Creative Living

I think it's really important to find little bits of creative energy every day. This can take many many forms. Lots of artists keep sketch books and journals -- or even art journals. I've never really been a dedicated journal - keeper, but I like the idea. Recently, I decided to try to combine my love of artists books and book-making with journaling. I created a crazy, mixed-media, multi-page, interactive book and I starting writing in it! Ideas, random hopes, wishes, observations, etc.

The mixed-media arty journal and my thoughts about it are published in the new issue of Somerset Life magazine.


I am honored to be included in this magazine. It's an amazing inspiration and reference for living creatively. My article about a new way to create and keep a journal is just one of many ideas.

I hope you'll check it out. It's got a pink cover and with white roses (ahem... don't let that turn you off, I promise there's lots of good stuff inside that isn't all precious and girly. Was that too snarky?! You know what I mean, right. We all have our own tastes.)

I'm off on an adventure later this week... I plan to do lots of journaling!

Outside

It's been over 100 nearly every day of the past week or so. But, we've still managed to get out and about. Benjamin, one of his friends and I walked down by our neighborhood lake one day last week. We saw so many creatures.

It was so bright, I could hardly tell what kind of pictures I was getting with my iPhone.

Ducks and turtles.Red winged black bird and boys on the walkway in the background.

Lily pads and my reflection.One pink water lily. Most were yellow.
It was cooler today. I try not to complain about the weather. Really, it's just hot. What else is there to say? Here are my thoughts about weather from three summers ago.

Fashion

I've been reading Manolo's Shoe Blog on and off for years. It's witty and focuses on things of beauty (in this case: shoes). It's a guilty pleasure. Every Wednesday Manolo posts a collection of pictures of shoes worn by some famous person. Then readers guess who it is. "Whose Shoes Wednesday." Guess who was the only correct guesser last week?! Here are the original pictures and here is the answer.

While I'm admitting guilty pleasures, I also love ProjectRunGay, especially the critiques of Michelle Obama's clothes.

Pondering

Benjamin and I stopped by a local city park yesterday morning.It was a bit run-down and all the trash cans had been turned over. I assume some hooligans did this as a prank the night before. So not cool. (Also a good description of the weather, "so not cool.")
This one had been righted, but the trash was still all over the ground.
These two blue cans are not the same. There were at least five cans turned over.

I was also dismayed by the number of plastic bottles in the piles of trash. No recycling in sight. What a shame. It seems like it would be so easy to have an additional can for recyclables. I've heard if there is one bit of non-recyclable trash mixed in with the recyclables, the whole can is "contaminated." So, I guess I can see why it becomes just too much trouble for a city to manage. We (the general "we") are just not conditioned to do it right.

I've been thinking of ways to reduce of our own waste and energy use. I've thought of installing a clothes line in the back yard. I wash beach towels every time we go to the pool and it just seems so wasteful to run the dryer for them. I really think I'll try to eliminate paper napkins. (I bet I could find some fun cloth napkins on etsy. Of course, that means more laundry. Back to the clothes line idea.)

I didn't think I'd ever fill a blog post with pictures of trash.

On the fly...

My friend (amazing fiber artist) Melanie Testa made a request. She said, "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours." Studios, that is. In fact, she even showed a piece of my artwork in her studio video. So, I really had to reciprocate. Don't you think?

I didn't clean up ahead of time and I didn't even plan a single thing to show or say, so it's quite improvisational and not too fancy. Worst of all, I ran out of batteries before I finished and I didn't even get to show a piece of Melly's work on my inspiration board. But, I figured I'd share it anyway. Don't laugh. Actually, feel free to laugh!



Check out Melly's video on her blog. And show me YOURS!

I wish I would have mentioned more names, but just know that I am so thankful for each bit of art on my walls and I cherish the friendships I've made in real life and through blogging. Really, you INSPIRE me and I'm grateful.

This and That

Vacation Bible School
I agreed to lead the crafts rotation for our church's VBS this year. So that was every morning last week. I was so totally stressed out about it. Maybe I just had some anxiety that needed a place, because it really wasn't that big a deal. It was fun and everything worked out fine. Some of the crafts were better than others, but the kids seemed to have fun and generally enjoy creating no matter the out come.

Swimming/Soccer/Tae Kwon Do
Yes. Lots of driving the kids here and there.
They are now purple belts. So very proud of them.

Studio
It is such an enormous mess. I haven't created anything in more than a week. But, that's been fine. I think I needed a break. I did organize my embroidery floss. Remember this?

That's my floss in the foreground and my friend Lu's floss in the organized box. I'm not completely organized, but I don't have a messy nest any more.

Art
I'm really looking forward to the Dallas Area Fiber Artists meeting on Monday. The program is "Paper Art by Paper Nerds" with Shannon Phillips and Tish Brewer. I love nerds of all kinds.

Again?!

What is it about pink chalk?Remember?

