Snow & Creativity

My Blue Spruce in the Snow today!!

I was glad for our big snow yesterday, nearly 8"! It meant that I had an excuse/permission to stay in, with the wood stove blazing, & catch up on my novel & paintings. I was determined to work hard on my creativity today no matter what, but the snow is the perfect backdrop! I even had time to read & play my piano! Ah, the perfect creative day. It's one of those rare days that we creatives dream could happen every day, but so ecstatic when being in the grove happens at all. It's the juice that keeps us going & keeps us connected with our soul and passion. It's the time that we remember & look forward to when the going gets tough. Happy Creative Day to you!

Time Out = Inspiration

Photo by Artist Florian Maier-Aichen

When we get depleted how can we renew? For me, having almost completed a huge project that took up my creative time & physical energy for weeks, I took a complete day off today & finished reading a novel, then watched the Art:21 episode that included Mairer-Aichen's photography. It's just what I needed: to see how a photographer can combine abstract with representation in one image! The day with just resting with creativity has filled my cup. By the weekend I should be finished with the other project (not my own) & I'll have images and good writing (Little Bee by Chris Cleave) simmering in my sub-conscious so that when I do get back to my own work, I'll be raring to go! Do you give yourself time-out?

Barbara Kingsolver saved my day!!

Barbara Kingsolver

Do you ever have those days where your day jobs overwhelm you & even seem to "possess" you? I've been up against it lately with a non-fiction project due next Monday!! Yikes! So, how do you keep up with your own beloved creativity? Sometimes barely, unless you can manage to lose sleep. I can't. So, this morning I took an hour to listen to an interview with Barbara Kingsolver about her latest book Lacuna and about her writing process. Oh, my goodness, just doing that settled me back into my true writing self. I even managed some time to work on my latest painting. After the deadline is over, I'll pretend to be on a sunny beach just reading and catching up with my own creativity! Can't wait. The link to the Kingsolver interview is
http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R911181000 Enjoy!

Materials

Bombay India Ink Chart
DocMartins.com

I'm in a crunch of a countdown, having to get a book finished & edited to the publishers. No, not mine, but a project for someone else. That's why I "forgot" to write last week. Yet, I've managed to slip in a 15 minutes here & there for my own book and art. And, I have made a couple of trips to the local art store, Artisans of Santa Fe (their branch in Taos). I had discovered that, alas and alack, I was using the wrong kind of ink for my small paintings on wood. The synchronicity is that the time on the other book project prevented me from doing too many paintings. Now I'm on the right track, ready to roll with lovely India inks in color!! I had been using only black, brown, & blue before, with a tinge of red. Now, I'll expand my colors as I do love color more than anything! Another bit of good news is that the media teaches us. When the non-permanent inks started to change if water accidentally got on them, I knew I had better do more research. It's not egg-on-our-face if we goof, it's just part of the learning curve. I still use Ralph Mayer's Handbook of Materials and Techniques. It's so thorough. Oh, I can still save all the previous paintings with spray varnish! Have fun experimenting and working with your materials!!!