Twenty Twenty Forward

 Happy New Year! 

Did you hit the streets for the holidays? Me? Lolol oh, absolutely NOT. I saw the new year in from the comfort of home. With champagne glass in hand, I opened the vertical blinds of the back porch wide, turned off all the lights, kicked up my feet, then enjoyed fireworks courtesy of my neighbors...

Inherited Creativity

I am a multimedia artist. I've spent many years charting my own creative course. And it's definitely a unique one. But I come from a family of creative people (on both sides) who left me a creative birthright and some tools to help me along the way. 

Art Herstory

*This is an entry that was originally written on 11/16/2017 but was forgotten in drafts! Happily, with a few minor tweaks and updates, it still applies.

I've been told from time to time, throughout my life, how fortunate I am to have been aware of my passion from an early age. People seemed to feel that I had my destiny all sewn up neatly from the start. While I don't take my lifelong passion for granted, it's not that black and white.

The gray area has been the time and energy [well] spent experimenting my entire life with all the many different iterations of being an artist, fine-tuning my direction. When I was a kid, there was a wide, exciting world of drawing, painting, sculpting, building, and more that stretched out in front of me, waiting for me to choose. I was largely self-taught, so I went through various self-guided phases. One year, all I seemed to do was draw clowns and princesses in poofy dresses. 

Connections

I've recently mentioned here and across other social media that I'm finally getting the ball rolling with both my dormant YouTube channel and Patreon feed.

 

I'm thrilled to be flexing some creative muscles that I wasn't sure I was ready to use. But in the process of creating new content in new ways, I'm realizing that it's not a far cry from what I've already been doing, and actually feeding my inspiration to create even more. It reminds me of a quote attributed to Pablo Picasso: "inspiration exists, but it has to find you working", meaning, you don't gain inspiration being idle, you start, and then the ideas start flowing. Crazy, right? 

Monday on Target- Focusing!

The other day something made me realize that I forgot to plan. Yeah, that sounds pretty silly.

Many of us are good at setting goals and putting new things into practice, like exercise, reading, starting a garden, etc. But then we get busy and sometimes lose sight of what we meant to do and why we started.

I've had success with something that I'm sure many people dispel as "hokey", silly, or pointless. But for me, it's been effective- I've seen results. And with new developments in my personal and professional lives, it occurred to me that I was falling off in one area in particular. One that seems to affect all the other areas. My vision boards. 

About Faces

coincidence: my face for #womenempoweringwomen 
trending recently on Instagram

Recently I launched my very first virtual art exhibit. After some planning, writing, and more editing than I initially bargained for, it was finally live online. Not just with art, but with interactive links and info related to the content. The name of the show is "Faces", and the topic is, well, faces. 

I created it in response to the cancellation of in-person events caused by the pandemic, and to the surge of the Black Lives Matter movement.

💡 One Tip Tuesday: Roll Call

I'm so ashamed (okay, not really ashamed). I started One Tip Tuesday a few years back, with nothing but good intentions, but other things got in the way of those good intentions. 

But it's never too late to amend one's ways and to try again to get it right. So I'm recommitting to this, because I have a laundry list of things I'd like to share on the creative, DIY, and art fronts. In many years of building, tearing apart, and rebuilding my studio, the work I do there, and my approach, I have managed to create shortcuts, time savers, and my own favorite approach to everything from making things, planning things, and being organized while doing those things. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely not touting myself as some sort of expert. But I do want to share (for anyone who is interested) things I've figured out along the way that have made my life easier. I actually would like my whole blog to take something of that tone. BUT the purpose of OTT (WHOA- I just made it an acronym! And we're on our way!!) is quick tips in short posts that I share, that can be reshared, and that I can refer back to myself. These are meant to be no-fuss quickies that I hope will have value, based on my own experience, not on things I read about something I have never tried. So, for instance, this will probably be the single longest OTT, as I'm rambling about my personal ground rules. Going forward, comprehensive info on any of the tips will hopefully not be necessary, as this will just be a couple pictures and a short paragraph. That way, hopefully, I can stay on track with it. And I can still answer questions in comments. I am still shooting to do longer posts on specific projects and techniques, but those would be something separate. 

