Tag: creativity

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

”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Maarten Vrolijk

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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/

 

 

 

 

Faerie Paths — Tattoos

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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

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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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instant Connection

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 11 Comments

Last night I went through the blogs I follow and came across my friend’s gallery Tiffany Arp-Daleo Artwork. I have showcased her work in both Humoring the Goddess and Sunday Evening Art Gallery. 

 

Tiffany has a unique way of creating abstract paintings — I love them..

This was Tiffany’s post yesterday:

Shadows Within

6/9” Mixed media on paper

Now I don’t spend a lot of time looking closely at contemporary art. I usually love a painting because of the colors or the shapes or a compilation that somehow attracts me.

The first thing I thought when I looked at this pic is: Is that my body? Are those the black spots of hell showing up throughout my torso?

I then wondered if this was a message from Tiffany. Why did she called it Shadows Within? Was this an attempt to tell her readers something?  A Cosmic Message? Or if it was just painting of orange and pink and black?

Even though I love all sorts of Art, I rarely have an emotional connection with them. There are billions of paintings or quilts or ceramics that are worth a second look, but rarely does one shoot out a bolt of connection between human and object.

I’m tickled to pieces.

This is why I keep encouraging you to open up to the Creative Magic that’s everywhere around you. Not every creation is for you — that’s why there’s such diversity in Arts and Crafts. But sooner or later something is going to resonate with you and it will be extraordinary.

Thanks for the unexpected zap, Tiffany!

 

 

 

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?

How Many Times Do I Say “NOW”?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 16 Comments

Well, I’ve certainly not been bored lately. 

How wonderful, you all think. Something to do all the time. Someone to do it with.

While I agree with your assessment (I am indeed blessed), I am in need of some alone time, too.

Some people HATE being alone. Past experiences, relationships, current mind chatter, all work on our psyche for good and bad. One bad carrot in the bag and we tend to throw the whole thing away.

I’ve actually been trying to EAT my carrots lately.

I’ve been busy with grandkids, camping with daughter-in-law’s parents, rearranging rooms, and today I’m moving in all my plants because of the cold nights coming (The funny thing about that is … why does it seem there are many more to bring in than were brought out last spring??) I was busy making purse charms and selling them at the art fair, shopping for products for my next art project, and collecting pics for future blogs. That’s not to mention washing tons of laundry and the ever-hated full sink of dishes.

It’s about time I pay as much attention to my body as I do picking out glass beads.

I am the heaviest I’ve ever been. I’m the most tired I’ve ever been. I am the flakiest I’ve ever been. I’m the oldest I’ve ever been, although that is a mute point. I’m also, in some worlds, the happiest I’ve ever been.

But if I don’t start working on this weight I won’t be around long enough to make any more “ever beens.”

So ONCE AGAIN I am working on a behavioral modification. I don’t do the “D” word or the “E” word any more. Those words just reflect dozens of failed New Year’s resolutions and bright spring morning starts.

I hear some of you say well, it’s too late for me. I’m too old to change my ways.

No you’re not. If you don’t start changing now, you won’t have a tomorrow to complain about.

What do dietitians and life coaches and psychics say? One day at a time?

I want to walk across a soccer field without getting a winded pain in the chest. I want to be able to lift my leg up to cross it on my other leg without pulling muscles. I want to eat healthier, sit outside more often, and be able to bend over without going “AAArrrrgggghhhh….eeeeahhhhooooo… jeeeeeezzzz.

So this Monday morning, before making a grocery list, before listening to smooth jazz jams and making homemade breakfast burritos, I am patting myself on the head and saying, “Go Girl. This time is the real time. One day at a time.”

I want to be around for my grandson’s high school graduation … heck… my seven-year-old’s high school graduation. I want to plan vacations where I can actually walk across a plaza without having to find a place to sit and recoup. I want to eat fresh foods and learn to cook all over again. I want to learn to walk and dance all over again.

If i can do it, you can do it. Do you need to do it?

Let’s get on this atta-boy band wagon together!

Let’s Do Life Together!

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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!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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?

