Category: creativity

First is not always Favorite

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 17 Comments

These sleepy cloudy cold Saturday mornings are often an impediment to my creative thinking process. Too cold to really enjoy going outside, the closest I often get it filling the bird feeders or letting the dog out to do her morning or afternoon business.

As I just released another Sunday Evening Art Gallery blog over at http://www.sundayeveningartgallery.com, a question came to mind:

When you think of classical art, what is the first piece you think of? 

Not necessarily which artist or piece of art is your favorite — which piece of art first comes to mind?  Your answer might surprise you.  I know mine did.

Sitting here listening to Haydn’s London Symphonies, the first piece of art I think of is the Mona Lisa by da Vinci.

Why is that? Is it because I see her in advertisements and memes and an occasional story from the Louvre? Is it because it’s a magnificent painting or more like it’s the most famous painting by one of the most famous artists in history?

Now take a moment and think — what is your favorite piece of art?

Although it’s hard/impossible to pick only one piece of art that is my favorite, when I sit and think about it, is The Coronation of Napoleon  by Jacques-Louis David rates right up there for me.

I mean — who would pick that one? But quickly running through my visits to museums and art galleries, that one first popped into my head. It’s huge and the colors are beautiful and it’s full of famous people of the time. It is almost overwhelming, as most art is.

I also stood in line to see the Mona Lisa when in the Louvre. Tons of people standing in line to get close to the roped-off portrait, it was indeed lovely, but nothing that knocked my socks off.

What is the piece of art that first pops into your head when you think of classical art? And what is your favorite actual piece of art?

It will be interesting to see if both are the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year in Art

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 7 Comments

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Happy New Year, Pq Haus

Happy New Year, Frances Brundage

Happy New Year, Margareth Perfoncio

Happy New Year, Nataliia Martseniuk

New Year’s Sun, Ito Jakuchu

The Party, Marisol Escobar

Party’s Over, Norman Rockwell

Baby New Year and Crystal Ball, Joseph Christian Leyendecker

Apartment Dwellers New Years Eve, John Falter

New Year’s Kite, Katsushika Hokusai

Three Boys Merry Making, Judith Leyster

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Door Knockers

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 13 Comments

 

Knock Knock …
Who’s There?

 

 

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Cookie Traditions

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 11 Comments

 


Cookie Mania has hit the snowy Midwest!

Saturday was make-cookies-with-the-grandkids day. My mere two cookie contributions — kolackies and oatmeal raisin — were but a drop in the baking bucket for future Christmas parties.

Actually only a couple of grandkids contributed time and energy, but there was enough assistance to give granny a break between cookie sheets.

Sometimes it’s hard to really get into the Christmas spirit. Like I said in a previous blog, Christmas Again?, it’s not always easy to get into the Christmas spirit. Energy and social security and other excuses often put a damper on my Deck the Halls nature.

But baking cookies with someone else makes all the scroogeness disappear … not to mention how I love eating the results.

We always bake the weekend before Christmas. It’s sort of a tradition. As is wrapping presents on Christmas Eve late at night for the next day. We add boiled shrimp and a glass of wine to our routine, and even though the wrapping date has changed through the years, we still try and keep the tradition we started when our kids were babies and we worked all day Christmas Eve.

I think you can make a tradition out of anything you do more than once. As long as there’s heart and togetherness mixed in with whatever you’re doing, you’re creating a safe place for laughs and love year after year.

And as you get older that becomes more and more important. 

Do you have any traditions you try and keep with family and/or friends? 

If so, Share! Share!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — John Atkinson Grimshaw

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 2 Comments

 

John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836 – 1893) was a Victorian-era painter, notable for his landscapes, usually known as Atkinson Grimshaw.Self-taught, Grimshaw started exhibiting in Leeds in the 1860’s with minutely observed still life paintings.Grimshaw experimented with a looser technique and with classical subjects — historical subjects and contemporary ladies — that were particularly successful.He was interested in photography and sometimes used a camera obscura to project outlines on to oil canvas, enabling him to repeat compositions several times.He also mixed sand and other ingredients with his paint to get the effects he wanted.

Around 1880 Grimshaw suffered some unknown financial crisis and retrenched, returning to Leeds and boosting his output to around fifty paintings a year.

Certain elements of social realism come into his paintings around that time, night being a good time to record less respectable forms of life.

More of John Atkinson Grimshaw’s inspirational landscapes can be found at https://johnatkinsongrimshaw.org/.

 

 

Who’s Coming Now?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 7 Comments

 

 

Are you watching out?
Are you crying?
Are you pouting?
Knock it off and I’ll tell you why
You-know-who is coming to town.
I heard he’s making a list
and double checking it
to see who’s in trouble
and who is off the hook.
You-know-who is coming to town.
He knows if you’ve taken a sleeping pill
He knows if you’re up watching tv late
He knows if you’ve gained or lost five pounds
So behave, for Pete’s sake.
Are you watching out?
Are you crying?
Are you pouting?
Knock it off and I’ll tell you why
You-know-who is coming to town.

Faerie Paths — Paths

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 4 Comments

 

 

 

 

The greatest adventure is what lies ahead.
Today and tomorrow are yet to be said.
The chances, the changes are all yours to make.
The mold of your life is in your hands to break.

J. R. R. Tolkien

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inked (repost)

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 10 Comments

As some of you may know, I lost my youngest son four years ago. Last Saturday I finally got a tattoo honoring him and my love for him.

My friend Tiffany at Tiffany Arp-Daleo Artworks had lost her mother, someone who meant as much to her as my loved ones do to me. Today she posted a lovely post about the tattoo she got to honor her mother.

Tattoos are not for everyone. But for those who get them, each one is special and magical. It takes a special person to share their grief and connection both in body ink and in a blog. 

Here is hers.

 

Inked

 
Tiffany Arp DaleoSan Diego ArtistWomen ArtistCalifornia ArtistSan Diego

I wanted to do something special to remember my mom, who passed away on December 9th. We often joked about getting matching mom/daughter tattoos, but it never happened.

When she was first diagnosed with dementia, she went through her things and got rid of a lot. Besides being a great artist, she was also a writer and wrote poems and stories, but sadly, most of that she threw away. While I was going through her remaining belongings, I found this poem on a small piece of paper and decided to keep it. She probably wrote it after my dad passed away.

It took some effort to find someone who was willing to do the tattoo on the specific date, and someone who could do the lettering exactly in her handwriting. I found my guy at Seventh Serpent Tattoo, and I couldn’t be happier with the final tattoo, he nailed it. 😊

 

The original handwritten poem

”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faerie Paths — Vision

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 3 Comments

 

 

Everything begins in the mind. If you want to see clearly, you need clear vision.

~ Swami Satchidananda

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Maarten Vrolijk

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 4 Comments

 

Maarten Vrolijk is an Amsterdam-based artist and designer who considers it important to elaborate on the simple, unequivocal nature of a product or art work and has been creating his works for over 25 years.His aesthetic and ‘art language’ is particularly unusual because it consciously plays with shapes, colours and materials in an uncontrived way.

He also believes his pieces should also make people’s everyday lives that bit more beautiful through the many little details that evoke the unexpected.Vrolijk is perhaps best known for glass vessels with their outgrowth of colored glass fragments.The volatility in accomplishing the exceptional thickness of his vases creates a risky balance between strength and delicacy.The thermal stress caused when trying to equalize the interior and exterior temperature of the cooling vessels, is fraught with the threat of breakage.

To create each piece, a meticulously patterned bed of broken glass pieces is strategically laid down and heated to a specific temperature in order to be properly fused to a nascent blown glass form.

The temperature and timing must be precisely in tandem. It is a high-stakes process that results in a kind of frozen sense of chaos.

More of Maarten Vrolijk’s unique glasswork can be found at https://www.maartenvrolijk.com/

 

 

 

 

Additions to the Family

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 22 Comments

Say hello to the two newest additions to our family. Darth and Vader.

I need two cats like I need a hole in the head. 

Having just turned 73, I find myself with less patience for disruptions in my daily life. Art and Crafts and laundry are done at my speed, not the world’s. As my productivity has slowed, so has my organizational skills.

And you can’t organize two little black kittens.

Don’t get me wrong — we lost my cat Mysty last Fall, and as you can see (Caturdays) I do love cats. We just put our 14-year-old dog down two weeks ago, and my heart was heavy. 

This is the way of life. I get it.

We have a year-old lab, who is still full of energy and curiosity. Match that with two 10-week-old kittens, and you can imagine the chaos it brings.

We were told that, if possible, take two kitties, for they will keep each other occupied, keeping the stress away from you. But with all the clip clip clip from one side of the house to the other, they do indeed keep each other busy.

And even though I complain like an old granny half the time, it warms my heart to see life start all over again. Life and laughter and discovery of new friends, even though the friends are of the feline variety.

Don’t let life slow down for you too much. Two kitties might not be the answer, but make sure there’s life around you — life that’s full of life. Life that brings hope to your open heart.

Even if they meow louder than a thunderstorm …..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faerie Paths — Tattoos

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 14 Comments

 

 

 

Tattoos are like stories – they’re symbolic of the important moments in your life. Sitting down, talking about where you got each tattoo and what it symbolizes, is really beautiful.

~ Pamela Anderson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faerie Paths — Passions

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 5 Comments

 

When you start to do the things that you truly love, it wouldn’t matter whether it’s Monday or Friday; you would be so excited to wake up each morning to work on your passions.

~ Edmond Mbiaka

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creativity Is Alive and Well!

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 5 Comments

Over the weekend my daughter-in-law and I stopped by Hobby Lobby to pick up a few crafty things.

For those who are not familiar with H-L, it’s a craft store that carries everything from stamps to beads to paint to t-shirts you can dye and more. It’s the kind of store where you’d better have something in particular in mind when you pass through the doors, or you will suffer from crafting overload.

The point is that Hobby Lobby was packed. The aisles were full of grannies, moms and dads with kids, and couples. All buying crafting materials. Usually when I stop by there’s a mere scattering of customers.

A lot of carts were filling up with Christmas decor (the lady behind me was buying Christmas placemats), but just as many held plastic flowers, diamond paintings, and acrylic paints.