If you already follow my blog, you may know that I struggle to find time for ONE post a month. Don't worry, you won't suddenly receive twice-weekly post notifications with ads and begging for shares, lol. Like you, I don't have a bunch of time to devote to blogging or reading blogs. But I am hoping to achieve more reasonable consistency, without writing useless fluff.

All that said, here is the first in the new chapter of One Tip Tuesdays. Today I'm sharing some of the useful rolled stuff I try to keep on hand in the studio.  Here's a shortlist:

• Clear Plastic Wrap- great for lining molds to make pulling items out when they're dry easier. Also great for stretch wrapping items together, no hair dryer required.

• wax paper- ball up into shapes for sculpture armatures, use as homemade transfer paper, wrap leftover clays short term, disposable palette paper

• GLAD brand Press'n Seal- cover leftover paint in pots or on a palette to use later, seal small parts onto bigger things so they are visible and won't get lost, short term patch for rips

• freezer paper- create a non-stick work surface, draw on the non-coated side like banner paper

• banner roll- mount onto a curtain rod to create a continuous sketch area on a wall or table, use to create a smooth, seamless backround for pictures, use as a heavy duty wrapping medium- stamp patterns for custom paper

• dollar store brown wrapping paper (in print or plain) wrap things big and small, crumple to fill boxes or bags, make gift bags, cover salvaged boxes, books, or cans for storage

• thrift store fabrics- keep on hand for all kinds of quick projects: patching things, covering things, making scented sachets, covering things, adding layers to projects, photo backgrounds

The possibilities are endless. I don't think I  even covered half. And having these around for a last minute or unexpected project makes my life easier.  Hope this tip gives you some inspiration to make yours easier, too. Feel free to share your own uses in comments! Rock and roll! (sorry 😛)

Seasons of Anticipation

Spring Azaleas

I could make lists of the things I love about every season. I've lived in the Southeast for many years now, and have lived further north, west, and south. So I've experienced seasons in several extremes. 

We're well into Spring in Georgia, settled in enough for the pollen to have subsided, but the season still fresh enough to awaken the senses. Its arrival made me think about how much I relish every season. Before the first signs, I begin to anticipate all the little things I will enjoy. It's not just about the weather. It's the seasonal food, the family, friends, even the clothes... All the little things that I have come to look forward to, and that have contributed to sweet memories and lots of creative inspiration over the years. I like to "pre-savor" each season in early appreciation, since they often seem to pass so quickly. Sort of like the anticipation I feel when I see my plate coming in a restaurant. I'm almost glad it's not quite there, because I get to start appreciating the experience before it even reaches me. It's much nicer than looking up one day and realizing with sadness, that the days, the light, the colors that belong only to that season are swiftly slipping away, that exact time never to be recaptured outside of memories.

I don't consider myself old, but I've grown to appreciate other things in my life that way-- people, places, projects, etc. Day to day, consciously or unconsciously, things grow and change. The world is constantly changing. And my answer to that is to constantly renew my promise to me: to pause in anticipation, appreciation, and expectation of a season of wonderful things.♥

fresh cut!

TBT: Childhood Creative Sparks

It's throwback Thursday, which stirred up a memory of a creative beginning I had long forgotten. Today I'm reminiscing about a game called Mouse Trap. You may remember it- may have even played it?

image source: Google

It was a game that involved building a contraption that required syncing a series of moving parts domino style, to get an end result (trapping a little plastic mouse). 

The Rube Goldberg inspired gizmo had to be assembled prior to playing. At some point during the game, landing on a certain spot or drawing a particular card would call for the mechanism to be triggered, dooming the losing player's mouse to being trapped.
The cause and effect parts of that game could very well have been the beginnings of training my brain to continually dream up creative solutions. I say train, because even though I've always felt creative, it took years of training my mind to see all kinds of things for their creative potential, and to automatically brainstorm multiple ways to make projects work using found (or bought) things. That didn't just happen, lol. It's a creative muscle I built further through school projects, problem solving at various jobs, and personal projects.
I think anyone can develop a skill to compliment a passion or talent through practice. Do it enough and it becomes automatic.
Anyway, the game is a fond memory. And maybe a good example of snowballing something simple into something I use constantly to this day.❤