 

 

 

Camping, Sofa, and a Sword

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 15 Comments

I have to say I’m a bit old fashioned, but after visiting another place for a couple of days, there’s no place like home.

We just spent five days camping with two of our best friends and 3 dogs, and, except for the huge thunderstorm that came through last night, it was a great time.

But I am now home, bags and coolers unpacked, and I’m loving digging down into my comfy sofa. Last week I was bored sitting on this same sofa.

Aren’t we all just the funniest things?

We love where we are, we long to be someplace else. We make our surroundings as comfortable and magical as we can, yet we dream of experiencing the magic of other places, other experiences.

It’s like we’re happy we ordered lasagna but wish we would have ordered someone else’s steak too.

I think it’s so important to explore other worlds, other foods, other experiences. It doesn’t matter if you can’t actually go to the places you dream about — you can still take that next step and explore it your way. Cook a cuisine you’ve always wondered about; take a virtual tour of your dream vacation; read a book written by someone who sat right in the middle of your travel destination.

At the moment I’m watching Forged in Fire, a reality TV series on the History Channel where bladesmiths make and test bladed weapons. There have been some fine and amazing swords, knives, and other bladed weapons made on that show… a creative world I know nothing about. But it’s so fun to watch artists who DO know about it!

I encourage you to try new recipes, new forms of poetry, and new creative skills. Let me know what you’ve explored, what you’ve enjoyed, what you’ll never try again.  

As I always say, life’s too short.

Don’t waste it digging too far into your sofa.

 

 

 

Background Distraction or Enhancement?

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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?

 

 

My Own Creativity Shed/She-Shed

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 18 Comments

If you remember, eons ago I did a Sunday Evening Art Gallery Post on Creativity Sheds  (my term), otherwise popularly known as She Sheds.

According to Hartville Outdoor Products, a She Shed is a personal retreat designed specifically for women, offering a quiet, comfortable space separate from the main house. Much like the male counterpart, the man cave, a she shed provides a place for relaxation, hobbies, or work.

She Sheds are much like storage sheds, set in a backyard or at the edge of a patio somewhere, that provide a workspace for painting, crafting, or writing, along with a cozy retreat for reading, meditating, or socializing with friends.

Well, I have rechristened my downstairs library into my very own Creativity Shed.

We have an extra bedroom upstairs for overnight visits by grandkids and traveling friends, and a downstairs that has turned  into a man cave with football memorabilia mixed into a video game center. We moved the “library” downstairs into a room with a window, and it hasn’t been the same since.

I mostly do crafts down there, but I, too, have memorabilia from days gone by, stacked and shifted in-between books and posters and our first breakfront that is way too big for my dining area. I found a wall that was just calling for my winter 2024 sketches, and I got brackets for the closet to hang my works-in-progress.

A number of people have said they wished they had a Creativity Shed. I was one of them.

Then I realized that I didn’t have to go to a separate building to build my own world. That it doesn’t matter if a room is geared to crafts or reading or sketching or meditation. It’s what YOU make it that counts.

Even a table in the corner or a spare closet can be your escape pod. Creative people need a place to write, to think, to dream and daydream.

Don’t worry about what others think of your creative gambit. If they know you — really know you — they won’t think a thing about it. Just do it.

 

 

 

 

 

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.

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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 II

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 18 Comments

Deep cold outside today — and lots of snow to come tonight. Welcome to Wisconsin.

Today I’d like to share a second round of personal “masterpieces” from my drawing spurt at the turn of the new year. 

I would sketch the circle in first, then let the theme take me where it would. How cosmic… But really, I had a basic idea for each theme, but what filled the spaces was (my) magic.

I hope you try this sometime!

 

Loss

 

Life

 

Flowers

 

 

 

How Does Creativity Appear in YOUR World?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 15 Comments

cYesterday I got together with family to (a) celebrate a birthday and (b) watch the Super Bowl, only one of which had a happy ending (I’m a Chicago Bears fan, so really the whole Super Bowl was superfluous..)