I was tickled to see so many crafters at one time. It didn’t matter what they were going to make. They were holding beads up to the light, reading backs of boxes, and comparing hues of yarn. 

I would love to think that people are getting back to making gifts by hand. Trying a new craft. Making scarves and t-shirts with grandkids’ handprints and crystal bracelets both for themselves and their family.

I know crafting is not for everybody. It certainly wasn’t much of a past time for me my first 50 years hanging around on Earth. So when I say “crafting” it can be anything that touches your soul and makes you feel good. 

It’s crazy out there. What better way to find your calm center than putting on music and spreading out your materials and CREATING?

Faerie Paths — Creativity

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 2 Comments

 

Creativity takes courage.
~ Henri Matisse

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s Do Life Together!

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 12 Comments

I am finally back from a long weekend of running around with my family up North. I love my family and I hope they love me but I’m so glad to be home and quiet and retired.

As if those two things go together.

I worked all my life to be able to sit on the deck and have coffee  at the same time others are turning on their computers and making their first phone calls of the day.

Now that peace and quiet is always at the back door I find I can’t let it in for too long. It’s like my mind has turned A.D.D. on me. 

If you’ve kept up with me on my blog you see me rewriting a novel, making sun catchers, drawing and sketching abstract emotions, opening an Etsy shop — I make myself tired.

Yet I have a new idea. 

Bear with me.

Soon the craft show circa will be over. I accompany a group of typical male bonding fishermen up North for over a week so they can fish and tell fish stories and fish some more before we close the cabin. To take advantage of that down time, I have picked out several of last year’s drawings that I’d like to convert to watercolor paintings, resplendent with texture and 3D-ishment. 

Once I finish all these paintings I’d like to have an open house gallery show with all these marvelous (insert roll of eyes here) creations and, along with purse charms and sun catchers, donate the proceeds to charity.

Where did this idea come from??? Should I even consider such nonsense?

Of course, all depends on the quality of the paintings, something I haven’t done in a long time. And how long this keeps my interest.

I am already finding new artists for my Gallery that blow my socks off and sharing my crafts with local consignment shops and getting ready for one more craft shows and football games and grandkids’ soccer games. 

I should be satisfied with the crazy pace my life is already.  But peace and quiet goes hand in hand with crazy and busy.

I hope your life is full of all four.

Let’s do this together!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Cups

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 14 Comments

We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.

~ Ray Bradbury

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faerie Paths — Discovery

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Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.

Carl Sagan

 

 

 

 

Creativity Is Not Always What You Think It Is

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creativity
noun [ U ], us /ˌkri·eɪˈtɪv·ɪ·t̬i, ˌkri·ə-/
the ability to produce original and unusual ideas, or to make something new or imaginative.

 

We go round and round on this word — at least in this blog — without sometimes taking a look at what is entails.

I took my granddaughter to an “Enchanted Paint and Play” workshop in a nearby town. It was a little group of girls making magic wands and painting a picture and talk of fairies and all that fun. She loved it. At the same time I wandered into a health and wellness shop (owner of next door fairy painting session).

This shop offered massages and facials and salt spas and a few shelves of wonderful wares. I started talking to the only person there, a spa person who took me on a tour of the place. We talked energy and spirit and massages and my upcoming  craft show and all that dances around in that world. It was a moment of creativity. 

Last night I reflected responses and thoughts from those who say they have no creativity. And I thought — how wrong you are.

“I don’t sew. I don’t paint. I don’t crochet. I don’t do pottery.”

That’s not what being creative is all about.

I mean, yes, creative people look for outlets for their inner glow of energy. They write books and crochet blankets and and do diamond paintings. But there are other ways to be creative. Simple ways you may never thought of. And we all can do it.

Do you take walks in the woods? What a relaxing atmosphere. Enough to imagine centaurs and Bigfoot right around the curve of the path. Old trees and gnarly branches can conjure up people and entities not seen by mortal man. Look for them. Smile at them.

Cooking is often a chore rather than experience. You can change that. Even hot dogs and beans can be uniquely arranged on a plate. Experiment with tastes and spices — even if you state you don’t get “creative” about daily edibles. Read about a foreign cuisine. Watch cooking shows and try new recipes. 

What about arranging plants in the garden? Every garden could use pruning and arranging. Even some research. Learn unique techniques and share them.

Write. Not the Great American Novel — try a poem. A diary. A blog. Make lists to stimulate your thoughts.  Record your thoughts and draw a little stick person doing the action of the day. 

Get into music. You don’t have to play the piano or guitar to appreciate those who do. Do a little homework. Find out what an arpeggio and riff and a bailador is.  Learn what an adagio or a rondo or fugue is in classical music and see if you can identify them in popular classical pieces.

Bored at the camp ground? Put a handful of rocks on the picnic bench and arrange them in a Jon Foreman style design. Or find bigger rocks and paint them with regular markers and place them all around the campground.

I know it sounds like you’re increasing your knowledge rather than your creativity. Personally I think they go hand in hand. I myself tend to forget more than I learn these days, but just understanding words and worlds I never did before gives me “the ability to produce original and unusual ideas.“

Now that’s something we ALL can do!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get Your Exotic On! (repeat)

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 16 Comments

Rummaging through my wild and astral-traveling past (I wish..) I came across a blog from 10 years ago about being exotic. I love that word, even though it’s as far from my every day life as ten million dollar estates. But have some fun Getting Your Exotic On!

 

Get Your Exotic On!

 ~ humoringthegoddess

15 - 1Saw this picture on Google+ the other day, and it made me wonder — what’s your exotic?

Most of us are closet voyeurs at best. A peek here, a daydream there. Then back to work/family/football games, content with regular sunrises and sunsets and football fantasy pools.

But you know that somewhere deep inside you’ve got an exotic idea. An exotic dream. An exotic fantasy.

And most likely it will never see the light of day.

But I wonder — are exotics different when you’re younger?

I used to think it would be awesome to be dropped into the middle of Japan or China and find my way out. Oriental worlds are as foreign to me as the canals on Mars, so I thought getting a real fix on a world where their language is nothing but mixed up sticks would be quite exotic. The trip never materialized, but my curiosity continued.

I am the same person at 62 than I was at 22. And 42. But my idea of exotic has changed through the years. Octopus was high on the list, as was caviar and croissants. Now days, ate that, done that, so exotic has to be a little more … risky. Makeup? Nails? Travel? Space Travel?

My dreams and my pocketbook are miles apart, but that hasn’t stopped me from dreaming and researching the exotic. I looked up “exotic” in relation to clothes, and too many kinky selections popped up, so I will settle for BoHo for now. 

Food is an easy slide into the world of Exotic. Spices like Grains of Paradise (also known as Malaguena pepper) from Western Africa or Furikake Wasabi from Japan.  How about pho from Vietnam or  pambazos from Mexico or Tim Tam from Australia?  Our own American cuisine can be exotic, too, with turtle soup, grits, deep fried Coke, and alligator fritters. Who knew?

What about music? Can you tolerate strange melodies and different instruments? Different countries highlight different styles. How about Art? There are so many different types of art that exotic becomes an everyday word.

One cannot get hung up on words (unless you’re a writer). You have to explore words that dance on your dreams, words that make you say “Oh!” and “Wow!” and “Really?” It doesn’t matter if your version of a word is different than the next person’s. Who cares? Life is for us to explore. To dream about. To play with.

Exotic is just one of those play words. Like Unique. Adventurous. Surreal. Luscious. Savory. Words that make us want to explore more of what’s around us. To open our minds, our palates, our creative space.

What is your definition of exotic, anyway? Do you have fun with the word? With the imagery? Do you let yourself check out the extraordinary? The unique? The far away?

I like the word “exotic”. It makes me think of Mediterranean edibles and temples in Japan and punjambi’s in India. The exploration of words and worlds makes me feel like a kid again.

And there’s nothing wrong with that…

 

 

 

Faerie Paths — Instinct

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 9 Comments

 

Let Instinct Take Over …
Logic will Follow.

~ Granny Goddess

 

 

 

 

 

 

Becoming Botticelli

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 4 Comments

I was watching a fascinating program on Amazon Prime  called Botticelli’s Inferno, which analyzed one of the most mysterious works of Sandro Botticelli:  the Map of Hell in the Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli which lies within the Vatican Library.

Inferno, Dante Alighieri’s poem about Hell, forms one-third of the monumental epic known as the Divine Comedy, written in Italy between 1307 and 1314.

The Map of Hell (in Italian La Mappa dell’Inferno) by Botticelli – regularly called The Abyss of Hell or La Voragine dell’Inferno – is one of the parchments that the famous Italian painter designed. The Renaissance master spent over a decade creating 102 drawings starting around the mid-1480s with the last stroke happening approximately a decade later.

The Map of Hell parchment shows the geography of Hell in the classical funnel section, which was used in later iconography.

Lots of research, lots of practice.

The manuscript’s illustrations were executed using silverpoint, a technique involving a metal stylus that leaves faint lines on the paper. These initial outlines were later reinforced with ink, and in a few cases, completed with tempera colors. Only four pages received full illumination, while others remained in varying stages of completion.

The point of this history lesson is to emphasize the amazing details found in these old parchments. The works are incredible visionary experiences reflecting an emotional depth in traditional Christian subjects, which was unique at a time.

Botticelli showed the emotions and reactions of Virgil and Dante as they climbed down the nine levels of hell; he depicts minute details like stress in muscles or crinkling of eyes or waves of clothing.

The details are more than amazing. Which makes me reflect on today’s art.

With the advent of AI , details can be computerized to the finest detail, adding depth and style to any artist’s drawing. Artists may still have to draw themselves, but if one makes a mistake it’s easier to erase or change styles with a push of a button.

Drawing with a stylus pen encourages more strokes and character — and no mistakes. Just using basic tools to create such intricate pieces of art is inspirational no matter what field of Art you are in.

I am inspired by the work of the Old Masters. Their knowledge, their talent, their styles with much more primitive tools is nothing but an inspiration for me.

When late Fall comes and my craft shows are over, I am thinking of doing my own Map of Hell and the so-many layers of something. Perhaps Etidorhpa by John Uri Lloyd (A bizarre 19th-century American fantasy novel with secret occult societies and hallucinogenic drugs; a voyage to an inner world inside the earth where they grow giant tree-like mushrooms whose juice creates visions of Dante-like hells) or perhaps follow the story of The Outsider by H.P. Lovecraft. Or maybe I’d make something up like the seven levels up to Shangri La.  Who knows?

