brave art part 1

process photos 1. almost ready for paint 2. my little thumbnail inspiration I want to create more art about the sea after feeling quite pleased with this recent nautical themed piece with Rumi quotation 3. the dreaded blank canvas - this is a wood panel with 1" sides 4. choosing my palette and paper choices 5. 6. & 7. diving in cutting, tearing & gluing down with gel medium 8. A Tiny Life No. 7 my style inspiration - how I'd like this final mixed media piece to feel (combination of paint, collage, drawing & mark making) 9. ready to screw it up  ;- ) ready to begin adding the mixed media parts - the scary part - but I know I must just dive in

To live a creative life we lose our fear of being wrong Joseph Chilton Pearce

Two great quotes come to mind as I struggle with creating something new & fresh - as I struggle to be fearless and to summon my creative brave heart. I've been ask to donate art to a fundraising event for Ships Company Theatre in Parrsborro about an hour's drive from here on the beautiful Bay of Fundy coast. I have my Etsy shop giclee prints, printed elsewhere so to save both time and money on framing I decided it best to leave my new best buddy Photoshop out of this creative equation (at least for now and the actual donation piece). I always scan my work as I go so that I have all the various stages (1. & 9. in this case) saved as high res jpgs because there's a very good chance I will use them again in some other digital format. But this piece will be all non digital, just me, a canvas, lots of paint, ink, tools and my brave heart ;-) Will post the next stage soon (tomorrow or Sunday). I have to remind myself - it's OK to screw up - such a hard thing to accept.

ps. I signed up & am listening/watching the fearless collage demos of Mati Rose's Daring Adventures in Collage & her Daring Adventure in Paint both on sale now & lifetime access to content - that's what sold me, a go-at-your-own-pace + have the 5 week course content forever (sung by that chorus of angels).

You can't wait for inspiration, 
you have to go after it with a club 
Jack London

how I work

1). individual collage or painted elements created by hand on watercolour paper & scanned 2). a few of my tiny, very sketchy thumbnails most often drawn in my journal or day planner when I'm enjoying my early morning coffee in bed - it seems that's where many of my best ideas happen 3). combining elements from several of my thumbnails I do a larger, more detailed drawing to scan in and have as my guide while building my layered Photoshop document 4). my final Lilla Roger's July Assignment Bootcamp illustration - a few of my most favourite things - Flowers, tea & a cat or two

The discipline of creation, 
be it paint, compose, write 
is an effort toward wholeness 
Madeleine L'engle

Learning to just be me, to trust me, to have faith in me - the discipline & practice of creativity is an ever evolving journey, it's not a destination, it's not about creating your ultimate masterpiece (hard as that is for my perfectionist tendency to swallow) it's about the process, experimentation & allowing - all good stuff.

To make my final artwork be the most adaptable to licensing, meaning my art applied to a variety of potential gift, stationary or home decor products I knew it was essential that I learn to build the layers of my collage work digitally (Photoshop CS6). To say it was a steep learning curve is a huge understatement. I knew I had to learn it, to teach myself through online tutorials, e-courses ... I somehow had to make this leap from collaging the traditional way (+ always working smaller to fit my 9x12 scanner) or my work would not be viable in this world of art licensing.

It's taken a year or more of working in Photoshop to get to the place I am now, much of it trial by fire (so often the best way) learning as I'm working on a specific piece & I'm quite comfortable building my art in Photoshop now but as I said in previous post about that crazy big 12x5 ft Starbuck's map mural project, the one where I professed my undying love of Photoshop, I also admitted that if Photoshop was a giant iceberg (which it kinda is) I know & am comfortable with the teensiest, tiniest tip of that iceberg and am SO looking forward to learning more & more about this amazing program.

I'm happy to answer any questions about my creative process  & I'm also curious, if you could answer in the comments - how many creative entrepreneurs read this blog or post ?? I hope to make this how I work a regular feature on this blog, with posts about materials, small tutorials, tips & techniques. This was the final assignment of 5 in Lilla Roger's Assignment Bootcamp - it was lots of fun, lovely to get to know the work of so many other amazingly talented (mostly women) from around the world but I'm happy to move on to 6-8 weeks of  personal creative projects (hooray!) after a year of non stop a-go-go client/customer work, & tres thankful for all it, it will be so much fun to create lots of new things just for me ;-)

dear me

wildness & yellows from this morning's early walk in nature with camera in tow ... always 

One day she finally grasped that unexpected things were always going to happen in life. And with that she realized the only control she had was how she chose to handle them. So, she made the decision to survive using courage, humour & grace. She was the queen of her own life and the choice was hers. Queenism

or maybe that should be Dearest Me ...

not the Oh, No Dear Me although the Dearest Me does come as a direct result from me thinking & overthinking & thinking some more Oh, No Dear Me in that worried, fretful voice.

Oh, No Dearest Me ... sadly there is much in life that hurts me, that makes me feel sad, frustrated, misunderstood (I could go on ;-) things that I know I have no control over. The fact that I have no control I'll admit drives me a more than a little crazy and though I may have come to terms with my complete lack of control it doesn't mean it's easy. I am struggling with this decision today, the decision to approach these things, events (and people) I have no control over ... to deal with them all with courage, humour, grace & kindness.