One of the family members received some birthday presents, including materials to craft a hanging terra cotta pot with sparkling leaves/stones flowing out of it. She showed me a couple of pics online and I thought, “Wow! What a creative idea!”

I also brought my current bookmark idea to the fold and got some really good feedback from book lovers, and I thought, “Wow! I never thought of that.”

I also sat down with my 7-year-old granddaughter and colored in her new Floral coloring book, and, watching her color, thought, “Wow! She’s good!”

Creativity surrounds us. Every day.

I use the word freely from everything from diamond art to Sunday Evening Art Galleries. Whenever someone makes something by hand I slip it into the Creative Folder. Whenever someone talks about a book they wrote or material they bought to use in scrapbooking I slip it into the Creative Folder.

Some of us make money off our creations — I hope to this summer at a couple of craft fairs. Others decorate their house or garage or  back yard garden with their creative thoughts and touches.

I never tire of listening to someone talk about their Creative experiments.

Experiments litter my craft room/library as I learn more and more of what to do and what not to do.

And I’m always learning.

I’m thinking of making a walking circle/meditation circle/labyrinth in my back yard this year. My husband rolls his eyes and tells me all the obstacles in the way of creating a circle of paths and flowers and creative weeds.

But just the thought gets me all tingly and excited.

After all — the BIG question is —

Why Not?

 

 

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 …

 

 

Been Bitten by the Creative Bug Yet?

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After

Before

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday in Wisconsin it was 46 degrees. Tomorrow the high is supposed to be 2.

Welcome to Wisconsin.

Christmas was hectic and stressful. I figured this winter weather would flatten any Creative balloon I was riding for some time to come. I cleaned out my library/art room/craft room, (↑) since it had stayed dormant since my last craft show. I finished my Art Series …. (more to come!) I thought about what was next — diamond paintings or more circle of life (?) sketches or sewing sparkles on a few T-shirts or coloring mandalas in coloring books.  

Nothing sparked any interest. Cold weather makes me lethargic. Very cold weather makes me a zombie. I hoped I was merely between projects. Not done with them.

Who thinks of arts and crafts when it’s two below outside? Who cares about crafting sparkles when your car won’t start because of the weather or the pipes crack? It’s so much easier to cover up with a blanket and watch stupid TV shows from the past or catch up with Game of Thrones reruns.

Yesterday I thought about with two more products I could add to my Angel Tears inventory. And suddenly my energy is returning. I found myself going through my inventory and sketching new ideas and running through Amazon or Allstarco for gemstone ideas.

I believe that once you open your Creative portal you’ll never be able to close it again. That is, unless you really want to.

I don’t want to. And I hope you don’t want to, either.

Life often sucks around us. I’m dealing with some pretty serious “situations” around me these days, lives and futures in the balance, tomorrow never a given. I never underplay the importance of someone doing what needs to be done to take care of themselves or their friends and family. 

Sometimes being creative is a release from all of that. A dance up in the ether, a bit of sunshine and wind and glorious sunsets. It’s reaching out and doing something no one else can do — not the way you do it. Understand it like you understand it.

Refusing to go quietly into the night, I have set a few “real” goals for this year.  I am going to open a website for my wares. I am also going to expand my business to include windchimes and bookmarks. At least I’m thinking about on doing it all.

Maybe it’s only January, but I hope it’s not too early for you to toss around ideas of starting something new (and creative) or expanding what you’re doing.

Let me know what you’re up to. We can always toss off ideas off one another — even while sitting comfortably on the sofa under a blanket — 

 

 

 

 

 

My Art Gallery #2 –Fall

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Fall

 

My second piece of abstract art. This one I call Fall.

What I’ve been learning from artwork to artwork is that each one evokes different energy from me. The more I practice the better I become … which is a given for all of us. I feel I move forward every time I don’t accidentally touch the paper with a dark marker or blend and re-blend colors from pencils. 

Every piece of art is different. Every piece is a free-handed effort to turn emotions from a particular word into a design on a piece of art paper, trying not to be too obtuse or obscure. All in all it’s been a learning experience. One I’m currently addicted to…

What’s in your bag of creativity this week?