The point is — wouldn’t it be fun trying?

What impossible creative task are YOU ready to tackle?

 

 

 

Background Distraction or Enhancement?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 11 Comments

Jenndalyn Art

Sitting on my sofa early in the morning, looking out the window at the cloudy and windy atmosphere,  a bit of You Tube’s April Jazz playing in the background, I started contemplating the day, and wondered…

Do you listen to music or watch TV while you craft?

I am a big background music person. I can handle total silence for only so long. Perhaps that’s because there is so much chatter in my head I hesitate to leave any more empty space for buzzing.

Fortunately, the Creativity I enjoy is more of a sedate kind. Creative thoughts but sedate positions. Angel Tears, sketching, garden designing, writing, all require little movement.

As I get into the “zone” I find that music helps get me pumped up, organized, calmed, and focused. After a while I push the music to the back of my brain so that I can concentrate on what I’m doing, but there’s something about the vibrations of notes and melodies that make concentration easier.

Sometimes, if I’ve been sitting too long, lost in whatever I’m doing, I find music turns into too much of a good thing, so I change genres or turn on a no-brainer movie in the background just to add a fourth dimension to my already crowded third dimension.

My son introduced me to an app called Video Lite that cuts out all the advertising on You Tube, so I am free to listen to uninterrupted music, which is perfect for crafting. Sometimes its Smooth Jazz, sometimes it’s Gypsy Jazz, sometimes its Upbeat Classical or Steely Dan. I have made playlists in a number of genres, all reflecting a positive mood. I’ve done the same on Amazon music, so I can find “mood” anywhere.

I find the music makes my head (and hands) calmer and more accurate. Which, for an older granny, is great.

So tell me — how do you create atmosphere when being creative?

 

 

Faerie Paths — Art

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Art is about the messy and marvelous business of coming to your senses —  and also, to the senses of the world.

~ Michael Leunig

 

 

 

The Hard (yet enchanting) World of Quilting

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 9 Comments

 

My friend Laura Kate over at Daily Fiber is one of the most creative people I’ve met. She is always trying new types of art, while holding onto what she is most familiar with…  in this case it seems to be quilting.

I have always loved the patterns and flow of homemade quilts. I wanted to share a couple of hers with you this morning.

.

https://dailyfiberfun.com/2025/01/24/friday-finish-here-be-dragons/…

 

https://dailyfiberfun.com/2025/02/05/wip-wednesday-sahrr-round-three/…

 

(I know the above is a work in progress, but look at all that wonderful detail!)

Do pop over to Daily Fiber and see what Creativity is all about!

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — My Masterpieces Part 1

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 16 Comments

There is always two sides to a coin — a perfect side and a flawed side.

Being Creative, you need not choose either side. Think of your work as better and … better. Just getting “it” out there is better than hiding it waiting for it to get better.

There is always two sides to a coin — play and play more.

So in that confusing Goddess vein, here are three of my artworks I wanted to share with you. More to come!

 

Storm

 

Music

 

Fall

 

 

 

Another Monday Blog — Riding in the CCE

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This morning I found that I have written 15 Monday morning blogs through the years (not counting Sunday Evening Art Gallery on Mondays). That’s not a bad count, considering I’ve written 3,533 blogs.

Most of them are about recovering from the weekend (whatever that may haven been), starting a new creative path, or buckling down on the one you’re already on.

Why does that seem such a big deal to me?

Sometimes I feel like a life coach.

Why does it matter what someone does with their free time? Not everyone wants to pull out fabric or clay or a calligraphy pen when they’ve got a free hour. Some just want to close their eyes and breathe. Or read a book. 

As Michael Crichton from Jurassic Park says, “Life will find a way.”

Rather, Creativity will find a way.

I never had a lot of time between projects to do things that were out of my daily box. Raising kids and working and keeping up on housework took all of my time. Every day. Every month. I’m not sorry I spent that time doing what I needed to do, either.

But I also found time to escape with Creativity. I was a online role player for a while (when that was a big thing), playing mostly a half fae living in a world of castles and pirates and who-knows-what-other kinds of beings. No one knew my personal life. No one knew my personal name. I was just one of dozens of people in a chat room playing out one drama or another.

There was a painting stint back then too. I remember creating some Avatar-looking land masses floating in the air and a stencil in a diamond shape that said “Space the Final Frontier.”

I also found time to do some writing.

I was also a big journaller. Lots of schmaltzy stuff after I turned 40. When that got boring (or once I ran out of self pity) I started writing stories. Poems. Novels. I found a style and a genre I felt comfortable with and ran with it. Later in life I made/forced/encouraged my way into writing for my company blog. Found I enjoyed doing that, too. 

Perhaps that’s what brought me to blogging.

I’ve always wanted to tap into that Creative side of my life, my thoughts, my dreams. I didn’t care if I got famous or got published or showed my creations to the neighbors. I just wanted to push myself a little further into the CCE — the Creative Cosmic Ether.

I just wanted to have fun.

Which leads back to a bunch of Monday Morning Encouragement Blogs.

Don’t be bored. Be bold. Practice on something old. Try something new. Glide between crafts. Don’t listen to the negatives — Just Do It.

Now I sound like a life coach that works for Nike …

 

 

When Do You Get Inspired?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 24 Comments

I have a question for all of you this cloudy, dreary morning — even you, my hundreds of friends who follow and never comment.

When do you get inspired?

Maybe not so much get inspired to “do art”, but when do you just sit and watch the world pass by and wonder if there’s meaning to all the chaos?

What kind of atmosphere do you create for yourself to mellow out, become introspective, and, if you open up a little more, get inspired to create something?

In the working world there’s little time to get inspired about anything. Whether it’s being home with your kids or working in an office or serving customers, there’s not a lot of inspiration time. And in that precious few hours/minutes that you do have, how can you choose? Read a book? Sketch a drawing? Embroider a few stitches?

Sometimes it’s just easier to turn on the TV and be numbed by the nonsense you find there.

Now that I’m retired I find my quietest inspirational moments in the morning. A cup of coffee, the dogs fed and content, hubby doing whatever someplace else, I look out the window at the bird feeder and open up my soul. One artist I’ve grown fond of is an artist on You Tube named Ophelia Wilde who plays instrumental piano, whimsical tunes with fun magical titles like “A Playlist for Living in a Little Cottage Together With Your Cat.”

She’s imaginary, too. Perfect.

Sometimes I think about some art I want to create; sometimes I think about my next blog. Sometimes I go on my laptop and find new unique artists.

Sometimes I just sit and look out the window.

I believe there is inspiration around us wherever we look. We just have to be in the right state of mind to absorb it. My inspirational times don’t last long, as reality has a way of interrupting even when you’re in the Zen. 

But at least I know I have inspirational times, and strive to return to them when I can.

Fight the murky cloudy Monday blahs and find yours, too.

 

 

 

Hanging Out With the Guys

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 10 Comments


I am getting ready to go on an adventure. Hope I return in one piece.

Seems like I’ve been jet setting around lately, but I really haven’t. I’ve stayed local (except for the trip to Europe last spring). This time I’m taking my life — and health — into my own hands.

I’m going up north for two weeks with the “guys”. The guys are mostly grandpas and sons, not necessarily related. They are the primitive side of the bunch… hunters, fishermen, mechanics.. all that. The first week and a half is a fishing adventure, the last half a closing of the cabin.

This time around I’m letting them do it all THEIR way. Cooking, packing, meal planning, laundry — everything that usually relies on a female to complete. I decided to be merely a spectator, staying out of the way and letting them run the cabin the way they want to.

This extravaganza lasts two weeks, and I’d like not to be alone all that time if I can help it. They all jollily told me to come with, so, packing up my stuff along with my two dogs, I’m going.

I’ll actually be by myself from sunrise to close to sunset, and I’m ready for that. Sketch pads, coloring books, gel pens, reading books, manicure set, Downton Abbey DVDs, books to edit — I’m bringing it all, along with my computer, iPad, phone, and snacks.

It will be interesting to see 3-5 men planning two weeks of breakfasts and dinners. I bought a few unique meals for lunch when I’m by myself, but the rest will be left to a tired crew coming home from a long day of fishing. 

We’ll see if the atmosphere is conducive to Creativity. It certainly will be conducive to experimentation …..

 

 

 

 

Creativity Can Be Exhausting

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 4 Comments

Another Art and Craft Fair in the books, and a good time was had by all.

I popped up my craft booth (after a hefty entrance fee) two blocks from one of the biggest food and music fests in Wisconsin, and sold my wares while chatting the day away.

It’s a big step from putting together crafts in your basement/library/work room to showing them off in a 10 x 10 booth in front of thousands of wanderers.

You can’t help but be filled with apprehension, self-doubt, fear, terror, and everything in between. People will love your art; people will hate your art. People will see every flaw and  crooked stone or bent edge or stray brush stroke. Your asking price is too high. Your asking price is too low.

You may believe in everything you created, but the world may not.

What then?

Outlay for a possible craft show is quite surprising up front. Materials, labor, advertising, transportation, tables, stands, all chip away at your pocketbook without one thing being sold. Can you afford the upfront costs? What will you do if your inventory outpaces your sales? Will you take orders? Make a variety of items or just one or two styles? Do you charge sales tax? Do you have business cards? Price tags? 

What if a customer wants what you don’t have?

What if a customer doesn’t want what you have?

That’s the excitement and unpredictability of Creativity. To make or not to make. To give away or sell. If you love what you’re doing you’ll always have too much of it sooner or later. I mean, how many knitted scarves or coffee mugs can you hold onto? How many Angel Tears Suncatchers can I hang on my back and front deck before I blind the neighbors?

I find you have to have an easy-going personality to take the highs and lows of salesmanship, along with a belief in your own work and worth. Making something special to share with others is a challenging foray into the Creative World. It’s planning, a bit of accounting, checking out current art and craft trends, and hoping the booth next to you isn’t selling the same thing.