Summer Reading

I keep thinking I need to pick up a good book. I've been out of the habit for awhile. I've been reading lots of magazines lately. Many of them have been interesting and inspiring, but it's just not the same as a book. On a whim, I even bought the new issue of Oprah's magazine since the cover mentioned ideas for great summer reading. (Ahem. Ironic? Buying a magazine for info about reading a book?)

On the other hand, Claire is zooming through book after book. I think she's on her fourth since school's been out. (Only two and a half weeks.) Here she is reading The Mysterious Benedict Society.She loved that book! In fact, I'm reading it now and it's really good. There is tons of excellent young adult fiction out there. Claire also read the new 39 Clues -- a hot new series with each book written by a different famous kid's writer. Then she read Holes. It's very quiet downstairs, so I would guess she is plowing through the Benedict Society sequel.

Shopping Spree

Well, not really a shopping spree. But I did buy two sets of new earrings from Etsy. They are made from Starbuck's gift cards! How clever is that?!

Here is the original listing for one pair. And here they are on me.
I love that they aren't exactly the same, but they match since they are cut from the same card. Asymmetry is cool. They do flip around a bit as you wear them, but that's to be expected. And they still look cool from the back side.
They are made by Vanessa Weber. She is having a "buy one get one free" sale through the month of June. So, I also picked out these earrings. If you love funky, hand-made jewelry -- and coffee, you should check it out.

I can certainly imagine making some of my own in the future. Barnes and Noble usually has tons of interesting gift cards. Like I need an excuse to go the to bookstore...

Whirlwind

Yikes. I got nearly swallowed up by all kinds of busy-ness over the past couple of weeks. Some was very fun and some was somewhat stressful. But, anyway... I'll avoid rehashing all that and just share two projects with you.

My best friend's husband asked me to make a quilt for his wife to celebrate a special occasion. I was honored and thrilled to do so.

And then I had to actually do it. Wow. Commissions are a whole new challenge. I kept doubting myself and second guessing and really trying to make something that I was absolutely sure they would like. Well, I eventually had to let that go and just trust myself.

Here is "Life Landscape." It's about 12x13 inches.
My friend's husband asked me to include this quote. Other than that, I had total creative license. (Which is both wonderful and extra challenging.)
She loved it and was totally and completely surprised!

I made this small piece for a friend who was recently ordained as a Deacon in the Episcopal Church. I've worked closely with her over the past several months and I've heard her use the phrase "salt, light and yeast" a few times. As in, we are each called to be "salt, light and yeast" for each other. To add variety, spice, enlightenment, clarity, potential, growth...

The phrase really stuck with me. I love the sound of the words and the symbolism. I used packaging from Morton Salt, Fleisman's Yeast and a GE light bulb and created this mixed media shrine.

Isn't it fabulous that the packaging was all color coordinated?

I began working on a large piece inspired by one of my Lent pieces. I had originally intended to enter it in the show for the Texas Federation of Fiber Artists show coming up in November. But, I realized it was really not possible to finish it (as I would like to finish it) be the deadline. So, I just let it go. Whew. What a relief. I will still finish it...

Here's an early surface design step.
I guess I'm in a blue zone.

Art

I have such talented friends! Look at these new treasures.

The Frayed Edges (my small art quilt group from Maine) did a fabric round robin book quite some time ago. We decided to do another round. The theme for my book is numbers. I made a page with "1" on one side and "2" on the other and then we rotated and each artist made a new page with the next number.

Sarah just sent me a new page! Here is "9" for nine planets.The colors and the stitching on this pages are just amazing.

And "10" for tenth century AD, the height of Byzantium.
Sarah must have done some image transfers here. It's a wonderful textural combination of paper and fabric. Thank you so much, Sarah!

I really must get started on the pages I am supposed to be doing. Yikes.

My friend Flo surprised me with this amazing collage!This picture does not even begin to do it justice. Flo is an amazingly prolific and successful artist who continues creating and inspiring others in this her 80th year! Flo is especially masterful at using subtle lines to finish a piece.

My friend Deanna is right here in North Texas. She suggested we do a swap and I chose this small encaustic piece. (The red and black piece at the top.) You can see a close up on her Flickr here. But I think it's nice to see the work hanging in context.
It's from her "palimpsest" series. A palimpsest is a manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely erased and often legible. I just love this concept. Deanna recently opened The Encaustic Center in Richardson. It's a studio space and workshop center for encaustic art. So cool. I am looking forward to taking a class or two!

And here is the amazing piece I chose from Collage Mania for Fiber Art for a Cause. Its by Jennifer Solon.
I'm so inspired by this surface design and color palette -- and of course, the house shape.

I love being surrounded by art -- and by good friends.

Finished

Thanks for all your brilliant comments on this piece as it progressed. I hope you like the final product. It's called "Palm."You can read more about how I created this quilt on the 12x12 blog -- plus see all the other amazing "identity" quilts.