 

Faerie Paths — Optimism

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After you have found inner peace you have endless energy — the more you give, the more you receive. After you have found your calling, you work easily and joyously. You never get tired.

Peace Pilgrim

 

 

When Do You Get Inspired?

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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.

 

 

 

Rah! Rah!

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I am hoping that by now you have jumped off that fence and landed onto the field of Creativity. That you have decided to try something new and/or different and/or advanced in your field.

I know I’m a weirdy, but since I started my pencil/gel pen art I have been in such a great mood. I’m pumped up to the tree tops! Every new art piece is different, yet stays within the parameters that I set for myself.

The parameters are pretty solid, but they are so flexible I often don’t see them. A certain theme for each piece, the use of only colored markers and glitter gel pens, the size of the paper, a certain repetition in each piece … blah blah. The rest is whatever hits me at the moment.

I am now even able to weave a mistake into the general design. How cool is that?

I know a lot of you find time to squeeze in a little Art time. For others there’s almost no hole to squeeze into. Then why do I keep pushing Creativity down your throats?

Because getting lost in Art is the only time no one can tell you what to do. It’s you and your craft. No one to tell you you’ve colored out of the lines or missed a stitch or that your squares are crooked. You find a mistake, you flow with it. You find a new twist, you go with it.

YOU go with it. Not because your teacher or hubby or sister-in-law told you to go with it.

There’s a lot of noise out there. A lot of sad things we can do nothing about. But we CAN do something about how we feel inside. We can find a way to express ourselves no matter what our beliefs and origins and talents are.

Do it. Find a half hour or an hour or half a day and just EXPLORE this wonderful world we live in. And share it! Don’t let it gather dust in a corner underneath a month’s worth of laundry or old newspapers.

And, oh — by the way — I’m still waiting to hear from you other thousands of Creativity lovers about what Art you’re doing or thinking about.

Let’s encourage each other!

Rah! Rah!

 

 

Being Bored is Never a Problem — 24 Hours Is

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For the last 20-25 years, being bored has never been a problem for me.

I was always writing something, sewing beads on something, reading something — the twirly list goes on and on. A lot of the time the craft that busied me one week got left behind the next, but Art in general and Creativity specifically has never really left me.

To be honest, I don’t have it in me anymore to write a 300 page novel; the research and discipline needed just isn’t as crack high as it used to be. But I am still reproofing (and rewriting) a couple of novel series that I may attempt to get published one day. 

I’m also trying to read the Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (Gertrude Stein) and the Godfather (Mario Puzo).

I’ve also want to take up drawing again.

Being in a house/cabin with full time fishermen can drive a Creative Sprite like me crazy if I didn’t have something to do. Supplies (both brought and left behind up here) have taken me to a new creative place.

ARTIST FRIENDS: Maybe you can give me an idea as to what to call it.

I’m sketching abstract designs (see Look Out Wassily Kandisky — Here I Come!), all with a common denominator (or two). Otherwise they are their own interpretation of the name of the work. Storm, Saturday, Loss.

I do find the more I work on them, the more coherent they become. Thoughts and ideas that did not appear at first sketch have worked their way onto the paper. And what I thought was a challenge (colored pencils vs. watercolor paints) has turned out to be a gift in its own medium.

I know I preach Creativity in Life ad nauseum, but I encourage you to listen to that little fluttering in the depths of your mind and/or soul and go for it. You will find whatever craft and whatever medium you choose to be addicting, along with frustrating, cerebral, and exciting. What more could you ask for?

Which makes me wish there were more than 24 hours in a day.

Some preliminary sketches:

 

Add some spice to your life! And be sure to share your excitement with me!

 

 

 

 

Hanging Out With the Guys

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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

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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

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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

 

 

 

Realigning and Refocusing

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Most people try to refocus and realign themselves on a Monday morning, usually after a long weekend of partying, traveling, or soccer games.

I am trying to refocus and realign myself on a Friday.

Good luck.

I have just returned from five days of camping, of which I alluded to in a previous blog (Which Time/Space Continuum Am I In?) Well, now I’m here, it’s Friday, I’ll be proofreading this today, publishing it today, and realigning myself with it today.