It’s also the thrill of talking to people who stop by and look at your wares. The fun of listening to their stories and sharing yours. It’s the experience of someone saying how beautiful your work is, even if they don’t buy anything. It’s taking this year’s wares and adding new styles and accessories to the pot. It’s dreaming about making a few dollars on something that gave you such joy to make.

If you’ve thought about showing your wares, do it. If you don’t want to go that far, that’s okay too. Make your creative time mean something. To you, to others.

And don’t worry if it takes you a few days to recuperate.

I’ll be happy if I’m back in shape by November…..

 

 

 

 

Faerie Paths — Creativity

~ humoringthegoddess ~ Leave a comment

I heard this song the other day — the first time in a long, long time. It sums up the world of Creativity perfectly….

Supernova explosion, M74 galaxy, NASA

 

 

Leave your cares behind come with us and find
The pleasures of a journey to the center of the mind

Come along if you care
Come along if you dare
Take a ride to the land inside of your mind

Beyond the seas of thought beyond the realm of what
Across the streams of hopes and dreams where things are really not

Come along if you care
Come along if you dare
Take a ride to the land inside of your mind

But please realize you’ll probably be surprised
For it’s the land unknown to man

Where fantasy is fact
So if you can, please understand
You might not come back

Come along if you care
Come along if you dare
Take a ride to the land inside and you’ll see

How happy life could be if all of mankind
Would take the time to journey to the center of the mind

Would take the time to journey to the center of the mind
Center of the Mind


Journey to the Center of Your Mind

Steve Farmer
Amboy Dukes — 1968

 

 

 

Stirring the Pot

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Mary Delany

Are you stirring your Creative Pot these days?

How’s that going for you?

I chuckle to myself — for someone who promotes letting your inner creative muse out whenever you turn around, I seem to be slipping and sliding my way through September.

Let me ask you first off — do you feel creative every day?

Those of you whose art is your income, are you pumped up to create every day?

I know one cannot be on a creative high day in and day out. Being stung with the creative bee doesn’t quite work when you’re picking your kids up from school or sitting at a desk working all day.

I have written a few blogs during my bloglife talking about getting hit by my creative muse while driving or falling asleep. That doesn’t work, either. One of my first blogs was about my Irish Muse popping in with ideas at the most inopportune times.

When the high is gone the high is gone. At least for the moment.

And I know we can’t be inspired every time we fold laundry or go grocery shopping. I’d certainly burn out by the time I walked down my 3rd grocery aisle.

I also wonder if this slowdown has anything to do with my age. Grandma Moses started painting in her late seventies after she retired from her farming duties. After the death of her second husband when she was 68 years old, Mary Delany focused on making intricate paper cutouts of plants and flowers to help her cope with the loss. These cutouts were so exquisite that they are now part of the British Museum’s collection.

So age doesn’t necessarily correlate to being creative.

I think that, for me, Creativity still knocks at my door. And continues to knock until I at least open it. Then it’s up to me whether or not I want to let it in or ask it to come back next week.

Pay attention to those bursts of light and inspiration when they hit you. If you can’t act on what you think is a great idea, write it down. You’ll come back to it. No matter how busy you are or how alone you are, Creativity will fine you and inspire you.

I mean, look — I just got inspiration for two new art galleries!

 

 

Monday Monday (repost)

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 7 Comments

Over the weekend I went back into the black hole depths of this Humoring the Goddess blog looking for posts that had Monday in the title.

There have been quite a few attempts to comprehend and write about the first day of the work week. I smiled as I read all of them. So many different directions on the same topic. 

That’s the beauty of Creativity. Looking behind is just as much fun as looking ahead.

So for all of you reading this this fine Monday morning — DO IT.  And don’t stop.

From —

MONDAY MONDAY     

 

Bah-da, bah-da-da-da
Bah-da, bah-da-da-da
Bah-da, bah-da-da-da

(do you know the song yet?)

Monday, Monday (bah-da, bah-da-da-da)
So good to me (bah-da, bah-da-da-da)
Monday mornin’, it was all I hoped it would be ..

All the oldies out there knew the song by the first six syllables. Funny how engrained music is into us. Even when we don’t think about it.

Was trying to come up with a topic, a theme, for this cloudy, cold Monday. But if there’s nothing there there’s nothing there.

Then a slip of lyrics passed through my head.

Monday, Monday (bah-da, bah-da-da-da)

I was a freshman in high school when the Mamas and Papas sang this song. I was escaping the horrors of middle school at that time. Those were rough times, especially for a geeky, smelly kid like me.

Not really stepping back, but I do know that even back then music made a difference in my life. The Beatles were my saviors, the Dave Clark Five my happiness. No one could break the bond between me and Paul or me and Dave. My writing started way back then, too. I used to have a notebook with my first love story written in it, but it is long gone. Perhaps it disappeared when it served its purpose.

Music was an escape when I was young. An emotional booster, an answer for self-consciousness and self-doubt. I didn’t think about doing drugs or getting drunk or having sex back then. (Shows you how backwards my freshman year was.)

But Last Train to Clarksville by the the Monkees and Summer In The City by the Lovin’ Spoonful and Five O’Clock World by the Vogues were songs that wrapped around those hard times and cushioned decisions in my life like why I never had a date Saturday nights or if my girlfriends wanted to have a pajama party or should I try out for the school play when I couldn’t sing.

I wonder if kids today have an inkling of that innocence. If they ever have a chance to be kids. If they ever have a choice to not be a part of the violence and discrimination and hatred that swirls around all of us.

I suppose songs like WAP by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion (I wouldn’t look up the words if I were you) reflects the current needs and desires within a high-school education, the need to be free and understood and in control. Maybe innocence in its banal form is not needed anymore. Better to be smart than be exploited.

These days I find myself wandering back to that innocence I probably never really had. I have had enough of death and prejudice and politics to last a lifetime of discovery. Time for a bit of innocence to return to the world.

Do you believe in magic in a young girl’s heart
How the music can free her whenever it starts?
And it’s magic if the music is groovy
It makes you feel happy like an old-time movie………..

 

 ~ 

Wandering Through Creativity

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 12 Comments

 

Just wandering … sharing …don’t you just love homemade Creativity?

 

Tiffany Arp Daleo

Make a Wish

 

eat with an artist: fact, and fiction

Orange marmalade with Lena Alexander

 

Phil Perkins Photography

Morning Fog

 

Figments of a DuTchess

Flowers of the Day

 

Craig Haupt

Stone Petals

 

My Kawaii Corner

Lavender Fields Forever

 

 

Claudia McGill and Her World

Let’s Talk About Making Jewelry

 

Adventures of a Mage in Miami

Musings of a Sunday Morning

 

Gwennie’sGardenWorld

Silent Sunday

 

Life in the Mouse House

Revisiting Preston Marina

 

Deep in the Heart of Textiles

A Finished Quilt and a Bucket List

 

 

Prepping for the Big Show

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 12 Comments

This Memorial Day Weekend will be my third annual Arts and Crafts Show up in Eagle River, Wisconsin, a small northern town set up mostly for fishing and snowmobiling.

I’d like to think my wares this year are better than they were the past few years. That doesn’t mean my first year was rank — rather I feel I’ve “refined” my talents through the years.

My Angel Tears aren’t quite art; not as sophisticated as those I highlight in my Galleries. But they seem to hit the spot with shoppers, especially on bright, sunny days.

I sometimes think about changing craft fields as I always want to learn something new. Painting comes to mind; so does sketching and creating abstract designs out of wood pieces. But I find I don’t have the fortitude I had twenty years ago — heck, three years ago — when I decided to start my retirement off making sparkling suncatchers. 

The start of creating something new takes a bit of planning. Time is the first stop. Can you make enough time in your day to start a new craft? Do you have time to do a little research? Buy crafting supplies?  

Do you have the patience to hone a new craft? How important is perfection to you?

Is the direction of your new endeavor for fun or profit? 

How long will it take to move from apprentice to full fledged artist?

I have learned not to take my crafting too seriously. I am serious about doing things the right way, keeping things clean and organized, and to enjoy every minute of learning. For me, crafting is an extension of that magical energy many rarely tap into.

But I don’t take it so seriously that I can’t eat or sleep or find anything else in my life that makes me happy.

Pleasure should be first in everyone’s life. Especially in Art. Feeling good about your first sketch, your first row of crocheting. Being happy about finding just the right color for your painting or the dress you’re making.

Angel Tears are my happy spot for now.

And if they hit someone else’s happy spot, that’s even better!

 

 

 

 

 

Coming Soon to Your Computer Screen!

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 5 Comments

This will be a busy week for me, as I’m sure it will be for you. Besides the big “T” day, I’ve got lots of things to do between today and next Sunday. Which, except for the cleaning, is good.

But I wanted to give you a sneak peek at what’s in store for you in the Gallery in coming weeks!

Joana Vasconcelos, Large-scale Installation

 

Romare Bearden, Painter and Collage

 

Lamps

 

Michael Peuster, Stone Carver

Hope these pique your interest and love of Creativity in ALL its forms!

Love you ALL!

 

How’s Your Creativity Doing These Days?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 19 Comments

Another Saturday morning — another chance to dip into the Creativity well. Although these past few weeks the well has run dry.

I know that inspiration is a circular thing. Kind of like mood swings. Or menopause.

I digress.

Do you ever get into a creative lull? A gap in energy, insight and enthusiasm? I’m certain many of us do. One time or another. And with Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner, there is often more important things to “get creative” with.

I’ve been on the slow-moving-switch-to-Christmas-decorating bandwagon lately. I have been sending  messages to my subconscious asking it to start working on a Christmas decorating theme for this year. 

Nowhere in my chilly outside future are there thoughts of painting, Angel Tears, or coloring Mandalas with fine tipped pens.

Yet, cleaning up and out my library/craft room, I felt a tingle of excitement putting away my coloring books and crystal tear drops.

That’s why I know that it won’t be long until I undertake my Creativity journey once again. 

Perhaps we all need time off for side trips — Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas concerts. Visiting family members and friends. Having a hot chocolate with exercise buddies or brunch with cousins. Spending a quiet evening with someone special.

If you feel like you’ve lost it, you haven’t. Not in the least.

Take a bit of time to re-energize your aura.

