happy st. patty's day!

Happy St Patty's Day! Family, fun, beer and all things green! What's not to love? To celebrate, I'll be enjoying a few brew-skies and baking my great-grandmother's Irish Soda Bread. Her recipe originated in Ireland and has been passed down to my grandmother, then my mother and now me. Cheers!

St. Patrick's Day Toast
Here’s to a long life and a merry one.
A quick death and an easy one
A pretty girl and an honest one
A cold beer – and another one!

flex your creativity beading contest

Enter Soft Flex Company's steampunk design beading contest
using exposed Soft Flex Brand Beading Wire and win!

Prizes Include:
GRAND PRIZE: $500 Gift Certificate
Runner Up: $250 Gift Certificate
Honorable Mention: $100 Gift Certificate
TOP 10 WINNERS: Free 30ft spool of their choice

The top 10 winners also may be showcased in the following ways:
On our website
Print ads in top industry magazines
Direct mail pieces (fliers, postcards, sales sheets, etc)
Soft Flex Company Glass Art & Bead Festivals

Click for details!

i heart alisa burke

I think Alisa Burke paints and makes the coolest stuff! I started reading her blog a few months ago and was instantly smitten with her, her art, and the many different but connected ways she expresses herself.

I realized this week when talking to Bert that I really am a huge fan of hers. It's inspiring to see someone do so much with her art so freely, with no boundaries and enjoys the journey ever so much. It gives me inspiration that I too, one day could be at "that place" all my own and in my own form.

I have her book Canvas Remix on hold at the library and cant wait to read it. Now ... if I can just talk that wonderful husband of mine into gifting me one of her crazy cool clutches. Hint, hint. :)

rainbow spotting!

As much of the country has been hit with snow we in sunny Arizona have been on the rainy side. The rain is a rare treat for us and with it I hold memories of where I grew up. And I love it. Having so much rain this year has reminded me just how much I love it. My creativity yesterday was flowing and I know it had to do with the soothing sounds, smells and sights of rain. Always clears me + we saw this beautiful full spectrum rainbow in our backyard! Hudson was very excited and wanted to know when were going to ride down it. Precious.

So what did I do that was so creative yesterday? Well ... I made 3 pairs wire wrapped earrings for gifts, 2 wire wrapped gift tags (a soon-to-be free project idea on Soft Flex Company's website) and I made whole wheat strawberry muffins! Yum.

art materpiece: magritte and leger

Every other Wednesday I head into 2 kindergarten classes to volunteer my time and give a short art history lesson with assigned prints. Here are the prints I presented in February:

The Surprise Answer by Rene Magritte

1. About the Artist
   Rene Magritte was born in Belgium in 1898 (that’s 112 years ago). He was the son of a tailor and had 2 younger brothers. He went to art school when he was 18 years old. He likes to create art based on dreams and fantasies. He mixes the real with the unreal. That is called surrealism.
   
   
   
2. Does this fit surrealism … based on dreams and fantasies?
   Sure does.
   
   
3. The name of this painting is The Surprise Answer. Do you think that is a good name? What would you name this painting? Most agreed with the name.
   
   
4. What do you see in the painting?
   Door and Hole in the middle of the door. When discussing the hole the kids really LOVED dreaming up all the ways this hole could have appeared; laser beams, bomb blasts, falling though door, dinosaur went through it, spiders ate around the edge and then it fell and the list goes on ...
   
   
5. We talked about the “elements of design” in this painting: Line, Shape, Color, Texture, Space.
   
   
6. If this painting could make a sound, what kind of sound or music would it make? Mysterious music (like Scooby doo).
   
   
7. Would you go through this door? Do you think you would have to open the door to get through it? Most said no (scary, unknown, dark) but a few said yes (curious, hoping something good was inside, not scared)
   
   
8. The artist is communicating with you. He wants you to think! Why do you think the artist painted it? His paintings ask questions of reality and illusion. His paintings surprise us and make us question what we see. It is mysterious. The painting does not “mean” anything, because mystery means nothing, it is unknown.

The kids really enjoyed telling me all about their dreams. Some said they would go through the door out of curiosity and a others said no way cause they didn't know what was behind it. One class liked the what kind of music question the best and the other class liked thinking of how this hole happened . Overall I was amazed at how much was talked about with a seemingly simple painting.

Leisure: Homage to Louis David by Fernand Leger, 1948-49

1. About the Artist
   Fernand Leger was born in Normandy in 1881 (that’s 129 years ago!) and he lived to be 74 years old.
   
   
2. What would you name this painting?
   The name of this painting is Leisure: Homage to Louis David. Homage means tribute.
   
