them too, I am certain.

Kathryn you inspire me!
Kirsten yes your art does inspire me...keep at it I love your creations
Summer Piere living her dreams in the big Apple
Andrea a superhero to me, even though she says we are our own superhero
Christine yummy photos and beautiful words
Kerri where does all those wonderful ideas come from??
Katherine Dunn lavender and art, what a life!
Ninth Wave Designs wonderful art created in moleskines!

There are so many more, but the links are at home so will have to wait until later to be included. Check back and I will update.

Next week I will have some time off and am anxiously looking forward to finishing the set up of my studio! whoo hoo...can't wait! A place to create!

Progress

2005-12-12T11:41:00.000-06:00

I spent the whole day Saturday in my studio organizing and unpacking. It was snowing like mad out and it was nice to just give myself permission to just stay home and inside all day and be in my studio. I indulged in one of my silly time-wasters all day too. I watched a whole week of General Hospital on the Soap Channel. I have watched this soap off and on my whole life it seem. I used to watch it with my grandma...she called them her "stories". During the famous "Luke and Laura" dynasty we actually had a TV in the costume shop at college and watched it. It was one of the only years that we had more students volunteer for the costume shop than we could keep busy! But somehow it worked to have it on as a background noise, while sorting through hundreds of collections of things; putting them into boxes, into order. It brought back memories of times past, listening to the characters, many of the same ones from years ago, were like listening to friends from childhood. But I have to say, they need new stories...and lives! They seem to be having the same life crisis that they did years ago. But then, sometimes so do I. (laugh)

I am almost finished with this move into my studio. I have a few more boxes to bring down from upstairs. There is some rearranging of furniture I think I want to make happen, but I might wait until I work some more in it to see how I work and what my needs are. I think that this is going to work well for me now though. I have a part of the room sectioned off by a half wall that I will be using for my sewing studio portion and a larger room do do my less messy art in. There is a room off of that one that has cement floor that Dad had used as a workshop (he left his wonderful antique wood workbench) that I will use for the more messy kinds of stuff. Off of that room is the laundry room with water and a sink. After I recover from purchasing hundreds (or so it seems) of plastic storage containers I will need to address light sources. I went to Home Depot last weekend to look at lighting options. Who knew how expensive lighting is?? Fortunately what I like and want is incandescent shop lighting...the kind that hangs from the ceiling with aluminum reflectors and lightbulbs. I hate fluorescent lighting. That is what is there now (growing up the basement was finished off to use as a family area...still very 70's looking, lighting is that fluorescent tubes with the frosted plastic insets in the drop ceiling). But lighting will have to wait. Any suggestions from anyone out there? I also am realizing that I need to invest in an easel. Can anyone tell me why artist's supplies are so expensive and making money at art is so illusive? The great paradox of my life.

I did get a bit of art done this weekend. I made a new soul-card; I will try to get it uploaded tonight. I also need to make time to get the rest of my AEM stuff posted soon. I loved doing that in November. Most of what I created was in my sketchbook. Next year I think I would like to challenge myself to create actual pieces of art, not just sketchbook stuff. But out of the sketch book came some ideas I want to develop into full blown pieces though, so it was all good.

Another Soul Card

2005-12-10T23:10:00.000-06:00

This is the last of the first ones I created in early summer/late spring. I don't have a date on this one, but I remember making it. I was so frustrated with trying to find a job and everyone telling me that I was overqualified. I remember just feeling so angry, like give me a chance already!

Ideas and Blank canvases

2005-11-11T08:59:00.000-06:00

I am having a time of it trying to live my work life and my art life. Lately I have been getting boat loads of ideas flash through my mind for art pieces at the strangest times. At work, at church, driving in the car. Unfortunately they travel through and out the other end faster than Superman's proverbial speeding bullet. I have a small moleskine "idea book" that I try to capture these ideas in. But many times I am not even in a place that I can stop to write them down. They frown on stopping for "creativity breaks" at work...driving and drawing is not so much on the safety side. So how to solve this problem? What do others do? By the time I get home in the evenings I sit down to a blank canvas and a blank mind.