Creative people are so from birth. You can never lose what will always be a part of you.

 

 

This Is Your (miniscule) Chance!

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 11 Comments

wild flowers in my yard

Lately I have come across a lot of posts on social media that turn Monday (really, ANY day) into a special attention day. Often it’s a chance to share your poetry, your art, or your website.

I imagine those who host those sites get plenty of traffic, both for their own cause and that of others. I think that’s great.

I, on the other hand, am of smaller scope and friendship base, content to read other blogs when I can and encourage art in its myriad of forms when I can’t.

On this Monday, though, I’d really like to talk about your website. The one you use to sell your crafts, or the one you use to just show off your creativity.

I’d like to show off your site.

I love art sites. Quilting sites. Knitting sites. Painting sites. Ceramics sites. I think sharing your creativity with the world is one of the best experiences you can have. You may be interested in selling your wares, building a following, or finding fellow crafters who can help you advance your craft.

I’d love to hear about your website. I have made good friends here, sharing their art and their inspirations, and I’d like to take a chance with your art as well. No set dates, no set categories — just a note to all my followers to check your unique art out in person.

You may find kindred spirits among the Goddess’s flower fields — or a new hobby you can dig your feet, nails, and teeth into. 

Let’s do this together!! It’ll be a Creativity Moment for ALL of us!!!

 

 

Welcome Back

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 8 Comments

I have been running around the past few weeks and am very glad to be back on solid home ground again.

You heard of my camping fiasco — just got done planning it again for next year. Never give up, I say.

Last weekend was my escape to our family cabin up north and participation in my first craft show of the year.

I must say that with all the “North Woods-y” arts that surrounded me this year, my sparkling strings of crystals kinda stood out like a fish driving a van. But they seemed popular, so my first escapade with the buying public went fairly well.

Offering your homemade creations to the public can be a nerve wracking experience. Whatever it is you make, you wonder … does it  look professional? Well-made? Will they fall apart the first time someone uses it? If you knit, are the stitches straight? Do the colors blend right? Painting, maybe you’re an abstract kinda person. Is it too abstract? Too colorful? Does it say anything?

Ack, you did just fine. I know ~I~ did fine. They were homemade, not expensive, and made with love. Just like (I hope) everything you make is.

You may wonder what this “fantastic thing” is that I never shut up about. It’s my granny hobby; my old lady creative outlet. They are called Angel Tears Suncatchers, which are single strings with rhinestones, embellishments and crystals that reflect the sunlight.

This project, this hobby, is what creativity is all about. It challenges my imagination, gives me a scheduled play time that is all my own,  and brings delight to others as well. 

Your art should do the same. Whether it’s sculptures out of old silverware (I saw that at the fair and loved it!) or painting boat oars (loved that too!), you should enjoy what you do.

They say it’s not the destination that counts, but the journey. And I am loving every minute of this journey.

I promise I am working on a website to show you what the madness is all about. I hope you have or are making a site of your own too,  even if it’s a showcase and not a salescase.

Show off your madness! I’d love to see it.

 

 

 

 

 

What Happened April 18, 2011?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 15 Comments

April 18, 2011. It was a Monday. A partly cloudy day, the temperature peaking at about 46 degrees. It was before the tragic events of 9/11 and my personal loss of 2/22.

It was a few months before the Royal Wedding of William and Kate and long before the terror of Covid-19.

I was still under 60, still working as a catalog coordinator, and still dreaming of being a writer.

And it was the date of my first blog. 

Originally called Humoring the Goddess: Managing the Madness Magic of Middle Age, it was supposed to mingle a bit of magic with the madness that surrounded us as we eased away from the dreams of our 20’s to the realities of life past 40. 

In my first blog called Even the Universe Chuckles, I toyed around with the sections called Momentary Musings and Quimsical Quotations and Frivolous Facts and Falderal. 

My first response was from my good, good writing friend Boyd, who passed away much too young, and my best friend Jillian, who is with me still.

It was working.

As I got older I grew up (just a little) and wrote about all the things that bothered/affected me/made me laugh as I got older. I followed other blogs and found inspiration in many of them, some of which are no longer active. 

Eleven years ago I started on a journey that I’m still on. I found I enjoyed discovering and sharing unusual, unique art, whimsical quotations, and unique pictures and gifs.

I discovered I am no different than anyone else who reads and writes and feels, and I have made special connections with those who have commented on my blogs through the years. I found that I love encouraging others to find their creative muse and run with them to the ends of the earth and jump off at the end and follow that spirit through the stars.

I have come a long way from that young (under 60) woman looking to entertain and be entertained. And I have a long way to go, still wanting to entertain and be entertained.

Thank you all for 11 years of creativity.

Thank you for reading me, listening to me, and being a part of my life. It has been amazing. And full of love. Lots and lots of love.

Here’s to 11 more years of everything — for you and for me!   

 

 

 

 

 

Is Creativity a Solitary Sport?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 16 Comments

With the start of the “New Year” (you know how I think — that the New Year starts every day you wake up, but still ….) I started thinking about 2023 and the creativity it will bring. MUST bring. New ideas, new inspirations, new directions.
Today I met one of my besties for breakfast. I always love seeing her, being with her, sharing with her. She’s at the point in her life where kids and her job take up all her time, which is pretty normal for this point in life.
On the other hand, I found myself pouring out some of my new ideas for Angel Tears, my blogs, and other artsy things I may or may not do during 2023. She offered to help me take photographs of my crafts so I can move into the Millennium and onto Etsy.
And I wondered.
Is creativity a solo trip?
Yes, you have to do the work; you have to do the research and the buying of equipment and you have to find the time and you have to stick with it.
You you you.
But isn’t it much more fun when you can share your excitement with others?
I used to belong to a Wisconsin writer’s group. I loved the energy shared by all the writers when we got together for conferences. It was palpable. Encouraging. I met great people there, and have kept one of them for my writing buddy bestie.
Your solitary excitement is important. Vital. But it’s awfully nice to have someone else encourage you, too.
I have another bestie I’ve been encouraging to write a book about a personal story that would knock the socks off of most readers. Another young bestie of mine, a high school graduate this year, wants to start blogging, and I’m there with her, giving her ideas, pointers, and encouragement. Two of my besties have a room they want to turn into their Creativity Shed. She Shed. I’m right there talking colors and shelving and places to sell their wares should they want to.
I get so excited about everyone else’s artistic dreams. I can’t help it.
Which is why I’m always asking about yours. I love to watch how you put together collages and knit sweaters and draw characters with big wide eyes and haircuts that match your personal hair style.
Have a friend teetering on the edge of entering the Arts? Encourage them. Fuss over them. Don’t worry if they don’t reciprocate your enthusiasm.
Art in any form starts with you. Ends with you.
But all that creativity and good vibes in the middle is good for everyone!

Two Fun Creative Blogs to Check Out!

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Happy Friday Friends!

Today I read two fun, amazing, creative people and their blogs that I follow that  you must check out!

One you have already heard me talk about — Daily Fiber with Laura Kate. This quilt is just amazing. And so different.

 

Friday Finish: Badlands

Posted on 
The second is from a blog I just started following — jingersnaps …by Jinger. Her knitting is fun and amazing and different — as is her enthusiasm!

Zau. Ber. Ball.

Posted on 
I love Creativity in ALL its forms!  Any referrals?
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Switching Gears

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 17 Comments

Another week has started in the farms/small towns in southeast Wisconsin. Nature, in her ever moving glory, has dumped most of her glorious hair on the ground to eventually turn into mush and mulch and hiding places for various little things until spring.

Today is the last warm day — the so-called Indian Summer — trying to coax us out of the house and go walking or biking or fetching the dogs one more day before it invites the colder air to come and visit.

Do you, as artists, change your routines when the weather changes?

I know my friends down Australia way are going through the lovely growth of Spring, thinking about picnics and boat rides and art fairs and dinners on the patio with friends.

Their counterparts up here in the U.S. for the most part are waving goodbye to the hot, melting vibrations of sunlight, settling instead for a weak, yet still bright, effort from the sun.

Many of you are artists — even if you don’t acknowledge yourself as one. You arrange gardens, build patios and put up swing sets, paint in watercolors and oils, cut up pieces of magazines and cloth and broken glass and make the most glorious collages. 

We all do something with our spare time — how can we not?

But cold weather does put a damper on outdoor activities. Perhaps not a damper, per se — you can still enjoy outdoor activities, walk in the snow and make snow angels — but cold weather does tend to keep one insider a lot more.

Do you do the same activities you did in the blazing hot summer? 

Technically I suppose I could do many of the same things inside as outside. Keep my plants growing, paint rocks at the kitchen table, ride an exercise bike rather than a purple 10 speed down the road. But some of it’s not the same without the grandkids or warm weather.

I am fortunate — writing is a year round project. I wish I was as versatile as the sport allowed (short stories, novels, poems, essays, opinion pieces, blogging, research papers, sonnets, tweets). I like to stick to the blogging and novel writing end of the pool.

In the winter time, when you’re stuck inside, blowing, tearing wind and snow and ice and nothing but a cabinet full of popcorn and ice cream, you would think your concentration focuses even finer.

It’s not even winter time and I find myself dissatisfied with everything.

Is this another passing phase? Should I find something new to write? Some new type of art to dig into?

Or should I just enjoy the popcorn and ice cream and take a break for a while?

What do you do?

 

 

 

My Favorite Way To Tap Into My Creativity (repost)

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On my way to researching something else   —  as usual —

My seven-year-old grandson has developed a wonderful imagination. Sometimes he uses this imagination to create excuses, but I digress…

He and I love to play the game WHAT IF …

He comes up with some doozies. I hope this stimulates his creative streak in future endeavors. Here is the blog I wrote about just such creativity:

 

What If…

 

 

I Almost Missed National Live Creative Day

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 7 Comments

Today is National Live Creative Day. And I have never heard of it.

This is not to be confused with National Creative Day, which is May 30th. Which I’ve never heard of, either.

Here I am, miss Creativity, pushing being creative all the time, never hearing of a holiday — or holidays — devoted to just this topic.

What kind of ambassador am I?