   
3. What do you see in the painting?
   People and bicycles
   
   
4. What else do you see?
   Birds, clouds, flowers, seaweed, sand, crabs
   
   
5. We talked about the “elements of design” in this painting: Line, Shape, Color, Texture, Space.
   
   
6. If this painting could make a sound, what kind of sound or music would it make? Birds chirping, whooshing wind, water and waves
   
   
7. What do you think is taking place in this painting? It appears as a fun family outing showing people, nature and machines (the bicycles) in harmony. Some may have gone swimming and they were taking a break from bike riding.
   
   
8. Look at the clothing, what do you notice? Men in suites (would you ride you bike and go to the beach in your suite? No...), some in bathing suits may have gone swimming.
   
   
9. The artist is communicating with you. He wants you to think! Why do you think the artist painted it? What was his message? As shown in this painting this particular artist felt that everything in a painting was equally important.
   

This one was interesting as one class thought the crabs and seaweed were in the picture because the people were zombies or mermaids, under water where the other class simply thought they were by the beach. They enjoyed thinking about all the sounds this picture would make.

monthly goal meetup

It's the beginning of the month which means it's time for the monthly goal Meet Up at Athena Dreams. The Meet Up is a monthly goal sharing group.

Here were my February goals ...

1. finish the 3 wedding invitation suites I am freelancing - in progress
   
2. continue work on a web site freelance project - in progress
   
3. buy resin to make magnets - done!
   
4. add magnets to etsy shop - so close! I have the resin poured, waiting for it to cure and then need to glue magnets and post on etsy ...
   
5. buy art materials for new products: new canvas, chain and pendants - bought canvas, still need chain & pendants.
   
6. get to the gym 3-4x a week - continuing to work on this!
   

And here we go into March ...

1. add magnets to etsy shop
   
2. finish 3 wedding invitation suites
   
3. continue 1 web site freelance project
4. buy art materials for new products: chain and pendants
5. scooby painting (my first ever pet portrait painting)
   
6. get to the gym 3-4x a week and get moving in some way the other days
   

Wishing everyone a creative and productive month with a little sprinkle of Irish luck!

creative every day: home

"I love you, not only for what you are,

but for what I am when I am with you."
Roy Croft

On the last day of the creative every day home theme I wanted to reflect on my meaning of home: My husband and children. No matter what is going on in our lives, where we live or create, my family is my home. I feel most at home with myself when I am with them.

creative every day: home

Before

I did it! I finally tackled cleaning and reorganizing my garage /art studio! I am very grateful for this little place all my own to create in. I didn't have anything like this in our last home and it has been wonderful. I love it even more that the space is clean, organized and has a little bit of personality.

After

Seeing all the wonderful craft spaces on Craft: blog inspired to make my craft space work for me. I now have project materials, tools & ideas all within reach. I even have room to add snippets of inspiration on the 2 corks boards I hung above the desk and the hanging picture mobile I installed above my art cart. They will be a perfect places to tack up my to do's and clip on inspiration for my works in progress. Now, I need to get out there and create :D

To see what others have been working on for the home theme, just click here.

creative every day: home

I took the opportunity of the creative every day challenge theme home to clean out and donate some stuff this month. The bag has a bundle of warm fleeces and sweatshirts. My husband and I had way to many. I just love when the unused things in our home find new homes.

I really need to clean out my art studio and make is a better home for creating. My garage is feeling way to garage-like to be inspiring. I have this weekend to finally wrap that up before I head into March's theme.

To see what others have been working on for the home theme, just click here.

creative every day: home

This months home theme at creative every day has been in the back of my mind but, I haven't blogged about it so, here I go ... unloading my mind, the home of many maddening thoughts, desires and checklists.

When I think of the word home it brings up many warm and fuzzy feelings of family, love, comfort, encouragement, food, creativity and safety along with the not so warm and fuzzy realities of cleanliness, organization, parenting hurdles and work tasks and pressures.

Who knew thinking about my home would bring up deep feelings of self worth. I didn't realize it would but, for me it did. When I'm home I am a mother and a wife, I am also a full time work-from-home graphic designer, a part time freelance designer and a mixed media artist. I spend an immense amount of time at home and the line that separates my work from my home is greatly blurred. My work/home situation is absolutely wonderful in so many ways and I am very grateful for it. But ... there are entire days that I don't leave home. If I take a look around I see many unfinished projects and many more project ideas not yet started, both for my home and work. This can lead to frequent break-downs due to the overwhelming nature of it all (here's where the self worth comes in). I put lots of pressure on myself to do more, clean more, create more, but really I need to just be home more. I need to allow myself to relax and enjoy my home and my family without all the pressures creeping in.

I love my home and I love my work and I love that I work at home. I wouldn't change the way things are. It's all about balance. Some days balance comes naturally and other days not so much. I guess that is why my home sketch above is busy, rough around the edges, with a lot of heart, balancing on top of a hill. Honestly I didn't realize my feelings about home played into the sketch I made until I wrote this. Amazing how the subconscious works.

To see what others have been working on for the home theme, just click here.