New Year, New Beginnings

I love making collages if I can stay out of my head. This is not easy at times, but when it happens, the world disappears. Creating "Quiet Joy" took a while to get to the get out of your head stage. I am happy and hope whomever takes it home, enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it.

The Brush Art Gallery and Studios has been good to me so when the opportunity to support them, I jumped at the chance. They are asking artists to create a piece of art on a 4" x 4" canvas. The event is called FOUR by FOUR for Education and is on display from March 4 - 14 with the fundraising event occurring on March 14 at 2:00.

"The Four by Four raises funds for the Brush Scholarship fund and Special Perspectives. A $1000 scholarship is granted to a deserving University of Mass Lowell art student. Special Perspectives programming brings art instruction to challenged adults, currently Megan's House, a transition program for young women recovering from addiction."

There is still time to participate. Deadline is February 26. Mine is in the mail! 

No Excuse Approach

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offerings.
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
                                      -Leonard Cohen
 
While I love that spring has finally arrived in all its glory, I have been experiencing terrible allergy problems. The worst I have had in years. Hopefully once all the trees have finished dropping pollen, I will be less fuzzy and congested. Thankfully the crashing sinus headache has lessened. Thanks to everyone who expressed concerns. I definitely feel the pull of blogging again.

I have continued to make 4" x 4" collages. It is a great way to jump start a day. I added ants to this one because I am also suffering through an ant problem in my kitchen. Ack! Looking back through the collages, I can see how I was feeling and/or thinking about when I created them. It has not been easy to experience life with less energy and to put what energy I have into creating something, anything. At my pottery class last night, everyone seemed to be experiencing a lack of attention or frustration. Is it something in the air? My plan was to make boxes but after the first one, I switched to making a mask. Mission accomplished! I was focused and successful. I felt much better and went home happy. The "no excuse" approach to creating is working! Off to make some more art. Do you create something everyday?

Courage, Fear, Growth, Friendship

Courage is resistance to feat, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.  -Mark Twain

During a conversation with my friend, Marie, I was suddenly struck with the thought "I want to be a better person. I want to be the person others see when they look at me." I remember years ago hearing someone say, "Friendships that work are relationships in which women help each other to belong to themselves." Fortunately for me, I am blessed with friends that are doing exactly that.

Being in the different groups which I belong is definitely helping me as an artist. ClaySpace is a huge factor in this too. I am learning something new, pushing myself to create outside my comfort zone. The funny thing about a comfort zone is the more you stretch it, the more it grows. My interview to become a resident artist went better than I could have imagined and now I am on the waiting list. My sketch book is growing with ideas on how to combine fiber/quilts and clay. Leaves are being to pop out on the trees and even in my fuzzy allergy state, my heart sings! I feel I am truly living a creative life. How about you?

4 x 4 Collage Addiction

Nature doesn't move in a straight line, and as part of nature, neither do we. -Gloria Steinem

I can certainly understand how making small collages can jump start one's creativity. While I have considered making a collage a day like Karen Stiehl Osborn, it was until my friend Jill suggested  making 4" x 4" collages for a heArtist Trading Cards side trade that it all came together for me. Now I am addicted! Making them is also helping me use up "bits."

My friend Barbara and I joke often about our ever growing boxes of bits. This comes from a story I have told about helping a friend go through her mother's quilt supplies after she died. We came across a box labeled "bits too small to use." My friend lived in a small apartment with limited space and yet I watched her struggle to let go of that box.  I do not want to become a person that cannot let things go. It has been a process for me. Last night at Hannah's opening at ClaySpace, there was a discussion about being able to let things go. Some people were good at it and others not so much. I remember a time when letting things go was tough for me too. There is a story, History Returned,  in my book about a quilt returned to the place where it was made. Arline Crowley shared that she heard that when people get older, they want to simplify there lives. She didn't think it would ever happen to her, but it did. One of things that I struggle with is how to balance the need for simplicity with my need to have stuff around so I can create.

So the questions for today are: 1. Do you have a daily creative ritual and if so, what is it? 2. Is it easy for you to let things go?

Life, Simple Pleasures and a Winner

Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans. - John Lennon

On Sunday, I gave myself permission to do little except read a book. The book, Turn Coat (Dresden Files, Book 11) by Jim Butcher, was simple pleasure reading. I like to read books that my sons have read. It is just another way of sharing. Anyway, I cannot remember the last time I spent a day reading a book. It was delicious. I did not think about anything other the book until 9 p.m. when I was well into Changes (Dresden Files, Book 12) and started making 4" x 4" collages for the next side trade with the heARTist Trading Cards. Two hours flew by so quickly.

Sidebar: The one thing that has really struck me about Jim Butcher is that his writing got better with each book. I wonder why he picked Chicago as the location for the books. He lives in Seattle.

Yesterday, on the other hand, was not much fun until my pottery class. After nearly two hours and seven painful x-rays looking for a spot on my breast (never found), I was declared fine. I had just enough time to woof down some dinner before heading out to my class. I was exhausted by the time I got home so please forgive me for not announcing the winner of Fiber Art Now yesterday as promised. Drum roll please....Julie! Congrats! For those of you who didn't win have heart. I'll continue to have blog giveaways.