National Live Creative Day was introduced in 2016 by an American company called “Creative Promotional Products.” Founded in 1994 and located in Illinois, Chicago, the company provides full-service promotional products to brands. They provide a wide range of services, which include brand awareness campaigns, custom-decorated apparel, corporate and executive gifts, incentive programs, and printing services.

National Creativity Day in was created in 2018 by Hal Croasmun and ScreenwritingU who created this national celebration to celebrate the imaginative spirits everywhere and to encourage them to keep creating.

Well, you and I know we don’t need a particular day to be creative. Do we?

I celebrate being creative every day. Even if I don’t do one creative thing.

I think “being creative” is more like an aura that follows you around like talcum powder. Hanging around in the air, leaving a slight residue on the furniture, slightly scented in your favorite fragrance or like the fresh air outside. It’s all part of your breathing process, always there, always tickling your senses, until you are ready to sneeze it out into something new and unusual.

Okay. So I’m not the greatest at metaphors.

But I am great at celebrating your and my creativity. Each and ever day. 

Don’t wait until you find time, space, or materials. Doodle an entire page of a lined tablet. Sketch a landscape on the back of a receipt. Research your novel while you’re waiting in the doctor’s office. Record notes as a draft email or pull over to side of the road and write them down on your way to the grocery store.

Creativity is a part of you. You don’t need a particular day to celebrate it.

And, since you don’t need a special day to celebrate your talent, you won’t feel bad if you forget the date.

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Maria Rivans

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Maria Rivans is a contemporary British artist known for her scrapbook-style collage artwork.A mash-up of Surrealism meets Pop-Art, Rivans’ work re-appropriates vintage collectables to create dreamy realms which transport the viewer into fantastical worlds of the imaginary, each one suffused with vivid color, arresting imagery, and intricate detail.Rivans’ collages have a firm running theme of vintage Hollywood films, B-movies and old television shows. Her process begins with her extensive collection of vintage papers which she scavenges from antique books and retro magazines.She is always on the look-out for that perfect ‘something’ in second-hand shops and at market stalls.Like piecing together an unruly jigsaw puzzle, Rivans begins to collate and assemble the skillfully cut-out fragments and scraps, laboring over long periods and making alteration after alteration, until the collage begins to take shape.Through an intense attention to detail and an artistic sensitivity to color and composition, each of Rivans’ artworks is the product of months of careful deliberations and decisions.Her collages are fun, inventive, and full of familiar faces and extensions. The collage pieces that stand in for the hairdos of movie stars of the past create a harmony and connection between today and yesterday.

More of Maria Rivans creativity can be found at https://www.mariarivans.com/. 

 

 

A Victim By Choice

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One of the reasons I have too much on my plate is that I overfill it all the time.

I suppose that’s acceptable if it’s Thanksgiving dinner, otherwise the pressure  to get it all done in a respectable amount of time is pretty high.

Now, I am not an over-achiever — far from it. I do my best to finish what I start, and most time do a pretty good job of it.

But now and then (more now than then) I get some sooper dooper idea and get all pumped up at the front end and once I put my foot in the water it’s too late to pull it out.  I have to go in all the way.

Sometimes I wait a spell before I jump in. Finding (and paying for) a booth at a craft fair. Making plans to meet family or friends for dinner. Flying out of state for a wedding.

Other times I jump in without thinking. Booking (and paying for) a second craft fair. Offering to bring a dish to tomorrow’s whatever and not having a thing in the house to cook.

I suppose we all do that. Get swept away in the moment. Fall for the grander scheme. I mean gee — it seemed like such a great idea at the time!

I’ve been thinking/dealing/researching getting older and how it affects us all for quite a while now, either as a participant or an assistant or a planner.  I put together some thoughts and a five topic outline and want to make it part of a weekly blog for five weeks here.

Man, that’s such a great idea up front!

But what about two weeks in? Will I have enough information? Will I be able to make the point I’m trying to make? Will I get responses and interactions from my audience?

This time I’ve taken a paumse between idea and implementation. It’s like the menu I made last night for dinner doesn’t look as sparkling in this morning’s light.

That’s the point of today’s ramble. Don’t discard you flashes of insight, your great ideas, your real out-of-the-box experiences. There is a reason you get these feel-good, lots-of-work ideas. Don’t suppress them — let them out into the daylight!

You don’t have to act and react to them immediately or even do anything about them. But you should acknowledge them.  Toss them around like shrimp in butter. Think about how they cook. How much work it would be. If you’ve been looking for something new and different to try.

It’s all good. Believe me — you can do it!!

Faerie Paths — Free

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My brain is the key that sets me free.

~ Harry Houdini

 

 

Life is always interesting, isn’t it?

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Craig Haupt

Life is always interesting, isn’t it?

Just when you think you know something, something else comes along and pulls the rug out from under you.

Sometimes, if you’re lucky, there’s a big foam pad to fall on.

I had a blog written for today, one that was about people being contradictions, saying one thing and doing another. It was a whiney little blog that, on one hand, was therapeutic, on the other said nothing new.

Then I talked to one of my best friends.

One who transferred jobs and picked up and moved three states away, leaving us friends back in Wisconsin forlorn and texting. 

It was a delightful conversation.

We complained about the usual things, laughed about family and people and personalities and told each other how important it was for us — for women — to have our own personal time and personal space, and talked about getting older and aches and pains, and shared camping stories. 

And the fog lifted.

Why do I bore you with this triviality?

To show you that it doesn’t take much to turn things around. To turn half empty to half full. To turn adversity into a learning, growing opportunity.

We all get into ruts. The same old job, the same old family disputes. The same dinner menu on Mondays and the same shopping schedules on Wednesdays. Nothing wrong with ruts, except you never get anywhere. It’s like being stuck in quicksand. 

All you need to get out of the rut is a shot of friendship. A meeting of the minds. A dip in the pool of Creativity. Whether you are connecting with an old friend, a new friend, or Vincent Van Gogh, all you need is a peek in someone else’s mind. A glimpse of someone else’s dreams. 

In making intellectual connections you are able to rise above the ruts and find a way to make a better life. Better choices. A chance to work on those dreams you’ve kept hidden for so long.

That’s why I am always pushing Creativity. In all its forms, all its diversities. The art of friendship is no different than the art of painting or calligraphy. All are enlightening, all are opportunities to shake off the gloom and moodiness that comes from ritualistic routines.

Talking to my friend reminded me that it’s time to get back into my own Art Experience. There’s always something new waiting around the corner. 

For you and for me.

 

 

Be brave enough to live life creatively — Purplerays

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How can you not love a message like this?

 

. Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover will be yourself. ~ Alan Alda 💚 Text and […]

Be brave enough to live life creatively — Purplerays

Good Times Are Ahead

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I made some resolutions earlier this year. 

Not New Year’s Resolutions nor Solstice Resolutions nor Mother’s Day Resolutions. Just some Creativity Resolutions.

The first one comes due next Saturday. My first Art Show of the Season.

Am I ready? Is anyone ever ready for their next step into the world of creativity?

Making Angel Tears is one thing. Painting plates is one thing. Crocheting hangers on kitchen towels is one thing.

Showing them to the public is another.

I keep telling myself I’m too old for this $hit. That to be afraid of who I am at nearly 70 years old is ridiculous. I mean, how can I be any more off-center than I already am?

So anyway, my first art show is this Saturday. I’m doing the final count, the final packing, the final polishing. I swore I’d be done way before this weekend, but guest what — life got in the way.

Good and Bad.

So I’m taking my wares and my gauzy summer dress and my hat with lots of strings of tears that didn’t turn out so I wrapped them around the band and a new sparkly tablecloth and making my way up north. I’m going to play some instrumental medieval tavern music softly in the background and hang up my sparklers and do what I was born to do.

Sell Creativity.

I’m going to talk about Tears and Art Fairs and friends who are crafters. I am going to watch sparkles across the pavement and sneak away during the slow time and check out the other artists who are hanging around and down the main street with me.

Once I get back I hope to start working on my second Creative Resolution.

Offer one of my earliest books for free on my website.

Why not? I can’t share the magic if I don’t share the magic. I’m not up to making money on my writing — I just want to share (what I think) is some great writing.

Next I’m going to do some research and send out some of my short stories and poetry to publications and see if anyone is interested in a woman who is forever driving through a cornfield or someone who is chatting on their computer with someone who may or may not be right in their vicinity or a little girl who made friends with a dwarf.

If I sit in the background for the rest of my life that’s where I will be when I pass on to the next level.

In the background.

And I will not have  shared my excitement about my world and my craft and creativity and the beauty of love and life to anyone.

What a shame that would be.

 

 

 

It’s Time To Play What If? Again

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The Bench that Dreams Beneath the Pink Trees,
Tara Turner

When the moon is full (last night was the Super Flower Blood Moon total lunar eclipse) and Mercury is in retrograde (until June 2nd), it is time to get creative. (The beautiful evening outside my door doesn’t hurt, either!)

As I was multitasking last evening (as I often am) I started thinking about “What If?” again. I wrote a blog about What If back in 2018 about keeping your What If’s going; writing them down, painting them, growing them. Later that year I wrote another blog called Let “What If” Guide Your Story about letting your mind wander into various “What If “worlds until you found one that appealed to you.

I seem to often talk about letting your creativity take you to new worlds, new thoughts, new possibilities.

Not everyone cares to participate in the speculation of the future. After all, we have enough trouble handling the speculation of today.

But with full moons and retrograding and any other excuse you can make up, this is the time to change your wardrobe and try on something new. Something wild and different. Something stern and conservative.

Something different from the same old you.

I have lost faith in a lot of movies lately; they are the samO samO plots, language, and emptiness. Like many books, paintings, stories, music, guitar solos and such that have come before, we have heard it all.

But now and then I come across a movie that is stark, interesting, and different. Twists I didn’t see coming, emotions that came out of somewhere deep and unpredictable, endings that surprise everyone.

When being creative, don’t you sometimes want to do the same?

Surprise your readers? Paint a scene that was at the edge of what is real? Fire a bowl or vase that is unique all onto itself? Take a picture at an angle that most people never consider?

Sometimes What If’s don’t work quite right. If I What If‘d a realistic park scene with pink trees, unless my genre was pop art or Abstract Expressionism, it wouldn’t work.

But what if I did decide to paint a landscape with pink trees? What if I decided to make water yellow and plants purple? 