Blank canvases and blank minds. If I were a morning person - I wonder if my mind wouldn't be so blank when I sit in my studio? But I guess at the end of the day it isn't so much about a blank mind as getting the mind to quiet and focus on creativity and let go of the day. Once I get started the whole world falls away. But getting started. Aye there's the rub! Yes I have tricks and rituals and routines that help. I do different things all the time. But still, eventually you face that blank canvas. I mean how many times can you make sure your pencils are all sharp, your drafting table is cleared off and the laundry is done!? Why is something I love to do so much something I also procrastinate at.

I have a theory that I have long held, particularly when I was making a living at costume design. Although that time looked like procrastination, it was actually a time I was processing all the research and synthesizing my ideas and mind meanderings into concrete design decisions. But now that I am no longer doing costume design, I still do these types of activities before I begin to actually create. Is this just habit, or is it still a precursor to getting down to the business of creating. I don't know, but it seems that if I don't corral this activity now, I may never get anything accomplished in the short time spaces I have free to create these days. It was different when I would have 2-3 days at a time to sit at my table and work on renderings for a show. Now that I have to have a market-place job, my art time is compressed into bits and pieces of early mornings (ya right!!) and evenings that are not filled with other responsibilities.

How do you all do it? Those of you who work full time in the marketplace and are still prolific with your creative output?

How do you capture those ideas that flit through your mind while you are busy doing things that are not art? This distresses me most; loosing all those ideas. Maybe most of them would never come to full fruition, but still, loosing the ideas....

It feels like my mind is in two lives at once. Half is present in the day to day doings of job, home, church, friends, etc. while the other half is always thinking about creating. Anyone else like that? Sometimes I completely go there, to that creative place, and the world goes mute, like a slowly fading radio volume. Now this is embarrassing when you finally realize that someone has been talking to you and you have no idea what they just said.

Speaking of work, gotta go do it. Sigh!

Soul Cards again

2005-10-31T19:23:00.000-06:00

The one with the mirror reads "Conversations with a Mirror" and "I am your energy source. Make me Work for you. I have been dealing with body image issues, this is a reflection of this.

The other one reflects my dream to work full time as an artist, a creative person again. Something I am slowly working on.

More Soul Cards

2005-10-28T22:20:00.000-05:00

These were created while I was training to walk a half marathon last winter and into the spring. I didn't get to walk it because I began to have muscle spasms in my back that took me out of training for several weeks. By the time I could get back to training there wasn't enough training time left to work back up to being able to walk the distance. But there is always next year.

Out of Practice

2005-10-21T23:36:00.000-05:00

I recently purchased a Moleskine sketchbook online. I love it for pencil and pen, but am having challenges with using watercolors with it. Anyway I was at Borders today waiting for someone and started to sketch while I waited. I am so out of practice. I don't think that I have practiced the habit of daily sketching since I was a grad student and the required daily 5 was expected. I am not sure why I quit. I struggled with doing the sketching in school, always have. But there was no question that my skills improved when I kept at it. And of course when it came my time to be the instructor I required the "daily 5" as well, and my students groaned and struggled with it as much as I did. Sitting there today, trying to sketch, feeling rusty, feeling like my hand didn't know how to hold a pen, feeling like my eyes couldn't communicate to my hand I realized that it was time to challenge myself to the daily 5 again. I realize that at this time I will be lucky if I can get in one page of sketching a day, but if I challenge myself to 5 maybe, just maybe I will actually get out one full page a day. Wish me luck.

