Everyone is born with creativity. But those people who appear to be super creative have a secret. They know that creativity has to be developed and exercised to come easily. I am on a quest to immerse myself in creativity of all kinds. I hope you will join me!

 I received a Christmas present this week from Lee Anne, and this card with it. I really like the card. See the stitching and the glitter?


 Deciding to make a decorative, hanging tag with it, I gathered: watercolor paper for the base, metallic scrapbook papers, and the page in the bible that has Isaiah 9:6 

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,Prince of Peace.


 I layered the papers, added some seed beads, drew some swirls with Sharpies, and added one vintage rhinestone screw back earring at the bottom of the tag. I glued the inside of the card on the back of my tag, so I will always have Lee Anne's message. I am hanging the tag with the ribbon from the present.


Now it is a piece of art with meaning! Wouldn't it be cool to have a whole tree of recycled card tags?


Use your Vitamin C!

 Today I visited Pearl Paint with the girls from Blumenthal Lansing. We had a mission, but also spent a few minutes looking around the store. There are only a few Pearls, and the closest one to me is in New Jersey. I have been in Pearls that looked like a giant garage sale full of products that were 25 years old. The one I saw today is fairly new and looked great. Tell me, even if you don't do art, that this doesn't make you want it! 





 Our job today at Pearl was to select papers for display backgrounds for the booth at the Quilt Market in a couple weeks. There are two entire aisles of papers there.  So great!


I have worked in the art/craft industry for more than 25 years. I know a lot about art products. There are all kinds of things in here that I have never heard of. It would take a life time to learn how to use all of the products in here. Wouldn't that be FUN?????


Go look at art supplies, it really juices up your Vitamin C!

 Today we had collage class in Girl World.  I had so much fun that I forgot I wanted to take pictures! I only remembered long enough to get a couple. Sigh.


It was my mission for class to come up with some different ways to make visual texture and layering with paint. We had several cool techniques that worked well.  This was one of my experiments. Last night, I found these wood scraps. They were cut off the top of table legs. I cannot even remember what I did with the table legs. Not important.  


So, I glued some chunky yarn to one side of the wood.  Yeah, well, I had no glue at hand when I did this, so I used dimensional paint, it just happened to be gold glitter.  Why not? It worked great.


 To use it, we painted the yarn, and printed it on the paper/canvas.


 Like.  Right? You could make this in all kinds of patterns.  It boggles... and inspires. The experiment was a success.


 So, here are some pics of projects in process. Each student worked on a canvas and a watercolor paper journal. This is the front cover of a journal. A hole was made to show the art inside. Love it.


 Greens for the background. Love how she added texture by sponging over a piece of cutout scrapbook paper. Nice.


 This is my canvas. At this stage, it had layers added, layers subtracted, and different layers added. Sometimes it takes a while to find my happy place.


 Lettering in the journal. She was very brave in lettering freehand.  Looks great!



Finished canvas: paint and paper. Don't the birds make you smile?


I had a great time watching everyone else take their Vitamin C!

• make 6 collages on canvas board ( I had two sizes)
• use only paint and paper
• get finished today

 Step 2/layer 2: more paint that adds texture.

 Step 3/layer 3: a paper focal. I tore the pieces of paper into shapes and glued them down.

 Last step: details add a final layer.  Painted words, outlining, accenting.




So, the background I liked the most turned out to be the collage I like the least. And the background I was unsure of turned out to make me happy.  That's how it goes.  They are not great, but not bad for a couple hours' work.

It was a good exercise.

Take your Vitamin C and give yourself a creative challenge!

I have just come from a four day art retreat, and this afternoon I ran across a most interesting post on Scoutie Girl, written by Gwyn Michael. Usually, I scan posts for the good parts, but I read every word of this post today. It was timely for me.

In it are several ideas or theories of how we should define art and artists. I am not sure I agree with any of them:

• art must change people
• art must be shared with others, if it never leaves the studio, it is not art
• art overcomes resistance, ignores the voice of doubt, and is something worth making
• it is risky and human
• it comes from the soul
• it requires the artist to dig deep and share intimate things

But, it did remind me of a story.... several years ago, I took a week long, intensive class at an art school on surface design for fabric. During introductions the first day, everyone in class introduced herself as an artist and listed all of the classes and teachers on their resumes.  When it was my turn, I said I had never really considered myself an artist. At that point, I had worked as a designer in the craft industry for more than 25 years, and I felt a line between art and craft...admittedly the line is thin and always shifting, but most people who call themselves artists would die to be caught crafting.

Well, the other folks in class were appalled at my timidity and asked me to chant with them, "I am an artist!" I found it quite funny.

During the week, we did small projects and continually worked on one large project to present at the end of class. For sure there was not one project I would have called art. One woman actually presented her paint rag as her art. No joke.

Mid week, the teacher pulled me aside to tell me that since I was the only person in the class to actually make a living with what I do, that I should not be concerned about how to define myself. Good. I wasn't. I got the feeling she was just tolerating the people in class who called themselves artists.

What I think about art and artists:

• taking a zillion art classes does not make you an artist or what you do art
• calling yourself an artist, and your stuff art, does not necessarily make it so
• I think art is meant to be shared, but if there is an amazing piece lost in an attic, does it cease to be art?
• art does not have to come from some deep intimate place within...it can simply be something pleasant or interesting or something we just like to look at without deep meaning attached
• art can change situations and people but that is not a requirement to be called art
• this is a very deep subject and can be discussed and digested forever without a definitive answer