If I could actually pull it off, how wonderfully creative that would be! If I used my understanding of color and shading and texture and make everything look real, what difference would the colors make?

That’s what What If is all about.

Taking the familiar and making it do unfamiliar things.

It’s the what-if-you-were-standing-outside-looking-around-and-suddenly-you-see-a-gigantic-spider-climbing-over-the-trees-towards-you sort of moment.

Something you’re not likely to see in this lifetime, yet, if you did ….

I hope you are working on your What If moments.

 

 

Friends and Creativity

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Dreamtime

This is what Creativity is all about.

This is what friendship is all about.

Graphic Design Artist and Photographer John Lemke has been a friend of mine since I started my last job 19 years ago. He was a catalog artist, I was a catalog coordinator. Between us (and a bunch of other people) we made catalog magic. He laid out the pages, I proofread the pages. 

Both of us have gone on to bigger and better things.

This includes Art.

I highlighted John’s graphic artworks back in 2015 and his photography in 2021. I also published a boatload of his work in the Gallery in August 2015 and December 2021. 

John is a friend but also a phenomenal artist. His work touches spots deep inside that have no description, no explanation. His photography makes me feel good.

And this is what today’s blog is about.

Practice your Craft.

Promote your Craft.

Promote your friend’s craft.

Spread the word of how phenomenal creativity can be.

Here are a few more of John’s photographs:

 

 

 

 

 

Pumped Up Mondays

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 2 Comments

If Saturdays are the beginning of your playday, Mondays are usually the beginning of your work week.

For me they are also the beginning of my creative week. I always start off wanting to write, craft, paint, and research. Quite a busy start to a retiree’s week.

Yesterday I took the (not so big) step of signing up for Peacock, the NBC version of Hulu or Netflix. A majority of shows are free, but it’s not because I was in need of something to watch. I came across what I was looking for:

Face Off.

Five season’s worth.

I happen to LOVE that TV series. Every week a group of artists create masks and faces and outfits based on the weekly challenge theme.

The things these “ameteurs” come up with are amazing.

I realize they are experts in their field. I’m sure you know someone — yourself, even — that could come up with a short story, a quilting pattern, knit a scarf, or paint a painting or a calligraphy sign in competition time. That’s how good you are.

But it’s just the process — the intuitive, inventive way their mind thinks that gets me going.

I get the same feeling watching cooking competition shows. How could these average “Joes” and “JoAnns” cook something like that in less than an hour?

The first and most important reason is because they love doing what they do. They all may be auto mechanics or beauticians or grade school teachers in their “other” life but they are artists in this one. They may even be full-time creators.

I come back from these shows with a new sense of energy and purpose. And I try and share it.

I have one friend thinking of starting to write a book on her and her father’s experiences. So exciting! Another friend went to a quilting seminar this week for a few days. How great! One of my good friends went on a scrapbooking weekend not long ago. Nothing but talking and scrapbooking. How can you lose? Another of my friends is coming to my state  (not far from me, it seems)  to do some sort of crafting seminar/conference/get together. How great is that?

I’ve done an art gallery on Face Off, and could probably do a dozen more. So it is with you that do ceramics or computer design or photography. My good friend from my old work is a photographer AND graphic designer — what great things he comes up with!

Find something that fuels your passion and go for it. Let someone else’s work inspire you — not to be them, not to do what they do, but let their work encourage you do try new things and go new directions.

Make practice fun. Make mistakes fun. Make success even MORE fun.

Let me know what you are working on so I can continue to get pumped up in the Art World.

Feels Good! You ought to try it!

 

 

Crafts. Again.

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 6 Comments

Last week I was going to start off talking about my past week, but found the poetry world more fascinating. This week is starting off with 10 inches of snow, grey skies, and zero temperatures. I’d rather talk about crafts instead.

I follow a number of really creative people (to say the least). Some I’ve highlighted before, others are new to my world.

Claudia McGill and her Art World is a fun, creative place with a lot of sketchbook images, along with real ideas that she’s combined in her paintings to make a whole new art world.

 

Anne Fisher has a delightful blog eat with an artist: fact and fiction, that melds famous artists with delicious looking food.

 

I’ve boasted about my artist friend Kate and her thoroughly entertaining and informative blog Daily Fiber. She is an adventurous sort, trying sketching, knitting and sashiko (Japanese embroidery), but it’s her quilting that continuously fascinates me. Instructions included.

 

Darlene Foster at Darlene Foster’s Blog is my inspiration for writing. She has published a number of books about a girl named Amanda and her adventures exploring cities around the world. Her whirlwind visits include Amanda in Arabia: The Perfume Flask, Amanda in Spain: The Girl in the Painting, Amanda in England: The Missing Novel, and  Amanda on the Danube: The Sounds of Music.

 

And pottery. Who doesn’t love pottery? I love everything over at The Alchemist’s Studio, including their vases, pots, cups, and jewelry. And they show their process, their designs, and their thoughts. What’s not to love?

 

Be sure to check them all out! And share ones that delight YOU!

It’s a quiet time of year; I’m sure other artists I follow are busy planning, prepping, and shoveling snow. Share your ideas! Your experiments! Your highlights and your missteps! I love them all.

Maybe next week I’ll highlight inspirational blogs! My own, of course, being first in line ….

 

Faerie Paths — Being Yourself

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Ellen Jewett

 

By being yourself you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before.

~ Edwin Elliott

 

 

 

Have You Started Being Creative Yet This Year?

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Here it is, only January 6th in this grand new year of 2022, and I’m already bugging you, asking if you’ve started on your “art” projects for the year.

Here in the Midwest it’s supposed to be only 9°F by the weekend. I’m busy thinking about keeping warm, let alone artsy crafty things.

But yet this is the time of year most of us start planning and preparing for the coming year. The coming spring and summer. Art fairs, garden projects, painted signs and landscapes and new numbers on our mailboxes.

Now, I don’t imagine many of us know today what we will want to display in June, but there is always some sort of creativity dancing around our auras, teasing and tempting us with new ideas and directions.

I don’t have much energy to dance with my aura at the moment.

But I do have some ideas already.

I have a little granddaughter I adore, one who loves unicorns and My Little Ponies. I’m thinking of making her — AND me — a fairy garden this spring. I’m still in the dreaming stage — I don’t know if I want a big saucer-like creation, or a little corner of the yard, or even a tiered fiasco. I admit I try not to wander Pinterest and the Internet in general for ideas, for each one brings ten more ideas into focus.

I also think about making some Buddhist stacking stone monuments around my property (they are gestures of asking or wishing for good fortune to be bestowed on the stacker and his/her family), but I need to find some stones first. Not in this weather, though.

Every day I try and go down to my library/craft room and make some Angel Tears. They may not have much sparkle in the cloudy winter, but before you know it the breezes will be blowing and the art fairs will be calling and I’ll be in need of stock.

But that’s just me.

What about you? Any creative muses knocking at your door these days? I know for some of you it is summertime. What are ya doin’? What new projects are you entertaining?

Maybe it’s just me having too much wandering mind time. I tend not to wander far from my blanket, music, computer, or hot chocolate this time of year.

But, as the wise Yogi Berra said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”

 

 

Creativity is the Only Way to Go

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This is the time of year for New Year’s Everythings — New Year’s Resolutions, New Year’s Blogs, New Year’s Toasts, New Year’s Texts.

I’ve given up on the resolutions part — I make new ones year-round. Keep some, forget some. 

But in reading my friend Judith at Artistcoveries‘ end-of-the-year blog named Toast, I find the kind of resolution we all can make. It just makes me feel anything is possible.

A bit of her advice:

So, how can I apply this to my art? For me the answer is in the idea of celebration. Over the next 12 months, I hope to honor myself as an artist, to welcome myself to the studio each morning, and to celebrate each new thing I learn, each new experience, and each success I have. This all means being more accepting of who I am and the art I create. I will no doubt make a lot of bad art in 2022. I’ve learned that bad art is a necessary part of my personal art process. I’ve found that making bad art has helped me immensely. Through bad art I’ve learned that it’s all right to make mistakes — everyone does — and I’ve found an incredible new sense of freedom. This, in turn, has led me more toward finding my own unique style.

This is the kind of inspiration we all need. It is a combination of self-healing, acceptance, and change. It’s letting go and holding on. It’s trying and failing and trying and succeeding. 

Let us all make a commitment to celebrate every day, for every day is an opportunity to learn something new. To teach someone something new. To feel something new. To accept the now and change the now. 

Here is Judith at Artistcoveries‘ entire blog, Toast. Give it a read if you have time!

 

 

 

 

https://artistcoveries.wordpress.com/2021/12/31/toast/

 

 

 

 

What’s Important to YOU Today?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 3 Comments

Happy Monday! Or is it? 

We all try and start the “week” off on a positive note. As the jokes/memes say, it’s only downhill from here.

I tend to disagree.

Sometimes it can go uphill from here.

I suppose, barring unexpected occurrences, most of us can expect a normal UP and DOWN kind of week. It depends on what we’ve planned for ourselves.

I hope you have planned some positive experiences.

I know I know — you can’t plan gifts from God or sparkling experiences from Gaia. They just come when they come.

But you can plan activities that bring you extra pleasure. 

Of course, you know I’m referring to Art. Crafts. Writing. Piano lessons. Painting a mural on your garage door. Anything that makes you happy.

There is something about starting fresh on a project/projects you love that plants that sparkle in your heart that eventually flows all through your body. Even if you aren’t over-the-top in getting back to your Art, once you get there, the world changes.

Your flops aren’t really flops. They’re lessons. Your completions aren’t really the end, but just the beginning. 

If you can stop listening to that little demon who whispers that you’ll never be any good, you will be amazed at how finishing the book you are reading or sewing that last piece together can make you feel.

Give yourself a chance.

I have lots of demons dancing in and out throughout the day. I’ve learned to either ignore them or, if need be, let them scream their garbage and then kick them out the door. I am who I am, and all that hoo hah. But I’m always working on improving “who I am.”

For me, that’s perfecting my crafts. Always writing something, always fooling around with Angel Tears. I have a boatload of projects just waiting for me to open the door, but I promised myself I’d stick to just a couple for the time being.