It’s funny how, no matter how you spend a smattering of days, you seem to find solace back in doing your crafts. That no matter how crazy your day/week/month has been, you can always find solace and comfort in your Creativity.

You don’t need to sit down and write a novel or cast a piece of pottery. Nor do you need to tackle War and Peace or carve a statue out of wood. All you need sometimes is to lose yourself in what makes you happy. Read an article or sort some beads or doodle some wild crazy drawing. It doesn’t matter how you reconnect, as long as you reconnect.

Of course, reconnecting could also mean talking to someone you’ve been missing, texting a friend, or pulling out an old recipe and cooking it. I love doing all those things, especially when I need to reconnect to the world I love.

For me, though, writing always calls me back. It has for over 30 years. Something about the written word — finding the right written word — makes me realign my chakras and energy bloops and confusing thoughts into one coherent line.

I’m psyched up about bring out more Sunday Evening Art Galleries — I’ve got so many new and odd and beautiful art and artists to showcase. I look forward to reading your blogs and encouraging you whenever I can.

And even if you don’t connect to this outside world often, I look forward to hanging with you on some astral plane somewhere, talking art and food and movies.

I mean, after all, we’re all connected one way or another, right?

 

 

 

 

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!

 

 

Faerie Paths — Madness

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You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.

~ Robin Williams

 

 

 

Monday Monday (repost)

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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

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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

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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!

 

 

 

 

 

Faerie Paths — Making Art

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Amy Brown

 

Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.

~ Andy Warhol

 

 

Push the Button!

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Our first snowstorm of of the year hasn’t come our way yet  to lock me inside and force me to play checkers with Creativity, but I see her walking around the living room holding the box with the pieces above her head anyway.

What am I waiting for?

This usually is the time of year I get sparked with new creative ideas. Things to continue, things to research, things to improve. Things to get rid of. I  always keep in mind my energy and attention levels, but at this early part of the month there’s no reason not to feel like Florence Griffith Joyner sprinting through the 100 meter run.

You can have a LOT of energy sitting on your sofa or at your kitchen table, right?

I try and put my new ideas behind washing the kitchen floors and rearranging my linen closet, both of which are numero uno on my work place list.

But I’m also thinking of introducing a new Angel Tear to my offerings, switching some beads that didn’t work well with ones that will, look for maybe one more craft show this summer, look into days I can take my grandkids camping,  putting all my downloaded music on one hard drive, and researching a 42nd anniversary vacation to Paris and Rome.

Which comes first?

Does it matter?

Why do I get so pumped up about things I may or may not do? Why do I set myself up for failure because anything could happen at any moment and change the plans of my world?

I do it because it’s fun.

I love to dream. I love to pretend. I love to walk through other’s imaginations by reading their books and viewing their paintings and flipping through their scrapbooks. 

Maybe its because once you get through your first big blow in life, nothing is the same, and the best way of healing is to find your joy button and push it as often as you can.

The sound may not be the same: the song may have changed, the pitched lowered, the warble increased, but it’s the same joy button you’ve always had. It’s always there, no matter how much you try and ignore it or belittle it or say you don’t deserve a button.

Sorry, folks. Everyone has a joy button. And the best way to make it through this life (and the next) is to push that button as often as you can.

The world deserves you.

 

 

 

Coming Soon to Your Computer Screen!

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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?

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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!

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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.

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

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?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 12 Comments

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.

 

 

Take Your Reader on The Journey! (Revisited) — Writing your first novel-Things you should know (repost)

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Doing a little research, I found Jan originally wrote about this topic on November 19, 2019.

The advice is still spot-on.

Get writing! Today if possible — Tomorrow at the latest!

 

 

I’ve written several blogs patting authors on the back and thanking them for the joy they provide to people like my mom. She is elderly and can’t go to the places she would like to visit, but my mom loves books. They take her not only to places she would like to go, but places […]

Take Your Reader on The Journey! (Revisited) — Writing your first novel-Things you should know

 

 

Finally Finished Friday — Daily Fiber (repost)

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 2 Comments
I once naively thought that quilting was about sewing together pieces of fabrics that appealed to the quilter. While this is true, Laura Kate has shown that often there is a story behind the material. A story of someone’s world, of someone’s heart.