Being especially kind to me ... to dear me with the fragile but very brave heart.

weekend words

found on Pinterest - a how-to kick ass & get stuff done ;-)

the sea & salt air

the sea on the crescent beach at low tide / thistle a common seaside wild flower / on the point of Thinker's Lodge looking back to the inner harbour / seaweed / an abstract of seaweed / a beach still life of sand, mussels, periwinkle & more seaweed / seaside landscape  / eel grass / towering cluster of mussel shells / rock, barnacles & more yellowy green seaweed / on the crescent beach

To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines of the continents for untold thousands of years, to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be. Rachel Carson

Words can't express how lucky I feel that I live 139 steps from the sea and that I can spend time each day walking at the edge of the ocean - it thrills me, each and every new day. 

I'm currently midway through Elizabeth Gilbert's great fat, new novel - The Signature of all Things - history, botany, the study of moss, a strong female character - I have both the book and the audio book which is read by a fantastic narrator ! (I take turns going back and forth between the two)  Next up is the biography of Rachel Carson - On a Farther Shore 

Happy Weekend to all ! next week I'll be catching you up with some of the latest happenings here at the teak topped desk & Susan Black Creative Empire HeadQuarters - I have lots of great projects on the go.

do the hard thing

flowers, cats & more renovations - begonia / Virgil & Oliver & orange mama in the upstairs bathroom / front garden / nelly moser clematis / Virgil pre-orange mama's move / second floor window box / lovely lupins / Creative Director Oliver working hard, always / not sure what this is - spirea maybe / alpine poppy front garden / new bed / shells & art / sunporch restoration / dandelions / our Itty Bitty Betty street cat ;-) 

Great people do things before they’re ready. They do things before they know they can do it. Doing what you’re afraid of, getting out of your comfort zone, taking risks like that – that is what life is. You might be really good. You might find out something about yourself that’s really special and if you’re not good, who cares? You tried something. Now you know something about yourself.  Amy Poehler

I was going to title this post "do the hard thing first" because it's become one of my everyday mantras. When I plan out my day each early morning while having coffee in bed I plan to do the hardest things first, the things that aren't necessarily always difficult, scary or challenging, though sometimes they are, but more often they're the things I'm most likely to put off, to procrastinate about and ultimately wish I'd done when the day ends (giving me good reason to be disappointed in myself, something I am trying to avoid). Sometimes things like exercise, tedious tasks (sorting tax receipts, accounting, inventory taking, filing) and/or organizational stuff, like tidying my desktop/office space before I dive into Photoshop to finish up all the final art I'm currently working on. But then I read Elise's post this early morning and thought I'd leave the word "first" off my blog post title - yeah ! plain & simple "do the hard things", do the things that make you feel scared, excited, shaky. Do the things you've been telling yourself for years that you can't do or your not good at. Do something incredible, do all the things that make you feel alive.

The first blog I visit every morning, usually with my breakfast & after my power walk on the crescent beach, is Elise Blaha Cripe's blog - I've been following Elise for as long as I can remember, she's been a huge inspiration as I've watched her build her brand and grow her own creative business in huge leaps & bounds. She has a brave & courageous heart and that's what I admire most about her. She's not afraid to try and she's not afraid to fail. She recently spoke at World Domination Summit in front of 2500 people - when she first got the call/request, naturally she freaked a little, told but said yes after some thought, prepared for it like crazy & ended up rocking' the house (or very large auditorium). She's written part 1 & part 2 about that whole experience. I am so proud of her, so impressed by her, SO inspired by her, so ... want to be like her.

I want to do the hard things. I want to try everything & anything that fuels my passion. I want to be fearless. The great thing about doing the hard things, doing the things that you know you could fail miserably at is - the more you try those scary things the easier and easier it becomes to try, do & succeed at them. Love the following quote, another of my million mantras :-)


Try again. Fail again. Fail better. Samuel Beckett

dreamer

front garden / that IBB (itty bitty Betty) / my every early morning walk with Missy D / peonies in the front garden / orange mama in the bathroom with Virgil  / I love poppies / the back yard from the second floor bathroom window - nelly moser clematis on our sad little, soon to be restored, shed & Betty / sandbars / another view from inside a meadow / lobelia, lobelia / seafood supper - shrimp, scallops & salmon / sunporch restoration / my favourite dog - Oliver / sigh - I love to grow things - bedroom window sill - gardening inside


You've got to have a dream, 
if you want to have a dream come true 
Dennis Waitley

My life is like an incredible fairy tale ! where all my dreams come true & I know with all my heart that I am the author of that fairytale. I'm dreaming lots of new dreams, imagining in meticulous detail the possibilities & potential of our new, next tiny life because I now know if you can envision something, if you can dream it ... you really can achieve it. Or maybe I just have a freakin' fantastic fairy godmother ;-)

The vision that you glorify in your mind, the ideal that you enthrone in your heart - this you will build your life by, and this you will become. 
James Allen