Give Monday a chance. Let it be the beginning of new chances, new worlds, new universes. Well, universes is quite a big quest …. maybe start with something smaller …. like solar systems.

Go for it!

Tell me what your creative plans are for the week!

 

 

Am I Really an Artist?

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A question so many of us have. If we’re not famous, not selling, not well known, are we still what we strive to be? Judith believes we all are what we want to believe. If we only believe.

Judith's avatarArtistcoveries

I’ll cut right to the chase here. Yes, I am an artist. I might not be a very good artist, but that’s almost irrelevant. The point is, I am indeed an artist.

Recently, though, I found myself asking that age-old question, wondering all over again if I could truly call myself an artist. When I began this blog in March 2016, I did not consider myself an artist, but finally came around to seeing myself as someone who was becoming an artist. I was learning, I was developing new skills. But I was definitely not an artist, if only because I simply could not associate that word with myself.

Being an artist, I’ve learned now, has a lot to do with choice. It’s not all a matter of talent or training. It’s partly attitude, too.

Of course, anyone who enjoys drawing, painting, or other forms of art may be…

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A Paragraph then a Request

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There is nothing more sensual, more enlightening, more surreal than someone in command of the English (or their own native) language.

I don’t mean “The King’s English”, or perfectly pitched tones and articulations. I’m talking about passages from books that, to the reader, are breathtaking.

Not every book is impressive like that. Readers look for different things in their reading material: convincing characters, landscapes you can get lost in, true love, lost love — the reasons to love a good book are endless. And I have read many books that are just plain great without getting overly wordy or ornate.

Previously I wrote a blog about how important opening paragraphs are to one’s writing, sharing the first paragraph from H.P. Lovecraft’s Call of the Cthulhu as a delightful setting for his story.

Recently I started reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Here is a paragraph that just caught me:

The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices pitches a key higher. Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word. The groups change more swiftly, swell with new arrivals, dissolve and form in the same breath; already there are wanderers, confident girls who weave here and there among the stouter and more stable, become for a sharp, joyous moment the centre of a group, and then, excited with triumph, glide on through the sea-change of faces and voices and colour under the constantly changing light.

This paragraph describes the feel of one of Gatsby’s parties. You can just imagine yourself on the lawn behind a gigantic mansion, beauties and wannabes all vying for attention in the evening light.

It’s not easy to write sentences that will capture your audience. And not all novels are written with the same cadence, the same inferences and tone. What impresses me might not impress you. That’s the beauty of writing. Good writing.

Now to my request.

Do you have a paragraph from a book that just totally impresses the heck out of you? Something that inspires you, moves you, makes you want to read more?

Would you mind sharing it with the rest of us?

It’s something every writer strives for. No matter if it’s a novel, a letter to your grandma, or a description of yourself on Facebook, how you write it tells so much about you.

I would love to read what enchants you!

 

 

 

This Question is for YOU

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I was mowing the lawn the other day, daydream as I often do (seeing as it takes a couple of hours just to do the front), thinking about Thurday’s blog and all the stories I’ve started and never finished.

And it made me wonder — what are YOU working on?

Come on! I KNOW that out of all my followers there are at least a couple of dozen people out there who write. Short stories, plays, novels, poetry — the list is endless.

Let’s be honest. Only a small percentage of the writing world gets published. Yes you can publish your book yourself on Amazon. Yes you can connect with a publisher or agent if you’re lucky and become the next Dan Brown. Yes there is a chance you win a contest and get your work posted in a magazine or online somewhere.

Most likely the closest you’ll ever get to having someone else read your stuff is to send it/print it/share it with others who are actually interested.

Well, I’m interested.

You know you want to talk about it.

You know you want to share a chapter or two. Or ask a question or two.

You love what you write as much as chocolate cream pie. Deep down inside you want someone else to love it just as much as you do. But you don’t dare share it because you’re afraid of being laughed at, marveled at, and probed as to why you’re not working harder to get it published.

I am all of the above.

So I’m going to take a poll. PLEASE answer the following few questions to see if I should devote a page of this blog to “What Are You Writing?” or “What Plot Line Should I Use?” or “What Do You Think?”

We need a place to show off our work. Our ideas. Our plotlines.

Why not here?

I haven’t decided exactly how I want to address this empty void. Maybe just what we’re working on. Maybe links to our finished products. Maybe we can pose a question. Maybe it can be once a week. Once every other week. On a Wednesday. Or another non-happening day.

The Goddess is always Humored no matter what path I wander down. She knows that I just want everyone to be proud of their own creativity, and to show it off to the world. There are not a lot of outlets to do this through.

Maybe this can be one.

Let me know what you think. Since I suck at making polls, please answer the following couple of questions:

 

Would you be willing to share your storylines?

Would you be willing to share a link to your work?

Would you be willing to ask for and give advice if requested?

 

All your responses will be read by me first before sharing them in the blog. Nothing inappropriate, smarmy, or nasty will ever get through. Writers need encouragement, not sass.

What do you think?

 

Faerie Paths — Exploration

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 1 Comment

 

 

I’m a storyteller; that’s what exploration really is all about. Going to places where others haven’t been and returning to tell a story they haven’t heard before.

James Cameron

 

 

 

That’s Life

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 2 Comments

That’s life (that’s life), that’s what all the people say
You’re ridin’ high in April, shot down in May
But I know I’m gonna change that tune
When I’m back on top, back on top in June

I said that’s life (that’s life), and as funny as it may seem
Some people get their kicks stompin’ on a dream
But I don’t let it, let it get me down
’cause this fine old world, it keeps spinnin’ around

 

Yep. That’s Life. My second craft show has been cancelled. Not enough volunteers. Not enough food vendors for the fest. And a hundred other legitimate reasons.

I’m sure Covid has a lot to do with it. People are still not sure about crowds and people and people not covering their mouths when they cough. And the thought of 300,000 people not covering their mouth when they cough is enough to scare a daredevil.

But I digress.

No craft show. No Angel Tears.

No making more strands like a crazy woman, no reorganizing my bins, no cleaning up sloppily put together bags. 

At least not within the next two weeks.

Although I am sad I can’t show my wares to the wandering-past public, part of me is glad I have more than two weeks to get my sh$t together.

I have a lot of sh$t to get together.

Like I’ve said before, I learned so much my first time around. What I offer, how I package, how I pack. How to keep organized. How to talk to people. How to plan and how to breathe.

I am quite happy with how much I’ve grown in the past few months. I learned to stay focused, to take pride in my work, and to more forward one step at a time.

We all need quests like this.

Maybe not selling your wares or publishing your book. 

Quests can be as simple as finishing balancing your checkbook. By completing a walk around the block. By repotting your overgrown plants.

There is always some task we need to finish before we start the next one. It’s so easy to make a half effort then move along, forgetting what we promised ourselves. Meaning well but never following through.

Let me tell you. It feels good to have accomplished something. And it frees me up to take on the next task. 

So until next time …. 

What’s next?

 

 

Scratching The Surface — Tiffany Arp-Daleo Art

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 7 Comments

 

I love Tiffany’s art. And I love there is always a story behind it. And I am learning how abstract art can express all kinds of emotions and thoughts. 

Give her website a visit — you might start understanding, too!

12″ x 16″ Mixed media painting by Tiffany Arp Daleo

Scratching The Surface — Tiffany Arp-Daleo Art

Listening to the Rain

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 2 Comments

It’s early Monday morning. I’m sitting here, listening to the thunderstorm move through, the rain pouring down on the plants and round table and plastic chairs on my front deck.

The house is silent except for the steady cadence of the rain — a welcome gift here on a hot August day.

You would think there is a story here somewhere.

Or at least a poem.

It’s funny how the most atmospheric places and times often fail to yield to the force of Creativity. How the perfect setting, emotional state, or piece of music fails to inspire us to our creative heights.

I have often had the perfect surroundings to write on my novel or sketch something in my art book. A beautiful sunset, a country setting. Maybe everyone is gone and I have the house to myself. Maybe a bit of romantic music from the past comes on the radio. Rain and thunderstorms and the quiet of the gray around it.

Perfect settings for writing, painting … for self reflection and relaxing daydreams.

Yet I sit here, doing nothing. Feeling nothing. Except maybe like I want to take a nap or pour another cup of coffee or wonder what I’m going to make for dinner.

It seems my Muse sabotages me at every turn.

I believe that creativity and imagination are like soft electrical currents that are always running in the background. They make us feel good; they give us a sense of self worth, of achievement, and enjoyment. Look at how high you feel when you’re in the groove. On a roll. In the thick of things.

I also believe you can’t just call on the Muse and have her instantly appear.

You can’t make inspiration. You can’t make imagination.

You can encourage it, develop it, explore it. But you can’t make it. It comes at its own time. At its own speed.

I can’t seem to find my muse and her creative spark at the moment. There surely is a reason for that.

Maybe she wants me to just sit and listen to the rain.

 

 

 

 

Wow!

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 1 Comment

Okay okay!

I need to take a breath!

I’ve been catching up on my Reader reading these past few days, and have I found some interesting, spectacular, enjoyable art of all kinds from my artistic friends! I mean, WOW!

I can’t decide if I want to highlight all of them in one blog, do one blog a day for five days, one blog a week, give them full spread value, mix them up between my wit and wanton words …

I cannot believe I am so fascinated with the world of ART. I mean — it’s only a way to pass the time, isn’t it? It’s only using a pair of scissors to cut out a design.  A bit of glue and fabric on a piece of paper. A few brush strokes on a piece of canvas. 

Of course, if you believe that, our relationship is tainted.

Seriously, though. 

When one practices what they love over and over again, miracles happen. Little miracles, big miracles. Half miracles. Because it’s the soul, the ether, the cosmic power of life and beyond coming through.

Whew! Big words! Big emotions! Big exclamation points!

I think I’ll showcase them — and others — a couple of times a week.  There are sooooooo many people whose work I enjoy, and I’m always making new friends out there, too, whose work is ever inspiring. Just last week I highlighted Carsten Wieland and his creative painting videos — just sitting and watching him create is amazing.

I should make up a week about celebrating artists. But I’d be celebrating 52 weeks a year. And I already do that!

Keep on being inspired! Keep on Creating!