Take a few minutes and see how my friend has put together a quilt made of pieces created in another time, another place.

Starting back in January with some musings over passed-along weaving samples, today I celebrate the finish of a fiber object unlike anything I have done before. Margaret Howard wove her samples on a small loom that she kept at the family’s summer house in northwestern Wisconsin. When I first saw them, I felt that these […]

Finally Finished Friday — Daily Fiber

 

 

 

Be brave enough to live life creatively — Purplerays

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 2 Comments
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

Friends and Creativity

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 9 Comments

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 ….

 

Have You Started Being Creative Yet This Year?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 23 Comments

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/

 

 

 

 

Overload on a Monday Morning

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 4 Comments

I got up this morning, sleepyheaded and in need of chocolate raspberry coffee. I had an idea for a blog, and in a daze started rummaging through ten years of blogs looking for references.

It would have been easier to walk through a corn maze blindfolded.

But then I came across one from  Nov 11, 2019 called My Muse Says I Should Be a Grand Poobah that referenced an earlier blog from Jun 28, 2017 called Keep a Calendar — or a Muse which referenced a blog from Jun 25, 2015 called Calendar Girls which was about bout a conversation with my Creative Muse.

Oh my goodness. Now I see in writing why I’m such a whirlwind pretzel logic kind gal. It gives me a headache. I need more coffee.

But I digress.

There is a blog I follow called Rethinking Life. Every now and then she posts conversations she has with her cat, like Conversations. 

I figured if she can have conversations with her cat, I can have conversations with my muse. So here is my conversation from — when? — I dunno — I’m lost in the past. But it encourages jotting down all the creative ideas you have for projects that you may want to do someday. 

 

Calendar Girls

My Irish Wench Muse came to visit me last night. She was all full of her usual Irish self. I wasn’t writing or researching or hanging with my family, so I knew something was up.

“Read yer blog the other day,” she said, smiling, wiping the kitchen table off.

“Oh? Great! Which one?”

“The whinneh one.”

I should have been upset, but how can you be upset at your truthful conscience?

“Whiny? Why was it whiny?”

“A lotta ‘I wants’ and “I’ canna haves’. And no solution. What kenna blog is that?”

I sat straighter in my chair, watching her bend over a drop of gravy and start to scrape it. “Hey! All bloggers get down now and then. It’s part of the creative process!”

“Aye, and a lotta bees sting people when they’re nah looking, too. And they still manage to make the honey.”

I had to see where this was going and fast.

“Well, I didn’t see it as whining. I saw it as voicing the universal truth of too much to do and not enough time to do it all.”

“Nay — the ‘Universal Truth’ is more like ‘Leave your dog inside too long and he’s bound ta poop somewhere.’ That’s why you need a calendar, lass.”

“I already have a calendar at work. And it’s packed full.’

“Do you get everything done on the calendar?”

“Well, duh. It’s work.”

“Then, my darlin’ writer, you need a calendar at home, too. A Grand Poobah Calendar.”

Tickle me with an oak leaf. That’s how much sense she made. “A calendar I get. But a Grand Poobah Calendar? What is that?”

Viola finished scraping the drip and headed towards the crack between the leaves. A dangerous area. “The term is from one of those operas. The Poobah has all the titles and ‘na much else.”

I didn’t get what that had to do with me and my whining…er…woes.

“If  ya canna make time in your head, write it down. Make the time on the calendar,” she explained, pulling out a butter knife to scrape the caverns between leaves.

“But that means I’d have to be — organized! How can a pretzel be organized?“

She shook her head between grunts. Must have been extra crumbs down the crack.

“How does the Gran’ Poobah get things done? Too many titles, too little authority. At least if he writes the bloomin’ things down he can see what he wants to do first. And he can pretend to do everything, even if everything is 5 or 10 minutes a day.”

