The Ball's in Your Court

I am a creative person obsessed with productivity and progress. And while this has kept me silent here, for lack of time to post, I've been enjoying the fruits of my efforts elsewhere (info coming). Anyway, when I get an idea in my head, I hate little distractions from the working to realize said idea. But I noticed that regular short breaks actually helped my productivity, so I've developed the habit of pausing my work to stretch, go outside, check social media (which must have a time limit attached!). It acts as a reset button, and has proven not to slow down my work, problem solving, or new ideas, but actually help it. Like blasting fresh air through my mind, lol. Anyway, recently, I saw a video online that intrigued me. As usual, I already had 5-6 browser windows open, working on a number of different things simultaneously. I hate seeing tempting video links online, and this one toyed with my resistance to open yet another tab, or get drawn into another thing. But I gave in and clicked, and learned about something I had never heard of before. I thought it was pretty cool, so I'm sharing it below.

As for my new developments, I have a new collection called Motif, which can be found on my website, and lots of other things in the works. The past few months (well, this year, really), have been a time of quietly working and building to realize long sought dreams and goals for myself and my work. There have been all kinds of new ideas, resolution of old ones, problems, solutions, planning, sacrificing, and reaching outside of my comfort zone. But as I start to see things materialize even in tiny measures, I have every expectation that it'll all be worth it. I also have a number of draft posts in the back office here, which I hope to complete and publish soon. You, dear reader, are special, so I like to carefully craft what I share for utmost inspiration here. I'll be sharing more soon. And without further adieu, that video I mentioned about a dissertation ago, lol:

Inspired by these mysterious spheres? Find some not-so-mysterious handmade ones to add to your decor  in my website store. And the new collection, Motif.

Wordless Wednesday

soon!

Gnat Anymore

I don't have the time to Google it and find out for sure, but I'm pretty sure that there are absolutely no benefits to having gnats (i.e. fruitflies) on this planet. If I could have chosen the creatures that God left off his to-do list, they would make the top 3 for me. Okay that was mean. But gnats seriously annoy me. In the summertime, here in the Southern U.S., and I'm sure, many other places, they somehow appear, explode into hundreds more each day, and think that you've purchased fresh produce purely to welcome them into your home. 

I, personally, got fed up with them zooming around past my ears and face, playing tag in front of my computer screen, and landing on my food. So the past few summers I have experimented with a few different concoctions found by Googling "kill the bastards"- kidding- I don't need the government knocking on my door. I just searched "getting rid of gnats", and found a bunch of variations of a basic mixture. I guess the mixture you choose could be determined by whether you have bougie gnats, country gnats, ghetto gnats, or whatever- no one mixture seemed to work for everybody who discussed their infestation online. After a bunch of trial and error, I worked out a mixture that's finally doing the trick for me. The mixtures were all simple, without hard and fast measured amounts, and the most common denominator in all of them was apple cider vinegar. Some people recommended just putting some wine out, in which the gnats start a party, get baked, and drown, but why pay good money for wine and serve it to gnats? The most typical mixture I found included the vinegar, mixed with a little dishwashing liquid (which, according to some of the posters, made the situation too slippery for the gnats to escape). The mixture is placed in a little bowl or cup out in the open. I've tried it, and it worked okay, but I basically had tiny swimming pools with one or two dead gnats in the bottom, and 4 or 5 still flying around, oblivious to the end I was trying to bring to them. 

So recently, my mom gave me the idea to try adding a tiny piece of fruit, since that was their thing. That turned on a light bulb, and being tired of the messy, smelly little bowls, I decided to rig something else. I grabbed a couple of empty brown apothecary bottles from my studio. Carefully poured apple cider vinegar in, filling about half way. Then I added the dishwashing liquid, till the contents reached about three quarters full (don't fill all the way and make it easier for them to escape!). Then, I added a tiny chunk of watermelon to one, and banana to the other. Lastly, I smeared a little banana around the insides of the bottle mouths. My reasoning:

a) they were attracted to the smell of apple cider vinegar, but maybe the smell of the fruit they can't seem to resist will seal the deal b) dark amber bottles might be confusing to them and meant I didn't have to see dead bugs c) these little bottles were neater, better looking and not smelly like little bowls of vinegar. 