In addition to sketching I pulled out my old camera (pentax k1000) and then discovered a smaller camera that belonged to my brother (FUJI Discovery) This one has some gidgets and gadgets, but what interested me is the zoom lens. It is one of those auto focus lenses and looks to be an auto adjustable flash. There are these little card thingies you can put into a slot of the top that is suppose to help the flash I think for taking distance, close up, and low light/night pictures. I haven't had time to read the booklet that was with it yet, but I might do some experimenting with it. What attracts me to it is the size. I have been desiring a camera that I could throw into my art bag and have it with me all the time. This isn't quite small enough, (my art bag is pretty small right now due to back problems) but it was in a nice little shoulder bag that fits nicely over my shoulder cross wise for walking. As soon as I get the first roll developed, and if anything turns out I will post a few of them. I am in sore need of creating some images for my collage work. I am getting tired of trying to figure out copy right issues.

Soul Cards

2005-10-20T23:11:00.000-05:00

These are a few of the cards inspired by the book by Seena B. Frost called SoulCollage. I don't really use them as she suggests. I use them as a way to pray particularly when the words won't come. They help me to clarify what may be going on in my life, to celebrate almost anything, or to visualize what I feel God may be speaking to me or even to create images of what I can't find words for as I pray.

I began working on them after reading about this book (although I haven't read it yet, it is on my list though) and looking at and being inspired by what others are creating as soul cards. The idea to use them as a form of prayer came out of a time when I was having difficulty bringing words into my prayers. About that time I discovered a prayer movement that started in England among the 20-some things in which they created a prayer room that was open for people to come to pray 24/7. Spontaneously people began to create art that reflected the prayers. I was excited by that thought - combining the two things in my life that breathed life into my soul - prayer and art. I feel that I have just begun to scratch the surface of this and how to use it in both my spiritual life and creative life.

This is the first one I created. On the back is the prayer or the scripture or the thought I was praying or what I sensed God was saying to me. This one was a very powerful one for me. I had been praying for direction and was coming to a place of beginnings and endings. The scripture that kept going through my mind was from Song of Solomon 2:10-11. I felt that God was saying to me "I am the one who opens doors, do not be afraid to walk through, my dreams for you are much larger than you can even begin to dream for yourself" (see Jer. 29:11)

This is the second one. Again I was praying for clarity and direction. I was also being frustrated with issues in my life where I felt out of control...I had been trying to do it alone, without God's help. I felt as I was praying and creating this that God was whispering into my heart to "Look into My true light. As you look into My light I will change you and show you the way you should go"

The scripture references are not ment to explain or support what I say, or try to prove any kind of doctrine. They were the scriptures that came to my mind as I was praying and creating these cards.

Meeting Sketches

2005-10-20T12:32:00.000-05:00

Sitting in a dark room, early morning phone conference meeting, about stuff I know nothing about, not sure why I even needed to be here...to keep alert and listening to the monologue what's a girl to do but sketch..badly...in the dark.

Ideas Distracting me from My Job

2005-10-18T16:57:00.000-05:00

do something with journal prompts

ab: legendary women

How do ideas come to us? I find that this is an ever-fascinating subject to talk about with other creatives. I used to think that I was some kind of wierd one...I would be in the middle of a conversation and someone would say something and an idea for a painting or a project would come to mind and zoom...there my mind would go and I would be gone from the conversation for minutes at a time while my inner eye saw the project progress. Now I find that many creatives are the same. Nice to know I am not alone in living an inner creative thought life.

But really, how ideas come is just part of the fun of creating. The problem is finding a way to capture those ideas as they come, because for me, as soon as they come, they are gone. I need to record them in some fashion. I always think that I will remember them, but I don't. Over time I have solved some of the problems with this. I keep a sketch book at my bedside with a flashlight and pen to jot ideas or sketches down when they wake me from sleep or I dream about them. At work I discreetly keep a 3x5 post-it note pad to jot ideas down (if I don't I would never get anything done at work). And of course I have a journal and a sketch book/sketch journal that I carry with me. But I am currious about how others deal with this delema. Sometimes the journal/sketch book/post-it-notes are clunky. And what do you do while driving?? I get lots of my ideas while driving...but I am not one who can drive and write at the same time...and you wouldn't want me to either!!

Any suggestions?