Well, that made sense. I helped her scrape the bread crumbs out of the crack and she smiled her little Irish smile.

“You’ve just got to know how to do a calendar, luv. Jam them with all sorts of rot.  Then when you start the day, start crossin’ off. Lines through rot are good for the soul! Makes you pick and choose your rot!” She spit on a slide of old milk. ” You know, I may be a muse but I’ve got other ‘tings I have to do too. I canna babysit you all the time. “

I nodded sheepishly.

“I’m yer creative Muse, ya know. A lot of work goes into finding projects for you and fillin’ your head with ideas and suggestions. Makes my brown beer turn green half the time!”

“Well,” I said, “you know I love your company. And your ideas. I wish I would have listened to you 20 years ago, before I had grandkids.”

She threw out a hearty laugh. “Darlin’ 20 years ago you had your own kids, and were just as busy! and 20 years before that! Where do you think all that stencillin’ you did at the B&B came from? Or those sky space paintings from yer youth? Or that story you wrote about you and that English guitar player — Paul? Or that story about the beep bopin’ alien growning his own…”

“I get it. I get it. Make a calendar. Put it all down. Bring your plans out of the 4th dimension in to this 3rd dimension so I can get a handle on it and do a little bit of everything instead of none of a lot. I get it.”

Viola nodded and stood. She was beautiful — green eyes, full figure, Irish brogue and all.

“Donna forget — I’m riding up to the cabin with you this weekend. I’ve got a great idea for a poem! Oh, and my sister from Italy is comin’ too! She noticed you have a bare wall downstairs, and she’s oh-so-up with Italian Frescoes!”

Uh Oh..

 

Am I Really an Artist?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ Leave a comment

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

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 15 Comments

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!

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Creativity Sheds

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 17 Comments

 

I love every phase, crack, and field of Creativity.I don’t care what you try, what you excel at, what you blunder through.To create is to live.Wouldn’t it be great if you had a special place — just for you — that you could use to your heart’s desire?So it can be with what I call Creativity Sheds.There are She-Sheds, Work Spaces, Get-A-Way Sheds — all with their own ambience.But what I had in mind is more than an escape shed full of couches and pillows and personal mementos — it’s a magical place where you can explore your craft and move forward in your own way.I have wandered through the Internet to find images of the perfect writing spot.The perfect painting spot.The perfect scrapbooking spot.Here are some ideas to take away your breath and get your creative juices going.These pictures are of interiors only — we’ll let the outsides (of which there are many amazing ones) for another blog.Which one would you choose?

 

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

 

 

 

Art Can Be Found Anywhere

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 3 Comments

Vilas County, Wisconsin, is a small community of citizens in the almost-northern part of the state. Established in 1893, the county boasts a population of a little over 22,000 people. It’s a rural community, a farm community, and a tourist destination for fishing, hiking, and snowmobiling.

It also is the home of the Vilas County Fair.

The fair itself is small, held together by the carnival that moves in for three days and tradition of having your cows, jams, and art work judged by professionals.

The hearts and minds of artists dwell within this small community fair, too.

A competition that barely fills one pole barn, the artists of tomorrow are showing off their creativity, their inspirations, and their talent. Walking through an art show on this small of a scale can fill you with awe and pride and enchantment just as much as walking through the Milwaukee Art Museum.

No matter how big, no matter how small, you can feel the heartbeat of creativity in everything you see.

Take time to visit small art fairs, county fairs, and school art shows. You’ll love what you find.

 

Vilas County Schools Art

(for safety I did not take or record names)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

Reflections

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 20 Comments

Daniel Hannah

You know — I’ve been thinking lately. Reflecting.

That usually means trouble. Confusion.

As I have been in an over-emotional mood lately, I reflected upon my past blogs. The upbeat, pro-creativity, happy-go-lucky blogs.

I realize — that truly is me. I truly believe in handling your own destiny. At least as much as life allows.

But I also wanted you to know that at times I’m an emotional trainwreck, too.

I have fears, inhibitions, and confusion just like you do. I have crabby days, doubtful days, days of wonder and of wondering.