So I put my little bottles out, gave it a day or two, in which the gnat population seemed to dwindle, and low and behold, with a hard look at the bottles held up to the light, there was my proof. They worked! So I thought I'd share it here, where it might help someone else. Hey, I may not be able to save the world, but I got some ideas, lol. 

SN: the raffia seen in the pictures, tied around the bottle was just for aesthetics, to make them look less like bottles of crack rock or something. Say no to drugs. Except Claritin, if you have allergies like me. 

An Artist's Tools

Okay, a bit on the obvious side today, but, these are some of the most important tools I've ever used or will use in my work. That being said, I've been a little busy with other creative matters and haven't posted as often as I would like. But I was inspired by a conversation I had the other day with a fellow creative, who told me that in attempting a new technique, she had followed steps I posted here a while back and had some success. I loved that, and I want to share more. I will admit that I have a few sets of photos taken of creative processes to share more techniques, but I haven't made the time to edit them or write the posts. Shame on me. But I am committing to completing one technique post here by this time next week. If I don't fulfill that commitment, you have my permission to write me an angry email. In the meantime, since we're talking about creative tools and inspiration, please go check out my new handmade supply shop, Muse. It's been up and running (albeit a little under the radar) for about a week now, while I tweaked and made sure everything was in place and operating properly. I'm mastering juggling so many different projects I want to do these days! Muse joins my website as an exclusive collection, the first of several specialized niche collections I'm excited to be building. It's an answer to what I've learned some people visit my site to find, and hopefully what they're looking for.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday [100th Post!!!!]

Street Signs

My artist's eyes stay ready for action most of the time. Over the years, it has become second nature to scan my surroundings, wherever I am, noticing colors, shapes, etc. that speak to me, and can inspire new ideas and work. I don't just do it for work, though. It's also nice to max out my senses on the world around me for pure enjoyment (that's what they're there for, right?).
Out for my morning workout over the last week, around my neighborhood, I began noticing funny patterns of patched road. Tar swirled in designs I had to wonder about. Did someone show up to patch a crack or two and get inspired to make a statement, or were these lines really how the road cracked (making the pavement a silent artist?).

I snapped pics for my own reference later, but felt I had to share them. They were taken on my phone, as I was paused and panting, so cut me some slack on the quality and see the designs for what they are/have the potential to be (on canvas, or on a handmade object?)! The series, continued from my brand-spanking-new Instagram account:

 

 

 

There were more. I plan to capture more! I thought these were beautiful abstracts, but then I also started looking at them like they do Rorschach tests, and saw things like hearts, blossoms, and cityscapes. What do you see?

 

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Flashback Friday

Okay, I don't know if "Flashback Friday" is a "thing", but I just made it up to serve my purpose. And that purpose here today, my friends, is to take a little trip back in time, to a post far, far away. Well, actually to a blog post I originally wrote back in 2009, on my first blog, when I was a babe in blogland. Hey, I recycle lots of things- why don't we throw blog posts into the mix? Reading through this post, I saw some things that I might have written differently today, or maybe just tweaked a little, but in the interest of being true to the original intent, I'm reposting it here, unedited. Happy Friday!

The Underrated P.O.E.