How do you get through those days?

Don’t you sometimes want to drink a bottle, take some pills, stand in the middle of the yard and just scream?

We all know only one of those three really work. And the neighbors might wonder if they see you standing in the middle of your yard one night yodeling your brains out.

First off, I am not against anti-depressants, a glass of wine now and then, or professional therapy. Never be ashamed to go the next step to clear your head. I know I have.

But what if you are just going through the normal ups and downs of a busy, fulfilling life?

Waiting for change to happen is like waiting for water to turn to ice.

That makes me swing back to Creativity.

I dunno. I just feel better creating something. Discovering something. Researching something. Moving feels so much better than sitting still. Especially sitting still day after day, watching nothing but my derrière spread wider.

Doing something for myself gets me out of my funk and back into the land of the living.

I happen to love writing. And certain crafts. And photography. And walking through nature. And taking a drive through the county. And fetching my dog. The list goes on and on.

Your list should go on and on, too.

As I said earlier, there is depression and then there is depression. If you are suffering from unrelenting sadness, confusion, and stress, talk to someone. Professional or otherwise. Don’t try to handle the world alone.

If you suffer from an occasional up and down moment, accept it while moving forward. Paint a picture. Doodle a whole page of nonsense. Buy a few inexpensive flowering plants and dig a hole and plant them. Research something odd like auras or Alpha Centauri or Medieval life (I’ve researched all three). Watch a stupid movie. Build something cool from your kid’s Legos.

Find a way back to Creativity.

To imagination.

To logic.

To love.

Admit the crabbies and move along back to what you were put on this Earth to do.

Create.

 

Yet ANOTHER Creative Pastime

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 20 Comments

Along with all my other creative pastimes, I love photography. I haven’t taken any classes, no professional training. I just love taking pictures.

Today I am going to take a chance and share some of my photography from the last year. As you can see, I’m a sucker for nature in all its seasons, all its forms. No filters, no computer graphics or adjustments, no special lenses. Just my phone camera.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed taking them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creative Multitasking

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 7 Comments

Goddess Durga

Ahhhh …. the joys of Creativity.

While writing is still a passion for me, I am finding it harder and harder to get into the drive-till-you-crash novel mode.

I wonder why that is.

I’m going to skip the age thing, as I don’t think it’s as much that as it is the investment toll it takes to write 80,000 words (more or less).

As many of you know, there is a real commitment behind writing a full length novel. If you are as good as your grain (so to speak), you need to do a lot of research, have a flair for the English (or other) language, have patience for your story to develop, and be in a setting where you are not interrupted every five minutes.

You really should be willing to devote your entire being to writing that book, not only because you enjoy doing so, but it is so easy to get distracted into other creative worlds.

I know that all too well.

All you creative people do.

Where there’s writing there’s crafts. Where there’s quilting there is painting. Where there are Christmas ornaments there is ceramics. One door opens to another to another to another, and before you know it you look behind you and have left a half dozen doors wide open.

Which do you close? Which do you work on?

You love them all? The universe, in its wise forethought, only lets you do one project at a time.

I have a few novels I want to fine tune and get online. I have a third I need to write. I have a second trip to Paris outlined but (at the moment) have no Internet to do research. I also have a website I want to update, a craft show to prepare for, supplies to order, and a sketchbook I bought a few years ago that I’m dying to try out. And how about that Vietnamese Coconut Caramel Chicken recipe that’s been sitting in my inbox for over two weeks?

Dedication to one project at a time is a big mountain to climb. So is a writing free-for-all for weeks on end.

I hope by now you have found a main project to work on, plus have  a half dozen others waiting in the wing; research one, practicing on another, finishing up a third.

I find creative people find a way to multitask when it comes to Art in in its many forms. It’s a passion, it’s a destination. It’s a release and a growing experience. Prioritizing, unfortunately, is not as easy.

Tell me what creative balls YOU are juggling these days!

 

 

Faerie Paths — Discovery

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 3 Comments

KSN 2015K Super Nova

 

We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves. ~ Galileo Galilei