Like most living, breathing human beings I've always liked the thought of having my cake and eating it too.  But since in the real world, that is often just not possible, the need to make choices exists. I could go on and on all day about how much the choices we all must make everyday, large to small, impact our lives and, more often than not, the lives of those around us. And most of us take for granted the number of choices we consciously and subconsciously make every single day. If I mull over the decisions I made just yesterday, I bust myself being on autopilot through a number of them.  And I know I'm not alone. But the pace of society today frequently demands that we make many quick decisions, give up the luxury of lengthy consideration, and multitask decision making, often just clicking the "yes to all" button to make things easier on ourselves. I must admit that this form of adaptation to information overload has forced me, having once been constantly guilty of indecisiveness, to reform and learn to choose and move on. So, in a way, it's a good thing. To give up the combined self-indulgence and paranoia of lingering and pondering way longer than the matter was worth and become a reborn master of what I call the P.O.E. I'm not at all the creator, nor have I googled it to see if the acronym already exists. In fact, I'm positive someone else, somewhere has used it because it stands for the widely known 'process of elimination'.
I started thinking about this undervalued, extremely simplistic technique a few weeks ago, considering how it has helped my chronically decision impaired self evolve to cope with the pace of things in this day and age. I remember first learning the concept of  P.O.E. back in grade school. Our teacher, Mr. Arthur, first explained process of elimination as it related to multiple choice tests, specifically the hated "scan-tron" tests, on which we were required to fill in bubbles on an answer sheet that corresponded to the questions on the test. My classmates and I were already very familiar with multiple choice questions, but Mr. Arthur's explanation on eliminating the least likely choices first changed the way we (or at least I) looked at making decisions. For people who tend to obsess over choices (like myself sometimes) there was a new level of comfort in the process, knowing that one would start by removing the options that were definite "no's" or highly unlikely first, leaving only the best, most likely options. Anyway, as basic as this thing is, and even though it doesn't guarantee the right or best choice, I truly feel it's something that has helped me for many years now to get things done. I think I use it now more than ever, considering our choices in life seem to have quadrupled. I am constantly saying that my time is my most valuable commodity. And since I don't want that much of my life being spent deciding what color my cell phone should be, what flavor smoothie I want, or what shade of lipgloss to buy, I put P.O.E. to work and get on with my day.   Decision making is definitely a necessary skill, and I'm getting better all the time. Thank you, Mr. Arthur.

Have It Your Way

I recently simplified my blog layout and switched to Blogger's "dynamic view" option. What that means to you, dear reader, is a fresh, clutter-free blog where you can now choose (in the dropdown menu at the top left corner) how you view/read my posts. Dynamic views offers 7 styles in which you can view this blog. I've set one, but you can change, based on your personal preference, the moon, the tides, whatever. Who doesn't love options?

menu options

An Artist's Tools

In this edition of An Artist's Tools, I am highlighting tools that fall on the opposite end of the spectrum from the very first edition of AAT. I guess this thing will be all over the map, depending on my moods and the tools handy for photographing. The first post featured my most basic drawing tools. Today I'd like to share the mini marketing and sales kit that fits right into whatever purse I happen to be carrying on a given day. Pared down over years of trial and error (and a few missed opportunities), here it is:

 1. Handy mini measuring tape, great for supply and part measuring when shopping for specific projects, also good for measuring a space for art installation. 2. Square card reader with custom QR code sticker, so customers can pay with a card or cash, receive a receipt via email, and then scan the code with their device to visit my website instantly.
3. Folding pocket stamp with my phone number. I don't include it on my cards because I loathe talking on the phone (and the lack of paper trail with phone conversations about projects!), so I only stamp it when absolutely necessary. 4. Mini pen 5. Business card case. 6. Smart phone with a mirrored screen cover, to make sure there's no spinach in my teeth. ;o) 7. Mini notebook.

"Be proactive!"

card swiper with sticker, close up

That's it. Ready for (almost) anything.

 

 

Whew! All New!

I've been pretty quiet here and elsewhere on social media. And when I'm quiet, it usually means I'm up to something, lol. These first months of the year, I've been spending time creating lots of new things and broadening my horizons. To that end, some of my work is now part of one exhibit underway, one opening in April, and more to come. Yay! And in the midst of the hustle, bustle, and new opportunities, I am excited to announce the fresh new version of my website! I'm getting better and better at multitasking and juggling projects, lol, and so somehow I completed the overhaul in between all the other stuff. The objective was a fresh, clean look (back to principles learned in art school), where the focus is on the work itself, rather than gizmos and gadgets on the site:

 

I'm thrilled to have this clean slate through which I can share my work! I hope people enjoy poking around there. To learn more about current and upcoming events, like the exhibitions I mentioned, visit the media page.

 

Here's to that, and other great things in the months ahead!